Yūsuf

قَالُوا فَمَا جَزَآؤُهُ إِن كُنتُم كَاذِبِينَ

74. “They said: ‘What is the penalty thereof, if you are liars?’”

The punishment inflicted upon thieves has varied among different nations due to differences in their living standards. Theft is a major crime that causes economic disruption and social insecurity; as such it has been always cited as a crime in all legal statutes and customs in all parts of the world. The penalty prescribed for theft has been as varied as the civilizations and cultures of the world. In Egypt, which was very affluent at that time, the penalty for theft consisted of lashes and imprisonment. In Palestine, on the other hand, the penalty was that the thief would be put into bondage commensurate with the amount he had stolen, because theft was a transgression against the people’s rights and had economical motives.

Thus the import of the question posed, i.e., the penalty if they were proven to be liars and had stolen the cup, is that the brothers would have to choose between the Egyptian and Palestinian penalties. Anyway, it seems that the questioner was Hadrat Yusuf himself since he knew that the brothers would accept judgment according to the regulations and laws of Kan‘an which is exactly what he had anticipated they would choose. The verse says:

“They said: ‘What is the penalty thereof, if you are liars?’”