Tafsir

Verse 94 opens with the words: وَلَمَّا فَصَلَتِ الْعِيرُ‌ ` And when the caravan set out' (and had reached barely outside the limits of the city), then, Sayyidna Yaqub said (to those around him): ` I sense the scent of Yusuf if you do not take me to be senile.' According to a narration of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ there was a travel distance of eight days from the city of Egypt to Canaan, and according to Sayyidna Hasan (رح) the distance was eighty farsakh, that is, nearly two hundred and fifty miles. Unique is the power of Allah Ta` ala who, from such a distance, carried all the way to Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) ، the scent of his son Yusuf (علیہ السلام) through the shirt of his son Yusuf. And something of wonder it certainly is that this scent, when Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) was sitting confined into a well of his own homeland, caused no reaction into the smell buds of his father! Right from here, we learn that no miracle is in the control of a prophet. In fact, a miracle is not even the personal act and action of the prophet. This is directly the act of Allah.

When Allah Ta` ala wills, He makes a miracle manifest itself. And when the Divine will is not there, the nearest of the near recedes into the farthest.