قَالُوا۟ يَٰٓأَبَانَا ٱسْتَغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَآ إِنَّا كُنَّا خَٰطِـِٔينَ · قَالَ سَوْفَ أَسْتَغْفِرُ لَكُمْ رَبِّىٓ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
"They said: 'Our father! Ask forgiveness for us for our sins; we were indeed at fault.' He said: 'I shall ask forgiveness for you from my Lord; He is indeed the forgiving, the merciful.'"
And the word khāṭiʾīn occurs a second time, three verses later (91 and 97). And the addressee changes:
| Verse | To whom it is said |
|---|---|
| 91 | To Joseph — the one they harmed |
| 97 | To the father — the other person they harmed |
I record this as an observation: the admission is made separately to each of the two parties. And in both places the same word is used.
سَوْفَ — in Arabic a particle pointing to the future, and it looks to a more distant time than the prefix sa-.
| Explanation | Ground |
|---|---|
| 1 | A particular time is being waited for — a time nearer to the answering of prayer |
| 2 | No firm promise is given — the preserving of the fact that forgiveness belongs to God |
| 3 | Merely a statement about the future — the ordinary function of the particle; no intention need be sought in the deferral |
And this is worth recording, as my own reading: the structure of the answer follows the same logic as the sentence of pardon in verse 92. There too forgiveness was referred to God (yaghfiru'llāhu lakum). Father and son preserve the same distinction in two separate sentences: to do what is in one's own power, and to leave what is not to the authority it belongs to.
ذُنُوب — root ذ-ن-ب: dhanab — a tail. The lexicographers explain dhanb by the image of "the consequence that comes behind": what is dragged along after an act.