Transliteration:( Qaala ma'aazal laahi an naakhuza illaa manw wajadnaa mataa'anaa 'indahoo innaaa izal lazaalimoon )
170. Because we have received the command from Allah Almighty to hold back Benyaminn. Also, we have made a promise to Benyamin to hold him back. Thus if we allow him to go and hold you back we would beundermining Divinely inspired order, and breaking our promise to Benyamin. The reason being at that time the punishment for stealing was based on human right, which could be pardoned by a human being
Â
The tafsir of Surah Yusuf verse 79 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Yusuf ayat 78 which provides the complete commentary from verse 78 through 79.
(12:79) Joseph said: “Allah forbid that we should seize any except him with whom we found our good.[63] Were we to do so, we would surely be one of the wrong-doers.”
63. The use of the words “with whom we have found our property” instead of the word thief is very significant. Prophet Joseph avoided the use of the word thief for his brother because he was not really a thief. This is called touriyah, that is, to put a cover over a reality or to hide a reality. Such a practice is allowed by the Muslim law under certain conditions and with certain limitations. It may be practiced not to gain any selfish end, but to ward off some evil or to protect and save an oppressed person from some oppressor, provided that no other course might have been left except saying something against the truth or of having a resort to a deceitful device. It is obvious that in such a case, a righteous person will not tell a blunt lie or resort to an open deceit. Instead, he will say something or do something that might not be strictly truthful or strictly right, yet at the same time is not a blunt lie, so that he might hide the reality to ward off the evil. Such a practice is lawful, legally and morally, provided that it is not practiced to gain some personal or selfish ends but to ward off a greater evil with a lesser evil. Accordingly, Prophet Joseph scrupulously fulfilled all the conditions in this case. He placed the cup in the pack of his brother with his consent, but he did not ask his servants to make a search of his pack and accuse him of theft. After this, when the servants brought the brothers before him as suspects, he quietly rose from his seat and began to make a search of their packs. Then afterwards, when the brothers requested that one of them should be taken instead of Benjamin, he answered them back in their own words that he would detain only that person in whose possession the cup was found and none else.
Instances of such a practice during his campaigns are found in the life history of the Prophet (peace be upon him). And this cannot be regarded as morally objectionable according to any moral or legal standard.
Related Ayat(Verses)/Topics