Surah Yusuf ayat 41 Tafsir Quran 12:41

﴿يَا صَاحِبَيِ السِّجْنِ أَمَّا أَحَدُكُمَا فَيَسْقِي رَبَّهُ خَمْرًا ۖ وَأَمَّا الْآخَرُ فَيُصْلَبُ فَتَأْكُلُ الطَّيْرُ مِن رَّأْسِهِ ۚ قُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ الَّذِي فِيهِ تَسْتَفْتِيَانِ﴾
[ يوسف: 41]

12:41 O two companions of prison, as for one of you, he will give drink to his master of wine; but as for the other, he will be crucified, and the birds will eat from his head. The matter has been decreed about which you both inquire."

O fellow-prisoners! As for one of you that is the cup-bearer he will depart after three days and he shall serve his lord his master wine to drink as usual; and as for the other he will depart after three days and he will be crucified so that the birds will eat from his head this is the interpretation of both your dreams. They said ‘We never dreamed a thing!’; he said decided concluded is the matter regarding which you sought opinion’ about which you enquired whether you spoke truthfully or were lying.

Fellow prisoners said Yusuf, Now, you shall have the interpretation of your dreams: As to the fellow pressing grapes, he will be released and restored to his position and will serve his master -the king- with wine, whereas the other will be crucified and the vultures will prey upon his head. There, the die is cast concerning your enquiry

The Interpretation of the Dreams Yusuf said, يصَاحِبَىِ السِّجْنِ أَمَّآ أَحَدُكُمَا فَيَسْقِى رَبَّهُ خَمْرًا ( O two companions of the prison! As for one of you, he will pour out wine for his master to drink; ) to the man who saw in a dream that he was pressing wine.
He did not direct this speech at him, however, so that to lessen the grief of the other person.
This is why he made his statement indirect, وَأَمَّا الاٌّخَرُ فَيُصْلَبُ فَتَأْكُلُ الطَّيْرُ مِن رَّأْسِهِ ( and as for the other, he will be crucified and birds will eat from his head. ) which is the interpretation of the other man's dream in which he saw himself carrying bread above his head.
Yusuf told them that the decision about their matter has already been taken and it shall come to pass.
This is because the dream is tied to a bird's leg, as long as it is not truthfully interpreted.
If it is interpreted, then it becomes a reality.
Ath-Thawri said that `Imarah bin Al-Qa`qa` narrated that Ibrahim said that `Abdullah bin Mas`ud said, "When they said what they said to him, and he explained their dreams to them, they replied, `We did not see anything at all.' This is when he said, قُضِىَ الاٌّمْرُ الَّذِى فِيهِ تَسْتَفْتِيَانِ ( Thus is the case judged concerning which you both did inquire. )" The understanding in this is that he who claims that he saw a dream and was given its interpretation, then he will be tied to its interpretation, and Allah has the best knowledge.
There is an honorable Hadith that Imam Ahmad collected from Mu`awiyah bin Haydah that the Prophet said,
«الرُّؤْيَا عَلَى رِجْلِ طَائِرٍ مَا لَمْ تُعْبَرْ، فَإِذَا عُبِرَتْ وَقَعَت»
( The dream is tied to a bird's leg, as long as it is not interpreted.
If it is interpreted, it becomes a reality. )

(12:41) My fellow prisoners, here are the interpretations of your dreams. One of you will serve wine to his lord (the king of Egypt): as for the other, he shall be crucified and birds will eat of his head. Thus has that matter been decreed whereof you enquired. " *34

O two companions of prison, as for meaning

*34) This discourse, which is the soul of this story, and is one of the best on the doctrine of Tauhid in the Qur'an itself, finds no place at all in the Bible and the Talmud.
This is because they regard him merely as a wise and pious man and not as a Prophet.
That is why Rev.
Rodwell has, in regard to this passage, accused Muhammad ( Allah's peace be upon him ) of putting his own doctrine and conviction into the mouth of Joseph ( Allah's peace be upon him ).
But the Qur'an not only puts forward and presents these two aspects of his life in a much better and clearer way but also presents him as a Prophet, who had started propagating the Message even in the prison.

As this discourse suggests several' very important things, it will be worthwhile to consider these one by one:
( 1 ) This is the first occasion on which Prophet Joseph appears to have begun the preaching of the true Faith.
For before this, the Qur'an reveals him in the different stages of his life as a man of high morality but does not say anything to show that he conveyed the Message also.
From this it is clear that those stages were of a preparatory nature and the mission of Prophethood was entrusted to him at the stage of his imprisonment and this was his first discourse as a Prophet.

( 2 ) Moreover, this was the first occasion when he revealed his identity to others.
Before this, we fmd him bearing patiently everything that happened to him without revealing anything about his relationships with Prophet Abraham and others.
He kept silent when the caravan made him a slave and carried him to Egypt: when AI-`Aziz bought him and when he was sent to prison.
As Prophet Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ( Allah's peace be upon them all ) were quite well-known, he might have used their names to advantage.
The members of the caravan, both the Ishmaelites and the Midianites, were closely related to his family, and the Egyptians were, at least, familiar with the name of Prophet Abraham.
Nay, the way in which Prophet Joseph mentioned their names in this discourse, shows that the fame of.
his father, grandfather and great grandfather had reached Egypt.
But in spite of this, Prophet Joseph did not use their names on any of the critical occasions to save himself from the plight in which he was placed.
This shows that probably he himself knew that these things were inevitable for his training for the Mission for which Allah had chosen him.
Now it was absolutely necessary for him, for the sake of his Mission, to reveal this fact in order to show that he was not presenting any new Faith but the same Faith that was preached by Prophets Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ( Allah's peace be upon them all ).
This was necessary because the Message demanded that it should not be presented with the claim that it was a new and novel thing but that it was the same universal and eternal Truth that has always been presented by its bearers.

