قالوا أَإِنَّكَ لَأَنتَ يوسُفُ ۖ قالَ أَنا يوسُفُ وَهٰذا أَخي ۖ قَد مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَينا ۖ إِنَّهُ مَن يَتَّقِ وَيَصبِر فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُضيعُ أَجرَ المُحسِنينَ
They said: ‘Are you really Joseph?!’ He said: ‘I am Joseph, and this is my brother. Certainly Allah has shown us favour. Indeed, if one is God-wary and patient Allah does not waste the reward of the virtuous.’
EXEGESIS
The emphatic suffixes inna and la used in the question are to express the heightened emphasis put on the inquiry and are rightly translated here as Are you really Joseph?!
EXPOSITION
We could imagine that the question asked by Prophet Joseph (a) in the previous verse was followed by a moment of silence and disbelief, which was then broken by the dumbfounded reply of the brothers.
They said: perhaps the brothers exchanged some perturbed glances. The befuddled brothers then replied with astonishment.
Are you really Joseph?!: Prophet Joseph’s (a) question was enough for them to understand that he was indeed Prophet Joseph (a),[1] yet it was so incredible that they could not help but ask him, for who else could have known? Who else would ask them about what they had done to Joseph (a)? They could not have imagined that the Egyptian governor could be their long-lost brother; even though they had last seen him as a child, the resemblance was there. Perhaps the thought had crept into their minds, but they had dismissed it as silly. Why would Joseph (a) be an Egyptian governor? How? Now that they were confronted with the idea they were confounded. How could they not have noticed it before?
He said: ‘I am Joseph, and this is my brother’: presumably, at this point Benjamin, who was hidden somewhere out of view (as the ruse entailed the brothers assuming he was a prisoner), came out to present himself to them.
Interestingly, Prophet Joseph (a) says my brother instead of ‘our brother’, as if to indicate that ‘when I took Benjamin and forced him to stay here, it was not out of enmity or hatred or any ill will towards him, he is my brother and I did it out of love and care’.
Certainly Allah has shown us favour: God has indeed bestowed His favour upon us through reunion after long separation, and has granted us every good in this world and the hereafter.
This statement is also a reminder how the pious believers would never forget to attribute their success and blessings to the true source of all succour, and would gladly inform others of this, as God has instructed them to do: And as for your Lord’s blessing, proclaim it (93:11).[2]
Indeed, if one is God-wary and patient Allah does not waste the reward of the virtuous: the deliberate use of the virtuous (al-muḥsinīn) in place of a pronoun serves as a profound reminder that true virtue lies in the union of piety (taqwā) and patience (ṣabr). Those who strive in the path of God and persevere with steadfastness will surely attain their reward – whether in this world as success and fulfilment, or in the hereafter as eternal bliss. No effort made in devotion to God is ever wasted, nor is the smallest good act overlooked. For God, who is appreciative, all-knowing (2:158), does not let even an atom’s weight of faith, word, or deed go unrewarded. Indeed, His promise is truth, and His justice is perfect.
The essential truth conveyed by this verse is that God-consciousness (taqwā) must be coupled with steadfast patience (ṣabr) to yield its full spiritual fruit. Like a seed that requires both fertile soil and time to grow, the heart nurtured by piety only blossoms when tempered by endurance. Without patience, faith remains fragile, easily shaken by trials; without God-consciousness, perseverance becomes mere struggle devoid of divine purpose. But when the two unite and when the soul stands firm in obedience to God while weathering hardship with trust, then does the believer truly become one of the virtuous. God has promised: Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account (39:10). Their deeds, anchored in reverence and resilience, will never perish in this life or the next, for Allah does not waste the reward of the virtuous.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
The exegetes have mentioned different meanings for Certainly Allah has shown us favour, such as:
- By bringing us out of hardship.[3]
- By gathering us all together.[4]
- By giving us all sorts of good things in this life and the hereafter.[5]
These can all be considered aspects of the favour of God though are not mutually exclusive with what we mentioned earlier.
It has been mentioned from Ibn Abbas that being God-wary here intends avoiding zināʾ (prohibited sexual intercourse), and being patient intends bearing patiently the difficulty of being unmarried.[6] While this fits the subtheme raised in the story of Prophet Joseph (a), it is better to understand this verse in a general sense.[7]
The sources have mentioned various opinions attributed to early exegetes claiming to explain what led the brothers to finally recognise Prophet Joseph (a), such as saying that he began to cry uncontrollably when he received the supposed letter from his father, or that he began smiling when they explained how difficulty befell them and his teeth were unmistakably the teeth of Joseph (a), or that he took off his crown and had a mark on the side of his forehead like the mark that his father and mother had, or that all the previous times he had been talking to them from behind a curtain and he now had it taken away, and so on.[8] However, these claims are not based on any reliable evidence and are sometimes contradictory. Furthermore, there is no need to resort to such explanations as Prophet Joseph (a) asking about what they had done to him when they were young was revealing enough for them to understand to whom they were speaking, as no one else would have asked such a question.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘Make every man go out from me.’ So no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard about it. Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’[9]
[1] Muhit, 6/319.
[2] See Munyah, 14/207.
[3] Tibyan, 6/189.
[4] Tabrisi, 5/401; Tabari, 13/37.
[5] Razi, 18/505.
[6] Thalabi, 5/253. Others attribute this opinion to Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī (see Muhit, 6/320).
[7] See Muhit, 6/320. Abū Ḥayyān also mentions many other opinions that have specified God-wariness and patience to things such as abandoning sin and being patient in prison, or having patience and God-wariness during tribulations, or to fear God’s punishment and patiently avoid sins and maintain obedience, and so on. However, there is no reason to limit the verse with any such specifications.
[8] See for example Tabrisi, 5/400; Tabari, 13/328; Thalabi, 5/253; Zamakhshari, 2/502; Baghawi, 2/512.
[9] Genesis 45:1-3.