ذَٰلِكَ لِيَعْلَمَ أَنِّى لَمْ أَخُنْهُ بِٱلْغَيْبِ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِى كَيْدَ ٱلْخَآئِنِينَ
“(Then Joseph said: I asked for) this, that he (my lord) may know that I betrayed him not in secret, and that surely Allah guideth not the snare of the betrayers.” — M. M. Pickthall
Taberî9-10. c.✓ Citation verified
Taberî indicates that this expression is the speech of Yusuf, not the king, but rather spoken by Yusuf. While Yusuf explains the reason for his request to interrogate the women, he wants to convey that he never committed any evil against the king's wife in his absence, and therefore is even further removed from such a thing in his presence. These words are transmitted as part of Yusuf's effort to prove his own innocence.
هذا قول يوسف، قال: فقال له جبرئيل: ولا حين حللت سراويلك؟ قال: فقال يوسف ذكر لنا أن الملك الذي كان مع يوسف قال له: اذكر ما هممت به قال نبي الله
Zemahşerî12. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Zemahşerî, the expression 'bi'l-gayb' is either the state of the agent or the patient; that is, it means either 'I am absent/hidden from him, unaware from his sight' or 'he is absent/hidden from me, unaware from my sight'. Furthermore, it is also possible for this expression to be an adverbial phrase, in which case it means 'in the place of the absent/hidden' or in the place of secrecy and concealment behind seven closed doors.
ومحل { بالغيب } الحال من الفاعل أو المفعول ، على معنى : وأنا غائب عنه خفي عن عينه أو وهو غائب عني خفي عن عيني . ويجوز أن يكون ظرفا ، أي بمكان الغيب ، وهو الخفاء والاستتار وراء الأبواب السبعة المغلقة
Fahreddin er-Râzî12-13. c.✓ Citation verified
Fahreddin er-Râzî relates two views regarding who the statement 'I do not exonerate myself' in this verse belongs to: According to one view, this is the speech of Yusuf and he does not regard his soul as completely free from blame, that the traitor will be disgraced sooner or later, and that his not being disgraced and being saved is evidence of his innocence. According to another interpretation which he finds more compelling, Yusuf intends with this statement to explain that his abandonment of betrayal stems not from the reluctance of his soul, but from fear of Allah. He also mentions the possibility that this statement could be a continuation of the woman's (Zuleikha's) speech.
فلو كنت خائنا لوجب أن افتضح وحيث لم افتضح وخلصني الله تعالى من هذه الورطة ، فكل ذلك يدل على أني ما كنت من الخائنين
Kurtubî13. c.✓ Citation verified
Kurtubî relates multiple views regarding who the speech in this verse belongs to: According to some, this is the statement of the wife of al-Aziz, connected to her statement 'now the truth has become clear'; according to others, it is the speech of Yusuf, which he spoke when the messenger returned or in prison; according to another view, the speaker of this statement is al-Aziz himself.
اختلف فيمن قاله فقيل : هو من قول امرأة العزيز وهو متصل بقولها : الآن حصحص الحق أي أقررت بالصدق ليعلم أني لم أخنه بالغيب
İbn Kesîr14. c.✓ Citation verified
According to this exegete, the speech in the verse is not that of Yusuf, but of Zuleikha (the wife of al-Aziz); the woman explains the reason for her confession before the ruler to be that she did not actually betray her husband, only tried to seduce the young man, but he rejected her.
فقال في زوجته ( بالغيب ) الآيتين أي إنما رددت الرسول ليعلم الملك براءتي وليعلم العزيز في زوجته تقول إنما اعترفت بهذا على نفسي ليعلم زوجي أني لم أخنه بالغيب في نفس الأمر
Beydâvî13. c.✓ Citation verified
According to Beydâvî, the king by saying 'ma hatbükünne' asked the women about the true nature of the incident in which they tried to seduce Yusuf; the women first exonerated Yusuf and said they knew no fault in him, then the wife of al-Aziz confessed that the truth had come to light, admitted that she had tried to seduce Yusuf, and declared that Yusuf had spoken the truth. Yusuf's statement 'zâlike liya'leme...' explains that this confession was so that al-Aziz would know that he did not betray him in his absence, and that Allah does not allow the plots of traitors to succeed, and this also contains a taunt toward Zuleikha's betrayal and an affirmation of Yusuf's trustworthiness.
وفيه تعريض براعيل في خيانتها زوجها وتوكيد لأمانته
Comparison
Common ground
All exegetes accept that the verse is connected to the confession scene of the story of Yusuf and that the expression deals with the theme of not committing betrayal in the absent or present [states]; furthermore, the examination of whose speech the statement belongs to is a common methodological concern.
Differences
The fundamental divergence is at the point of whose speech the expression 'I do not exonerate myself' belongs to: while Taberî and Beydâvî interpret this as the speech of Yusuf, Ibn Kesîr attributes it to Zuleikha, and Kurtubî transmits multiple narrations that it could belong to both Yusuf, the wife of al-Aziz, and al-Aziz himself; Fahreddin er-Râzî discusses two views and finds the second (emphasis on fear of Allah) more compelling. Zemahşerî, on the other hand, focuses not so much on the semantic discussion but on the linguistic possibilities of the expression 'bi'l-gayb' (agent/patient/adverbial). These differences stem from the methodological difference between the narration-focused approach (Taberî, Kurtubî, Ibn Kesîr) and the language/rhetoric-focused approach (Zemahşerî, Beydâvî, partially Fahreddin er-Râzî).
Historical context
Early exegetes (Taberî, Ibn Kesîr) attempted to determine the speaker through reliance on chains of narration, while in the later period exegetes such as Zemahşerî and Beydâvî expanded the grammatical and semantic possibilities of the expression, and Fahreddin er-Râzî and Kurtubî offered a multifaceted synthesis by combining narration and linguistic readings; while the fundamental question (whose speech) remained constant, methodological diversity increased over time.
Modern connection
These different readings remind us of how carefully one must identify the intention of a speaker and the subject of speech; this can also point to the importance of acting with sincerity, displaying consistent morality both in absence and in presence. Furthermore, the fact that the text can be interpreted in multiple ways can make us consider that it is valuable to approach different perspectives with patience and tolerance, and to adopt a constructive attitude in scholarly discussions.
AI analysis — not a fatwa or ruling, not yet reviewed by a scholar