Makkan, by agreement
The last years in Makkah
Ibn al-Jawzī records consensus that it is Makkan, and al-Qurṭubī says Makkan, all of it, noting a report that excepts four ayat. The traditional order places it fifty-third, directly after Yūnus and Hūd — which puts it in the last years before the Hijrah, the period in which the Prophet ﷺ lost Khadījah and his uncle Abū Ṭālib and was driven out of al-Ṭāʾif. Al-Qurṭubī records what the scholars observed about it: Allah repeated the stories of the prophets in the Qurʾan in differing words and at differing lengths, but told the story of Yūsuf and did not repeat it.
فَصْلٌ في نُزُولِها هِيَ مَكِّيَّةٌ بِالإجْماعِوَذَكَرَ اللَّهُ أَقَاصِيصَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ فِي الْقُرْآنِ وَكَرَّرَهَا بِمَعْنًى وَاحِدٍ فِي وُجُوهٍ مُخْتَلِفَةٍ، بِأَلْفَاظٍ مُتَبَايِنَةٍ عَلَى دَرَجَاتِ الْبَلَاغَةِ، وَقَدْ ذَكَرَ قِصَّةَ يُوسُفَ وَلَمْ يُكَرِّرْهَاThe same, in other works
- al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan.
سُورَةُ يُوسُفَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ مَكِّيَّةٌ
- al-Suyūṭīal-Durr al-manthūrAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Ibn ʿAbbās: it came down in Makkah. Recorded by al-Naḥḥās, Abū al-Shaykh and Ibn Mardawayh.
أخْرَجَ النَّحّاسُ وأبُو الشَّيْخِ، وابْنُ مَرْدُوَيْهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: نَزَلَتْ سُورَةُ يُوسُفَ بِمَكَّةَ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
- al-ShawkānīFatḥ al-qadīr→
Makkan, all of it; it is also said to have come down between Makkah and Madinah, at the time of the Hijrah.
هي مَكِّيَّةٌ كُلُّها، وقِيلَ نَزَلَتْ ما بَيْنَ مَكَّةَ والمَدِينَةِ وقْتَ الهِجْرَةِ
Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.
What was happening
Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ said: the Qurʾan was sent down to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he recited it to them for a time. Then they said: Messenger of Allah, if only you would tell us stories. And Allah sent down: “Alif Lām Rā. These are the ayat of the clear Book… We relate to you the best of stories.”
Consider who was listening. The believers in Makkah were a few people with no protector, some of whom had been thrown out by their own families. The man reciting to them had been called a liar by his own tribe; if the traditional order holds, he had lately buried his wife and his guardian within a short time of one another, and did not yet know that a city to the north would take him in. To them the surah tells of a boy who was envied by his brothers for nothing he had done, dropped into a well, sold “for a paltry price, a few silver coins,” accused by the woman of the house he served, and left in prison for years by a man who had promised to mention him — and who came out of it as the keeper of the storehouses of the land. “Thus We established Yūsuf in the land… And Allah prevails in His purpose, but most people do not know.”
It is built with great care. It opens with a dream — eleven stars and the sun and the moon, bowing — and closes with the same dream come true: “Father, this is the meaning of my dream of long ago; my Lord has made it real.” A shirt appears three times: stained with false blood, as evidence for a lie; torn from behind, as evidence of the truth; and at last laid over an old man’s face, giving him back his sight. At the centre of the story, in the prison, with two condemned men waiting on his every word, Yūsuf puts off the answer they want and gives them the one they need: “My two companions of the prison — are many different lords better, or Allah, the One, the Irresistible?”
Beside him throughout stands his father. Yaʿqūb is told his son is dead and answers, “Patience is beautiful.” Years later he loses a second son and says it again. His eyes turn white with grief, and when his sons reproach him he says: “I complain of my anguish and my sorrow only to Allah” — the ayah at which ʿUmar was heard sobbing from the back rows as he led the dawn prayer. And then the instruction that defines him: “My sons, go and search for Yūsuf and his brother, and do not despair of relief from Allah.”
