His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿O my sons, go and inquire about Joseph and his brother, and do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, no one despairs of the mercy of Allah except the disbelieving people.﴾ ﴿And when they entered upon him, they said, O Aziz, hardship has touched us and our family, and we have come with goods that are of little worth, so give us full measure and be charitable to us. Indeed, Allah rewards the charitable.﴾

The meaning: Go to the land from which you came and left your brothers, Benjamin and Rubil. "So inquire," that is, investigate and disperse. Inquiring is seeking something by means of the senses. It is used for good and evil. From its use for good is this verse, and for evil is the prohibition of the Prophet ﷺ in his saying: "And do not inquire."

(p-139) And His saying: ﴿about Joseph﴾ is related to something omitted that the word "inquire" acts upon. The implication is: So inquire about news or the truth concerning Joseph, but what indicates this is omitted for brevity.

And a group read: "despair," and another group read: "despaired" as previously mentioned. Al-A'raj read: "despair" with a broken 'ta'. Joseph and Benjamin are specifically mentioned because Rubil remained as a choice, while these two were prevented from returning.

And the mercy is: the compassion. Then He made despair from the mercy of Allah and His relief a characteristic of the disbelievers, as it involves either denial of Lordship or ignorance of the attributes of Allah, glorified and exalted is He. And Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and Umar ibn Abdul Aziz read: "of the mercy of Allah" with a damm on the 'ra'. It seems that the meaning of this reading is: "Do not despair of a living being with the spirit of Allah that He has granted, for whoever remains with his spirit is to be hoped for." And from this is the saying of the poet:

And in others who have been buried by the earth, hope.

And from this is the saying of Ubaid:

And every one who is absent returns, And the absent of death does not return.

And it appears from the narration of the one who said: "(When I die, burn me, then crush me, then scatter me in the sea and on the land on a windy day, for if Allah has power over me, let Him punish me with a punishment that He has not punished anyone among the worlds):" He has despaired of the mercy of Allah. And the matter is not as such, for the saying of the Prophet ﷺ at the end of the narration: "So Allah forgave him" implies that he died as a believer, for Allah does not forgive a disbeliever. Thus, it remains that the narration should be interpreted either as (power) meaning: constricted and debated the reckoning, and that is a clear meaning, or that it is from "power," and his error is in thinking that gathering after being crushed and scattered is impossible, and that Allah, exalted and majestic is He, cannot be described with power over it. He erred in making the permissible impossible, and this does not necessitate disbelief.

Al-Naqqash said: And Ibn Mas'ud read: "from favor," and Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "from the mercy of Allah."

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So when they entered upon him﴾, in this context, is a summary of omitted elements that the apparent meaning provides. It indicates that they traveled from Sham to Misr and reached it. The pronoun in "upon him" refers back to Yusuf. And "the hardship" they meant by it is the famine that they were facing and the matter of their brother which concerned their father and distressed them all. And "the merchandise": it is a piece of money intended for buying something, and it is subject to the customary understanding in matters where the holder has no share in the profit. And "the offered" means: the pushed forward, as in the driving of clouds, and in the driving of camels, as the poet said:

On the beasts that are driven, their brains are scattered.

And as Al-Nabighah said:

And the wind blew from the direction of Dhul-Uruhl, It drove with the night from its direction.

And Al-A'sha said:

The giver of a hundred purebred camels and her servant, It drives behind it its children.

And another said:

And a need that is not offered among the needs.

And Hatim said:

Let him weep for a guest who is pushed forward, And a widow who is driven with the night.

So the gist of this is that whoever drives something and is gentle in its driving has offered it. If the dirhams paid are of a low value and need to be excused and justified, then they are offered. It was said that this is because they were counterfeit, as Ibn Abbas said. And Al-Hasan said: they were few. And it was said: they were deficient, as Ibn Jubayr said. And it was said: their merchandise was goods, and for this reason they said this. There was disagreement about what those goods were. It was said: they were butter and wool, as Abdullah ibn Al-Harith said. And Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: they were dried meat of wild animals, as Al-Naqqash mentioned. And Abu Salih and Zayd ibn Aslam said: they were pine nuts and green grains.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "And it is the pistachio." And it was said: they were lentils. And it was said: they were cotton. And it was said: they were ropes, and cords, and saddlebags. And Makki narrated that Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: the offered is the permissible.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I do not know a basis for this, and the meaning rejects it. It is possible that it was miswritten for Malik, and that his wording was with a letter that is not marked and with a letter 'ra', and Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, relied on this verse regarding the sale being on the seller, and that is apparent from it and not a text.

And their saying: ﴿And give us charity﴾ means: with what is between the good dirhams and this offered, as Al-Suddi and others said. And it was said: the charity was not forbidden for those prophets, and it was only forbidden for Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, as Sufyan ibn Uyaynah said.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is weak, and it is refuted by the hadith of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in his saying: "We, the community of prophets, are not allowed to take charity."

A group said: Charity was forbidden upon them. However, they said this as a concession and an appeal from them in the transaction, just as you would say to someone you are bargaining with over a commodity: 'Give me this much from its price and take this much.' You did not intend for him to give it to you, but rather you beautified the action for him so that he would return with you to your bargaining. Ibn Jurayj said: They specifically mentioned in their saying: 'And give us charity' the matter of their brother (Yamin), meaning: Fulfill for us the measure in the transaction, and give us charity by sending our brother back to our father.

And their saying: 'Indeed, Allah rewards the charitable.' Al-Naqqash said: It is said that this is among the expressions that are free from lying. This is because they believed him to be a disbelieving king, outside of their religion. If they had said: 'Indeed, Allah rewards you for your charity in the Hereafter,' they would have lied. So they said to him a phrase that implies they intended him, while it is valid for them to exclude him from it by interpretation.