Question Summary:
Question regarding Ayat 110 of Surah Yusuf

Question Detail:

I had a question regarding Ayat 110 from Surah Yusuf.

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

To explain a verse of the Quran, one must be an expert in the Arabic language and also one must have expertise in many other fields.   

The explanation posed in the enquiry i.e. the word استيأس being taken from استحقاق or لياقة has not been found. Rather استيأس is in the meaning of وجدان.

Furthermore, the second part of the verse وظنوا انهم قد كذبوا does not collaborate with your explanation. Hereunder is the explanation presented by Mufti Shafee’ Rahmatullahi Alihi:

“The disbelieving people of the past were given long respites, and because the punishment was not coming upon them, the messengers were in despair over the possibility that the punishment of Allah Ta’ala will not come upon such people and truth will not manifest itself at the time they had hoped it to be, they were wrong in their estimation (because Allah Ta'ala had not told them of a definite time), and the time fixed by them was based on particular signs. It was in this state of despair that Allah Ta’las help came to them, that is, the punishment on the disbelievers as promised, and those that brought Iman were saved from the punishment. Therefore, the disbelievers of Makkah should not be in any doubt about a delay in the punishment.

The words قد كذبوا in the verse under reference also carries the same sense, that is, the punishment which was to come upon the disbelievers was delayed while the prophets had estimated a time for it in their minds. When this punishment did not come at that time, they thought that they had made a mistake in determining the time for it. This Tafsir has been reported from Hadhrat Abdullah ibn 'Abbas Radiallahu Anhu and Imam Tibi Rahimahullah has said that this Hadith is Sahih (sound).

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Tareque Ahmed

Student Darul Iftaa
New York, USA

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

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Ma’ariful Quran (English) 5/174-176