اقتُلوا يوسُفَ أَوِ اطرَحوهُ أَرضًا يَخلُ لَكُم وَجهُ أَبيكُم وَتَكونوا مِن بَعدِهِ قَومًا صالِحينَ
‘Kill Joseph or cast him away into some [distant] land, so that your father’s love may be exclusively yours, and that you may become a righteous lot after that.’
EXEGESIS
Yakhlu lakum wajhu abīkum is literally ‘that your father’s face may be left entirely for you’. As the translation tells, this expression intends that your father’s love may be exclusively yours, since when a person turns towards something they turn with their face, meaning they devote their attention to that thing.
Interestingly, the expression of face or attention is used instead of heart or love, as if to indicate that there existed an innate understanding that their father’s love could not be earned with such measures, yet since they thought that earning was beyond them, they would at least settle for gaining more of his attention. It also serves to highlight their childish and immature way of thinking, which is at the root of any jealousy.
EXPOSITION
Some of the brothers suggested what they considered a solution to their mutual ‘problem’: they could simply get rid of Prophet Joseph (a) by either killing him or leaving him somewhere to die.
Kill Joseph: this is the ugly reality of jealousy, that when left unchecked, it will bid one to even kill their own brother.
Or cast him away into some [distant] land: where wild animals would eat him or he would die due to some other means. Supposedly, killing him in such an indirect way would lessen the guilt they felt from killing him by their own hands.
Some have suggested it could mean to place him somewhere far away so his father can no longer find him or reach him.
So that your father’s love may be exclusively yours: they thought that if Prophet Joseph (a) was no longer around, their father would appreciate them more and learn to value them.
Interestingly, in this verse they refer to Prophet Jacob (a) as your father, whereas in the previous and following verses they speak of our father. In fact, the rest of the verse follows in the second person. It is as if the speaker (or speakers) is distancing himself from the act of murder and suggesting that the others may do that if they wish and then they may repent afterwards.
And that you may become a righteous lot after that: after you have done this dirty deed, then repent and be goodly, for then your good deeds will make up for your vile ones. This is a sorely mistaken type of thinking, and such a repentance is not accepted. One cannot plan that he will sin and repent, as repentance requires remorse, and such superficial repentance is empty from any real remorse. This is simply a way that one seeks to permit themselves to sin. See the commentary on verse 4:17 for more on repentance.
They knew their act was a vile one and they believed in God and understood that they should one day answer for their deeds, yet because of their jealousy they justified it to themselves, saying that their father was blinded by his love and did not see what was in his own and the family’s best interests. They promised themselves that they would only do this one evil act and then be righteous. This is the influence of Satan and the soul that commands to evil, which whisper into the hearts of men in order that they justify their misdeeds.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Masʿadah ibn Ziyād, that Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) reported through his fathers, that the Prophet said: ‘Do not be jealous of one another, for verily jealousy consumes faith like fire consumes wood.’
- From Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ, from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a): ‘A believer may experience a sense of envy, but he will not be jealous. The hypocrite will be jealous, but does not envy.’
Note: What is translated as envy here is ghibṭah in Arabic and refers to a sense where one wishes to have what others have without wishing its removal from them. Jealousy (ḥasad) is where one will wish the removal of bounties from others. Ghibṭah can be a positive thing since it drives the person to achieve good things that he perceives in others, while ḥasad is negative since it drives people to destroy what others have. In other words, one is destructive, while the other is constructive.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Some exegetes have mused with the possibility that the plotting brothers were all still children themselves as well in an effort to mitigate the heinousness of their crime, but that really does not fit the verses at all, such as their statement, that you may become a righteous lot after that. It is also unlikely that Prophet Jacob (a) should be convinced to send the young Prophet Joseph (a) along with a group of underage kids to the desert alone without anyone to supervise them.
Some exegetes have proposed that ṣāliḥīn in you may become a righteous (ṣāliḥīn) lot after that means that you will have a good life and a good relationship with your father after that. This is a rare opinion, as it does not fit well with the meaning of ṣāliḥīn.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Come now, let us kill him and throw him into some pit, and we will say, ‘Some evil beast has devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.
Note: According to the Biblical narrative, Joseph (a) had informed his brothers of his dream(s) earlier (Genesis 37:5-11).
[1] Alusi, 6/383.
[2] See Zamakhshari, 2/447.
[3] Tibyan, 6/102; related in Tabrisi, 5/325.
[4] Tabrisi, 5/324-325; Baghawi, 2/478; related in Tibyan, 6/102.
[5] Tibyan, 6/102; Tabari, 12/93.
[6] Mizan, 11/96.
[7] Nemuneh, 9/323.
[8] Mizan, 11/96.
[9] Qurb, 1/29, h. 94. See also Kafi, 2/306, 4/89, 8/45; Faqih, 2/108, h. 1857. The same is also reported from Imam Ali (a) in Nahj, sermon 86.
[10] Kafi, 2/307; Wasail, 15/366, h. 20760; Nemuneh, 9/327.
[11] See Nemuneh, 9/326-327.
[12] See for example Tabrisi, 5/325. Baghawī rejects this and insists they were adults and that they never became prophets (Baghawi, 2/478).
[13] See Razi, 18/425.
[14] This is the opinion preferred in Munyah, 14/250.
[15] Genesis 37:20.