In today's post, we will be sharing the tafseer of Surah Yusuf ayah 15 to 17 from the tafseer lecture of Nouman Ali Khan on Bayyinah Institute Youtube channel. This is the part 14 where he covers how the brothers took Yusuf (a.s) by relentlessly convincing their father, the evil act of torturing and throwing the brother in well, returning with manipulative faces to their father, and convincing him again through deception and lying.


Fun Parts: 17:15, 24:35, 24:50, 25:05, 28:40, 28:55, 29:30, 33:10, 37:40

Ayah 15-17




Word “Lamma” would be closer to ‘finally when’, which implies that it was not easy for them even after convincing their father to get him away. But eventually they did it.

 “Ajma’a” – consensus, gather together (to decide what they finally want to do with their brother), working collaboratively in this evil (one grabbing him, the other looking if someone is seeing them or not).

“When they gathered...” – Logically, if ‘when’ is used then ‘then’ should also be used in a sentence. Allah (s.w.t) doesn’t use a ‘then’ but only uses only ‘when’. It suggests that the pain they caused and the cries that were heard, their ruthlessness and evil is unspeakable and so it is not mentioned at all and is left as a … . (Quran is inviting us to imagine the pain of this torment).

Why is the dark part of the well mentioned again and again, only well can be mentioned after it is already described that it was the dark part?

This is to emphasize that the dark part of an unfinished well is a big deal and though the brothers did not consider it that bad. Allah (s.w.t) is reiterating it as if he is showing his disgust/ hatred at that act of ruthlessness and violence to their brother.

Allah (s.w.t) is offended by this crime and he is speaking in a tone which will be very similar to the tone of Yaqoob (a.s) towards his sons, when he finds out about this heinous crime.

Allah (s.w.t) is telling the importance of showing hatred towards crimes towards children.

How traumatizing would it be for a child to see his brothers doing this to him.

Like Ibrahim (a.s) was given calm by Allah (s.w.t) when he was being thrown in the fire, Yusuf (a.s) was inspired and received revelation from Allah (s.w.t) through Angel Jibreel (a.) (while he is being forced and tortured) that you will absolutely be telling your brothers about what they have done here one day and they have no idea.

The first impulse of a child when he is being wronged is I will tell father/ mother and Allah (s.w.t) is saying that you won’t get that chance as a child but one day you will be telling them what they did.

“they have no realization/ they are unaware”

1) Right now, they are not in their senses (touched by the devil, you are not yourself) human compass of right and wrong doesn’t work.

We are called “INSS” (humans) because we have “UNSS” (compassion)

2) They have no idea (of whom they are doing it to: Prophet of Allah (s.w.t)) that as they are doing this, the mighty Jibrael (a.s) is also there too.

3) They have no idea who they are doing it to (It will come back on them one day, when you will ask them about Yusuf (a.s) and his brothers).

4) Criminals thought that these oppressed have no security, but they had security all along.

Imagine you are one of the brothers as you are returning after doing this crime, you have allowed darkness inside of you and you stop thinking about it.

“They came to their father in the night time, crying”

Coming at night time was a clever choice?

1) They can’t go back to find him (even if they are asked to go). They came at a time when they can’t retrace their steps.

2) Excuse that they spend the whole day finding him.

3) To make the story more plausible

Some of them may actually be genuinely crying (emotionally traumatic experiences can lead to tears; you cannot suppress them all the time).

Diabolical Liars: Can fake tears, they can do anything to make sure you feel what they want you to feel. Father will not get angry at the ones already crying, but he will join them.

The ayah gives guidance about manipulative people who will go at great lengths to sell you a convincing story because you are used to giving the benefit of the doubt.

They are taking advantage of your tendency to want to see good in people.

After contemplating this Surah, you will find that all the scenes in this story are re-lived millions of times, generation after generation over and over again.

They can create any story to back their claims.

Love is not controlling what one thinks and his/ her emotions or ideas.

Lieing cannot create a controlled environment.

“Our father!! We actually went racing/ competing/ working hard against each other to get more work done and (Zahabna) we kept drifting further and further away and we left Yusuf (a.s) with our stuff and all of a sudden the wolf ate him (wolf cannot devour a child whole and even if it did, it would take a long time)”.

As they are telling it (I can imagine) them checking the father’s reaction.

“We know you will not believe us and accept what we are saying, even if we had been saying the truth”

That’s why we lie father, because you don’t believe in us.

You never thought we were truthful. And even if you trusted us, this story is too crazy
to believe. And we don’t see you believe this story, because you don’t trust us.

Your concern should not be that he believes or not, but it should be what happened to Yusuf (a.s). Your priority is not what happened to Yusuf (a.s) and his wellbeing but whether the father believes you or not.

Maybe the saying of this ayah slipped out of one of the brothers' tongues accidently. The father recognizes that they are lying.

The Quran is capturing the essence of the conversation of all the brothers, not just one. So maybe the first part was said by one brother and the second by the other.

Also See:

(Previous) Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Part 11-14 (Convincing Dad) by Nouman Ali Khan | 11th to 14th Ayah #13

(Next) Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Part 18 (How is it Beautiful Patience) by Nouman Ali Khan | 18th Ayah #15