Transliteration:( Fabada-a bi-aw'iyatihim qabla wi'aaa'i akheehi summas takhrajahaa minw wi 'aaa'i akheeh; kazaalika kidnaa li Yoosuf; maa kaana liyaakhuza akhaahu fee deenil maliki illaaa any yashaaa'al laah; narfa'u darajaatim man nashaaa'; wa fawqa kulli zee 'ilmin 'Aleem )
160. From this, we learn that religious evasions are prmissible because Hazrat Yusuf (on whom be peace) had adopted an excuse to hold back Benyamin which was an absolutely correct means adopted It was not causing cruelty to anyone. Allah Almighty had taught Hazrat Ayub (on whom be peace) to adopt one form of excuse "Take in your hand a broom of dry grain and strike therewith" (S38:V44)
161. It should be remembered that in adopting this excuse Hazrat Yusuf (on whom be peace) had not spoken a lie, because it was his servant who had said to the brothers that you are thieves, who was totally unaware of what had transpired. Neither did Hazrat Yusuf (on whom be peace) accuse his brother of stealing because what had transpired took place after consultation with Benyamin.
 Allah Almighty praised it and said: "We taught Yusuf thus to plan". Regarding this matter he first asked the brothers for its legal consequences which made it easier to keep back Benyamin. Neither was the secret let out nor was the Egyptian law of flogging the thief and exiting wealth from him which is twice the quantity stolen. Also, we learnt that the deeds of the prophets are secret deed of Allah Almighty. Raising objection against them is raising objection against Allah Almighty. Observe, this plan to hold back Benyamin was adopted by Hazrat Yusuf (on whom be peace) but Allah Almighty says that it was He who had taught him this.
162. This means that had Hazrat Yusuf (on whom be peace) not settled this punishment from his brothers beforehand, he would not be in the position to hold back Benyamin in terms of Egyptian law. This law did not advocate making the thief a slave
163. From this emerge two issues:
1. All the brothers were religious scholars, but Hazrat Yusuf (on whom be peace) was more learned then all of them.
2. Religious knowledge is a means of achieving elevated position, and that a scholar is superior to a non-scholar
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The tafsir of Surah Yusuf verse 76 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Yusuf ayat 73 which provides the complete commentary from verse 73 through 76.
(12:76) Then Joseph began searching their bags before searching his own brother’s bag. Then he brought forth the drinking-cup from his brother’s bag. Thus did We contrive to support Joseph.[59] He had no right, according to the religion of the king (i.e. the law of Egypt), to take his brother, unless Allah so willed.[60] We exalt whomsoever We will over others by several degrees. And above all those who know is the One Who truly knows.
59. Now let us consider the question: How did Allah directly support Prophet Joseph with His plan? It is obvious that the plan of placing the cup in Benjamin’s pack was thought out and executed by Joseph himself. And it is also obvious that the royal servants checked their packs as a matter of routine for such is the procedure that is generally followed on such occasions. There is nothing in this passage that might be called supernatural support by Allah except that the servants asked the brothers to prescribe the punishment for the thief, and they answered that he should be made a bondsman. The sentence that follows also confirms this interpretation.
60. Had Allah willed it, He would not have removed the flaw in the plan of Prophet Joseph. It was this: he could seize his brother according to his plan only by the help of the king’s law, but it was not worthy of a Prophet of Allah to apply that un-Islamic law to his own personal case. For he had taken political power in his hands in order to establish gradually the Islamic law and not to enforce and keep the king’s law in vogue. Had Allah willed it, He would have left no other course for His Prophet except to have resort to the un-Islamic law. But He did not will it so because He did not like to tarnish the fair name of His Prophet. Therefore he made the servants inquire from the brothers (an unusual thing) about the punishment of a thief and they stated the law of Prophet Abraham. Thus not only was the flaw removed, but also no room was left for the brothers to raise any objection against this on the plea that they were not Egyptians, and therefore the law of the land could not be applied against them. As has already been pointed out, this was the support of Allah to which He has referred in the two subsequent verses as a token of His favor and a sign of the perfection of His knowledge.
The favor of Allah was that He saved Prophet Joseph from applying the un-Islamic law of the king of Egypt to his personal case, for he was liable to do so under the stress of human weakness. And there can be no greater favor for one than this that Allah Himself should arrange to guard his high moral position. It should, however, be noted that such a high rank is awarded only to those who prove themselves to be righteous in very hard trials.
By removing the flaw in his plan, Allah showed that His knowledge was far superior to the knowledge of those, whom (like Prophet Joseph) He had endowed with knowledge.
