Transliteration:( Uqtuloo Yoosufa awitra hoohu ardany yakhlu lakum wajhu abeekum wa takoonoo mim ba'dihee qawman saaliheen )
"Kill Yusuf [Joseph] or cast [18] him into some land so that your father's face may be directed towards you, and then you may become righteous [19]."
Their plan was to kill Yusuf or to cast him away into a far-off land, with the hope that a wolf might devour him or he might be taken away by a stranger. According to scholars who believe that all the brothers of Yusuf later became prophets, this verse reflects their state before they attained prophethood. While prophets are always protected from disbelief and polytheism, they are only protected from sin after they are granted prophethood. Therefore, at this point, the brothers were not yet prophets, and their intention to harm Yusuf was a grave sin.
From this, we learn that their actions were not motivated by ego or personal pride, but rather a misguided effort to win their father’s attention and affection. Because the intention was not rooted in arrogance or self-glorification, they were later granted the opportunity to sincerely repent.
In contrast, Qabeel’s (Cain’s) killing of Habeel (Abel) was done to boost his evil self, and so he was not granted repentance. This shows that the outcome of a sin committed during the lifetime of a prophet may still be turned into a means for eventual goodness, provided the intention is not evil, and the door to repentance remains open.
Here, “becoming righteous” means pleasing the father through obedience and restoring his trust. It does not mean that one can become pious by intentionally sinning in the hope of repenting afterward — doing so would be mocking the concept of repentance. Moreover, no one can become righteous by causing pain to others or by violating someone’s rights, as the rights of others are not forgiven by mere repentance — they must be repaid or forgiven by the wronged party.
The tafsir of Surah Yusuf verse 9 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Yusuf ayat 7 which provides the complete commentary from verse 7 through 10.
(12:9) So either kill Joseph or cast him into some distant land so that your father’s attention may become exclusively yours. And after so doing become righteous.”[10]
10. This sentence depicts the true psychology of those people who give themselves up to the lusts of their hearts, and, at the same time, do not want to break away completely from faith and religion. This is how a person of this type behaves. Whenever he is tempted to do a certain evil thing, he makes up his mind to do it first and puts off the demands of his faith for the time being. And if his conscience pricks him, he tries to soothe it, saying: Have a little patience. Let me first do this evil thing, which is an obstacle in my way. Then I will repent and become as good as thou desirest to see me. As the brothers of Prophet Joseph belonged to this type, they soothed their pricking consciences, saying: After doing away with Joseph, who is the chief obstacle in our way, we will again become righteous.
[586]- i.e., You can repent thereafter.
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