When the brothers finally learn who the minister is, and wait for what he will do, he says: “No reproach upon you today. May Allah forgive you; He is the most merciful of the merciful.” The Prophet ﷺ entered Makkah as its conqueror eight years after the Hijrah, with the people who had hunted him gathered before him.
What came down about what
“If only you would tell us stories”
“The Qurʾan was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he recited it to them for a time. They said: ‘Messenger of Allah, if only you would relate stories to us.’ So Allah sent down: ‘Alif Lām Rā. These are the ayat of the clear Book,’ to His saying: ‘We relate to you the best of stories.’”
Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ: Ibn Ḥibbān (6209) and al-Ḥākim; ṣaḥīḥ according to al-Albānī (Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān, 1462).
Graded ṣaḥīḥ
أُنْزِلَ القُرْآنُ عَلى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَتَلاهُ، عَلَيْهِمْ زَمانًا، فَقالُوا: يا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، لَوْ قَصَصْتَ عَلَيْنا، فَأنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَعالىالوعد بالتمكين بعد الابتلاء المبين، تثبيتًا ووعدًا للنبي ﷺ وللمؤمنين.
The promise of establishment after plain trial — to steady the Prophet ﷺ and the believers, and as a pledge to them.
The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it
- A dream and its fulfilment
- Envy within a family
- Beautiful patience
- Chastity under temptation
- Calling to Allah from prison
- Allah prevails in His purpose
- Do not despair of relief from Allah
- Forgiveness in the hour of power
Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out
فأهم أغراضها: بيان قصة يوسف- عليه السلام- مع إخوته، وما لقيه في حياته، وما في ذلك من العبر من نواح مختلفة.
وفيها إثبات أن بعض المرائي قد يكون إنباء بأمر مغيب، وذلك من أصول النبوءات وهو من أصول الحكمة المشرقية كما سيأتي عند قوله تعالى: إذ قال يوسف لأبيه يا أبت إني رأيت أحد عشر كوكبا [سورة يوسف: 4] الآيات.
وأن تعبير الرؤيا علم يهبه الله لمن يشاء من صالحي عباده.
وتحاسد القرابة بينهم.
From its first ayah to its last
- 1–66 ayat · 5% of the surahRead from ayah 1 →
The dream
Alif Lām Rā. These are the ayat of the clear Book. We relate to you the best of stories. When Yūsuf said to his father: “Father, I saw eleven stars, and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me.” He said: “My son, do not tell your dream to your brothers, lest they plot against you. Thus your Lord will choose you, and teach you the interpretation of events.”
- 7–2014 ayat · 10% of the surahRead from ayah 7 →
The well
In Yūsuf and his brothers are signs for those who ask. They said: “Yūsuf and his brother are dearer to our father than we are. Kill Yūsuf, or cast him out to some land.” One said: “Do not kill him; throw him into the depths of the well.” They came to their father at night, weeping, and brought his shirt with false blood. He said: “No — your souls have made something seem fair to you. Patience is beautiful.” A caravan came, and they sold him for a paltry price.
- 21–3414 ayat · 14% of the surahRead from ayah 21 →
The house in Egypt
The Egyptian who bought him said to his wife: “Make his stay honourable.” She in whose house he was sought to seduce him; she bolted the doors and said: “Come.” He said: “Allah forbid!” They raced to the door, and she tore his shirt from behind. A witness from her household said: “If his shirt is torn from behind, she has lied.” The women of the city talked; she invited them, and when they saw him they cut their hands. He said: “My Lord, prison is dearer to me than what they call me to.”
- 35–428 ayat · 9% of the surahRead from ayah 35 →
The prison
Two young men entered the prison with him, and each told a dream. He said: “I have left the creed of a people who do not believe in Allah, and followed the creed of my fathers, Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb. My two companions of the prison: are many different lords better, or Allah, the One, the Irresistible? Judgement belongs to none but Allah.” Then he told them their dreams. He said to the one he thought would be saved: “Mention me to your lord.” But Satan made him forget, and he stayed in prison some years.
