Yūsuf 12:50

"The king said: 'Bring him to me.' When the messenger came to him he said: 'Go back to your master and ask him: what was the matter with the women who cut their hands? My Lord surely knows their scheming.'"

And this is the most remarkable side of the scene: the order to leave the prison has come, and he has not left.

I record this as an observation, and its ground is the sequence of the verse: the summons came (iʾtūnī bihi), the messenger arrived (fa-lammā jāʾahu'r-rasūl), and the answer was a sending back (irjiʿ ilā rabbik).

The content of the request must be recorded: not to come out — an inquiry. Fa'sʾalhu mā bālu'n-niswati'llātī qaṭṭaʿna aydiyahunn.

That is, what is wanted is to be cleared before coming out. I give this as my own reading; its ground is the content of the question: the question makes its subject not the event itself but the women's condition — that is, the reopening of the source of the accusation.

The construction was tabulated at Muḥammad 47/2 (wa-aṣlaḥa bālahum), and this very verse was cited there:

| Yūsuf 12/50 | mā bālu'n-niswati'llātī qaṭṭaʿna aydiyahunn | "What was the condition/matter of the women who cut their hands?" |

I rely on that treatment.

The root ب-و-ل: state, condition, what comes to mind. Bāl — state; and khaṭara bi-bālihi — it came into his mind. The construction is an interrogative pattern meaning "what was the matter?"

And the form of the question is worth recording: no one is accused. The question brings the affair back into view but contains no imputation. I give this as an observation; its ground is that the verb in the sentence is the women's own act (qaṭṭaʿna aydiyahunn) — that is, a known behaviour of theirs is recalled.

And the end of the sentence must be recorded: the request is directed to people, but the knowledge is ascribed to God.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two clauses stand side by side: an inquiry is asked for and at the same time it is said that the outcome is already known. That is, the legal clearing arises not from a need to be known but from one's standing among people.