'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And since the custom was prevalent that the slave is demeaned, Allah, the Exalted, informed that He honored him above this custom, so He said, warning that his purchase was in Egypt: ﴿And the one who bought him said﴾, meaning he took him with great desire. And if they had hesitated about him, he would have raised the price for him. ﴿From Egypt﴾, meaning the well-known city. And the expression here is longer than what is shorter than it to indicate that his sale is injustice, and that he did not enter into anyone's ownership at all. ﴿To his wife﴾, commanding her to honor him in the most eloquent manner. ﴿Honor his lodging﴾, meaning the place of his stay. And this is greater than the command to honor him himself. The meaning is: honor him with great honor such that he is among those whom everyone honors for his sake, so that he may desire to stay with us. And when it was as if she said: What is the reason for your advising me about him over others? He began his saying: ﴿Perhaps he may benefit us﴾, meaning his condition is worthy and deserving that ﴿he may take him as a son﴾, for I am hopeful for that. And when Allah, the Exalted, informed of the beginning of his matter, and it was known that this was when He made him esteemed in the hearts for what necessitated his respect, and glorification, and exaltation, Allah, the Exalted, informed of the end of his matter, likening it to this known content. So He said: ﴿And likewise﴾, meaning just as We enabled Yusuf by the honoring of the caravan: the people of the desert at one time, and the honoring of his buyer and his competition in it at another time. ﴿We established Yusuf in the land﴾, meaning the land of Egypt, which is like all the lands due to the abundance of its benefits by having dominion in it to enable him to rule with justice and by prophethood to teach him with what We have of greatness ﴿of the interpretation of dreams﴾, meaning by returning them from their apparent meanings to their inner meanings. So Allah, the Exalted, indicated the likeness without explicitly stating it for what was indicated by the context, and He affirmed the establishment in the land to indicate its necessary consequence of kingship and the enabling of justice. And He mentioned the teaching to indicate its necessary consequence which is prophethood. So He indicated first by the necessary consequence to the consequence, and secondly by the consequence to the necessary consequence, which is like His saying, the Exalted: ﴿A group fighting in the cause of Allah and another disbelieving﴾ [Al-Imran: 13]. So it is a mutual implication or something close to it.

And when it was among the most astonishing of wonders that one who has been granted the ability to act in such ways is able to do so in a land where he is a stranger, isolated, without any kin or supporters, Allah, the Most High, said, negating this astonishment: "And Allah, the Sovereign of all sovereignty, is dominant over His affair," meaning the matter He intends. His dominance is evident to all who have insight. Jacob commanded Joseph, blessings and peace be upon them, not to recount his dream for fear of his brothers. So, His affair prevailed until what he had been warned about occurred. His brothers intended to kill him, but His affair prevailed over them. They wanted to have him picked up by some travelers so that his name would be forgotten, but His affair prevailed, and his name became known and famous. Then they sold him to become a slave, and His affair prevailed until he became a king, and they prostrated before him. Then they wanted to incite their father and soothe his heart so that he would be alone with them, but His affair prevailed and He manifested him over their plot. The wife of the Aziz schemed to deceive him regarding himself, but His affair prevailed, and He protected him so that he did not even think of wrongdoing. Rather, he fled from her with the utmost fleeing. Then she exerted her effort in humiliating him and casting blame upon him, but Allah willed nothing but to honor him and exonerate him. Then Joseph, blessings and peace be upon him, wanted to mention the cupbearer to him, but His affair prevailed, and He made him forget his mention until the term that He had decreed passed. And how many matters were in this story and others that guide to the fact that there is no affair for anyone other than Him, glorified and exalted is He! "But most people," meaning those who are prone to confusion, "do not know," due to their lack of contemplation that He, the Most High, is above all affairs, and that the judgment belongs solely to Him, due to their preoccupation with looking at the apparent causes that He establishes. So, He, glorified is He, is concealed from them by the veil of causes.

He mentioned what has passed of the story of Yusuf, blessings and peace be upon him, from the Torah: In the latter part of the second book of it, it was said: Yusuf, the son of Yaqub, was seventeen years old. He was tending sheep with his brothers. And Israel loved Yusuf more than he loved his brothers, because he was born to him in his old age. So he made for him a shirt with two sleeves. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than them, so they hated him and could not speak to him peacefully. Then he saw a dream which he related to his brothers, saying to them: 'Listen to this dream that I saw. I saw as if we were tying bundles of harvest in the field, and my bundle stood upright and rose, and your bundles surrounded it and bowed to it.' His brothers said to him: 'Do you see that you will possess us and dominate us?' And they increased in their hatred for him because of his dream and his words. Then he saw another dream and said: 'Indeed, I saw another dream. I saw as if the sun and the moon and eleven stars were prostrating to me.' He related it to his father and his brothers. His father admonished him and said: 'What is this dream? Will we, I and your mother and your brothers, prostrate to you on the earth?' So his brothers envied him, and his father kept these sayings in mind.

And the brothers of Yusuf set out tending their sheep in Nablus. Then Israel said to Yusuf: 'Here are your brothers tending in Nablus. Come, I will send you to them!' He said: 'Here I am!' His father said: 'Go and see how your brothers are and how the sheep are. And bring me news.' So Yaqub, blessings and peace be upon him, sent him from the valley of Hebron. He came to Nablus and found a man who was wandering in the field. The man asked him: 'What are you seeking in the field?' He said: 'I am seeking my brothers. Can you guide me to where they are tending?' The man said to him: 'They have departed from here, and I heard them saying: 'We are going to Dothan.' So Yusuf followed his brothers and found them in Dothan. They saw him from afar, and before he could approach them, they conspired to kill him. Some of them said to one another: 'Here comes the dreamer of dreams. Come, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we will say: 'A vicious wolf has devoured him.' Then we will see what will become of his dreams!' But Reuben heard and saved him from their hands, saying to them: 'Do not kill a soul, and do not shed blood. Rather, throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and do not extend your hands to him.' He intended to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

So when Yusuf came to his brothers, they took off the shirt with two sleeves that he was wearing. They took him and threw him into the well, which was empty of water. Then they sat down to eat bread. They lifted their eyes and saw a caravan of Arabs coming from Jal'ad - and in another version: from Jarash. Their camels were laden with fat, milk, and food. They were heading towards Egypt. Judah said to his brothers: What benefit do we have in killing our brother and shedding his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Arabs, and let us not extend our hands to him, for he is our brother: our flesh and blood. His brothers obeyed him. Then a group of traders from Midian passed by them. They lifted Yusuf from the well and sold him to the Arabs for twenty dirhams. They brought him to Egypt.

Rubail returned to the well and found that Yusuf was not there. He tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said to them: Where is the boy? Where shall I go now? They took Yusuf's shirt, blessings and peace be upon him, and slaughtered a goat from the goats and stained the shirt with its blood. They sent it with the one who brought it to their father and said: We found this. Verify it, is it the shirt of your son or not? He recognized it and said: This shirt is the shirt of my son. A ferocious beast has devoured my son Yusuf. He grieved for his son for many days. All his sons and daughters stood to console him, but he refused to accept their condolences and said: I will go down to the grave while I am grieving for Yusuf. His father wept for him. The Midianites sold Yusuf to Qutifar, the chief of Pharaoh's guards - it has ended, and there is in it what contradicts the apparent meaning of the Qur'an and can be interpreted - and Allah knows best.