- 43–5715 ayat · 13% of the surahRead from ayah 43 →
The king’s dream
The king said: “I see seven fat cows being eaten by seven lean ones.” They said: “A muddle of dreams.” The one who had been saved remembered, after a time. “Yūsuf, man of truth!” He would not leave until he was cleared: “Ask him about the women who cut their hands.” The wife of the minister said: “Now the truth has come to light. It was I who sought to seduce him.” He said: “Set me over the storehouses of the land; I am a knowing guardian.” Thus We established Yūsuf in the land.
- 58–6811 ayat · 11% of the surahRead from ayah 58 →
The brothers come to Egypt
Yūsuf’s brothers came and entered before him; he knew them, and they did not know him. “Bring me a brother of yours from your father; if you do not, there is no measure for you with me.” Their father said: “Shall I trust you with him as I trusted you with his brother before? Allah is the best guardian.” He took their solemn pledge, and said: “My sons, do not enter by one gate, but by different gates. I can avail you nothing against Allah.”
- 69–8719 ayat · 17% of the surahRead from ayah 69 →
The cup, and a father’s grief
He took his brother aside: “I am your brother; do not grieve.” The king’s cup was found in the brother’s pack. They said: “If he steals — a brother of his stole before.” Yūsuf kept it to himself. The eldest said: “I shall not leave this land.” Their father turned from them and said: “Alas, my grief for Yūsuf!” and his eyes turned white with sorrow. “I complain of my anguish and my sorrow only to Allah. My sons, go and search for Yūsuf and his brother, and do not despair of relief from Allah” (12:87).
- 88–10114 ayat · 12% of the surahRead from ayah 88 →
“I am Yūsuf”
They said: “Mighty one, hardship has touched us and our family; be charitable to us.” He said: “Do you know what you did to Yūsuf and his brother?” — “Are you indeed Yūsuf?” — “I am Yūsuf, and this is my brother. Whoever is mindful and patient — Allah does not let the reward of the good be lost. No reproach upon you today.” The shirt was cast over his father’s face, and he saw again. He raised his parents upon the throne, and they fell down before him. “My Lord, You have given me dominion… Take my soul as one submitted, and join me with the righteous.”
- 102–11110 ayat · 8% of the surahRead from ayah 102 →
The lesson
That is of the news of the unseen, which We reveal to you; you were not with them when they resolved on their plan. Most people will not believe, however eager you are. Say: this is my way; I call to Allah upon clear sight, I and whoever follows me. Until, when the messengers despaired and thought they had been denied, Our help came to them. In their stories there is a lesson for people of understanding. It is no invented tale, but a confirmation of what came before it.
The division into passages is a reading aid, written for this page; it is not part of the muṣḥaf. Each passage is drawn as long as its words are.
The sound each ayah closes on
Read aloud, every ayah closes on a sound — its fāṣilah — and the closes answer one another for a stretch, then turn. Each sound this surah closes on is a line of the staff below, and the surah is the gold line stepping along them, an ayah at a time: where it steps to another line, the rhyme turns. The dotted lines are where its passages begin.
Its commonest close carries 96% of its ayat, and the rhyme turns 7 times. None of them comes where a passage begins, as this page divides the surah.
Move along the staff to see what each ayah closes on.
Computed from the text, each ayah as it is said when the reciter stops on it: the last vowel falls away, tanwīn on alif is said as a long ā, and tāʾ marbūṭah as h. Closes the ear hears as one rhyme share a line — -ūn, -īn and -īm; -ān and -ām — and an ayah that is only the opening letters closes on the name of its last letter.
From the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions
الْكَرِيمُ ابْنُ الْكَرِيمِ ابْنِ الْكَرِيمِ ابْنِ الْكَرِيمِ يُوسُفُ بْنُ يَعْقُوبَ بْنِ إِسْحَاقَ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ
“The noble, son of the noble, son of the noble, son of the noble: Yūsuf, son of Yaʿqūb, son of Isḥāq, son of Ibrāhīm.”وَلَوْ لَبِثْتُ فِي السِّجْنِ مَا لَبِثَ يُوسُفُ لأَجَبْتُ الدَّاعِيَ
“Had I stayed in prison as long as Yūsuf stayed, I would have answered the one who came to call me.” — said in praise of Yūsuf’s patience, who would not walk out of the prison until his name had been cleared.إِذَا هُوَ قَدْ أُعْطِيَ شَطْرَ الْحُسْنِ
Of the night he was taken up through the heavens, he ﷺ said: “The third heaven was opened to us, and there was Yūsuf. He had been given half of all beauty. He welcomed me, and prayed for good for me.”The name it is known by
After the prophet whose life is its single subject. Outside this surah he is named only twice in the whole Qurʾan.
