Tafseer Ibn Kathir of YUSUF [93]

93. ”Go with this shirt of mine, and cast it over the face of my father, his vision will return, and bring to me all your family.'' 94. And when the caravan departed, their father said: ”I do indeed sense the smell of Yusuf, if only you think me not senile).'' 95. They said: ”By Allah! Certainly, you are in your old Dalal (error).'' Yusuf said, `Take this shirt of mine,

(and cast it over the face of my father, his vision will return),' because Ya`qub had lost his sight from excessive crying,

(and bring to me all your family.) all the children of Ya`qub.

(And when the caravan departed) from Egypt,

(their father said...), Ya`qub, peace be upon him, said to the children who remained with him,

`(I do indeed feel the smell of Yusuf, if only you think me not senile.), except that you might think me senile because of old age.' `Abdur-Razzaq narrated that Ibn `Abbas said, ”When the caravan departed ﴿from Egypt﴾, a wind started blowing and brought the scent of Yusuf's shirt to Ya`qub. He said,

(I do indeed feel the smell of Yusuf , if only you think me not senile.) He found his scent from a distance of eight days away!'' Similar was also reported through Sufyan Ath-Thawri and Shu`bah and others reported it from Abu Sinan. Ya`qub said to them,

(if only you think me not senile.) Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ata, Qatadah and Sa'id bin Jubayr commented, ”If only you think me not a fool!'' Mujahid and Al-Hasan said that it means, ”If only you think me not old.'' Their answer to him was,

(Certainly, you are in your old Dalal.) meaning, `in your old error,' according to Ibn `Abbas. Qatadah commented, ”They meant that, `because of your love for Yusuf you will never forget him.' So they uttered a harsh word to their father that they should never have uttered to him, nor to a Prophet of Allah.'' Similar was said by As-Suddi and others.