( 3 ) This teaches us that one can, like Prophet Joseph, carve out a way for the propagation of the Message, if one has the intention and the required wisdom.
The two men pay their homage to him and request him to interpret their dreams.
In answer to this he says, " I will tell their interpretations but Iet me first inform you about the source of my knowledge that enables me to understand dreams " .
Thus he takes advantage of their request and preaches his own Faith to them.
We learn from this that if a person is imbued with the true and strong desire for propagating the Truth, he can very gracefully turn the direction of the conversation towards the Message he desires to convey.
On the contrary, if a person has no strong desire for the propagation of the Message, he never " finds " any opportunity for it, even though hundred and one such opportunities might have come his way which could have been utilized for this purpose.
But one must be on one's guard to discriminate between the right use of an opportunity by a wise man from the crude " propagation " of a foolish and un-cultured person, who tries to thrust the Message into the ears of unwilling hearers and succeeds only in creating aversion for it in their minds because of his crude way of presentation.

( 4 ) This also teaches the right procedure that should be followed in presenting the Message.
Prophet Joseph does not present, at the very start, the details of the creed and regulations of the Faith but the most fundamental thing that distinguishes a Believer from a non-Believer, that is, the distinction between Tauhid and shirk.
Then he presents it in such a rational manner as cannot fail to convince any tnan of common sense.
And his argument must have impressed deeply on the minds of the two slaves.
" Which is better: various gods or One Omnipotent Allah? " They knew it from their personal experience that it was much better to serve one master than a number of them.
Therefore it was far better to serve the Lord of the universe than His servants.
Moreover, he does not invite them directly to accept his Faith and discard their own faith, but he very wisely draws their attention to this fact; " This is Allah's bounty upon us and upon alI mankind that He has not made us the servants of any other than Himself, yet most of the people are not grateful to Him.
Instead of serving Him alone, they invent gods for themselves and worship them " .
Then it is also noteworthy that his criterion of the faith of his addressees is based on wisdom and has no tinge of bitterness in it.
He says, " The gods whom you call `the god of wealth' or `the god of health' or 'the god of prosperity' or `the god of rain' etc.
are mere names you have given them without any reality behind them.
The real Owner of everything is the Supreme Allah Whom you also acknowledge as the Creator and the Lord of the whole universe.
He has sent no authority and given no sanction to anyone for Godhead and worship, but has reserved all the powers, all the rights and all the authorities for Himself, and commanded, `Serve and worship none but Me.' "
( 5 ) It may also be inferred from this discourse that Prophet Joseph must havc made full use of this " opportunity " of a decade for the propagation of the Message.
Some people think that that was the only time when he extended the invitation to the Message.
This is wrong for two reasons.
First, it is absurd to imagine that a Prophet could havc been neglectful of his Mission for a long period.
Second, it cannot be imagined that the person who availed himself of the opportunity when two men approached him for the interpretation of their dreams, could ever have passed a decade of imprisonment without propagating the Message entrusted to him by his Lord.

 

The Interpretation of the Dreams Yusuf said, يصَاحِبَىِ السِّجْنِ أَمَّآ أَحَدُكُمَا فَيَسْقِى رَبَّهُ خَمْرًا ( O two companions of the prison! As for one of you, he will pour out wine for his master to drink; ) to the man who saw in a dream that he was pressing wine.
He did not direct this speech at him, however, so that to lessen the grief of the other person.
This is why he made his statement indirect, وَأَمَّا الاٌّخَرُ فَيُصْلَبُ فَتَأْكُلُ الطَّيْرُ مِن رَّأْسِهِ ( and as for the other, he will be crucified and birds will eat from his head. ) which is the interpretation of the other man's dream in which he saw himself carrying bread above his head.
Yusuf told them that the decision about their matter has already been taken and it shall come to pass.
This is because the dream is tied to a bird's leg, as long as it is not truthfully interpreted.
If it is interpreted, then it becomes a reality.
Ath-Thawri said that `Imarah bin Al-Qa`qa` narrated that Ibrahim said that `Abdullah bin Mas`ud said, "When they said what they said to him, and he explained their dreams to them, they replied, `We did not see anything at all.' This is when he said, قُضِىَ الاٌّمْرُ الَّذِى فِيهِ تَسْتَفْتِيَانِ ( Thus is the case judged concerning which you both did inquire. )" The understanding in this is that he who claims that he saw a dream and was given its interpretation, then he will be tied to its interpretation, and Allah has the best knowledge.
There is an honorable Hadith that Imam Ahmad collected from Mu`awiyah bin Haydah that the Prophet said, «الرُّؤْيَا عَلَى رِجْلِ طَائِرٍ مَا لَمْ تُعْبَرْ، فَإِذَا عُبِرَتْ وَقَعَت» ( The dream is tied to a bird's leg, as long as it is not interpreted.
If it is interpreted, it becomes a reality. )

Joseph them proceeded to interpret the dreams of the two prisoners, saying: ( O my two fellow prisoners! As for one of you ) the cupbearer, he will return to his former position and glory, ( he will pour out wine for his lord ) his master the king ( to drink; and as for the other ) the baker, he will leave prison, and ( he will be crucified so that the birds will eat from his head ) the two prisoner were alarmed upon hearing the interpretation of the baker’s dream. Both of them hastened to say: We have not seen any dreams! But Joseph said to them: ( Thus is the case judged concerning which ye did inquire ) it will be just as I have informed you, whether you saw those dreams or not.

"O two companions of the prison! As for one of you, he (as a servant) will pour out wine for his lord (king or master) to drink; and as for the other, he will be crucified and birds will eat from his head. Thus is the case judged concerning which you both did inquire."

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