Qatadah said: We were told that he would not open any piece of baggage or look into any bag without asking Allah’s forgiveness, fearing the sin of the accusation he had made against them. When only Benjamin’s saddlebag remained, he said, “I do not think that he took it.” But his brothers said, “By Allah, we will not leave until you inspect his saddlebag, for that will put both your mind and ours more at ease.” When they opened his baggage, they brought it out from it. This is the meaning of Allah Most High’s words:

“Then he brought it out of his brother’s bag.”

The pronoun in “then he brought it out” is feminine, although the word for “measuring cup” is grammatically masculine, as indicated by His words, “Whoever brings it shall have a camel-load [of grain].” This is because the pronoun here refers back to the drinking vessel.

It was also said that the word for “measuring cup” may be either masculine or feminine. When the measuring cup was brought out of Benjamin’s saddlebag, his brothers lowered their heads in shame. They turned to Benjamin and said, “What have you done? You have disgraced us and blackened our faces, O sons of Rachel! Calamity from you never ceases to afflict us. When did you take this measuring cup?”

Benjamin replied, “Rather, O sons of Rachel, calamity from you never ceases to afflict us. You took my brother away and destroyed him in the wilderness; and the one who placed this measuring cup in my saddlebag is the one who placed the merchandise in your saddlebags.” Thus Benjamin was taken as a slave. (1)

It was also said that the man seized him by the neck and brought him back to Joseph as thieves are brought back. (2)

“Thus We devised a plan for Joseph.” Here, the planning means requiting their plot: just as they had plotted against Joseph at the beginning, We dealt with them accordingly. Jacob, peace be upon him, had said to Joseph, “Then they may plot against you,” so We devised a plan for Joseph regarding their affair.

Among people, plotting is a stratagem; when attributed to Allah Most High, it is planning in accordance with truth. It was also said that “We devised a plan” means: We inspired; and it was said: We arranged; and it was said: We willed. Its meaning is: We brought this about for Joseph, until he brought his brother close to himself and separated him from his brothers.

“He could not have taken his brother,” that is, kept him with himself, “under the king’s law”—meaning, under his judgement. This was said by Qatadah. Ibn Abbas said: under his authority. “Unless Allah willed”: that is, Joseph would not have been able to detain his brother under the king’s law had We not devised this plan for him through Our subtle grace, until he found a means to do so. This was by causing the brothers to declare that the penalty for theft was enslavement. Thus Joseph’s wish was fulfilled by Allah’s will.

“We raise in rank whomever We will” through knowledge, just as We raised Joseph in rank above his brothers. Yaqub recited both verbs in the third person: “He raises” and “He wills,” with “degrees” in a construct relationship with “whomever” in this surah. The basis for this is that the verb in both cases is ascribed to Allah Most High, whose mention immediately preceded in His words, “Unless Allah wills”—that is, Allah raises the degrees of whomever He wills. The remaining reciters read both verbs in the first-person plural, except that the Kufans read “degrees” as an indefinite accusative, while the others read it in the construct form. That is, “We raise”; yet the One who raises is also Allah Most High. (3)