In this connection, there are some other points worthy of consideration and we will deal with them briefly.
(1) Generally the words are translated like this: Joseph could not seize his brother by the law of the king, or Joseph was not authorized to seize his brother according to the law of the king. In other words, it means: He could not do this, as there was no provision for it in the king’s law. Whereas it means this: He ought not to have seized him by the king’s law, as it did not behoove him to do so. This version is open to two objections. Firstly, this is against the Quranic usage which usually means, it did not behoove him, it was not right for him and he ought not to have done this. For instance, this is what it means in the following verses.
Indeed, Islam alone is the right way in the sight of Allah. (Surah Aal-Imran, Ayat 18). Whosoever will adopt any other way than the way of Islam, it shall not be accepted. (Surah Aal-Imran, Ayat 85).
Secondly, such a version is meaningless, for there could have been no reason why he had not the power to seize him for theft according to the law of the king. Can there be any kingdom without having a law for taking action against a thief?
(2) As the Quran uses the word which connotes the king’s way of life in addition to the king’s law, it helps to understand the meaning of the sentence under discussion. For it is obvious that the Prophet was sent to establish the way of Allah and not the un-Islamic way of the king. Though by that time he had only partially succeeded in this mission, it was not proper and worthy of a Prophet to adopt the way of the king for his own personal case. Though there was no legal hindrance in his way to seize his brother according to the king’s law, nevertheless, it was inappropriate for him, as a Prophet, to adopt the king’s way which he had hitherto scrupulously avoided as far as his own person was concerned. Thus it is clear that its appropriate interpretation will be this: It did not behoove Joseph to seize his brother by the king’s law.
(3) Besides this, by using the word for the law of the land, Allah has denoted the vast comprehension of the word deen and this cuts at the root of the conception of deen of those people who confine the scope of the message of the Prophets to mere worship of One Allah and believe that it has nothing to do with the cultural, political, social, judicial, legal and other mundane affairs of life. Or, they opine that, if at all it has any concern with those matters, it is merely to give some instructions of an optional nature in regard to these, and leave it to the believers to adopt these or their own man made laws, because, they think, there is no harm even in adopting the latter course. This erroneous conception of deen, which has been in vogue among the Muslims for a long time, has been responsible for rendering them neglectful of making exertions for the establishment of the Islamic way of life. As a result of this misconception of deen, they became reconciled to un-Islamic ways of unbelief and ignorance. Nay, they considered this misconception of theirs to be the pattern set by Prophet Joseph and became willing helpers and servants of these un-Islamic systems. Whereas this verse categorically refutes this misconception by declaring that the law of the land is as much a part of the deen of Allah as Salat, Hajj, Fast, and Zakat are. Therefore, the demand of the acceptance of ad-deen made in (Surah Aal-Imran, ayat 19) and (Surah Aal-Imran, ayat 85), that is, “Indeed, Islam alone is the right way, in the sight of Allah” and “Whosoever will adopt any other way than the way of Islam, it shall not be accepted”, includes laws as well as Salat and other obligatory duties prescribed by Allah. Therefore the exclusion of this part of deen from any system would incur the displeasure of Allah.
(4) The above interpretation, however, is open to one objection. It does, at least, imply that an un-Islamic way was in vogue in Egypt at the time, when Prophet Joseph was, even according to the present commentator, the supreme head of the country. It is, therefore, a proof that that Prophet himself was enforcing the un-Islamic law of the king. What difference, then, could it have made, if Prophet Joseph had followed, in his personal case too, the system of law of the king which he himself was enforcing instead of the system of law of Prophet Abraham? Most certainly this would have made a vast difference because it would have compromised his position as a Prophet, because he was trying to establish the Islamic Way of life, which naturally could have been accomplished gradually in course of time, during which the king’s law would have inevitably remained in vogue. The same thing happened in Arabia during the mission of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in Al-Madinah, which took nine years to establish the Islamic system in its entirety. During that period, several un-Islamic laws remained in vogue. For instance, drinking, interest, the un-Islamic laws of inheritance and marriage and some wrong ways of trade, etc. had to continue for some time. Likewise the civil and penal codes of Islam took some time for their complete introduction. So there is nothing strange in this that the king’s law continued to be in vogue during the first nine years or so of Prophet Joseph’s reign. But the continuance of the un-Islamic law of the king during the period of transition is no argument to prove that Allah’s Prophet was sent to follow the way of the king and not to establish the way of Allah.
[609]- Ending with the ultimate knowledge of Allāh (subḥānahu wa taʿālā).
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