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qālū ta-llāhi ʾinnaka la-fī ḍalālika l-qadīmi
They said, ‘By God, you persist in your inveterate error.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
12YūsufيوسفVerse 95 of 111
Joseph12. Yūsufيوسف
Yūsuf
Joseph
MeccanVerse 95 of 111
12YūsufيوسفVerse 95 of 111
Joseph
They said, ‘By God, you persist in your inveterate error.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Yusuf – Verse 95
95. “They said: ‘By Allah! you are in your ancient error’.”
Those with Ya‘qub, who normally were the spouses of his children, his grand sons and grand daughters, and other members of his extended family, had long since given up Yusuf for dead and thought this new assertion by Ya‘qub was nothing but his refusal to face reality. In fact they probably thought he was having delusions when he said that he perceived the scent of Yusuf. That was why, addressing him, they seriously and rudely said he was in his old error.
The verse says:
“They said: ‘By Allah! you are in your ancient error’.”
It becomes evident that ‘persisting in his old error’ does not mean error in belief. On the contrary, it means being in error in refusing to recognize what they perceived as the reality about Yusuf. However these meanings show that they behaved unto that old great prophet very rudely and boldly. Once they remarked their father had been in a manifest aberration, and here they told him:
“…you are in your ancient error’.”
They were unaware of the intimacy and sincerity of the old man of Kan‘an, and regarded him as not being as enlightened and illuminated as them. They did not think that future events might be as clear to him as a reflection in a mirror.