فَلَمَّا دَخَلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِ قَالُوا۟ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْعَزِيزُ مَسَّنَا وَأَهْلَنَا ٱلضُّرُّ وَجِئْنَا بِبِضَٰعَةٍ مُّزْجَىٰةٍ فَأَوْفِ لَنَا ٱلْكَيْلَ وَتَصَدَّقْ عَلَيْنَآ · قَالَ هَلْ عَلِمْتُم مَّا فَعَلْتُم بِيُوسُفَ وَأَخِيهِ إِذْ أَنتُمْ جَٰهِلُونَ
"When they entered his presence they said: 'O vizier! Hardship has touched us and our family; we have come with poor trading-goods. Give us full measure, and be charitable to us. God rewards those who are charitable.' He said: 'Do you know what you did to Joseph and his brother in your ignorance?'"
The root ز-ج-و: to drive a thing along with difficulty, by pushing. Tuzjī — drives (al-Nūr 24/43: yuzjī saḥāban — He drives the clouds). From this comes muzjāt: goods that pass only with difficulty, that are not esteemed.
And the image of the word is worth recording: it is not said that the trading-goods are little — it is said that they are "barely accepted". That is, the problem is not quantity but currency.
| Verse | Word | Whose value is driven down |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Thamanin bakhs | Joseph's price — the sellers drove it down |
| 88 | Biḍāʿatin muzjāt | The brothers' goods — by their own admission |
Twice in the same sūra a lowering of value; in the first they do the measuring, in the second they are the ones measured. This is a comparison and I give it as my own reading; the verse does not make the connection.
And there is one more verbal weave: in verse 19 it was said of Joseph wa-asarrūhu biḍāʿatan ("they hid him away as merchandise"). The same word (biḍāʿa) is in verse 88 the goods in the brothers' hands. The word occurs four times in the sūra (19, 62, 65, 88).
The root ص-د-ق: truthfulness. That ṣadaqa comes from this root is explained by the lexicographers thus: it is the act that shows the truthfulness of the giver's faith.
| Request | What |
|---|---|
| Fa-awfi lana'l-kayl | Give us our due in full — a transaction |
| Wa-taṣaddaq ʿalaynā | Be charitable to us — a favour |
I give this as an observation: the first request looks to the measure, the second beyond the measure. And both are asked in the same sentence.
| Verse | Expression |
|---|---|
| 15 | La-tunabbiʾannahum bi-amrihim hādhā wa-hum lā yashʿurūn |
| 89 | Hal ʿalimtum mā faʿaltum bi-Yūsufa wa-akhīh |
And the manner of the telling is worth recording; I give this as my own reading: the news is given not as an accusation but as a question. And a clause is added to the question: idh antum jāhilūn — "while you were ignorant".
That is, in naming the act the sentence attaches to it a time and a state. This lays the ground for the pardon — in verse 92 lā tathrība ʿalaykumu'l-yawm will come.
جَٰهِلُون — and the word was what Joseph feared for himself in verse 33: wa-akun mina'l-jāhilīn. The same word twice in the sūra, of two different persons.