that he denied the Creator, saying:

‘What is the Lord of all worlds?’

He also said:

‘I know of no god for you other than myself.’

And:

‘I am your supreme lord.’

Allah said of his people:

‘When Our signs came to them, clear to see, they said, “This is obvious magic.” They denied them out of injustice and arrogance, though inwardly they were certain of them.’

Yet only someone who acknowledges Allah can associate partners with Him; someone who denies Him has not associated partners with Him?”

The reply is: Allah mentions denial of the Creator only in connection with the Pharaoh of Moses’s time. As for those who lived in Joseph’s time, the Quran indicates that they acknowledged Allah while associating partners with Him. Thus, Joseph’s words to the king, the minister, and the people presupposed acknowledgement of the Creator’s existence, as when he said:

“Are separate lords better, or Allah, the One, the All-Subduing?”

“Return to your master and ask him about the women,” down to his words, “My Lord indeed knows their schemes.”

“And Allah does not guide the schemes of the treacherous,” down to his words:

“Indeed, the soul constantly urges evil, except when my Lord bestows His mercy. My Lord is indeed All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

The believer mentioned in Āl Hā Mīm also said:

“Joseph had already come to you before with clear proofs, yet you remained in doubt about what he brought you. Then, when he died, you said, ‘Allah will never send another messenger after him.’”

This implies that those to whom Joseph was sent acknowledged Allah.

Likewise, before Joseph’s brothers recognized him, while they thought he belonged to Pharaoh’s household, they addressed him in terms that presupposed acknowledgement of the Creator. For example, they said:

“By Allah, you certainly know that we did not come to spread corruption in the land, nor have we ever been thieves.”

He said to them:

“You are in a worse position, and Allah knows best what you allege.”

He also said:

“Allah forbid that we should seize anyone except the one with whom we found our property.”

And they said to him: