Yūsuf 12:69-70

"When they entered Joseph's presence he drew his brother to himself and said: 'I am your brother; do not grieve at what they have been doing.' When he had furnished them with their provisions he put the drinking-cup into his brother's saddlebag. Then a crier called out: 'You of the caravan! You are thieves indeed.'"

The root أ-و-ي: to take refuge in a place, to give shelter. The root was treated at al-Kahf 18/9-12 (idh awa'l-fityatu ila'l-kahf).

And the same verb occurs twice in the sūra, and both times it is a moment of reunion:

This is a countable repetition within the sūra.

فَلَا تَبْتَئِسْ — root ب-أ-س, Form VIII: to fall into distress, to grieve. The root was treated in al-Ḥāqqa and al-Maʿārij (baʾs — force, hardship).

And the tense of the verb is worth recording: bimā kānū yaʿmalūn — perfect + imperfect (continuity): "the things they have been doing." That is, not something over and done with in the past, but an ongoing behaviour.

I record this as an observation, and its ground is the sequence of the verse: he discloses his identity — but to one person only. The others still do not know. And immediately afterwards a plan is put into effect (70).

That is, the secret is opened in part, and this is necessary for the arrangement to work. The text does not make this connection explicitly; the order of the verses lends itself to it, and I give it as a reading.

ٱلسِّقَايَة — root س-ق-ي: to give water. Siqāya — a drinking-cup; and the place where water is distributed. The word occurs once more in the Qurʾān, in the context of the pilgrimage (siqāyata'l-ḥājj, al-Tawba 9/19), where it means "the office of giving water to the pilgrims".

The vessel will be named with another word in verse 72: ṣuwāʿa'l-malik. This word was cited at al-Zukhruf 43/53:

At Yūsuf 12/72 a royal vessel in Egypt is spoken of (ṣuwāʿa'l-malik)… The Qurʾān knows the objects of that culture and uses them.

I rely on that treatment.

And there is a fine point in the grammar of the sentence: the address is to the caravan (al-ʿīr — feminine), but the pronoun is masculine plural (innakum). In Arabic this is a usage close to iltifāt (a shift in the direction of address): the group is hailed and then the individuals are addressed.

عِير — a caravan carrying loads, camels in particular.

And the form of the accusation must be recorded: innakum la-sāriqūn — with emphasis, a categorical statement. Not a question but an imputation.

This is a place that needs attention and has been discussed in the classical commentaries: in fact no theft has occurred. The explanations transmitted are these:

I transmit the explanations; I do not impose a preference. And this must be recorded: the sūra itself names this act in verse 76 — kadhālika kidnā li-Yūsuf — and ascribes the act to God.