Transliteration:( Uqtuloo Yoosufa awitra hoohu ardany yakhlu lakum wajhu abeekum wa takoonoo mim ba'dihee qawman saaliheen )
18. So that a wolf may devour him, or he may be abducted by a person. Those scholars who had accepted all these brothers to be prophets say Prophets are always free from infidelity and polytheism, but they are free of sin after prophethood, not prior to it. Thus, these brothers at that point in time were not prophets, they became prophets afterwards. This intention of theirs is one of severe sin.
19. From this we learn that all these actions of the brothers was an effort to turn the father's attention on them, not for any egotistical reasons. It is for this reason that they were eventually granted true repentance.
On the other hand the action of QABEEL was for boosting his evil self hence he was not given an opportunity to repent. This tells us that the outcome of a sin committed in the life of a Prophet is a good act and gets the opportunity to repent.Â
Here becoming pious means making the father happy through obedience. Otherwise committing sin with the intention of repentance is infidelity. This is indeed seeking security with Almighty for your sins. Also, no person can become pious by causing pain and usurping someone's rights. Rights of man will not be forgiven through mere repentance.
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The tafsir of Surah Yusuf verse 9 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Yusuf ayat 7 which provides the complete commentary from verse 7 through 10.
(12:9) So either kill Joseph or cast him into some distant land so that your father’s attention may become exclusively yours. And after so doing become righteous.”[10]
10. This sentence depicts the true psychology of those people who give themselves up to the lusts of their hearts, and, at the same time, do not want to break away completely from faith and religion. This is how a person of this type behaves. Whenever he is tempted to do a certain evil thing, he makes up his mind to do it first and puts off the demands of his faith for the time being. And if his conscience pricks him, he tries to soothe it, saying: Have a little patience. Let me first do this evil thing, which is an obstacle in my way. Then I will repent and become as good as thou desirest to see me. As the brothers of Prophet Joseph belonged to this type, they soothed their pricking consciences, saying: After doing away with Joseph, who is the chief obstacle in our way, we will again become righteous.
[586]- i.e., You can repent thereafter.
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