12. Yusuf

That, which is mentioned of the matter of Joseph, is of the tidings, the tales, of the Unseen, what has been hidden from you O Muhammad (s), which We reveal to you; for you were not with them, with Joseph’s brothers, when they agreed upon their plan, to plot against him, that is, [when] they resolved upon it, and schemed, against him; in other words, you were not present among them to know their story and so tell it to others: knowledge of it has come to you through revelation.

Yet, most people, that is, the people of Mecca, however eager you might be, that they believe, will not believe.

Nor do you ask them any wage, that you should take, for it, that is, [for] the Qur’ān — it, namely, the Qur’ān, is but a reminder, an admonition, to all the worlds.

And how many a sign, indicating the Oneness of God, is there in the heavens and the earth which they pass by, which they witness, but disregard!, not reflecting upon it.

And most of them do not believe in God, such that they might affirm that He is the Creator and the Sustainer, without ascribing partners, to Him, by worshipping idols; which is why, when crying their [ritual] response to God, they used to say: ‘At Your service, no partner have You, save a partner that belongs to You; You possess him and all that he possesses’, meaning it [when they said it].

Do they deem themselves secure from the coming upon them of a pall, a calamity enveloping them, of God’s chastisement, or the coming of the Hour upon them suddenly, while they are unaware?, of the time of its arrival beforehand?

Say, to them: ‘This is my way — which He explains by saying: I call to, the religion of, God, being upon sure knowledge, plain proof, I and whoever follows me, [whoever] believes in me (man ittaba‘anī is a supplement to anā, ‘I’, the subject, predicated by what preceded [sc. ‘being upon sure knowledge’]). So Glory be to God!, [in affirmation] of His being exalted high above having partners, and I am not of the idolaters’ — this [sentence] is also subsumed by the [explanation of] his statement about ‘his way’.

And We did not send before you [any messengers] save men inspired by revelation (yūhā ilayhim: a variant reading has nūhī ilayhim, ‘to whom We revealed’) — and not angels — from among the people of the towns, the principal towns, since they are more knowledgeable and wiser than the people of the desert, who are crude and ignorant. Have they, the people of Mecca, not travelled in the land and seen the nature of the consequence for those who were before them?, that is, how they ended up, when they were destroyed for denying their messengers? And verily the abode of the Hereafter, that is, Paradise, is better for those who are wary, of God. Will they not understand? (read a-fa-lā ya‘qilūn, or a-fa-lā ta‘qilūn. ‘Will you not understand?’), this, O people of Mecca, and so have faith?

Until (hattā indicates the end [result] indicated by [the previous statement] wa-mā arsalnā min qablika illā rijālan, And We did not send before you [any messengers] save men [above, Q. 12:109]), that is, [to whom] Our support waned until, when the messengers despaired and thought, [when] the messengers were certain, that they were denied (read kudhdhibū, to mean [that they were denied] to such an extent that [they believed that] there would not be any [possible acceptance of] faith thereafter; or read kudhibū, to mean that the communities thought that their messengers had been lied to concerning the victory which they had been promised), Our help came to them and whomever We willed We delivered (read fa-nunajjī or fa-nunjī; or fa-nujjiya, as past tense, ‘[whomever We wished] was delivered’). And Our wrath, Our chastisement, cannot be averted from the sinning, the idolatrous, folk.