My notes on these lectures. Feel free to share. Plz do inform me in case of any mistakes... .......... وَجَآءَتۡ سَيَّارَةٌ فَاَرۡسَلُوۡا وَارِدَهُمۡ فَاَدۡلٰى دَلۡوَهٗ‌ ؕ قَالَ يٰبُشۡرٰى هٰذَا غُلٰمٌ‌ ؕ وَاَسَرُّوۡهُ بِضَاعَةً ‌ؕ وَاللّٰهُ عَلِيۡمٌۢ بِمَا يَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏ ۞ وَشَرَوۡهُ بِثَمَنٍۢ بَخۡسٍ دَرَاهِمَ مَعۡدُوۡدَةٍ‌ ۚ وَكَانُوۡا فِيۡهِ مِنَ الزّٰهِدِيۡنَ ۞ Ayah 19: ................ Scene about a caravan around the well... وَجَآءَتۡ سَيَّارَةٌ فَاَرۡسَلُوۡا وَارِدَهُمۡ فَاَدۡلٰى دَلۡوَهٗ‌ ؕ قَالَ يٰبُشۡرٰى هٰذَا غُلٰمٌ‌ "A caravan came by and they sent their water fetcher, so he (slowly) lowers his bucket. Wow/OMG(یابشری), it's a kid(ھذا غلام)." Depiction of a huge (pleasant) surprise when the scout lowered his bucket, felt a tug when Yusuf clinged on to it... And pulled to see what's going on and suddenly sees a boy emerging from the darkness...!! Here ادلی means slowly lowering. دلّاہ means to slowly relent as used when satan deceived Adam and Eve in paradise (Surah A'raaf). Here غلام as opposed to فتی is used. Even though فتی with a pronoun, like فتاہ means slave, they called him just a boy (غلام) as possession had not been taken yet. Important point here is that these scouts(yes, its possible there are more than one) are just small time servants for the caravan and now they see a prospect of making some money by making him a slave and selling him later. وَاَسَرُّوۡهُ بِضَاعَةً "And they kept him a secret(hid him to sell later)" Here بِضعہ means a piece of something (eg meat or wealth) cut off and saved as an investment to be sold/invested later. Interesting use of the word as Yusuf is already "cut off" from his family... Some things are not mentioned here, like Yusuf must have clarified or pleaded to let him go but they probably didn't let him talk as he was just a commodity for them. Notice here that they are from a materialistic background of Egypt where humanity and human dignity comes only after money and greed and glut is the religion... Like capitalism in our times. Under these circumstances, Yusuf is just a found treasure...!!! So even pharma companies follow demand and supply policy even when it comes to human life and would raise the price of a 1cent drug at a price of $50. Then there is a class society where people can "buy" other people like "slaves"...!!! In a nutshell: NO MERCY وَاللّٰهُ عَلِيۡمٌۢ بِمَا يَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏ And Allah knew what they were doing.. Razi beautifully comments that Allah knew that their "crime" is going to set forth a chain of events through which this slave would become the king of Egypt... Subhan Allah...!!! Here "they" may refer to these caravan scouts or even to the brethren of Yusuf. Ayah 20: ................ وَشَرَوۡهُ بِثَمَنٍۢ بَخۡسٍ And they sold him for a very meager price. And even if the price was high, it was obviously not sufficient for someone like Yusuf. According to Bible and a report from Ibn Abbas, it was an amount they would ordinarily make in 2 to 3 years... So quran is kind of hinting that despite the high price they didn't know that they have sold something priceless for actually a very meager sum. دَرَاهِمَ مَعۡدُوۡدَةٍ‌ Just a few bucks Reconciliation b/w quran and Bible by considering that the brothers sold him does not seem plausible by the sequence of events narrated in the Quran. وَكَانُوۡا فِيۡهِ مِنَ الزّٰهِدِيۡنَ And they sold him as if they were not interested in money Actually means that they just wanted to sell him off quickly and were not concerned with his well being. So ultimately probably from hand to hand he ultimately reaches the market of Egypt. Notice that he is a boy who was loved and cared for by a loving father a day before and now being moved about like animals in an environment with no regard for humanity... So its an immense trauma... Under such circumstances kids can be brain washed and used for any purpose of the owner.. But Yusuf AS is special. Despite all these tribulations he remains what he is. He is still beautiful and mannered and cultured... Back then slaves were a status symbol just like cars today. So elite class used to buy classy slaves. Similar is the case today... People being treated as commodities in this materialistic capitalistic world... Employees are taken advantage of in the same way but a sophisticated manner... Allah put a prophet of his through this to draw our attention to these atrocities and do something to alleviate them..!!!