His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Return to your father and say, 'O our father, indeed your son has stolen, and we did not witness except what we knew, and we were not to be guardians of the unseen.'" "And ask the city in which we were and the caravan in which we came, and indeed we are truthful.'" "He said, 'Rather, your souls have enticed you to a matter, so patience is most fitting. Perhaps Allah will bring them to me all together. Indeed, He is the Knowing, the Wise.'"

The command to return is said to be from the words of their elder, and it is said, rather, it is from the words of Yusuf to them. The first is more apparent. The majority read: 'stolen' based on the confirmation of the theft according to the apparent matter. Ibn Abbas and Abu Razin read: 'was stolen' with a damma on the sin and a kasra on the ra and its emphasis. It seems that this reading indicates that they did not definitively accuse him of theft, but rather intended to say: he was made a thief based on what appeared of the situation. This reading has been narrated from Al-Kisai. Al-Dahhak read: 'Indeed, your son is a thief' with an alif and the tanween of the qaf. Then they were cautious afterward - according to the two readings - in their saying: "And we did not witness except what we knew." That is, our saying to you: "Indeed, your son has stolen" is merely a testimony to you based on what we knew from the apparent of what occurred, and knowledge of the unseen belongs to Allah; we are not guardians of that. This is the saying of Ibn Ishaq.

Ibn Zayd said: Their saying: "And we did not witness except what we knew" meant: and we did not witness with Yusuf that the thief is to be enslaved in your law except based on what we knew of that. And we were not guardians of the unseen that the theft would be taken from one of us; rather, we thought that this would not happen at all. So we testified to him - when we asked - based on our knowledge. Al-Hasan read: "And we did not witness against him except what we knew" with the addition of "against him."

And it is possible that his saying: "And we were not guardians of the unseen" means: when we trusted you, we intended that nothing would occur from us in his regard that he would dislike, and we did not know the unseen that he would come with what necessitates his enslavement. It has been narrated that the meaning of "the unseen" is the night, and the unseen means the night in the language of Himyar. So it seems that they said: And we did not witness with you except based on what we knew from the apparent of his situation, and we were not guardians at night of what occurs from his theft or deception against him.

Then they called as witnesses the people of the city in which they were, which is Egypt, as said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and others. And this is a metaphor, and the intended meaning is its people. Likewise, his saying: "and the caravan" is the saying of the majority, and it is the correct one. Abu al-Ma'ali reported in the summary from some of the speakers that he said: This is from omission and not from metaphor, and rather the metaphor is a word borrowed for something other than what it is for.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The omission of the added is the essence of metaphor and its greatness. This is the view of Sibawayh and others among the people of consideration, and not every omission is metaphor. Abu al-Ma'ali preferred in this verse that it is metaphor, and he narrated that it is the saying of the majority or something like this. And a group said: Rather, they referred it to the questioning of inanimate objects and animals in reality, and since he is a prophet, it is not far that they inform him of the truth.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this, even if it is permitted, is far-fetched, and the first is stronger. And here there is an implied statement that the apparent necessitates, its estimation is: So when they said this saying to their father, he said: ﴿Rather, your souls have enticed you to a matter﴾. This is on the condition that the speech of their elder reaches here. And whoever sees that the speech of their elder was completed in his saying: ﴿Indeed, your son has stolen﴾, he makes the speech there estimated as: So when they returned, they said: ﴿Indeed, your son has stolen﴾, the verse. And the apparent meaning of his saying: ﴿Rather, your souls have enticed you to a matter﴾ is merely a bad assumption about them, as it was in the story of Yusuf before. It happened that the truth of his assumption was there and was not realized here. And "enticed" means: beautified, imagined, and made it a desire. And the desire is what a person wishes for and is eager for. And his saying: ﴿So patience is beautiful﴾ is either a beginning and its news is: more appropriate or better. And it is good to begin with the indefinite in that it was described. Or the news of the beginning, its estimation is: So my matter, or my affair, or my patience is beautiful patience. And this is more fitting for the indefinite, that it be a news. And the meaning of describing it with beauty is that there is no complaint in it to a human nor annoyance with the decree of Allah, glorified and exalted is He. Then he hoped for them, peace be upon him, that Allah would compensate them for him, and they are: Yusuf, and Binyamin, and Rubeil who did not leave the land. And his hope for this is from several aspects: One of them is the vision that Yusuf saw, so Yaqub was waiting for it. The second is his good assumption about Allah, glorified and exalted is He, in every situation. The third is what they informed him about the king of Egypt that he is calling for him upon seeing his son. So for him, from here, there was a feeling and hope. And the description of knowledge and precision is fitting for what he hopes for from meeting his sons, and in it is submission to the wisdom of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, in all that has befallen him.