Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (4/238)

Tafsir al-BaghawiAl-Baghawi

“When they saw him, they were overwhelmed by him”—that is, they deemed him magnificent. Abu al-‘Aliyah said: His appearance awed them, and they were dumbfounded. It was also said that they menstruated because of his beauty. (1) This is not sound.

“And they cut their hands”—that is, they slashed them with the knives they held, thinking that they were cutting the citrons. They did not feel the pain, because their hearts were so preoccupied with Joseph.

Mujahid said: ⦗182/a⦘ “They felt nothing until they saw the blood.”

Qatadah said: “They severed their hands completely, until they threw them down.” (2)

The sounder view is that they cut them without severing them.

Wahb said: A number of them died. (3)

“And they said, ‘God forbid! This is not a human being’”—that is, “Far be it from Allah that this should be a human being.” Abu ‘Amr recited it as hashā lillāh, retaining the final yā’ in connected speech, in accordance with the original form. The other reciters omitted the yā’ because of its frequent use on people’s tongues and in accordance with the written text.

His saying, “This is not a human being,” is in the accusative because the preposition has been omitted; that is, “This is not a human being.” “This is”—that is, “This is nothing but”—“a noble angel,” one honoured by Allah Most High.

“She said, ‘That is the one about whom you blamed me. I did seek to seduce him, but he firmly refused. And if he does not do what I command him, he will surely be imprisoned and will certainly become one of the humiliated.’” (32)

“She said”—meaning, Ra‘il—“That is the one about whom you blamed me,” that is, for loving him. She then openly admitted what she had done, saying: “I did seek to seduce him, but he firmly refused”—that is, he abstained. She admitted it openly only because she knew that they would no longer blame her, since they had experienced, upon seeing him, what she herself had experienced. They then said to him, “Obey your mistress.”

Ra‘il said: “And if he does not do what I command him”—that is, if he does not comply with me in what I have called him to—“he will surely be imprisoned,” meaning, punished by confinement, “and he will certainly become one of the humiliated,” that is, the abased.

The emphatic ending may be heavy or light. When pausing on layusjananna, one retains the final n, because it is the heavy form; whereas when pausing on walayakūnā, one uses an alif, because it is the light form. It resembles the inflectional n-ending in nouns: one says ra’aytu rajulan (“I saw a man”), but when pausing, one says ra’aytu rajulā, with an alif. Similarly: “We shall surely drag him by the forelock—a lying, sinful forelock” (al-‘Alaq 15, 16).

Thus Joseph, peace be upon him, chose imprisonment over sin when the woman threatened him.

(1) This interpretation was also deemed weak by al-Tabari, Tafsir, 16:76-77, and Ibn Atiyyah, al-Muharrar al-Wajiz, 7:495-496. (2) In manuscript “B”: Mujahid. (3) Al-Tabari said in his Tafsir (16:79): “The sound view on this matter is that Allah informs us that they cut their hands without realizing it, out of their astonishment at Yusuf. It is possible that the cutting entailed severance, and it is possible that it was merely slitting and scratching. No view is sounder than adhering to the apparent meaning of the revelation.”

