Surah Yusuf ayat 8 Tafsir Quran 12:8

﴿إِذْ قَالُوا لَيُوسُفُ وَأَخُوهُ أَحَبُّ إِلَىٰ أَبِينَا مِنَّا وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ﴾
[ يوسف: 8]

12:8 When they said, "Joseph and his brother are more beloved to our father than we, while we are a clan. Indeed, our father is in clear error.

Mention when they that is when some of Joseph’s brothers said to some of the others ‘Surely Joseph la-Yūsufu is the subject and his brother his full brother Benjamin are dearer ahabbu is the predicate to our father than we are though we be a hardy band a group. Lo! our father is in plain aberration in manifest error for preferring those two to us.

Conspiring against him, the brothers said: Yusuf and his brother -full brother, Benjamin- are indeed nearer to our fathers heart and closer to his affection than we are, our father stands indeed manifest of error; he manifests forth a straying mind

There are Lessons to draw from the Story of Yusuf Allah says that there are Ayat, lessons and wisdom to learn from the story of Yusuf and his brothers, for those who ask about their story and seek its knowledge.
Surely, their story is unique and is worthy of being narrated. إِذْ قَالُواْ لَيُوسُفُ وَأَخُوهُ أَحَبُّ إِلَى أَبِينَا مِنَّا ( When they said: "Truly, Yusuf and his brother are dearer to our father than we..." ) They swore, according to their false thoughts, that Yusuf and his brother Binyamin ( Benjamin ), Yusuf's full brother, أَحَبُّ إِلَى أَبِينَا مِنَّا وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ ( dearer to our father than we, while we are `Usbah. ) meaning, a group.
Therefore, they thought, how can he love these two more than the group, إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِى ضَلَلٍ مُّبِينٍ ( Really, our father is in a plain error. ) because he preferred them and loved them more than us. اقْتُلُواْ يُوسُفَ أَوِ اطْرَحُوهُ أَرْضًا يَخْلُ لَكُمْ وَجْهُ أَبِيكُمْ ( Kill Yusuf or cast him out to some (other ) land, so that the favor of your father may be given to you alone,) They said, `Remove Yusuf, who competes with you for your father's love, from in front of your father's face so that his favor is yours alone.
Either kill Yusuf or banish him to a distant land so that you are rid of his trouble and you alone enjoy the love of your father.
' وَتَكُونُواْ مِن بَعْدِهِ قَوْمًا صَـلِحِينَ ( and after that you will be righteous folk. ), thus intending repentance before committing the sin, قَالَ قَآئِلٌ مِّنْهُمْ ( One from among them said... ) Qatadah and Muhammad bin Ishaq said that he was the oldest among them and his name was Rubil ( Reuben ).
As-Suddi said that his name was Yahudha ( Judah ).
Mujahid said that it was Sham`un ( Simeon ) who said, لاَ تَقْتُلُواْ يُوسُفَ ( Kill not Yusuf, ), do not let your enmity and hatred towards him reach this level, of murder.
However, their plot to kill Yusuf would not have succeeded, because Allah the Exalted willed that Yusuf fulfill a mission that must be fulfilled and complete; he would receive Allah's revelation and become His Prophet.
Allah willed Yusuf to be a powerful man in Egypt and govern it.
Consequently, Allah did not allow them to persist in their intent against Yusuf, through Rubil's words and his advice to them that if they must do something, they should throw him down to the bottom of a well, يَلْتَقِطْهُ بَعْضُ السَّيَّارَةِ ( he will be picked up by some caravan ) of travelers passing by.
This way, he said, you will rid yourselves of this bother without having to kill him, إِن كُنتُمْ فَـعِلِينَ ( if you must do something, ) meaning, if you still insist on getting rid of him.
Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar said, "They agreed to a particularly vicious crime that involved cutting the relation of the womb, undutiful treatment of parents, and harshness towards the young, helpless and sinless.
It was also harsh towards the old and weak who have the rights of being respected, honored and appreciated, as well as, being honored with Allah and having parental rights on their offspring.
They sought to separate the beloved father, who had reached old age and his bones became weak, yet had a high status with Allah, from his beloved young son, in spite of his weakness, tender age and his need of his father's compassion and kindness.
May Allah forgive them, and indeed, He is the Most Merciful among those who have mercy, for they intended to carry out a "grave error." Ibn Abi Hatim collected this state- ment, from the route of Salamah bin Al-Fadl from Muhammad bin Ishaq.

