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qālū ta-llāhi taftaʾu tadhkuru yūsufa ḥattā takūna ḥaraḍan ʾaw takūna mina l-hālikīna
They said, ‘By Allah! You will go on remembering Joseph until you wreck your health or perish.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
12YūsufيوسفVerse 85 of 111
Joseph12. Yūsufيوسف
Yūsuf
Joseph
MeccanVerse 85 of 111
Surah Yusuf – Verse 85
85. “They said: ‘By Allah! You will never cease to remember Yusuf until you are ill or (until) you are of the perished ones’.”
The Arabic term /harad/ refers to a person who grieves to death out of love or sorrow. The brothers, who were over whelmed by sorrow as a result of this sequence of events, had a troubled conscience because of Yusuf’s affair and now they were finding themselves being tried anew with regard to Benjamin while they were profoundly hurt at the ever increasing sadness of their father. With inconvenience they addressed the Father, and as the verse says:
“They said: ‘By Allah! You will never cease to remember Yusuf until you are ill or (until) you are of the perished ones’.”
Explanations
1. The ideal love is spiritual and the heavenly sighs of grief which are of valuable import. The thinking of the men of Allah is identical with the thinking of Allah Himself.
2. The issue of paternal love is different from ordinary kinds of love.
3. Spiritual and psychic problems leave their impact on the body, among which one can name the separation from a loved one which might cause a nervous break-down or even death.