وَجَآءَ إِخْوَةُ يُوسُفَ فَدَخَلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِ فَعَرَفَهُمْ وَهُمْ لَهُۥ مُنكِرُونَ
Wa-jāʾa ikhwatu Yūsufa fa-dakhalū ʿalayhi fa-ʿarafahum wa-hum lahu munkirūn · Wa-lammā jahhazahum bi-jahāzihim qāla'tūnī bi-akhin lakum min abīkum alā tarawna annī ūfi'l-kayla wa-ana khayru'l-munzilīn · Fa-in lam taʾtūnī bihi fa-lā kayla lakum ʿindī wa-lā taqrabūn · Qālū sa-nurāwidu ʿanhu abāhu wa-innā la-fāʿilūn · Wa-qāla li-fityānihi'jʿalū biḍāʿatahum fī riḥālihim laʿallahum yaʿrifūnahā idhā'nqalabū ilā ahlihim laʿallahum yarjiʿūn
"Joseph's brothers came and entered his presence. He knew them, and they did not know him. When he had furnished them with their provisions he said: 'Bring me a brother of yours from your father. Do you not see that I give full measure and am the best of hosts? If you do not bring him to me there is no measure for you with me, and do not come near me.' They said: 'We shall try to win his father round for him; we shall certainly do it.' And he said to his men: 'Put their trading-goods back into their saddlebags; when they return to their people they may perhaps notice it and come back.'"
| Side | Expression | Pattern | What it conveys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph | Fa-ʿarafahum | Perfect verb — ع-ر-ف | He knew them — a completed, momentary act |
| The brothers | Wa-hum lahu munkirūn | Nominal sentence + active participle — ن-ك-ر | They do not know him — a continuing state |
And this is the point of word order, and it must be recorded: the two sides are described with two different grammatical structures. A verbal sentence conveys ḥudūth (occurrence at a moment), a nominal sentence thubūt (a settled state).
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the difference between the two structures: the recognition happened in an instant; the failure to recognise continues as a condition. The text builds the asymmetry of knowledge out of grammar.
- ع-ر-ف — to know; and ʿurf is from the same root: what is known, what is customary. The root conveys acquaintance and habituation.
- ن-ك-ر — not to know, to find strange; munkar is from the same root: what is found strange, what is not accepted.
That is, the two words are the roots of the maʿrūf / munkar pair in the Qurʾān's moral vocabulary. Here those same two roots are used in a scene of recognition. This is an overlap that is a datum of the text.
And the antithesis persists through the sūra: at 69 he makes himself known to his brother, at 89 he asks a question, at 90 the brothers ask (a-innaka la-anta Yūsuf). That is, the not-recognising is maintained across thirty-two verses.
The root ك-ي-ل: to measure by volume. The root was treated in detail at al-Muṭaffifīn 83/1 (alladhīna idha'ktālū ʿala'n-nāsi yastawfūn). I do not repeat it here.
And the recurrence of the word through this section is worth recording: 59, 60, 63, 65, 88. This whole section of the sūra runs on a question of measure — and the principle treated in al-Muṭaffifīn (to give full measure) is seen here in its applied form: annī ūfi'l-kayl.
I record this as an observation: the same word occurs in one sūra as a moral rule and here as an administrator's practice.
And verse 62 is worth recording: the returning of the trading-goods into the loads is given together with its purpose: laʿallahum yaʿrifūnahā … laʿallahum yarjiʿūn.
I give this as an observation about the structure: the text explains the aim of the measure from the man's own mouth. That is, the reader follows the coming scenes knowing the plan — a repetition of the technique of verse 6.
That the particle لَعَلَّ comes twice over is worth noting: a hope in two stages — first let them notice, then let them come back.