(12:8) This is how the story begins: his brothers (held a consultation and) said to one another, "This Joseph and his brother *8 are dearer to our father than ourselves, even though we are a band. Truly our father seems to have lost his balance of mind. *9

When they said, "Joseph and his brother meaning

*8) This brother was Benjamin.
He was the real younger brother of Prophet Joseph, and was his junior by many years.
Their mother had died at the birth of Benjamin.
That is why Prophet Jacob paid special attention to these two motherless children.
Besides, Joseph was the only son, in whom he had discerned signs of righteousness and capabilities.
Accordingly, when Prophet Joseph narrated his dream to him, he was all the more convinced of his future greatness, and was perturbed at the idea lest his brothers conspired against him out of envy, if they came to know of his dream, which was self-explanatory.
For Prophet Jacob knew that his other ten sons were not of the right type, and this was proved by the subsequent events.
Therefore, naturally he was not happy with them.
It is, however, strange that the Bible gives a different reason for the envy his brothers bore against Prophet Joseph.
They were filled with envy against him because " Joseph gave unto his father their evil report. "
*9) In order to grasp the full significance of the " grievance " the ten sons had against their father for " neglecting " them, we should keep in view the conditions of the clannish life.
As there was no established state, each clan led its own independent life side by side with other clans.
It is abvious that the power of the head of the clan depended entirely on the number of sons and grand-sons, and brothers and nephews he had to defend the life, honour and property of the family.
Therefore, the one leading the clannish life naturally paid more attention to one's own grown up sons, etc., than to children and women of the family.
As Prophet Jacob was leading clannish life, these sons of his expected a preferential treatment from him, but the Prophet thought otherwise.
So they remarked, " Truly our father seems to have lost his balance of mind; otherwise he could not have neglected us, and loved our two younger brothers more than us, for we are strong young men and can stand him in good stead at the time of need while these youngsters are useless as they themselves stand in need of protection.
"
 

There are Lessons to draw from the Story of Yusuf Allah says that there are Ayat, lessons and wisdom to learn from the story of Yusuf and his brothers, for those who ask about their story and seek its knowledge.
Surely, their story is unique and is worthy of being narrated. إِذْ قَالُواْ لَيُوسُفُ وَأَخُوهُ أَحَبُّ إِلَى أَبِينَا مِنَّا ( When they said: "Truly, Yusuf and his brother are dearer to our father than we..." ) They swore, according to their false thoughts, that Yusuf and his brother Binyamin ( Benjamin ), Yusuf's full brother, أَحَبُّ إِلَى أَبِينَا مِنَّا وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ ( dearer to our father than we, while we are `Usbah. ) meaning, a group.
Therefore, they thought, how can he love these two more than the group, إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِى ضَلَلٍ مُّبِينٍ ( Really, our father is in a plain error. ) because he preferred them and loved them more than us. اقْتُلُواْ يُوسُفَ أَوِ اطْرَحُوهُ أَرْضًا يَخْلُ لَكُمْ وَجْهُ أَبِيكُمْ ( Kill Yusuf or cast him out to some (other ) land, so that the favor of your father may be given to you alone,) They said, `Remove Yusuf, who competes with you for your father's love, from in front of your father's face so that his favor is yours alone.
Either kill Yusuf or banish him to a distant land so that you are rid of his trouble and you alone enjoy the love of your father.
' وَتَكُونُواْ مِن بَعْدِهِ قَوْمًا صَـلِحِينَ ( and after that you will be righteous folk. ), thus intending repentance before committing the sin, قَالَ قَآئِلٌ مِّنْهُمْ ( One from among them said... ) Qatadah and Muhammad bin Ishaq said that he was the oldest among them and his name was Rubil ( Reuben ).
As-Suddi said that his name was Yahudha ( Judah ).
Mujahid said that it was Sham`un ( Simeon ) who said, لاَ تَقْتُلُواْ يُوسُفَ ( Kill not Yusuf, ), do not let your enmity and hatred towards him reach this level, of murder.
However, their plot to kill Yusuf would not have succeeded, because Allah the Exalted willed that Yusuf fulfill a mission that must be fulfilled and complete; he would receive Allah's revelation and become His Prophet.
Allah willed Yusuf to be a powerful man in Egypt and govern it.
Consequently, Allah did not allow them to persist in their intent against Yusuf, through Rubil's words and his advice to them that if they must do something, they should throw him down to the bottom of a well, يَلْتَقِطْهُ بَعْضُ السَّيَّارَةِ ( he will be picked up by some caravan ) of travelers passing by.
This way, he said, you will rid yourselves of this bother without having to kill him, إِن كُنتُمْ فَـعِلِينَ ( if you must do something, ) meaning, if you still insist on getting rid of him.
Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar said, "They agreed to a particularly vicious crime that involved cutting the relation of the womb, undutiful treatment of parents, and harshness towards the young, helpless and sinless.
It was also harsh towards the old and weak who have the rights of being respected, honored and appreciated, as well as, being honored with Allah and having parental rights on their offspring.
They sought to separate the beloved father, who had reached old age and his bones became weak, yet had a high status with Allah, from his beloved young son, in spite of his weakness, tender age and his need of his father's compassion and kindness.
May Allah forgive them, and indeed, He is the Most Merciful among those who have mercy, for they intended to carry out a "grave error." Ibn Abi Hatim collected this state- ment, from the route of Salamah bin Al-Fadl from Muhammad bin Ishaq.

( When they said ) i.e. when the brothers of Joseph said to one another: ( Verily Joseph and his brother ) Benjamin ( are dearer to our father ) are more preferred by our father ( than we are, many though we be ) though we are ten in number. ( Lo! our father is in plain aberration ) our father is in manifest error regarding the love of Joseph and his preference over us.

When they said: "Truly, Yusuf (Joseph) and his brother (Benjamin) are loved more by our father than we, but we are 'Usbah (a strong group). Really, our father is in a plain error.

Page 236 English transliteration