Its place in the muṣḥaf
Ayat you will hear named
- 12:3The best of stories
- 12:4Eleven stars, the sun and the moon
- 12:18“Patience is beautiful”
- 12:21Allah prevails in His purpose
- 12:23–24“Allah forbid!”
- 12:33“Prison is dearer to me”
- 12:39–40Yūsuf preaches in the prison
- 12:53The soul that urges to evil
- 12:86–87“I complain only to Allah” — and do not despair
- 12:90–92“I am Yūsuf… No reproach upon you today”
- 12:100–101The dream fulfilled, and his prayer
- 12:108“This is my way”
- 12:111A lesson for people of understanding
Where this comes from
The figures at the head of the page are counted from the text. The Arabic quotations are taken letter for letter from the copies of the classical works held on this site, and each links to the passage it stands in. The rest was written for Mishkāt from the works below. It is an introduction, not a tafsir: where it matters, read the scholars themselves.
Works quoted on this page
- تفسير البغويMaʿālim al-tanzīlal-Ḥusayn al-Baghawī (d. 516 AH)
- تفسير ابن الجوزيZād al-masīrAbū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597 AH)
- تفسير القرطبيal-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-QurʾānShams al-Dīn al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH)
- تفسير ابن كثيرTafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīmIsmāʿīl ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH)
- الدر المنثورal-Durr al-manthūrJalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 911 AH)
- فتح القدير للشوكانيFatḥ al-qadīrMuḥammad al-Shawkānī (d. 1250 AH)
- التحرير والتنويرal-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīrMuḥammad al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿĀshūr (d. 1393 AH)
- المختصر في التفسيرal-Mukhtaṣar fī al-tafsīrMarkaz Tafsīr, a committee of scholars
Beside each scholar quoted stand his creed and his school of fiqh, so that he can be read with discernment. The site’s library holds other commentaries as well; the introductions do not draw on them.
al-Qurṭubī is quoted on these pages only for what he transmits: who said a surah is Makkan or Madinan, and what it has been called. On the attributes of Allah his commentary interprets, in places, in the way of the Ashʿarīs rather than the way of the Salaf, and nothing of that is taken from him here.
al-Rāzī and Abū al-Suʿūd are quoted on these pages only for where a surah came down, and Ibn ʿĀshūr only for the aims of the surah. Nothing on the attributes of Allah is taken from them, and no report comes by way of them. Ibn ʿĀshūr’s statement of the aims is not in the site’s copy of his book: it is read from the Shamela typing as OpenITI holds it, with reports and al-Zamakhsharī’s words left out, and it links to its page there.
Every hadith here says where it is recorded and how it is graded. What is in al-Bukhārī or Muslim is marked ṣaḥīḥ. Outside the two, the grading followed is al-Albānī’s; where none of his was found, the scholar who graded it is named. A report known to be weak or fabricated is not given here at all. A report that is ḥasan, or a Companion’s own saying, or related by the commentators without a graded chain, says so beside it. In the account of what was happening, a small sign after a sentence says the same of the report that sentence tells, and a question mark stands where a date or a figure is not certain, or beside a grading — underlined — that has something to say about its own source: rest on it, or touch it, and it gives the reason. What is drawn from the sīrah — the campaigns, the dates, who was present — is history as its scholars transmit it, and is not graded here.
Also drawn on
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
The order of revelation is the one printed at the head of each surah in the Egyptian muṣḥaf, which rests on lists transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās and Jābir ibn Zayd. It places a surah by where it began. Many surahs came down in parts, over years, and the scholars treat the list as a guide, not a certainty.