Surah Yusuf, Ayah 75

تَاللَّهِ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمْ مَّا جِئْنَا لِنُفْسِدَ فِى الاٌّرْضِ وَمَا كُنَّا سَـرِقِينَ

(By Allah! Indeed you know that we came not to make mischief in the land, and we are no thieves!) `Ever since you knew us, you, due to our good conduct, became certain that,

مَّا جِئْنَا لِنُفْسِدَ فِى الاٌّرْضِ وَمَا كُنَّا سَـرِقِينَ

(we came not to make mischief in the land, and we are no thieves!) They said, `Theft is not in our character, as you came to know.' Yusuf's men said,

فَمَا جَزَآؤُهُ

`(What then shall be the penalty of him), in reference to the thief, if it came out that he is one of you,'

إِن كُنتُمْ كَـذِبِينَ

The answer given was: قَالُوا جَزَاؤُهُ مَن وُجِدَ فِي رَ‌حْلِهِ فَهُوَ جَزَاؤُهُ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الظَّالِمِين ، that is, the brothers of suf said: ` It's punishment is that he, in whose baggage it is found, shall him-self be the punishment. This is how we punish the wrongdoers.'

The sense of the statement is that the punishment for theft in the Shari` ah of Sayyidna Ya` qub11 allowed the person whose property had been stolen to take the thief as his slave. Thus, the state functionaries made the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) to tell them the punishment of a thief as in Jacobian law and thereby had them committed to hand over Benyamin to Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) according to their own decision following the recovery of the stolen goods from Benyamin's baggage.

At the time of departure of Joseph’s brothers, Joseph out of kindness put his drinking cup (which was perhaps made of silver) in his brother Benjamin’s possessions. This was not known to Benjamin or to the courtiers. Thereafter, by the will of God, it happened that the royal measure for measuring the corn (which was also perhaps very costly) was misplaced somewhere. When the royal servants did not find it after making a search, they suspected Joseph’s brothers who had left just then. One of the officials called back the caravan. In the course of inquiries they themselves (Joseph’s brothers) suggested as a punishment for theft (which was prevalent among them), according to the law of Abraham, that the thief himself should remain with the owner for a year as a slave.