Qaloo ya ayyuha alAAazeezu inna lahu aban shaykhan kabeeran fakhuth ahadana makanahu (surah Yusuf: 78)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(12:78) Then they said, "O exalted sir, *62 he has a very aged father: therefore take one of us in his stead. We see that you are a very generous man."

Qaaloo yaaa ayyuhal `Azeezu inna lahooo aban shaikhan kabeeran fakhuz ahadanaa makaanahoo innaa naraaka minal muhsineen

*62) The use of the title ("The exalted one") with which they addressed Prophet Joseph has given rise to the confusion that he held the same office as the husband of Zelicha held before him. Then this misunderstanding Iet the commentators to the invention of further comments, such as. AI-'Aziz had died and Prophet Joseph was appointed in his place, and Zelicha was rejuvenated by a miracle and married to him by the king. They have not stopped at this: they have, somehow or other, discovered even the conversation that took place between Prophet Joseph and Zelicha in the first night of their marriage. In fact. aII this is mere fiction, for, as has already been pointed out, the word was the Arabic translation or equivalent of some Egyptian title, and was not the designation of any particular office. It was merely a title used for the high ones in Egypt like "His Excellency" or "Your Excellency", etc. As regards the said marriage, this fiction has been built on the story of Prophet Joseph's marriage in the Bible and the Talmud. According to these, he was married with Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah. As the name of the husband of Zelicha was Potiphar, the two names got confused together. Accordingly, when the story was handed down from the traditions of the Israelites from one commentator to the other, the name Potiphar got interchanged with Poti-pherah because the two were so like each other in sound. Consequently, the daughter in the story was replaced by "wife". Then Potiphar was "killed" in order to facilitate the marriage. Then the only remaining difficulty, that is,the disparity of their ages, was got over with the help of a miracle. She was rejuvenated so completely as to enable her to become the worthy wife of the "ruler" of the land.