72. Asad supplies us some useful historical data. He writes: “The king seems to have been of the six Hyksos rulers who dominated Egypt from about 1700 to 1580 B.C., after having invaded the country from the east by way of the Sinai Peninsula. The name of this dynasty, which was undoubtedly of foreign origin, is derived from the Egyptian hiq shasu or heku shoswet, meaning “rulers of nomad lands”, or - according to the late Egyptian historian Manetho - “shepherd kings”: all of which point to their having been Arabs who, despite the fact that before their invasion of Egypt they were already well-established in Syria, had to a large extent preserved their bedouin mode of life. This would explain the confidence which the king mentioned in this story was later to place in Joseph, the Hebrew, and the subsequent settlement of the latter’s family (and, thus, of what in due course became the Israelite nation) in Egypt; for it must be borne in mind that the Hebrews, too, descended from one of the many Bedouin tribes who some centuries earlier had migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to Mesopotamia and later to Syria (cf. surah 7, note 48); and the language of the Hyksos must have been very akin to Hebrew, which after all, is but an ancient Arabic dialect.”

Mawdudi wrote under an earlier verse: “The 15th dynasty of Hyksos kings ruled Egypt at that time. They were of Arabian descent. Having moved from Palestine and Syria in 3000 B.C. to Egypt, they had seized power in Egypt. Both Arab historians and the commentators of the Qur’an refer to them as `Amaliq (Amalekites). This accords with the recent findings of Egyptologists. In Egypt, their position was that of alien invaders who established themselves owing to internal dissensions obtaining in that country...The Hyksos continued to rule over Egypt till the end of the fifteenth century B.C. However, during this period, political power actually rested with the Israelites. The Qur’an refers to God’s favour upon them: ‘When He raised Prophets amongst you and appointed you the rulers’ (al-Ma’idah 5: 20). Later on, a massive national uprising took place and led to the overthrow of Hyksos regime and the banishment of 250,000 Amalekites from Egypt. The Hyksos were replaced by a highly bigoted Coptic dynasty which virtually obliterated every remnant of the Amalekite period. The rulers of this dynasty also embarked upon a brutal oppression of the Israelites the details of which have been mentioned in the Qur’an in connection with the story of Prophet Moses (peace be upon him).

Sayyid Qutb adds that the struggle between the Israelites and the latter day Fara`inah was on the basis of faith. Yusuf had left marks of tawhid on the body-politic of the land (ref. 40: 34) as well as on the Egyptian society. The Fara`inah were idol-worshipers. The common Egyptian had sided with the Fara`inah and had stood up against the Hyksos family, whom they called Hyksos in their hatred which meant in their language pigs.

73. Qurtubi points out that this verse proves that if a true dream is wrongly interpreted, it has no effect on the predetermined outcome. In this case, the king saw a true dream which was interpreted as “confused dreams” by those who knew nothing of the art of interpretation. But that did not matter. The dream came out true as rightly interpreted by Yusuf.

This might have been an exceptional case, otherwise the opinion of the scholars is that if wrongly interpreted, a dream might bring that on real life (Au.).

74. Alternatively, they could have meant to say that, firstly, it seemed to be a medley of confused dreams, which do not call for interpretation, and secondly, even if it was a true meaningful dream, they were, after all, administrators of the kingdom and not interpreters of dreams (Thanwi).

75. That is, the other of the two in the prison with Yusuf was sent to the gallows. Qur’anic illustrations are like a painting in which an observer follows a painter as he paints. He does not get all the details until the painter has finished his task, touching up here and there, as he works on towards its completion. The onlooker does not lose his interest because of the surprising details that the painter’s brush-strokes reveal. And, since the onlooker would have failed to notice the significance of a detail here or a detail there until the painter has finished, he has to look at the painting several times to learn the significance of every detail. It is another thing that since the painting is large, the onlooker is never able to understand the whole of it at any time. He must keep shifting his sight of emphasis from detail to detail and connect their significance in his mind if he wishes to appreciate the meaning and significance of the whole. This is how the Qur’anic illustration is. Consequently, a reader of the Qur’an is never satiated with it - whether it is Yusuf’s story, that of other Prophets and their missions, or other illustration, the effect is the same. Every time he reads the Qur’an, a new aspect comes to the fore. One question. How can one be sure that the result of his exercises is not the work of imagination? Simple. He might consult someone who has attempted a similar exercise, and, to his joy, he will discover that the other person has also reached similar conclusions. It is truly then that one feels the conviction taking root in his heart that nothing less than revelation explains this characteristic of the Qur’an (Au.).

