(7–9) “There were certainly signs in Joseph and his brothers for those who inquire. When they said, ‘Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we are, though we are a strong group. Our father is clearly in error. Kill Joseph or cast him away in some distant land, so that your father’s attention may be yours alone; then afterward you may become righteous people.’”

Allah Most High says: “There were certainly signs in Joseph and his brothers”—that is, lessons and proofs pointing to many beneficial truths—“for those who inquire,” meaning everyone who asks about them, whether implicitly through their circumstances or explicitly in words. Those who inquire are the ones who benefit from signs and lessons. Those who turn away, however, benefit neither from signs nor from accounts and clear proofs.

“When they said” among themselves, “Joseph and his brother”—Benjamin, his full brother, though all of them were brothers—“are dearer to our father than we are, though we are a strong group.” That is: How can he favor the two of them over us in love and affection? “Our father is clearly in error”—that is, he is plainly mistaken in favoring them over us without any reason that we can discern or any cause that we can see.

“Kill Joseph or cast him away in some distant land”—that is, remove him from his father’s sight by taking him to a faraway land where his father will be unable to see him.

If you do either of these two things, “your father’s attention may be yours alone”—that is, he will devote himself to you and turn toward you with affection and love. His heart has become so preoccupied with Joseph that he cannot devote himself to you. “Then afterward”—after this deed—“you may become righteous people”; that is, you may repent to Allah and seek forgiveness after committing your sin.

Thus, before committing the sin, they resolved to repent afterward, thereby making it easier to commit, diminishing its ugliness, and encouraging one another to carry it out.