⦗93–98⦘ “Take this shirt of mine and place it over my father’s face; he will regain his sight. Then bring me your entire families. When the caravan departed, their father said, ‘I can indeed detect Joseph’s scent, if only you would not ridicule me.’ They said, ‘By Allah, you are still lost in your old error.’”

That is, Joseph (peace be upon him) said to his brothers: “Take this shirt of mine and place it over my father’s face; he will regain his sight.” Every ailment is treated by its opposite. Since this shirt bore a trace of Joseph’s scent—and Joseph’s absence had filled his father’s heart with grief and longing to an extent known only to Allah—Joseph wanted him to smell it, so that his spirit would revive, his soul would be restored, and his sight would return. Allah has wisdom and secrets in this which He does not disclose to His servants, but He had made Joseph aware of this matter.

“Then bring me your entire families”—that is, all your children, clansmen, and dependents—so that the reunion might be complete and you might be delivered from the misery of hardship and the distress of straitened provision.

“When the caravan departed” from the land of Egypt, heading toward the land of Palestine, Jacob detected the scent of the shirt and said, “I can indeed detect Joseph’s scent, if only you would not ridicule me.” That is, if only you would not mock me and claim that I had spoken these words without knowing what I was saying. He had seen such astonishment from them at his condition that it prompted him to say this.

His expectation of them proved correct, for they said, “By Allah, you are still lost in your old error.” That is, you remain adrift in the sea of love, unaware of what you are saying.