The saying of the Exalted and Majestic:

﴿And the king said, 'Indeed, I see seven fat cows being eaten by seven lean ones, and seven green ears of grain and others that are dry. O assembly [of nobles], advise me in my vision if you are able to interpret visions.'﴾ ﴿They said, 'This is but a jumble of dreams, and we are not skilled in the interpretation of dreams.'﴾ ﴿And the one who was saved from the two [prisoners] and remembered after a time said, 'I will inform you of its interpretation, so send me forth.'﴾

The meaning: And the greatest king said: ﴿Indeed, I see﴾ means: in his dream, and this has been clarified in His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Indeed, I see in the dream that I am slaughtering you﴾ [As-Saffat: 102]. And it has been narrated that a past state is indicated by 'I see,' while it is future in the sense that it anticipates the vision.

﴿Seven fat cows﴾, it is narrated that he said: I saw them coming out from a river, and behind them came seven lean ones. I saw that they ate those fat ones until they were in their bellies. He also saw the ears of grain as mentioned, and the lean ones are those that have reached the utmost degree of thinness. From this is the saying of the poet:

(p-94)...................

؎ And the men of Makkah are thin and lean.

Then he said to his assembly and those present: ﴿O assembly [of nobles], advise me﴾. A group read with the emphasis on the two hamzah letters, and a group read that they pronounced the 'a' in 'advise me' as a 'waw.' And his saying: ﴿in the vision﴾, the 'lam' has entered for the meaning of emphasis and connection. This is because when the object precedes, it is good in some verbs for the 'lam' of the genitive to enter upon it, and when it follows, the verb does not need that. And the phrase 'interpretation of the vision' is derived from: 'he crossed the river,' which is to go from one bank to another, so it is as if the interpreter of the vision reaches the end of its interpretation.

And his saying: ﴿They said, 'This is but a jumble of dreams.'﴾ The term 'jumble' in the speech of the Arabs means less than a bundle and more than a handful of plants and grass, and it may be of one kind, or it may be a mixture of plants. From this is His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And take in your hand a bundle﴾ [Sad: 44]. It has been narrated that he took a (bundle) from the palm trees, and it has been narrated that the Prophet ﷺ did something similar in a punishment he enacted upon a sick man. From this is the saying of Ibn Muqbil:

؎ A beautiful one, as if her bed was placed with it ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ A jumble of fragrant herbs in the morning of the north.

(p-95) And from the mixtures is the saying of the Arabs in their proverbs: 'A jumble upon a heap,' which likens the mixture of dreams to the mixture of a collection of plants. The meaning is that what you saw, O king, is a mixture of dreams due to sleep, and we are not of the people of knowledge in that, meaning: in what is mixed and poor. They only denied for themselves the interpretation of dreams, not the interpretation of visions in general. And the Prophet ﷺ said: 'The vision is from Allah, and the dream is from the devil.' And he said to the one who saw his head being cut off and then returned: 'If the devil plays with one of you in sleep, then do not speak of that.'

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

So dreams and the events of the self are nullified; the vision is what is interpreted and its knowledge is sought. The 'ba' in his saying: 'by scholars' is for emphasis, and in his saying: 'in the interpretation' is for transference, and it is related to his saying: 'by scholars.'

(And the dreams): It is the plural of dream. It is said: A man dreamed - with the opening of the letter 'lam' - if it was imagined to him in his sleep. Dreams are among what the Shari'ah has confirmed. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "The vision is from Allah, and it is the glad tidings, and the distressing dream is from the devil. So if one of you sees what he dislikes, let him spit to his left three times, and let him say: I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of what I saw, for it will not harm him." And what was from the thoughts of the soul while awake, he does not pay attention to it. When the cupbearer heard this statement from the king and the consultation of his companions, he remembered Yusuf (p-96) and his knowledge of the interpretation of dreams and visions. So he said his statement in this verse. The root of "and he remembered" is: "udh-takar"; it is derived from remembrance. The 'ta' was changed to a 'dal' and the first was assimilated into the second. Then the 'dal' was replaced with a non-pointed 'dal' due to the strength of the 'dal' and its firmness. Some Arabs say: "udh-dhakara". And it was read: "Is there any reminder?" with the dots, and "from a reminder" in both dialects. The majority of the people read: "after a nation" which is the duration of time. Ibn Abbas and a group read: "after a community" which is forgetfulness. Mujahid and Shubail ibn Azrah read: "after a mother" with the 'mim' being silent, which is a source from "amiha" if he forgot. Al-Ashhab al-Aqili read: "after an immah" with the hamzah being broken, and the immah is the blessing. The meaning is: after a blessing that Allah bestowed upon Yusuf in facilitating his release and his honor. By saying: "and he remembered", it strengthens the statement of those who say that the pronoun in "So He made him forget" refers back to the cupbearer, and the matter is possible. The majority read: "I will inform you," and Hasan ibn Abi Hasan read: "I will come to you," and likewise in the Mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b. His saying: "So send me" is a request for permission to proceed. It was said: The prison was in a different city from the king, as stated by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, and it was said: It was in it. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Today, people draw the prison of Yusuf in a location on the Nile between it and the Fustat, eight miles.