And it is recited as 'stole', meaning attributed to theft. And we did not witness him committing theft except by what we knew of his stealing. [Maqmoud said: 'Its meaning is: And we did not witness him committing theft except by what we knew of his stealing... etc.'] Ahmad said: 'Either the requirement of their law at that time is that the mere presence of the thing in the hand of the accused after his denial necessitates for him the rulings of the thief, and thus knowledge is based on its apparent meaning. Or it is not so, and this amount of mere presence in his possession does not necessitate knowledge of him being a thief. Its utmost is that it provides a clear suspicion, and thus the intended meaning of knowledge here is suspicion. A similar statement has been reported, and their saying: 'And we were not guardians of the unseen' indicates that their basis for what they said is suspicion based on the apparent situation. As for revealing the inner matter that necessitates knowledge, they do not claim that against him.' And we are certain of it, for the measure was taken out of its container, and there is nothing clearer than this. 'And we were not guardians of the unseen' and what we knew that he would steal when we gave you the pledge. [He returned to his speech. He said: 'And their saying: 'And we were not guardians of the unseen' means: And we did not know that he would steal when we gave you the pledge... etc.'] Ahmad said: 'And the two readings are reconciled on the interpretation that I mentioned, which is that they only attributed the theft to him based on suspicion from the apparent situation, and they were cautious not to believe that they knew that as a fact, so they said: 'And we were not guardians of the unseen.' Thus, the two readings on the mentioned interpretation imply their exoneration from the claim of certain knowledge against him. As for other interpretations mentioned, the two readings do not align because the implication of the first is certainty against him regarding theft as knowledge. And the implication of the second is disavowal of certainty, and Allah knows best.' Or what we knew that you would be afflicted by as you were afflicted with Joseph. And whoever recited 'stole', its meaning is: And we did not witness except to the extent that we knew of the stealing, and we were not guardians of the unseen: for the hidden matter, whether he stole it correctly or secretly placed the measure in his possession without realizing.