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."