Surah Yusuf Tafseer

قَالُواْ يَا أَبَانَا

And they came to their father in the early part of the night weeping. They said:"O our father!

Allah narrates to us the deceit that Yusuf's brothers resorted to, after they threw him to the bottom of the well. They went back to their father, during the darkness of the night, crying and showing sorrow and grief for losing Yusuf. They started giving excuses to their father for what happened to Yusuf, falsely claiming that,

إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ

We went racing with one another,

or had a shooting competition,

وَتَرَكْنَا يُوسُفَ عِندَ مَتَاعِنَا

and left Yusuf by our belongings,

guarding our clothes and luggage,

فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّيْبُ

and a wolf devoured him,

which is exactly what their father told them he feared for Yusuf and warned against.

They said next,

وَمَا أَنتَ بِمُوْمِنٍ لِّنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَادِقِينَ

but you will never believe us even when we speak the truth.

They tried to lessen the impact of the grave news they were delivering.

They said, `We know that you will not believe this news, even if you consider us truthful. So what about when you suspect that we are not truthful, especially since you feared that the wolf might devour Yusuf and that is what happened.'

Therefore, they said, `You have reason not to believe us because of the strange coincidence and the amazing occurrence that happened to us.