His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So when the bearer of good news came, he cast it upon his face and he returned seeing. He said, 'Did I not tell you that I know from Allah what you do not know?'" They said, 'O our father, ask forgiveness for us of our sins. Indeed, we have been wrongdoers.' He said, 'I will ask forgiveness for you from my Lord. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.'" So when they entered upon Yusuf, he took his parents to himself and said, 'Enter Egypt, if Allah wills, safe.'" And he raised his parents upon the throne and they fell down in prostration to him.

It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the bearer of good news was Yahuda because he came with the shirt stained with blood.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: My father, may Allah be pleased with him, told me: I heard the preacher Abu al-Fadl al-Jawhari on the pulpit in Egypt saying: When Yusuf, peace be upon him, said, "Take this shirt of mine and cast it upon my father's face," [Yusuf: 93] Yahuda said: 'You know that I went to him with the shirt of grief, so let me go to him with the shirt of joy.' So they left him, and that is what was said by al-Suddi.

And 'returned' means: he came back. It is said: the man returned and he was returned by another. And 'seeing' means: seeing. Then he stopped them at his saying to them: "Indeed, I know from Allah what you do not know." And this - and Allah knows best - is his waiting for the interpretation of the vision, and it is possible that he refers only to his good opinion of Allah, the Exalted. And it has been narrated that he said to the bearer of good news: 'On what religion did you leave Yusuf?' He said: 'On Islam.' He said: 'Praise be to Allah, now the favor is complete.' And in the Mus'haf of Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him: "So when the bearer of good news came from before the caravan." And al-Tabari narrated from some grammarians that he said: 'That' in his saying: "So when the bearer of good news came" is extra, and the Arabs sometimes add it in speech after 'when' and after 'until' only. They say: 'When I came, it was like this,' and 'when that I came,' and likewise they say: 'Zayd did not stand until I stood,' and 'until that I stood.'

And His saying: "They said, 'O our father, ask forgiveness for us of our sins. Indeed, we have been wrongdoers.'"

It is narrated that Yusuf, peace be upon him, when he forgave his brothers and they also realized that Yaqub would forgive them, some of them said to one another: "What good is this for us if Allah does not forgive us?" So they requested at that time from Yaqub to ask forgiveness for them from Allah, the Exalted. They acknowledged their mistake, and Yaqub said to them: "Soon I will ask my Lord for forgiveness for you." A group said: He delayed them until the last part of the night. It is narrated from Muharib ibn Dithar that he said: A relative of mine used to come to the mosque, and he heard a person saying: "O Allah, I called upon You and You answered me, and I answered You and I obeyed You, and this is the last part of the night, so forgive me." He listened to the voice and found it was from the house of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud was asked about that, and he said: Indeed, Yaqub, peace be upon him, delayed his sons until the last part of the night. This interpretation is supported by the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Our Lord descends every night when the last third of the night remains to the lowest heaven and says: Who calls upon Me so that I may respond to him? Who seeks forgiveness from Me so that I may forgive him?" The saying of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, also supports this: "And those who seek forgiveness in the early hours of the morning" [Al-Imran: 17]. A group said: Yaqub only delayed them until the night prayer. Another group - among them was Said ibn Jubair - said: Yaqub delayed them until the white nights, for supplication in them is answered. It was said: He only delayed them until the night of Friday. Ibn Abbas narrated this interpretation from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, saying: "Yaqub delayed them until Friday came to him."

Then Yaqub, peace be upon him, encouraged them with his words: "Indeed, He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful."

And His saying: "So when they entered" indicates that there are omitted parts that the apparent meaning indicates, which are: Yaqub traveled with all his family and they journeyed until they reached Yusuf. When they entered upon him, "he took them in" means: he embraced them and showed hospitality to them. In the hadith: "As for one of them, he took refuge with Allah and Allah sheltered him." It was said that he meant by the parents his father and mother, as said by Ibn Ishaq and Al-Hasan. Some of them said: His father and his maternal grandmother, as reported by Al-Zahrawi. It was said: His father and his aunt, because his mother had died, as said by Al-Suddi.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The first is more apparent according to the wording, unless it is established by a chain that his mother had died. In the Mus'haf of Ibn Mas'ud: "He took refuge with his parents and his brothers."