76. The choice of words is either to indicate that the butler needed permission to make a trip to the prison, or, as Ibn Jarir has said, the prison was out of town (or both: Au.).

77. Yusuf offered the interpretation instantly without placing a condition. Such is the character of the godly ones. When asked for a service, they serve, neither asking a price, nor reminding of the past wrongs (based on Thanwi).

78. That is, there is no need to starve during this period. You might consume as usual, but economize a little (from Ibn Jarir).

Imam Razi writes that leaving the grain in the corn assures that it will be less prone to attack by parasites.

We do not know Imam Razi’s source of knowledge, whether he experimented, or whether the advantages of storing grains with the ears was commonly known in his time. Modern research, however, has led to the same conclusion, namely, storage of grains left in the ears results in less wastage. The experiments were conducted in Pakistan. Excerpts of the report:

“Fresh harvested wheat with ears was procured. A portion of it was threshed and the grains were used for storage studies.

20 kg grain capacity mud-bins were fabricated according to the standard methods. Wheat ears and grains were separately stored in mud-bins. The bins were covered with inverted earthen pitchers, sealed with plaster of paris and placed over raised platforms. All the experiments were run in quardruplicate under fully controlled conditions. Studies were also conducted after introducing 100 adult insects (Tribolium castaneum) to each storage bin.

The samples were drawn after 45 and 72 days of storage and analysed for insect infestation. Numbers of alive, dead, and egg plugs were counted. Hidden infestation was detected by staining method. Weight of infested grains was also recorded.

“Averages of the replicates were worked out for calculating standard deviation.

“Results: Preliminary examination of the original wheat samples indicated that there was no insect infestation. Storage of wheat grains for 45 days resulted in increase in the number of insects from zero to 146 alive, 2 dead, and 16 egg plugs, whereas it was roughly 10 alive, 3 dead, and no egg plugs in case of wheat ears. The storage bins containing threshed wheat, to which insects were added, contained 314 insects and 34 egg plugs, whereas in case of wheat ears a number of the added insects also died. It is evident from the results that storage of wheat in the form suggested by the Holy Book resulted in its preservation not only when it was stored as such, but also from the outside attack.

Further extension in the storage period of wheat to 72 days showed increase in the number of insects (dead or alive) and number of egg plugs. The wheat grains stored after adding insects for 72 days, indicated a 3-fold increase in the number of insects, whereas the pattern was almost similar to that for 45 days storage in case of wheat ears.

The wheat stored with ears required almost four times more space than the wheat grains, which may appear uneconomical. However, saving of the losses due to insect infestation, cost of fumigants, and long-life of the storage bin will make this mode of storage feasible.”

(Source: Islamic Thought & Scientific Creativity, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991. Study conducted by F.H. Shah, W.H. Shah and Tasnim Kausar)

79. This additional piece was not in the dream, but a prophecy from Yusuf (Ibn Jarir).

Majid commented: “... rains in lower Egypt are frequent. ‘Notwithstanding what some ancient authors write to the contrary, it often rains in Lower Egypt, and even snow has been observed to fall in Alexandria.’ (Sale) See also Ebr. VIII, p. 35. This disposes of the ignorant criticism of Noeldeke, that in Egypt ‘rain is almost never seen.’ (Ebr. XV, p. 900, 11th ed.) Further, there is no mention in the Qur’an of rain falling in Egypt. It is mankind, that is, the people inhabiting other parts of the earth, adjacent to Egypt that shall have rain, and not Egypt alone. And it is precisely in these countries that occasion the inundation in Nile - the proximate cause of fertility in Egypt.”

80. That is, you will press grapes for wine, olive for oil, and other seeds and fruits for other purposes (Ibn `Abbas and others - Ibn Jarir).

Majid notes: “‘The custom of squeezing grapes into a cup is illustrated by Elexes from a text published by Neville from the temple at Edfu, where it is said that grapes squeezed into water formed a refreshing beverage, which was drunk by the king (DB, II, p. 272).”