Tafsir

They find Their Money returned to Their Bags

Allah says, when Yusuf's brothers opened their bags, they found their merchandise inside them, for Yusuf had ordered his servants to return it to their bags. When they found their merchandise in their bags, قَالُواْ يأَبَانَا مَا نَبْغِى(They said: "O our father! What (more) can we desire..."), what more can we ask for, هَـذِهِ بِضَـعَتُنَا رُدَّتْ إِلَيْنَا(This, our money has been returned to us;) Qatadah commented (that they said), "What more can we ask for, our merchandise was returned to us and the `Aziz has given us the sufficient load we wanted" They said next, وَنَمِيرُ أَهْلَنَا(so we shall get (more) food for our family,), `if you send our brother with us the next time we go to buy food for our family,' وَنَحْفَظُ أَخَانَا وَنَزْدَادُ كَيْلَ بَعِيرٍ(and we shall guard our brother and add one more measure of a camel's load.) since Yusuf, peace be upon him, gave each man a camel's load of corn.

ذلِكَ كَيْلٌ يَسِيرٌ(This quantity is easy (for the king to give).) They said these words to make their case more appealing, saying that taking their brother with them is worth this gain, قَالَ لَنْ أُرْسِلَهُ مَعَكُمْ حَتَّى تُؤْتُونِ مَوْثِقًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ(He Ya`qub (Jacob) said: "I will not send him with you until you swear a solemn oath to me in Allah's Name..."), until you swear by Allah with the strongest oath, لَتَأْتُنَّنِى بِهِ إِلاَّ أَن يُحَاطَ بِكُمْ(that you will bring him back to me unless you are yourselves surrounded (by enemies)), unless you were all overwhelmed and were unable to rescue him, فَلَمَّآ ءَاتَوْهُ مَوْثِقَهُمْ(And when they had sworn their solemn oath), he affirmed it further, saying, اللَّهُ عَلَى مَا نَقُولُ وَكِيلٌ(Allah is the Witness to what we have said.) Ibn Ishaq commented, "Ya`qub did that because he had no choice but to send them to bring necessary food supplies for their survival. So he sent Binyamin with them."

At this stage, verse 65 opens with the words:وَلَمَّا فَتَحُوا مَتَاعَهُمْ وَجَدُوا بِضَاعَتَهُمْ رُ‌دَّتْ إِلَيْهِمْ ۖ قَالُوا يَا أَبَانَا مَا نَبْغِي ۖ هَـٰذِهِ بِضَاعَتُنَا رُ‌دَّتْ إِلَيْنَا ۖ وَنَمِيرُ‌ أَهْلَنَا وَنَحْفَظُ أَخَانَا وَنَزْدَادُ كَيْلَ بَعِيرٍ‌ ۖ ذَٰلِكَ كَيْلٌ يَسِيرٌ‌And when they opened their baggage, they found their capital given back to them. They said, "Our father, what else do we want? Here is our capital given back to us, and we shall bring food to our family, protect our brother and add the measure of one camel more. That is an easy measure."It will be noticed that, prior to this verse, the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) were talking about what had happened to them on their journey, before they had opened their baggage. After that, when they opened the baggage and saw that their entire capital with which they had paid for the food grains was present inside the baggage, they realized that this was not done by mistake, in fact, their capital had been returned to them. Therefore, they said: رُ‌دَّتْ إِلَيْنَا (given back to us).

Then, to their father they said: مَا نَبْغِي (what else do we want?) that is, ` the grains are here and what we paid for it has also been returned to us. Now we should definitely go back there in peace with our brother because the way we have been treated shows that the ` Aziz of Misr is kind to us. We should have no apprehensions. It is the time that we go and bring food-grains for the family and take care of our brother too. That we shall get an additional load of grains in the name of our brother will help - because, whatever we have brought in the present trip is much less than our needs and is likely to be consumed soon.

One sense of the sentence: مَا نَبْغِي (ma nabghi) spoken by the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) is practically the same as given immediately above, that is, ` what else do we want?' And if, in this sentence, the letter: مَا (ma : not) is taken in the sense of negation, it could also mean that the sons of Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) told their father: Now that we have the price of the grain with us, we do not want anything from you. You just send our brother with us.

ولما فتحوا أوعيتهم وجدوا ثمن بضاعتهم الذي دفعوه قد رُدَّ إليهم قالوا: يا أبانا ماذا نطلب أكثر من هذا؟ هذا ثمن بضاعتنا ردَّه العزيز إلينا، فكن مطمئنًا على أخينا، وأرسله معنا; لنجلب طعامًا وفيرًا لأهلنا، ونحفظ أخانا، ونزداد حِمْلَ بعير له; فإن العزيز يكيل لكل واحد حِمْلَ بعير، وذلك كيل يسير عليه.

يقول تعالى : ولما فتح إخوة يوسف متاعهم ، وجدوا بضاعتهم ردت إليهم ، وهي التي كان أمر يوسف فتيانه بوضعها في رحالهم ، فلما وجدوها في متاعهم ( قالوا ياأبانا ما نبغي ) ؟ أي : ماذا نريد ؟ ( هذه بضاعتنا ردت إلينا ) كما قال قتادة . ما نبغي وراء هذا ؟ إن بضاعتنا ردت إلينا وقد أوفي لنا الكيل .( ونمير أهلنا ) أي : إذا أرسلت أخانا معنا نأتي بالميرة إلى أهلنا ، ( ونحفظ أخانا ونزداد كيل بعير ) وذلك أن يوسف ، عليه السلام ، كان يعطي كل رجل حمل بعير . وقال مجاهد : حمل حمار . وقد يسمى في بعض اللغات بعيرا ، كذا قال .( ذلك كيل يسير ) هذا من تمام الكلام وتحسينه ، أي : إن هذا يسير في مقابلة أخذ أخيهم ما يعدل هذا .