﴿فَلَمَّا رَأَيْنَهُ أَكْبَرْنَهُ﴾ أَعْظَمْنَهُ، قَالَ أَبُو الْعَالِيَةِ: هَالَهُنَّ أَمْرُهُ وَبُهِتْنَ. وَقِيلَ: أَكْبَرْنَهُ أَيْ: حِضْنَ لِأَجْلِهِ مِنْ جَمَالِهِ (١) . وَلَا يَصِحُّ. ﴿وَقَطَّعْنَ﴾ أَيْ: حَزَّزْنَ بِالسَّكَاكِينِ الَّتِي مَعَهُنَّ، ﴿أَيْدِيَهُنَّ﴾ وَهُنَّ يَحْسَبْنَ أَنَّهُنَّ يَقْطَعْنَ الْأُتْرُجَّ، وَلَمْ يَجِدْنَ الْأَلَمَ لِشُغْلِ قُلُوبِهِنَّ بِيُوسُفَ. قال مجاهد: ١٨٢/أفَمَا أَحْسَسْنَ إِلَّا بِالدَّمِ. وَقَالَ قَتَادَةُ (٢) : أَبَنَّ أَيْدِيَهُنَّ حَتَّى أَلْقَيْنَهَا. وَالْأَصَحُّ كَانَ قَطْعًا بِلَا إِبَانَةٍ. وَقَالَ وَهْبٌ: مَاتَتْ جَمَاعَةٌ مِنْهُنَّ (٣) . ﴿وَقُلْنَ حَاشَ لِلَّهِ مَا هَذَا بَشَرًا﴾ أَيْ: مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ أَنْ يَكُونَ هَذَا بَشَرًا. قَرَأَ أَبُو عَمْرٍو: حَاشَى لِلَّهِ، بِإِثْبَاتِ الْيَاءِ فِي الْوَصْلِ، عَلَى الْأَصْلِ. وَقَرَأَ الْآخَرُونَ بِحَذْفِ الْيَاءِ لِكَثْرَةِ وُرُودِهَا عَلَى الْأَلْسُنِ، وَاتِّبَاعًا لِلْكِتَابِ. وَقَوْلُهُ: ﴿مَا هَذَا بَشَرًا﴾ نُصِبَ بِنَزْعِ حَرْفِ الصِّفَةِ، أَيْ: لَيْسَ هَذَا بِبَشَرٍ، ﴿إِنْ هَذَا﴾ أَيْ: مَا هَذَا، ﴿إِلَّا مَلَكٌ﴾ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ، ﴿كَرِيمٌ﴾ عَلَى اللَّهِ تَعَالَى. ﴿قَالَتْ فَذَلِكُنَّ الَّذِي لُمْتُنَّنِي فِيهِ وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدْتُهُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ فَاسْتَعْصَمَ وَلَئِنْ لَمْ يَفْعَلْ مَا آمُرُهُ لَيُسْجَنَنَّ وَلَيَكُونًا مِنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ (٣٢) ﴾ . ﴿قَالَتْ﴾ يَعْنِي: رَاعِيلَ، ﴿فَذَلِكُنَّ الَّذِي لُمْتُنَّنِي فِيهِ﴾ أَيْ: فِي حُبِّهِ، ثُمَّ صَرَّحَتْ بِمَا فَعَلَتْ، فَقَالَتْ: ﴿وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدْتُهُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ فَاسْتَعْصَمَ﴾ أَيْ: فَامْتَنَعَ، وَإِنَّمَا صَرَّحَتْ بِهِ لِأَنَّهَا عَلِمَتْ أَنَّهُ لَا مَلَامَةَ عَلَيْهَا مِنْهُنَّ وَقَدْ أَصَابَهُنَّ مَا أَصَابَهَا مِنْ رُؤْيَتِهِ، فَقُلْنَ لَهُ: أَطِعْ مَوْلَاتَكَ. فَقَالَتْ رَاعِيلُ: ﴿وَلَئِنْ لَمْ يَفْعَلْ مَا آمُرُهُ﴾ وَلَئِنْ لَمْ يُطَاوِعْنِي فِيمَا دَعَوْتُهُ إِلَيْهِ، ﴿لَيُسْجَنَنَّ﴾ أَيْ: لِيُعَاقَبَنَّ بِالْحَبْسِ، ﴿وَلَيَكُونَنْ مِنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ﴾ مِنَ الْأَذِلَّاءِ. وَنُونُ التَّوْكِيدِ تُثَقَّلُ وَتُخَفَّفُ، وَالْوَقْفُ عَلَى قَوْلِهِ: ﴿لَيُسْجَنَنَّ﴾ بِالنُّونِ لِأَنَّهَا مُشَدَّدَةٌ، وَعَلَى قَوْلِهِ ﴿"وَلَيَكُونًا "﴾ بِالْأَلْفِ لِأَنَّهَا مُخَفَّفَةٌ، وَهِيَ شَبِيهَةٌ بِنُونِ الْإِعْرَابِ فِي الْأَسْمَاءِ، كَقَوْلِهِ: رَأَيْتُ رَجُلًا وَإِذَا وَقَفْتَ، قَلْتَ: رَأَيْتُ رَجُلَا بالألف، ومثله: ﴿لَنَسْفَعَنْ بِالنَّاصِيَةِ نَاصِيَةٍ﴾ (الْعَلَقِ -١٥، ١٦) . فَاخْتَارَ يُوسُفُ ﵇ السِّجْنَ عَلَى الْمَعْصِيَةِ حِينَ تَوَعَّدَتْهُ الْمَرْأَةُ.

(١) وضعف هذا التفسير أيضا: الطبري: ١٦ / ٧٦-٧٧، وابن عطية في المحرر الوجيز: ٧ / ٤٩٥-٤٩٦. (٢) في "ب": مجاهد. (٣) قال الطبري في التفسير: ١٦ / ٧٩: "والصواب من القول في ذلك أن يقال: إن الله أخبر عنهن أنهن قطعن أيديهن وهنّ لا يشعرن لإعظام يوسف، وجائز أن يكون ذلك قطعا بإبانة =وجائز أن يكون قطع حز وخدش= ولا قول في ذلك أصوب من التسليم لظاهر التنزيل".