Taysir al-Latif al-Mannan fi Khulasat Tafsir al-Quran - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (الكتاب/320)

Taysir al-Latif al-Mannan fi Khulasat Tafsir al-QuranAbd al-Rahman al-Sadi’

• He also explained the dream of the man who saw himself carrying bread on his head while birds were eating from it as foretelling that the man would be put to death and then crucified for a time, until the birds would feed on the marrow of the very skull upon which he had been carrying the bread.

• As for the king’s dream of the cows and the ears of grain, he interpreted it as referring to years of abundance and years of famine. The link is that the welfare and interests of the subjects are tied to the king: when he is righteous, their affairs prosper, and when he is corrupt, they deteriorate. That was the king’s status, since it was he who saw the dream. Likewise, people’s livelihoods stand or fall with years of fertility and drought. Cows are the animals that plough the earth and draw forth its yield, and that yield is the crops themselves; thus the dream contained both the cause and the effect.

Accordingly, the vision of seven fat cows followed by seven lean ones, and seven green ears followed by seven dry ones, signified that the seven fertile years would necessarily come first, to be followed by the lean years, which would devour the grain gathered during those years of plenty, leaving nothing save what the people stored securely against them; otherwise, the famine years would consume every last kernel.

If it is asked, “From where did he derive his statement, ‘Then after that there will come a year in which the people will be granted rain, and in which they will press (juice)’ (Quran 12:49)? Some commentators have said that this was an addition Joseph made to his interpretation by means of a separate revelation,”

the answer is that the matter is not so. Rather, he took it directly from the king’s dream, for the lean years numbered only seven. That indicated that a year of extraordinary fertility and abundant blessing would follow, removing the severe drought produced by the seven (1) barren years—something an ordinary fertile year could not achieve. It would have to be a superabundant year, and this is plain from the very number itself.

(1) Added in manuscript (Kh).

• وأما تعبيرهُ لرؤيا مَنْ رأى أنهُ يحملُ فوقَ رأسهِ خبزًا تأكلُ الطيرُ منهُ: بأنهُ يُقتَلُ ويُصلَبُ مدةً حتى تأكلَ الطيرُ من مخِّ رأسهِ الذي هوَ يَحمِلُ. • وعبَّرَ رؤيا المَلكِ بالبقراتِ والسنبلاتِ: بأنها السنينُ المُخْصِبةُ والمُجْدِبةُ، ووجهُ المناسبةِ أنَّ المَلكَ بهِ ترتبطُ أمورُ الرعيةِ ومصالحُها، وبصلاحهِ تصلحُ، وبفسادهِ تفسدُ، فهذهِ نسبتهُ إذْ رأى هوَ الرؤيا، وكذلكَ السنونَ بخصبِها وجدبِها تنتظمُ أمورُ المعاشِ أو تختلُّ، والبقرُ هيَ آلةُ حرثِ الأرضِ واستخراجِ مَغَلِّها، والمَغَلُّ هوَ الزرعُ، فرأى السببَ والمسبَّبَ. فرؤيتهُ السبعَ السمانَ من البقرِ، ثم السبعَ العجافَ، والسبعَ السنبلاتِ الخضرَ، ثم السبعَ اليابساتِ، أي: لابدَّ أنْ تتقدمَ السبعُ السنينُ المخصباتُ، ثم تتلُوها المجدباتُ، وتأكلُ ما حصَلَ فيها من غلالٍ، ولا تبقِي إلا شيئًا يحصنونَهُ عنها، وإلا فهيَ بصددِ أكلِها كلِّها. فإنْ قيلَ: من أينَ أخذَ قولَهُ: ﴿ثُمَّ يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ عَامٌ فِيهِ يُغَاثُ النَّاسُ وَفِيهِ يَعْصِرُونَ (٤٩)﴾ [يوسف: ٤٩]؟ فإنَّ بعضَ المفسرينَ قالَ: هذهِ زيادةٌ من يوسفَ في التعبيرِ بوحيٍ أُوحيَ إليهِ. فالجوابُ: ليسَ الأمرُ كذلكَ، وإنما أخذَها من رؤيا المَلكِ، فإنَّ السنينَ المجدبةَ سبعٌ فقطْ، فدلَّ على أنهُ سيأتي بعدَها عامٌ عظيمُ الخصبِ، كثيرُ البركاتِ، يزيلُ الجدبَ العظيمَ الحاصلَ من السنينَ [السبعِ] (١) المجدبةِ الذي لا يزيلُها عامٌ خصبٌ عاديٌّ، بلْ لابدَّ فيه من خصبٍ خلافِ العادةِ، وهذا واضحٌ وهوَ من مفهومِ العددِ.

(١) زيادة من (خ).