Ibn Kathīr said: “Allah Most High says, reporting what Jacob said to his son Joseph when he related the dream he had seen. Its interpretation was that his brothers would submit to him and accord him extraordinary veneration, to the point that they would fall prostrate before him out of reverence, respect, and honor. Jacob—peace be upon him—therefore feared that Joseph might tell any of his brothers about this dream, whereupon they would envy him and seek his ruin out of jealousy.

For this reason, he told him: ‘Do not relate your dream to your brothers, lest they devise a plot against you.’ That is, they would contrive a stratagem directed against you.” End quote. (1)

• Allah Most High says: “He said, ‘My sons, do not enter through one gate, but enter through separate gates. Yet I cannot avail you in the least against Allah. Judgment belongs to Allah alone. In Him I put my trust, and in Him let all who trust put their trust.’ When they entered as their father had instructed them, it did not avail them in the least against Allah; it merely satisfied a need in Jacob’s heart. He was indeed possessed of knowledge because of what We had taught him, but most people do not know.” (Sūrat Yūsuf, peace be upon him—verses 67–68)

Al-Qurtubī, the author of the Quran commentary—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “When they resolved to depart, he feared that they would be struck by the evil eye, so he instructed them not to enter Egypt through a single gate. Egypt had four gates. He feared the evil eye for them because they were eleven sons of one man, and they were men of beauty, excellence, and imposing stature. This was stated by Ibn Abbās, al-Dahhāk, Qatāda, and others.” End quote. (2)

The hadith master Ibn Kathīr—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “Allah Most High reports that when Jacob—peace be upon him—prepared his sons to depart for Egypt with their brother Benjamin, he instructed them not to enter together through a single gate, but to enter through separate gates. As Ibn Abbās, Muhammad ibn Ka‘b, Mujāhid, al-Dahhāk, Qatāda, al-Suddī, and more than one other scholar stated, he feared that they would be struck by the evil eye. They were handsome, well-built, striking, and splendid in appearance, so he feared that people’s eyes might harm them. The evil eye is real: it can bring a horseman down from his horse. Ibn Abī Hātim narrated from Ibrāhīm al-Nakha‘ī concerning the words