18 Preface وَجاءوا عَلىٰ قَميصِهِ بِدَمٍ كَذِبٍ ۚ قالَ بَل سَوَّلَت لَكُم أَنفُسُكُم أَمرًا ۖ فَصَبرٌ جَميلٌ ۖ وَاللَّهُ المُستَعانُ عَلىٰ ما تَصِفونَYusuf AliThey stained his shirt1 with false blood. He said: “Nay, but your minds have made up a tale (that may pass) with you,2 (for me) patience is most fitting: Against that which ye assert, it is God (alone) Whose help can be sought”.Joseph wore a garment of many colours, which was a special garment peculiar to him. If the brethren could produce it blood-stained before their father, they thought he would be convinced that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast. But the stain on the garment was a stain of “false blood” ?not the blood of Joseph, but the blood of a goat which the brethren had killed expressly for this purpose. Their device, however, was not quite convincing because, as some Commentators have pointed out, the garment was intact which is inconceivable if a wolf had indeed devoured Joseph. (R).Jacob saw that there had been some foul play, and he did not hesitate to say so. In effect he said: “Ah me! the tale may tell may be good enough for you, who invented it! But what about me, your aged father? What is there left in life for me now, with my beloved son gone? And yet what can I do but hold my heart in patience and implore God’s assistance? I have faith, and I know that all that He does is for the best!”