Quran Universe
12:81

ٱرۡجِعُوٓاْ إِلَىٰٓ أَبِيكُمۡ فَقُولُواْ يَـٰٓأَبَانَآ إِنَّ ٱبۡنَكَ سَرَقَ وَمَا شَهِدۡنَآ إِلَّا بِمَا عَلِمۡنَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِلۡغَيۡبِ حَٰفِظِينَ

IrjiAAoo ila abeekum faqooloo ya abana inna ibnaka saraqa wama shahidna illa bima AAalimna wama kunna lilghaybi hafitheena

Return to your father and say, "O our father, indeed your son has stolen, and we did not testify except to what we knew. And we were not witnesses of the unseen,

Word by word
  1. ٱرۡجِعُوٓاْReturn
  2. إِلَىٰٓto
  3. أَبِيكُمۡyour father
  4. فَقُولُواْand say
  5. يَـٰٓأَبَانَآ'O our father
  6. إِنَّIndeed
  7. ٱبۡنَكَyour son
  8. سَرَقَhas stolen
  9. وَمَاand not
  10. شَهِدۡنَآwe testify
  11. إِلَّاexcept
  12. بِمَاof what
  13. عَلِمۡنَاwe knew
  14. وَمَاAnd not
  15. كُنَّاwe were
  16. لِلۡغَيۡبِof the unseen
  17. حَٰفِظِينَguardians
Yusuf · 12:81Makkah

We testify only to what we know.

The honest report to their father

The message home
your son stoleas far as we saw
what we knowonly that
the unseenwe could not guard
How to report
the full storyguesses included
only what I sawand admit the rest

The eldest told the others to go back and say: your son has stolen, and we testify only to what we know. Qatadah and 'Ikrimah said they meant: we did not know he would steal. We only stated the thief's punishment.

Your friend asks what happened between two people at work. You saw part of it. It is tempting to fill the gaps. Saying this is what I saw, and I do not know the rest, is a kind of honesty.

When I tell a story, I should give the full picture.

I only speak to what I know, and I admit what I cannot see.

Try this

When you pass on news today, add: this is only what I saw.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 12:80)

So, when they despaired of him, they consulted in private. The eldest among them said: "Know you not that your father did take an oath from you in Allah's Name, and before this you did fail in your duty with Yusuf? Therefore I will not leave this land until my father permits me, or Allah decides my case and He is the Best of the judges (80)"Return to your father and say, 'O our father! Verily, your son has stolen, and we testify not except according to what we know, and we could not know the Unseen (81)"And ask (the people of) the town where we have been, and the caravan in which we returned; and indeed we are telling the truth. (82)

Yusuf's Brothers consult Each Other in Confidence; the Advice Their Eldest Brother gave Them

Allah narrates to us that Yusuf's brothers were desperate because they could not secure the release of their brother Binyamin, even though they had given a promise and sworn to their father to bring him back. They were unable to fulfill their promise to their father, so,

خَلَصُوا

(in private), away from people's eyes,

نَجِيًّا 

(they consulted), among themselves,

قَالَ كَبِيرُهُمْ

(The eldest among them said), and his name, as we mentioned, was Rubil, or Yahudha. He was the one among them who recommended throwing Yusuf into a well, rather than killing him. So Rubil said to them,

أَلَمْ تَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ أَبَاكُمْ قَدْ أَخَذَ عَلَيْكُم مَّوْثِقًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ

(Know you not that your father did take an oath from you in Allah's Name,) that you will return Binyamin to him? However, you were not able to fulfill this promise and, before you caused Yusuf to be lost from his father,

فَلَنْ أَبْرَحَ الْأَرْضَ

(Therefore I will not leave this land), I will not leave Egypt,

حَتَّىٰ يَأْذَنَ لِي أَبِي

(until my father permits me,) allows me to go back to him while he is pleased with me,

أَوْ يَحْكُمَ اللَّهُ لِي

(or Allah decides my case) by using the sword, or, they says; by allowing me to secure the release of my brother,

وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الْحَاكِمِينَ

(and He is the Best of the judges.), He next ordered them to narrate to their father what happened so that they could present their excuse about that happened to Binyamin and as claim their innocence before him. Rubil said to them (to say to their father),

وَمَا كُنَّا لِلْغَيْبِ حَافِظِينَ

(and we could not know the Unseen!) or, 'we did not know that your son had committed theft,' according to Qatadah and 'Ikrimah. 'Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said that it means, 'we did not know that Binyamin stole something that belonged to the king, we only stated the punishment of the thief,'

وَاسْأَلِ الْقَرْيَةَ الَّتِي كُنَّا فِيهَا

(And ask (the people of) the town where we have been,), in reference to Egypt, according to Qatadah, or another town.

وَالْعِيرَ الَّتِي أَقْبَلْنَا فِيهَا

(and the caravan in which we returned), 'about our truthfulness, honesty, protection and sincere guardianship,

وَإِنَّا لَصَادِقُونَ

(and indeed we are telling the truth.) in what we have told you, that Binyamin stole and was taken as a captive as compensation for his theft.'