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fa-lammā jahhazahum bi-jahāzihim jaʿala s-siqāyata fī raḥli ʾakhīhi thumma ʾadhdhana muʾadhdhinun ʾayyatuhā l-ʿīru ʾinnakum la-sāriqūna
When he had furnished them with their provision, he put the drinking-cup into his brother’s saddlebag. Then a herald shouted: ‘O [men of the] caravan! You are indeed thieves!’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Yusuf – Verse 70
70. “Then, when he provided them with their provisions, he put the drinking cup into his brother’s saddle-bag. Then a herald shouted: ‘O you men of the caravan! You are certainly thieves!’”
The Arabic term /siqayah/ refers to a container out of which one drinks water. The word /rahl/ means a pouch or saddle-bag which is loaded onto a camel. The term /‘ir/ means: a caravan of camels which carries food supplies. This incident is the fruit of one of two creative plans which Yusuf designed. In the first instance he hid the brothers’ capital among the load of grain so that they might once again return. This time, he planted the precious cup in his brother’s saddlebag in order to retain him in Egypt as a deposit. It says:
“Then, when he provided them with their provisions, he put the drinking cup into his brother’s saddle-bag. Then a herald shouted: ‘O you men of the caravan! You are certainly thieves!’”
Some Islamic narrations say that during the meeting between Benjamin and Yusuf, the latter asked Benjamin if he would like to stay with him. Benjamin said that he would, but he mentioned that his father had gotten his brothers to swear to return him to their father. Yusuf replied that he would devise a plan for him to stay. Question: Why were these innocent people accused of theft? Answer: Benjamin, with full understanding, declared his approval of the scheme for him to stay with his brother Yusuf. Although his other brothers became them briefly upset and desperate because of the accusation, they were acquitted after an inspection.
In addition, Yusuf’s agents were unaware that he had planted the cup in his brother’s saddlebag, so they naturally proclaimed that the brothers were thieves. Even if Yusuf had said that they were thieves, still there would have been no problem, since, according to Imam Sadiq (as), what they had stolen was not specified, and the meaning of thieves applied to them really meant that they had stolen Yusuf from his father. In the story, no one said that they had stolen the cup, but that it was lost. Thus they were thieves, the thieves of Yusuf, not the thieves of the cup.1
The Prophet (S) has said: that he who tells a white lie in order to reform or to remove conflict between others is not counted as a lie. It was then that he recited this verse.2
Explanations
It is permitted to fabricate scenes in order to discover an offence3, and for the sake of superior objectives it is also admissible to attribute theft to an innocent man who has agreed to play the role of the thief.4 If there is one wrongdoer in a group, people will often hold the whole group responsible.
“O you men of the caravan! You are certainly thieves.”
Footnotes