قالوا تَاللَّهِ لَقَد آثَرَكَ اللَّهُ عَلَينا وَإِن كُنّا لَخاطِئينَ

They said: ‘By Allah, Allah has certainly preferred you over us, and we have indeed been erring.’

EXEGESIS

Āthara (preferred); the verbal noun īthār means to wilfully prioritise, that is the act of choosing one of two things over the other, akin to selection (ikhtiyār). One may say: āthartu lahu (I favoured it for him), or āthartu ʿalayhi (I favoured it over him, its opposite), as is used in this verse. The root of īthār traces to athar al-jamīl (a noble trace), that which is distinguished above others, just as a thing of beautiful impact holds value. Al-āthār (traditions/reports) also derive from this, for they are narrations that convey the traces of past matters in religion and worldly affairs.[1]

EXPOSITION

By Allah, Allah has certainly preferred you over us: the brothers now declared humbly that God had preferred Prophet Joseph (a) in knowledge, virtue, patience, beauty, and other good qualities,[2] and by granting him a position of worldly authority.[3] In and of themselves, positions of worldly authority or wealth are never to be taken as signs of divine blessing. Unfortunately, some are ignorant of this fact, and they measure success and divine favour in this manner. With Prophet Joseph (a), the brothers were now in awe of the worldly authority that he had been granted. If they had not been convinced earlier by his spiritual station, there was no denying his earthly one. It seems that the proper understanding of Prophet Joseph’s (a) station was not achieved by them until they witnessed his miracle (verses 93-97).

And we have indeed been erring: they regretted their jealousy and understood that there had been a reason why Prophet Jacob (a) had preferred Prophet Joseph (a); there was in fact something special about Prophet Joseph (a), which they had hitherto failed to recognise.[4]

The statement brings to mind the earlier verse, where the governor told his wife, plead for forgiveness for your sin, for you have indeed been erring (verse 29). Shaʿrāwī points out that in both verses the term used is khāṭiʾīn, not mukhṭiʾīn, arguing that a mukhṭiʾ is one who is not able to distinguish right from wrong, but the khāṭiʾ is one who knows what is right but fails to act in the required manner.[5] In both verses the ones who had erred expressed their regret and repented for their sins, and so repentance and forgiveness are an important subtheme of the surah.

There is an important lesson here, that when one is stronger and more powerful than others, they should not act in a manner that they would regret at a future time when they may be in need of others.[6]

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

It has been reported that Ibn Abbas was asked how the brothers could describe what they did as a mistake when they clearly had done it on purpose and with ample forethought. He reportedly answered that anything that is not done correctly can be called a mistake.[7] This would be similar to its usage in the supplication at the end of Sūrat al-Baqarah: Our Lord! Take us not to task if we forget or make mistakes (2:286).

Abū Ali al-Jubbāʾī claimed that we have indeed been erring cannot intend when they threw Prophet Joseph (a) in the well, because at that time the brothers were children, and a child cannot commit sins. Therefore, he concludes that it should intend the fact that they did not in later years reveal to their father what they had done. Rāzī criticises this argument in two ways. Firstly, there is no evidence that they were children at that time. In fact, it is highly unlikely that Prophet Jacob (a) would send a group of children out alone into the wilds where there were dangers, such as wolves. Secondly, a person can ask for forgiveness even if it is not compulsory to do so.[8] It is completely natural that when a person matures and regrets things they did as a child, they would ask forgiveness from those they wronged. More importantly though, as mentioned, they were almost certainly not all children when they took Prophet Joseph (a) out with them.

[1] Tibyan, 6/190.
[2] Tabari, 13/37.
[3] Tabrisi, 5/400; Thalabi, 5/253; Zamakhshari, 2/502.
[4] Tabrisi, 5/401.
[5] Sharawi, p. 7064.
[6] Qaraati, 4/275.
[7] Thalabi, 5/254; Qurtubi, 9/257.
[8] Razi, 1/505-506.