وَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَٰٓأَسَفَىٰ عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ وَٱبْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ ٱلْحُزْنِ فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌۭ
And he turned away from them and said, "Oh, my sorrow over Joseph," and his eyes became white from grief, for he was [of that] a suppressor.
Introduction
This is āyah 84 of Sūrat Yusuf (Joseph), the 53rd sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 13. Meccan verses tend to address faith, the oneness of God, and the hereafter.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Meccan
- Order revealed
- 53 of 114
- Surah
- Yusuf (12)
" Oh, my grief for Joseph! " And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing. Revelation came from the Compeller of all engendered beings: " O Jacob! You grieve so much for him, but you do not grieve for what you are missing of Me by being busy with grief for him! " O Jacob, how long this sorrow and regret at separation from Joseph? How long will you suffer grief and coldly sigh? Do you not suffer grief that you are held back from Me while busy with him? " With two kiblahs you can't walk straight on the road of tawḤīd- either the Friend's approval, or your own caprice. [DS 488] " O Jacob! Be careful not to pass Joseph's name over your tongue any more, or I will remove your name from the register of the prophets. " The Pir of the Tariqah said, " Jacob's remembrance of Joseph was the seed of heartache, and Joseph's remembrance of Jacob was the seed of ease. Since Jacob had all that rebuke for remem- bering Joseph, everything other than remembering God is loss. It is said that remembering the Friend is like the spirit. Look more carefully: remembering the Friend is the spirit itself! " When Jacob saw the harshness of the Real's rebuke, he no longer mentioned Joseph's name. Then the mercy and gentleness of the Exalted Threshold gave this command to Gabriel: " O Ga- briel, go to Jacob and remind him of Joseph. " Gabriel came and mentioned Joseph's name. Jacob sighed. Revelation came from the Real: " O Jacob, I know what is beneath your moaning. By My exaltedness, were he dead, I would resurrect him because of the beauty of your loyalty. " And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing. Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq said, " Jacob wept because of a created thing, so his eyesight went. David wept more than Jacob, but his eyesight did not go, because his weeping was for the sake of his Lord. " Weeping for the Real is of two sorts: weeping from the eyes and weeping from the heart. Weeping from the eyes is the weeping of repenters in fear of God; they weep at seeing their own disobedience.
Tafsir
Hafiz Ibn Kathir
Chains of transmission
Oral — isnād
- ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation
Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.
- 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation
Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.
- TodayLiving chainsawaiting curation
Continuous ijāzah chains link reciters today back to the Prophet ﷺ.
Verified isnād chains for this āyah will be added by curators.
Written — the manuscript record
- ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation
The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).
- 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation
Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.
- Modern printModern printawaiting curation
The 1924 Cairo edition → today: the standard printed muṣḥaf used worldwide.
A curated chain of manuscript images for this exact āyah — roughly one per century — is coming. Help us source and verify them.
And now — what do you think?
The text, its history and the classical commentary are laid out above. Share your own understanding, ask a question, or reason with others.
Community resources
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