Surah Yusuf, Ayah 17

Yusuf's Brothers try to deceive Their Father

Allah narrates to us the deceit that Yusuf's brothers resorted to, after they threw him to the bottom of the well. They went back to their father, during the darkness of the night, crying and showing sorrow and grief for losing Yusuf. They started giving excuses to their father for what happened to Yusuf, falsely claiming that,

إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ

(We went racing with one another), or had a shooting competition,

وَتَرَكْنَا يُوسُفَ عِندَ مَتَـعِنَا

(and left Yusuf by our belongings), guarding our clothes and luggage,

فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ

(and a wolf devoured him), which is exactly what their father told them he feared for Yusuf and warned against. They said next,

The brothers, then, said:

يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ وَتَرَ‌كْنَا يُوسُفَ عِندَ مَتَاعِنَا فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ ۖ وَمَا أَنتَ بِمُؤْمِنٍ لَّنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَادِقِينَ

Father, we went running races and left Yusuf with our belongings and the wolf ate him up. And you will never believe us, even though we are telling the truth.

Some rules about racing

In Ahkam al-Qur'an, Ibn al-'Arabi has said: Running races against each other is legitimate in the Shari'ah. It is a good habit which comes handy in Jihad. Therefore, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، as proved by authentic Ahadith, has personally participated in such running of races. Also proved is making horses run against each other (not to be confused with institutionalized horse-racing with bets, as clarified later). Out of the noble Companions, Sayyidna Salamah ibn al-Akwa` ran a one-on-one race against a person and won it.

That the racing of horses as such is permissible stands proved from the verse under reference and from Hadith reports cited above. In addition to the racing of horses, mutual competition in racing and archery and in other fields is also permissible, and equally permissible is the giving of awards from a third party to the winner in this mutual competi-tion. But, fixing an amount of money in a bilateral agreement that the loser will pay it to the winner is gambling or Qimar which has been declared Haram or unlawful by the Holy Qur'an. Today, none of the prevailing forms of horse racing is free from gambling and Qimar. Therefore, all of them are Haram, impermissible and unlawful.

Mentioned in the previous verses was that the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) ، after talking to each other back and forth, finally put him down in a desolate well and returned to their father telling him that he has been eaten up by a wolf. From verse 18, the story onwards has been taken up in the following words:

The reply given by Jacob to his sons shows that he had already guessed that it was not a question of Joseph playing and enjoying himself in some meadow, but that Joseph’s brothers had hatched a conspiracy against him. But a man who fears God is one who trusts in God. He had sensed what was going to happen, but he considered the power of God to be above everything else. With full faith in his Lord’s omnipotence, and in spite of sensing clear dangers, he consigned Joseph to the care of his brothers. This was the picture of a God-fearing person. By contrast, Joseph’s brothers presented a picture of people whose hearts are completely devoid of the fear of God. In making their plans to destroy a servant of God quite unjustifiably, they had forgotten that this was a world in which nobody had any power except God. They tried to present themselves as well-wishers simply on the basis of beautiful words, but before God, a person is treated as a well-wisher solely on the basis of his deeds.