[2667] Such a noble family was understandably anticipating the selection of a Prophet from among this fourth generation in this noble line of descent. Of all his ten half-brothers and one sibling brother, Joseph was the one to be singled out for this truly lofty station, the highest that God will ever bestow on a human being. Thus, his father saw the significance of his dream (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[2668] Ta’wīl al-aḥādīth (lit. the interpretation of speech/talk/discourse). Almost all exegetes agree that this means that Prophet Joseph (عليه السلام) was given the ability of dream divination or interpretation, given that some dreams are coded messages (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Samʿānī). Dreams are called aḥādīth (pl. talk/speech/discourse) because they could be a person talking to himself, or an angel or a devil talking to him during sleep (cf. al-Shinqīṭī, Aḍwā’ al-Bayān), or, as some exegetes have it, because people tell each other about them (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
Yet, al-Saʿdī, al-Shinqīṭī and Ibn ʿĀshūr see that this gift is not limited to the faculty of dream divination, but rather that ta’wīl al-aḥādīth is wider than this and could, in addition, entail the ability to analyse discourse and discern its real significance.
[2669] Although niʿmah means all the favours that God showers people with both worldly and religiously, it could also mean these and that of Prophethood as well (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Tafsīr al-Muyassar, al-Tafsīr al-Mukhtaṣar).
[2670] Indeed this single-most great honouring of a member of the family encompasses the whole family (cf. al-Saʿdī).