Yūsuf 12:85-87

"They said: 'By God, you will not cease remembering Joseph until you waste away or are among the perished.' He said: 'I lay my anguish and my grief before God alone; and I know from God what you do not know. My sons! Go and seek news of Joseph and his brother, and do not despair of God's relief. None despairs of God's relief but the people who deny.'"

The root ح-ر-ض: to melt away and be spent, to be worn out by illness. The word occurs in the Qurʾān only here. The lexicographers describe the word as "to become neither dead nor alive".

And the construction of the sentence must be recorded: taftaʾu is the imperfect of the verb fatiʾa, and the negative particle at its head has been elided (lā taftaʾu). In Arabic the dropping of the negative particle after an oath is a known usage. The sense: "you will not leave off remembering."

And this sentence has been used as evidence in two separate places in the index.

At al-Mujādala 58/1:

The most easily missed side of the verse is this: the one who complains is not criticised. Given that in religious discourse "complaint" is often treated as a weakness, this note matters. The Qurʾān says something similar from Jacob's mouth: "I complain of my anguish and my grief to God alone" (Yūsuf 12/86). That is, complaint has a forbidden form — the one directed at people and turned into a settling of scores; and a legitimate form — the one directed to its source.

And at al-Ghāshiya 88/12-16, by way of the word bathth:

بَثّ (bathth) — the sorrow that cannot be held within and spills out; "I lay my anguish and my grief before God alone" (Yūsuf 12/86). The root also describes the spreading out of something that has gathered within.

I rely on both.

The root ب-ث-ث: to spread, to scatter, to disperse. Bathathnā — We spread (al-Nisāʾ 4/1: wa-baththa minhumā rijālan kathīrā). From this comes bathth: the sorrow that cannot be held within and spreads out.

And the distinction between the two words is worth recording:

And the restrictive particle innamā must be recorded: "to God alone". What is restricted is not the existence of the complaint but its addressee.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the particle innamā: the sentence does not say "I do not complain". It says "I take my complaint not elsewhere but there". And this must be read together with the ṣabr jamīl of verses 18 and 83 — precisely this link was made at al-Maʿārij 70/5.

The root was analysed in detail at al-Wāqiʿa 56/88-94 (fa-rawḥun wa-rayḥān):

The branching of the root ر-و-ح: | Derivative | Meaning | |---|---| | Rīḥ | Wind | | Rūḥ | Life, spirit | | Rawḥ | Ease, relief, a breath of air | | Rayḥān | A sweet-smelling plant; and provision | | Rāḥa | Rest | The common core is generally given by the lexicographers as "moving air": the wind blows, the breath goes in and out, scent is carried on the air, and relief is the opening of what was constricted.

I rely on that treatment.

And what belongs here is this, which I give as my own reading: the word is not "help" or "mercy" — it is rawḥ. That is, what is awaited is described as a gap opening in a narrow place. And the image in the root (moving air) is the opposite of being stopped up.

This may be compared with the word kaẓīm in the preceding verse, and the comparison is a datum of the text:

Three verses apart, two opposite images. I record this as my own reading; its ground is the concrete senses of the two words.

Root ي-أ-س. This verse was used as evidence at al-Mumtaḥana 60/13:

The root ي-أ-س: to despair. The Qurʾān uses this root in a heavy context: "Do not despair of God's mercy; none despairs of God's mercy but the people who deny" (Yūsuf 12/87).

I rely on that treatment.

And the weight of the sentence must be recorded: despair is named together with denial. I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the logic of the sentence: the sentence does not say "whoever despairs is an unbeliever". It says "despair is found only in those who deny" — that is, it makes a diagnosis, not a declaration of unbelief.

The ground is in the text as well: hope rests on the power and the mercy of the one awaited. Once these two are granted, despair has no ground left. That is, the verse treats hopelessness not as a feeling but as a consequence.

The word was cited for comparison at al-Ḥujurāt 49/12 (wa-lā tajassasū), where precisely this verse was given:

A kindred root: ح-س-س. Taḥassus — to search out by the senses, by listening. It occurs in the Qurʾān: "Go and seek news of Joseph and his brother" (Yūsuf 12/87) — fa-taḥassasū min Yūsufa wa-akhīh.

I rely on that treatment. And the distinction recorded there is worth noting: tajassus (forbidden in al-Ḥujurāt) and taḥassus (commanded here) are two separate roots (ج-س-س / ح-س-س), and the Qurʾān uses them under two separate rulings.

And the content of the command must be recorded; I give this as my own reading: not despairing is made concrete not as sitting and waiting but as searching. This is the order of the sentence: first idhhabū fa-taḥassasū (go and seek news), then wa-lā tayʾasū (do not despair). That is, the command looks first at the act, then at the attitude.