ការបកប្រែអត្ថន័យគួរអាន - ការបកប្រែជាភាសាអង់គ្លេស - បណ្ឌិត វ៉ាលីទព្លីហាស្ហ អូម៉ើរី - កំពុងដំណើរការលើវា
قَالُوٓاْ أَضۡغَٰثُ أَحۡلَٰمٖۖ وَمَا نَحۡنُ بِتَأۡوِيلِ ٱلۡأَحۡلَٰمِ بِعَٰلِمِينَ
[2738] In effect their knowledge was not adequate enough to decode the King’s dream, so they gave him this easy answer. Since they did not know what it meant, they tried to downplay its significance by calling it merely ‘jumbled dreams’ (aḍghāthu aḥlām) (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Zajjāj, Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Saʿdī).
وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِي نَجَا مِنۡهُمَا وَٱدَّكَرَ بَعۡدَ أُمَّةٍ أَنَا۠ أُنَبِّئُكُم بِتَأۡوِيلِهِۦ فَأَرۡسِلُونِ
[2739] Prophet Joseph’s (عليه السلام) former jail mate to whom he had interpreted his dream, which was realized and whereby he became a wine server at the King’s court (cf. al-Qurṭubī, al-Saʿdī).
[2740] This happening in the court made him remember Prophet Joseph’s request so that he mentioned him to his lord (Aya 42 above) even after a very long period of time had elapsed (ummah, cf. Ibn Qutaybah, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt).
يُوسُفُ أَيُّهَا ٱلصِّدِّيقُ أَفۡتِنَا فِي سَبۡعِ بَقَرَٰتٖ سِمَانٖ يَأۡكُلُهُنَّ سَبۡعٌ عِجَافٞ وَسَبۡعِ سُنۢبُلَٰتٍ خُضۡرٖ وَأُخَرَ يَابِسَٰتٖ لَّعَلِّيٓ أَرۡجِعُ إِلَى ٱلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَعۡلَمُونَ
قَالَ تَزۡرَعُونَ سَبۡعَ سِنِينَ دَأَبٗا فَمَا حَصَدتُّمۡ فَذَرُوهُ فِي سُنۢبُلِهِۦٓ إِلَّا قَلِيلٗا مِّمَّا تَأۡكُلُونَ
[2741] He decoded the dream thus: the seven fat cows and green grain ears as seven lush years with abundant rain during which they could grow their crops without interruption. These would be followed by seven tough years of drought, i.e. the seven lean cows and dry grain ears (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[2742] This shows the extent of the great knowledge that God bestowed upon Prophet Joseph (عليه السلام). He not only interpreted this complex dream so nicely, but he told them of the right course of action to take in the face of the tough years that were to come so that they could survive them and thrive thereof. They were to keep the grains sheathed so as to expose them as little as possible to corrupting elements and thus preserve them longer and were to consume as little as possible of the harvest in readiness for the tough years ahead (cf. al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī).
ثُمَّ يَأۡتِي مِنۢ بَعۡدِ ذَٰلِكَ سَبۡعٞ شِدَادٞ يَأۡكُلۡنَ مَا قَدَّمۡتُمۡ لَهُنَّ إِلَّا قَلِيلٗا مِّمَّا تُحۡصِنُونَ
[2743] That is, all the harvest that you have preserved for consumption during these years will be eaten by people, except the little that you hold in their granaries (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr).
ثُمَّ يَأۡتِي مِنۢ بَعۡدِ ذَٰلِكَ عَامٞ فِيهِ يُغَاثُ ٱلنَّاسُ وَفِيهِ يَعۡصِرُونَ
[2744] This lush year that was to come was not part of the King’s dream, but rather resulted from the knowledge that God gave Joseph (عليه السلام). This only emphasizes further the extent of his knowledge and that he could even foretell future events; something unique to him that others could not even dream of (cf. Abū al-Suʿūd).
[2745] Yughāthu (lit. to be helped out from difficulty) in the opinion of most exegetes, is that they will be showered with rain in abundance to make up for the years of drought (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī).
[2746] Due to the succulence of the crops, people would be able to extract the juices from them by pressing (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr).
وَقَالَ ٱلۡمَلِكُ ٱئۡتُونِي بِهِۦۖ فَلَمَّا جَآءَهُ ٱلرَّسُولُ قَالَ ٱرۡجِعۡ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَسۡـَٔلۡهُ مَا بَالُ ٱلنِّسۡوَةِ ٱلَّٰتِي قَطَّعۡنَ أَيۡدِيَهُنَّۚ إِنَّ رَبِّي بِكَيۡدِهِنَّ عَلِيمٞ
[2747] The King now took note of Joseph (عليه السلام) and wanted to inspect him further.
