Yūsuf

وَجَآءُوا أَبَاهُمْ عِشَآءً يَبْكُونَ

16. “And they came to their father at nightfall, weeping.”

Crying is not always sincere nor a sign of honesty. Do not trust every type of crying and weeping. Conspirators do not neglect to take into consideration the role of feelings and timing. Yusuf’s brothers had executed their plot flawlessly as they had planned and desired against him. Now, they had to think about their return, their father’s questions and how to make him believe their lies. The lie they cooked up, which we will see later on in the commentary on the next verse, was the very same fear which their father had expressed and predicted, proclaiming that Yusuf was eaten by wolves.

The Qur’an says that the brothers went to their father at night, crying. This kind of crying is deceiving and pretentious which shows us that someone might cry without a valid and honest reason and therefore we cannot conclude that someone is in trouble simply by looking at the tears in his eyes. The verse says:

“And they came to their father at nightfall, weeping.”

There are four types of weeping in the Qur’an: 1- The tears shed out of joy: Some Christians, when listening to the chanting of the Qur’an used to shed tears. The Qur’an says:

“And when they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they recognize of the Truth...” ¹⁷

2- The tears shed out of sorrow: For example, when some Muslims heard that it was not possible for them to join the advance forces of the army of the Sublime Prophet (S), they shed tears. The Qur’an says:

“…and their eyes overflowed with tears of sorrow, for they did not find that which they should spend.” ¹⁸

3- The tears shed out of fear: For example, whenever certain verses of the Qur’an were read to the men of Allah, they would fall in prostration and cry.

“…When the revelations of the Beneficent (Allah) were recited unto them, they fell down prostrating and weeping.” ¹⁹

In another occurrence the Qur’an says:

“And they fall down on their faces weeping, and it adds to their humility.” ²⁰

4- Tears shed to deceive and mislead: An example of this is reflected in Yusuf’s brothers coming to Ya‘qub, in tears, to try to falsely prove and convince him that a wolf had torn apart the body of their brother.

“…Weeping.”

Footnotes

1. 17. Surah Al-Ma`idah, No. 5, verse 83.
2. 18. Surah Al-Taubah, No. 9, verse 92.
3. 19. Surah Maryam, No. 19, verse 58.
4. 20. Surah Al-Isra’, No. 17, verse 109