ٱلْمَلِكُ

Important Words:

عجاف (withered) of which the singular is اعجف is derived from عجف i.e. it (a beast) became lean, meagre and emaciated. اعجف means, lean, meagre or emaciated, having lost fatness or plumpness. وجه اعجف means, a face that has little flesh (Lane).

تعبرون (you can interpret a dream) is derived from عبر. They say عبر السبیل (‘abara) i.e. he travelled or passed along the way as though he cut it. عبر النھر (‘abbara) means he conveyed him across the river. عبر الرؤیا means, he interpreted or explained the dream and told its final sequel or result. They say عبر عما فی نفسه i.e. he declared or explained what was in his mind. They say عبرت عن فلان i.e. I spoke for such a one. The Quranic expression ان کنتم للرؤیا تعبرون means, if you be the interpreters of the dream, or if you can interpret a dream (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

It appears from this verse that the King was so fully convinced that his vision was real and true that he not only asked the learned men of his court to interpret it but also wished them to tell him what he should do to escape its evil effects, if any. The vision seemed to be so vivid that the King was deeply affected by it and his fright became the means of Joseph’s deliverance from the prison.

12:32.

Commentary:

When the King saw that the wise men of his court had failed to interpret his dream and that Joseph had not only interpreted it rightly but had also suggested a remedy for the impending affliction, and when he learnt from his butler that Joseph’s previous interpretation of two dreams had also turned out to be true, he realized that Joseph was no ordinary man and desired to release him from the prison forthwith. But Joseph refused to be released until a full inquiry was made into his case and he was proved to be innocent of the charge laid against him. His object in demanding an inquiry seems to be twofold: firstly, that the King might know that he was innocent so that on no future occasion might his mind be poisoned against him by evilly-disposed persons on the basis of the alleged cause of his imprisonment; secondly, that Potiphar, his benefactor, might not remain under the impression that he had proved faithless to him.

The Holy Prophet is reported to have once said that if he had remained in prison for so long a time as Joseph did and, like Joseph, had received the orders of his release, he would at once have left the prison (Bukhari & Muslim). This readiness of the Holy Prophet to leave the prison in contrast to the hesitancy of Joseph to do so shows the former to be spiritually superior to the latter. It is true that the vindication of one’s honour is an act of virtue, but to welcome the opportunity for discharging one’s duties as a Prophet of God, as the Holy Prophet’s reported readiness implied, leaving one’s honour to take care of itself, is certainly an act of much higher spiritual eminence.

The words, how fare the women who cut their hands, spoken by Joseph show that the incident of the cutting by the women of their hands did actually take place; otherwise Joseph could not have referred to it in these words. Either the women, while absorbed in conversation, had inadvertently cut their hands, or they might have declared that, by bringing a false accusation against Joseph, they had cut their own hands i.e. had landed themselves in a false position. If these words had only expressed the women’s state of mind and nothing actual had happened, Joseph could not have referred to "the cutting of the hands."

Commentary:

In the words, I may take him specially for myself, the King seems to administer a veiled rebuke to Potiphar, hinting that, whereas he (Potiphar) had failed to treat with honour a man like Joseph, he himself would now bestow on him the honour he deserved by admitting him to his special favour. This was the attitude of the King before he had spoken to Joseph. But when he had talked with him, he became still more enamoured of him and hastened to confer high rank upon him. In the Bible we read: And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, "According unto thy word shall all people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou"… "and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had" (Gen. 41:40-43).

23:117.

Commentary:

The words O my Lord, increase me in knowledge show the great importance that the Quran attaches to the acquirement of knowledge. Even the Holy Prophet to whom was vouchsafed knowledge about the generations that have passed away and about those that are yet to be born أوتیت علم الاولین و الآخرین)), is taught to pray that his knowledge may be increased. He is further reported to have said, "Seek knowledge though it may be found in a country as far away as China" (Saghir vol. 1). Elsewhere in the Quran knowledge has been styled as "God’s great grace" (2:270 & 4:114).

The verse also implies that all knowledge is of two kinds: (a) that which is vouchsafed to man through revelation and which has found its perfect manifestation in the Quran which is the last and most perfect Divine teaching; (b) that which man acquires by his own effort and labour. It is this second kind of knowledge for the acquisition of which man is enjoined in the present verse to make ceaseless effort.

The verse also implies that the Quran will come to be increasingly read and followed.

20:115; 22:63; 24:26.

Commentary:

This verse expressly supplies the answer to the vital question as to what is the aim and object of man’s creation. It is this that man should develop in himself and demonstrate in his behaviour Divine attributes, particularly the four basic ones mentioned in the present verse, viz. the King (الملک), the True Lord (الحق), the One God, beside Whom there is no other God (لا اله الا ھو); the Lord of the Glorious Throne (رب العرش الکریم). These four attributes demanded for their manifestation the creation of man and the universe. They correspond to, and, in fact, are the four attributes mentioned in an inverse order in the opening chapter of the Quran, viz.

رب العالمین (the Lord of all the worlds), الرحمان (the Gracious), الرحیم (the Merciful) and مالک یوم الدین (Master of the Day of Judgement); the attribute 'Lord of the Glorious Throne' (رب العرش الکریم) corresponding to the attribute 'Lord of the Worlds' (رب العالمین) and the attribute 'There is no God but He' (لا اله الا ھو) to the attribute 'the Gracious' (الرحمان). Similarly, the attribute 'the True' (الحق) corresponds to the attribute 'the Merciful' (الرحیم) and the attribute the King (الملک) corresponds to the attribute 'Master of the Day of Judgement' (مالک یوم الدین). Thus there exists a very striking resemblance and a deep connection between these two sets of Divine attributes.

7:181; 20:9; 62:2.

Commentary:

God is the King Who is free from every fault, defect, or deficiency. He is the Source of all peace, and the Granter of safety and security. He is Guardian over all, overcoming every power, the Mender of every breakage and the Restorer of every loss; and He is above every need and is the Besought of all.