And His saying: "Enter Egypt" means: Settle, dwell, and remain, for they had entered upon him. It was said: Rather, he said that to them on the way when he met them, as said by Al-Suddi. This exception is what the Qur'an has urged for a person to say in all that he intends to execute by his words in the future. Ibn Jurayj said: This is delayed in wording but connected in meaning to his saying: "Soon I will ask forgiveness for you."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: There is weakness in this interpretation.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And 'the Throne': it is the bed of the king, and everything that is arched is an arish and a throne. The language has specified the throne for the bed of the king. And 'they fell' means: they prostrated to the ground. There is a difference of opinion regarding this prostration. It was said: it was like what we are accustomed to, which is placing the face on the ground. And it was said: rather, it was less than that, like a deep bow and similar to what was their manner of greetings to the kings in that time. The interpreters have agreed that this prostration - in whatever form it was - was indeed a greeting, not an act of worship. Qatadah said: this was the greeting of the kings among them. And Allah granted this nation the greeting of the people of Paradise. Al-Hasan said: the pronoun in 'to Him' refers to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. This saying was refuted. Al-Tabari narrated that when Jacob reached Egypt, he spoke to Joseph, blessings and peace be upon him, about Pharaoh in receiving him. Pharaoh came out to him, and the kings came out with him. When Joseph approached Jacob - and Jacob was walking leaning on Judah - Jacob looked at the horses and the people and said: O Judah, this is Pharaoh of Egypt. He said: No, he is your son. When each of them approached his companion, Joseph began with the greeting, but Jacob prevented him from that. Jacob was more deserving of it than him and better. He said: Peace be upon you, O remover of sorrows. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: and this is similar to the stories. At that time, Joseph said to Jacob: Indeed, Pharaoh has been good to us, so enter upon him grateful. So he entered upon him, and Pharaoh said: O elder, what has brought you to what I see? He said: The continuation of calamity upon me. He said: His foot did not stop until revelation descended: O Jacob, do you complain to one who cannot harm you or benefit you? He said: O Lord, a sin, so forgive it. Abu Amr al-Shaybani said: Joseph advanced Jacob in walking in some of those places. Then Gabriel descended and said to him: Do you advance your father? Indeed, your punishment for that is that no prophet will come forth from your descendants. His saying, the Mighty and Majestic: ﴿And he said: O my father, this is the interpretation of my dream from before. My Lord has made it true, and He has been good to me when He brought me out of prison and brought you from the desert after Satan had caused enmity between me and my brothers. Indeed, my Lord is Subtle in what He wills. Indeed, He is the Knowing, the Wise﴾ The meaning: Joseph said to Jacob: this prostration that was from you is what my dream had foretold long ago, of the eleven stars and the sun and the moon. And his saying: ﴿My Lord has made it true﴾ is the beginning of enumerating the blessings of Allah, the Exalted, upon him. And his saying: ﴿And He has been good to me﴾ means: He has placed and attributed His goodness to me. This is a manner of expressing the reaching of goodness with the preposition 'bi'. It may be said: He has been good to me, and He has been good in me. And from this is the saying of Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul: O Muhammad, be good to my allies. These expressions have different meanings, and the most appropriate for Joseph is his saying: 'to me' because it is a goodness that came to him without him intending the goal to which he reached. And Joseph mentioned his being brought out from prison and omitted mentioning his being brought out from the well for two reasons:

One of them is that in mentioning his emergence from the well, there is a renewal of the actions of his brothers and their disgrace by that, and the uprooting of their souls, and the stirring of those hidden matters, and the degrading of the souls.

The other aspect is that he emerged from the well to servitude and from prison to kingship, so the blessing here is clearer.

And His saying: ﴿And He brought you from the desert﴾ encompasses the gathering of the family and the transition from hardship to blessing by residing in the city. And the dwelling of Jacob, peace be upon him, was at the edges of Syria in the desert of Palestine, and he was a master of camels and sheep and of the desert.

And "Nazagha" means: he acted in a way that corrupted by it. From this is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Let none of you point a weapon at his brother, lest the devil should cause him to stumble in his hand." And Joseph mentioned this amount regarding his brothers to clarify the good position of blessings, for when a blessing comes after hardship and affliction, it is in a better position.

And His saying: ﴿For what He wills﴾ means: of the matters that He does.

People have differed on how long it was between the dream of Joseph and its realization. A group said: Forty years. This is the saying of Salman the Persian and Abdullah ibn Shaddad. Abdullah ibn Shaddad said: That is the longest that a dream can be delayed. And a group - among them Al-Hasan, Hasan ibn Farqad, and Fudayl ibn Iyad - said: Eighty years. And Ibn Ishaq said: Eighteen. And it was said: Twenty-two, as stated by Al-Naqqash. And it was said: Thirty. And it was said: Thirty-five, as stated by Qatadah. And Al-Suddi and Ibn Jubair said: Thirty-six years. And it was said that Joseph, peace be upon him, lived for one hundred and twenty years. And it was said that Jacob remained with Joseph for more than twenty years, then he passed away, blessings and peace be upon him.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

There is no reason to leave Joseph informing his father of his condition since he emerged from prison to honor except for the revelation from Allah, the Exalted, when He intended to test Jacob and his sons, and He intended the manner of their gathering. There is no deity except Him. And Al-Naqqash said: That revelation was in the well, and it is His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And We inspired to him, 'You will surely inform them of this affair of theirs while they do not perceive.'﴾ [Joseph: 15]. And this is a possibility.

And from what has been narrated in the news of Jacob, peace be upon him: Al-Hasan said: When the bearer of good news came to him, he found nothing with him to reward him with. So he said to him: By Allah, I have not received anything from you, and we have not baked since seven nights. But: "Allah has made the agonies of death easy for you." And from his news is that when his affliction intensified, he said: O Lord, You have blinded my sight and concealed Yusuf from me. Will You not have mercy on me? So Allah revealed to him: I will have mercy on you and restore your son and your sight to you. And I did not punish you for that except that you cooked a lamb in your house, and a neighbor of yours smelled it, and you did not share it with him. He said: So Jacob would thereafter invite him to his lunch and dinner. And Al-Tabari narrated that when his family was gathered, his sons urged him to pray to Allah for them until the revelation came that Allah had forgiven them. He said: So Jacob would pray and Yusuf was behind him, and they were behind Yusuf, and he would pray for them. And he remained like that for twenty years, then the revelation came to him: Indeed, I have forgiven them and granted them the covenants of prophethood after you.

And from his news is that when death approached him, he bequeathed to Yusuf to bury him in the Levant. So when he died, he was embalmed and carried to the Levant. Then Yusuf died and was buried in Egypt. So when Musa, peace be upon him, later left the land of Egypt, he carried the bones of Yusuf until he buried them in the Levant with his forefathers.