فَلَمَّا دَخَلُوا۟ عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ ءَاوَىٰٓ إِلَيْهِ أَبَوَيْهِ وَقَالَ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ مِصْرَ إِن شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ءَامِنِينَ · وَرَفَعَ أَبَوَيْهِ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ وَخَرُّوا۟ لَهُۥ سُجَّدًا وَقَالَ يَٰٓأَبَتِ هَٰذَا تَأْوِيلُ رُءْيَٰىَ مِن قَبْلُ قَدْ جَعَلَهَا رَبِّى حَقًّا
"When they entered Joseph's presence he drew his father and mother to himself and said: 'Enter Egypt in safety, if God wills.' He raised his father and mother onto the throne, and they all fell down before him in prostration. He said: 'My dear father! This is the interpretation of my dream of long ago. My Lord has made it come true. He has been good to me: He brought me out of the prison, and He brought you from the desert after Satan had sown discord between me and my brothers. My Lord is subtle in what He wills. He is the Knowing, the Wise.'"
In the fourth verse the dream was seen; in the hundredth its taʾwīl comes. And the construction works exactly as one would expect: taʾwīl — "the place a thing arrives at".
And the elements of the dream may be compared with the elements of the scene; this is a datum of the text:
| The dream (4) | The scene (100) |
|---|---|
| Aḥada ʿashara kawkaban — eleven stars | The brothers |
| Wa'sh-shamsa wa'l-qamar — the sun and the moon | Abawayh — father and mother |
| Raʾaytuhum lī sājidīn | Wa-kharrū lahu sujjadā |
And the point of language I recorded at verse 4 is confirmed here: in the dream the pattern for rational beings (sājidīn) was used; in the fulfilment those who prostrate are persons. The pattern proves to accord with the interpretation.
This is one of the best-known questions raised about the verse, and it has been debated in the classical commentaries.
| Reading | How it is explained |
|---|---|
| 1 | A prostration of greeting — the bowing known in that period as a form of showing respect; not worship |
| 2 | A direction of turning — the prostration is to God, Joseph being the one towards whom it is made; the lām in lahu meaning "for him / on his account" |
And this must be recorded, and it is verifiable from the text: the Qurʾān states plainly elsewhere that prostration in the sense of worship is due to God alone (Fuṣṣilat 41/37: lā tasjudū li'sh-shamsi wa-lā li'l-qamar). This principle was treated at Fuṣṣilat 41/37-39. That this verse must not be read in a way that conflicts with that principle is the common note of the classical commentaries.
خَرُّوا۟ — root خ-ر-ر: to fall from above downwards, to sink down. The word conveys the bodily side of prostration, the movement of going down.
And in this sentence there is one of the most remarkable omissions in the sūra. I record it as my own reading, and its ground is the wording of the verse.
| What is counted | Expression |
|---|---|
| 1 | Idh akhrajanī mina's-sijn — the bringing out of prison |
| 2 | Wa-jāʾa bikum mina'l-badw — the bringing of the family |
The text does not say "He brought me out of the well". Only the prison is named — that is, the place he entered by his own choice. The well was the brothers' act, and that act does not occur in this sentence.
I give this as a reading; the verse does not state its ground. But eight verses earlier it was said lā tathrība ʿalaykumu'l-yawm and this sentence accords with that pardon: that it is not mentioned again stands like the continuation of the pardon.
The root ن-ز-غ: to prick, to spoil, to come between and stir up mischief. The lexicographers explain the word by the image of "to plunge something in and stir it".
And to whom the event is attached must be recorded: not the brothers, but an intervening spoiling is named.
This accords with verse 5, and I recorded it there: the father had said inna'sh-shayṭāna li'l-insāni ʿaduwwun mubīn. The same diagnosis at the two ends of the sūra, once from the father's mouth and once from the son's. This is an overlap verifiable within the sūra.
The word was analysed at al-Mulk 67/13-14 (wa-huwa'l-laṭīfu'l-khabīr) and this very verse was cited there:
"My Lord is laṭīf in what He wills" (Yūsuf 12/100) — the words Joseph says at the end of a plan completed after long years. Here luṭf plainly means "a design that works unnoticed".
And the place of the word in this verse is worth noting; I give this as my own reading: all the events of the story — the well, the sale, the slander, the prison, the being forgotten, the famine — none of them looked like going towards the outcome. And the word the man chooses at the end of them all is laṭīf, "working unnoticed".