[2748] Indeed, to underline Joseph’s fortitude, Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said: “Had I stayed in jail as long as Yūsuf did, I would have answered the caller!” (al-Bukhārī: 3372, Muslim: 151). Understandably, any person in Yūsuf’s most desperate position would have rushed out at the first opportunity. Yet he wanted the end of his imprisonment on favourable grounds and to prove his innocence (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Wāḥidī, al-Basīṭ, Ibn Kathīr).
Further, Joseph (عليه السلام) was tactful when he asked about the women in general and not the Chief Minister’s wife, the main instigator of his turn of bad fortunes. This because the King would have wanted to protect the reputation of his closest aide, the Chief Minister, and he might have had second thoughts about having her brought before him for interrogation (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[2749] One cannot help noticing the additional information that Prophet Joseph provided for the benefit of the wine server about his Lord’s All-Encompassing Knowledge of the affair of the women, which nods at a comparison between a human deity, “your lord”, as Kings were indeed considered in ancient Egypt, and Joseph’s own Lord (“my Lord”), Almighty God, the Omnipotent, Omnipresent. Essentially, this can be taken for a continuation which lays emphasis on the call to guidance that he extended to him when he was still his jail mate and the latter asked him about his dream (cf. Ayas 37-40 above).
قَالَ مَا خَطۡبُكُنَّ إِذۡ رَٰوَدتُّنَّ يُوسُفَ عَن نَّفۡسِهِۦۚ قُلۡنَ حَٰشَ لِلَّهِ مَا عَلِمۡنَا عَلَيۡهِ مِن سُوٓءٖۚ قَالَتِ ٱمۡرَأَتُ ٱلۡعَزِيزِ ٱلۡـَٰٔنَ حَصۡحَصَ ٱلۡحَقُّ أَنَا۠ رَٰوَدتُّهُۥ عَن نَّفۡسِهِۦ وَإِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلصَّٰدِقِينَ
[2750] The King must have deduced Prophet Joseph’s innocence from his refusal to leave jail, whereas any other person would have rushed into the opportunity especially when summoned by none other than the King himself. Such assumption is also supported by the fact that the King summoned the women, Joseph’s oppressors, to his lofty presence (cf. al-Rāzī, al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar). Thus the King made such a direct charge at them and tipped them off balance to get the desired result.
[2751] No doubt the Chief Minister’s wife had some pangs of guilt during the time Joseph (عليه السلام) was wrongfully imprisoned for her sake and especially since the secondary culprits had tacitly freed themselves of the charge (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr) and pointed the finger at her (cf. Tafsīr al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah) whereby she had already once declared her ulterior intentions publicly in the heat of the moment (cf. Aya 32 above); hence, it was high time to come clean.
[2752] This is a full confession of sole culpability on her part and a clearing up of Prophet Joseph’s pristine reputation (cf. al-Qurṭubī, Ibn ʿĀshūr). The slate was now clean for him to come out from jail on favourable grounds.
ذَٰلِكَ لِيَعۡلَمَ أَنِّي لَمۡ أَخُنۡهُ بِٱلۡغَيۡبِ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهۡدِي كَيۡدَ ٱلۡخَآئِنِينَ
[2753] Given that what follows is to all appearance an uninterrupted continuation of the woman’s confession, many exegetes are of the opinion that she was the one who said the following two statements (cf. Abū Ḥayyān, al-Qāsimī, Riḍā, al-Saʿdī, al-Tafsīr al-Muyassar). Thus, some say that, she wanted to categorically have her husband know that she did not defile his bed. On the other hand, many great exegetes are of the opinion that the two statements are made by Prophet Joseph (عليه السلام) (cf. Ibn Kathīr, al-Wāḥidī, al-Zamakhsharī, al-Jalālayn, al-Alūsī, al-Shawkānī).
Given the pious charge with which the statements are laden, one feels it unlikely that a heathen woman who led such an irreligious life and had no source of guidance would be able to come to such righteous conclusions about God and the deviousness of human nature. Taken from this standpoint, the statements could be seen as a cathartic release of what had been weighing on Prophet Yūsuf’s (عليه السلام) chest ever since he was thrown into jail: his great sense of gratitude to his master who took him for a son and ‘made his stay comely’ (Aya 23 above), fearing that he thought him ungrateful and that whereby he experienced some sort of guilt for a very passing thought (Aya 24 above) that was not becoming of a person of his great moral standing.
