His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So he began with their containers before the container of his brother. Then he extracted it from the container of his brother. Thus, we devised for Yusuf. He could not take his brother in the religion of the king unless Allah wills. We raise in degrees whom We will, and above every possessor of knowledge is one who is knowing."

His beginning also with their containers is a means for the deception, and a distancing from the appearance that it is a deception. The majority of the people read: "container" with a kasrah on the waw, while Al-Hasan read: "container" with a dammah on it, and Ibn Jubayr read: "container" with a hamzah instead of the waw. This is common in the broken waw, and it is more common in the rounded one. And there has come from the open one one instance in wahid.

And Allah, the Exalted, added the deception to His pronoun when He brought forth the decree by which He permitted Yusuf to take his brother, as a means that is in the habit of people a deception. And As-Suddi and Ad-Dahhak said: "We devised" means: we made. And "the religion of the king" was explained by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, as his authority, and it was explained by Qatadah as judgment and ruling. This is similar, and the exception in this verse is a narration of a state, the estimation being: "unless Allah willed what occurred from this deception," and it is possible to estimate that it is a practice when he established the negation.

The majority read: "We raise" on the pronoun of the exalted, and "We will" likewise. Al-Hasan, 'Isa, and Ya'qub read with a ya, meaning: Allah, the Exalted. Abu 'Amr, Nafi', and the people of Medina read: "degrees of whom" by adding "the degrees" to "whom." And 'Asim and Ibn Muhaysin read: "degrees" with tanween on the degrees. The majority read: "and above every possessor of knowledge." Ibn Mas'ud read: "and above every scholar." The meaning is that people in knowledge have degrees, so every scholar must have one who is more knowledgeable than him, either from among the people or Allah, the Exalted. And as for the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, it is said: "possessor" is extra, and it is said: "scholar" is a source like falsehood.

It has been narrated that the inspector would, when he finished searching a man's belongings and found nothing in them, seek forgiveness from Allah, the Exalted, repenting from doing that. The apparent meaning of the words of Qatadah and others is that the one seeking forgiveness was Yusuf; for he was inspecting them and knowing where the cup was, until he finished with them and reached the belongings of Benjamin and said: I do not think this young man would be pleased with this, nor did he take anything. His brothers said to him: By Allah, we will not depart until you search him, for it is better for your soul and our souls. So he searched then and brought forth the cup. And this inspection from Yusuf necessitates that the one who called out was indeed stealing them by his opinion, or it could be said: all of that was by the command of Allah, the Exalted, and this is supported by his saying: "We devised," and how could it not be by the opinion of Yusuf while he is compelled in his attempt to impose upon them the ruling of theft so that he could take his brother.

And the pronoun in his saying: "he extracted it" refers back to the cup, and it is possible that it refers back to the theft.

It is narrated that the brothers of Yusuf, when they saw that, said: 'O Benjamin, son of Rachel, may Allah curse you. Your mother gave birth to two brothers for the two of us. How did you steal this cup?' He raised his hands to the sky and said: 'By Allah, I did not do it.' They said to him: 'Then who placed it in your saddlebag?' He said: 'The one who placed the goods in your saddlebags.'

And what we have mentioned of the meaning in His saying, the Most High: 'And above every knowledgeable one is one who is more knowledgeable,' is the saying of Al-Hasan and Qatadah. It has also been narrated from Ibn Abbas, and it has also been narrated from him, may Allah be pleased with him, that he once narrated an astonishing hadith. A man among those present was astonished and said: 'Praise be to Allah, and above every knowledgeable one is one who is more knowledgeable.' Ibn Abbas said: 'What you said is bad. The knowledgeable one is for Allah, and He is above every knowledgeable one.'

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 'There is a difference between this and the saying of Al-Hasan.'