Yusuf (Joseph)

88. “Then, when they entered unto him (Yusuf), they said: ‘O’ ‘Aziz! Affliction has visited us and our family, and we have brought scanty merchandise. So pay us full measure and bestow you charity on us; verily Allah will reward the charitable ones’.”

So once again the sons of Ya‘qub loaded up their goods and, for the third time, they headed for Egypt, a land that had been full of adventures for them.

The verse says:

“Then, when they entered unto him (Yusuf), they said: ‘O’ ‘Aziz! Affliction has visited us and our family, and we have brought scanty merchandise. So pay us full measure and bestow you charity on us; verily Allah will reward the charitable ones’.”

This time, however, they entered Egypt feeling embarrassed and ashamed, because, contrary to their other trips, their past record had been badly damaged with the ‘Aziz and it is probable that some people now considered them as the thieves of Kan‘an.

The only thing which was their source of comfort among the host of difficulties and their exasperating troubles was the advice their father gave them; that they should not despair of Allah’s mercy, for solving any difficulty was an easy matter for Him.

The Arabic term /bida‘at/ refers to a property in the form of a price. The Qur’anic term /muzjat/ is derived from /’izja’/ with the sense of ‘casting out’. When salesmen return the money to the customer when it is less than the required amount, they call it: /bida‘tun muzjat/.

Some commentators have claimed that the meaning of “bestow you charity on us” is a request for Benjamin’s return, but most of the other commentators believe that it is a request for wheat itself.