12-43 And the king said: I have seen seven fat cows which seven lean ones devoured; and seven green ears and (seven) others dry. O chiefs, explain to me my dream, if you can interpret the dream.a
وَقَالَ ٱلْمَلِكُ إِنِّىٓ أَرَىٰ سَبْعَ بَقَرَٰتٍۢ سِمَانٍۢ يَأْكُلُهُنَّ سَبْعٌ عِجَافٌۭ وَسَبْعَ سُنۢبُلَـٰتٍ خُضْرٍۢ وَأُخَرَ يَابِسَـٰتٍۢ ۖ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْمَلَأُ أَفْتُونِى فِى رُءْيَـٰىَ إِن كُنتُمْ لِلرُّءْيَا تَعْبُرُونَ (۴۳)
12-43a: سِمَان – It is the plural of سَمِین (fat, corpulent) and سِمَن (to fatten) is the opposite of ھُزال (leanness, skinniness). The meaning of اَسۡمَنَ is made him fat, as in لَّا يُسْمِنُ وَلَا يُغْنِى مِن جُوعٍۢ (Neither nourishing nor satisfying hunger) (88:7) (R). سَمۡن is ghee because it fattens (R).
عِجَافٍ – It is the plural of اعجف and عجفاء and means emaciated from hunger.
خُضْرٍ – It is the plural of اَخۡضَر and means green.
يَابِسَ – It is derived from یَبۡس which means dried up or desiccated (R).
تَعْبُرُون – The meaning of عَبۡر is to cross from one state to another. عُبُور is specific to crossing a body of water and تَعۡبِیۡر is specific to interpreting dreams (another word used for interpreting dreams is تاویل but it is a word of general use and is used in other situations as well). Thus, تَعْبُرُون is crossing over from what is manifest to what is hidden behind it.
For عبرۃ etcetera see 3-13b.
12-44 They said: Confused dreams, and we know not the interpretation of dreams.a
قَالُوٓا۟ أَضْغَـٰثُ أَحْلَـٰمٍۢ ۖ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِتَأْوِيلِ ٱلْأَحْلَـٰمِ بِعَـٰلِمِينَ (۴۴)
12-44a: أَضْغَـٰث – It is the plural of ضِغۡث (bunch, bundle) and ضِغۡث is to make one part of a thing to meet another part. ضِغۡث الحدیث is to confuse a statement or affair, and hence dreams which out of worry merge into one another are called أَضْغَـٰث . They cannot be interpreted because they are mixed up (LA).
أَحْلَـٰمٍ – حِلۡم means forbearance, or to control one’s temperament from the agitation of anger. Its plural is also أَحْلَـٰمٍۢ , as in أَمْ تَأْمُرُهُمْ أَحْلَـٰمُهُم بِهَـٰذَآ ۚ(Or do their understanding bid them this) (52:32) where the purport is intelligence, although the actual meaning of حِلۡم is not intelligence. أَحْلَـٰمٍ is also the plural of حُلۡم and حُلُم which means dreams. حُلُم also means puberty, as in وَإِذَا بَلَغَ ٱلْأَطْفَـٰلُ مِنكُمُ ٱلْحُلُمَ (And when the children among you attain to puberty) (24:59). In the pre-Islamic period حُلۡم was used for dreams both good and bad but in the Islamic terminology distinction is made between حُلۡم (bad dreams) and رؤیا (good dreams), as in the statement: الرُوۡٔیا من اللّٰہ و الحلم من الشیطان (Good dreams are from Allah and bad dreams are from the devil). احتلام (puberty; sexual maturity) is also from this (LA). This difference between رؤیا and حُلۡم exists in the Quran as well because the king calls his dream رؤیا but the courtiers call it أَحْلَـٰمٍ .
12-45 And of the two, he who had found deliverance and remembered after a long time said: I will inform you of its interpretation, so send me.a
وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِى نَجَا مِنْهُمَا وَٱدَّكَرَ بَعْدَ أُمَّةٍ أَنَا۠ أُنَبِّئُكُم بِتَأْوِيلِهِۦ فَأَرْسِلُونِ (۴۵)
12-45a: ٱدَّكَر – In reality the word is اِذۡتَکر that is, it is conjugated from ذِکۡر using the principle of conjugation known as باب افتعال where ت has been replaced by د and ذ has been merged.
12-46 Joseph, O truthful one, explain to us seven fat kine which seven lean ones devoured, and seven green ears and (seven) others dry, that I may go back to the people so that they may know.
يُوسُفُ أَيُّهَا ٱلصِّدِّيقُ أَفْتِنَا فِى سَبْعِ بَقَرَٰتٍۢ سِمَانٍۢ يَأْكُلُهُنَّ سَبْعٌ عِجَافٌۭ وَسَبْعِ سُنۢبُلَـٰتٍ خُضْرٍۢ وَأُخَرَ يَابِسَـٰتٍۢ لَّعَلِّىٓ أَرْجِعُ إِلَى ٱلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ (۴۶)
12-47 He said: You shall sow for seven years as usual, then that which you reap, leave it in its ear, except a little which you eat.a
قَالَ تَزْرَعُونَ سَبْعَ سِنِينَ دَأَبًۭا فَمَا حَصَدتُّمْ فَذَرُوهُ فِى سُنۢبُلِهِۦٓ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا مِّمَّا تَأْكُلُونَ (۴۷)
12-47a: دَأَبًۭا – See 3-11a. According to Al-Mufradat, the meaning of دَأَب is اِدَاھةُ السَّیۡر (to keep going perpetually), as in وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ دَآئِبَيْنِ ۖ (And He has made subservient to you the sun and the moon, pursuing their courses) (14:33). So, by دَأَب is meant a permanent habit (R).
Along with the interpretation, Joseph also gives a strategy to prepare for the years of famine. He interpreted the seven fat cows and seven green ears as normal agricultural years with a good harvest and added that only what is necessary should be eaten and the rest of the grain stored in the ears. This is to protect the grain from being eaten by insects or otherwise spoilt.
12-48 Then after that will come seven years of hardship, which will eat away all you have beforehand stored for them, except a little which you have preserved.a
ثُمَّ يَأْتِى مِنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ سَبْعٌۭ شِدَادٌۭ يَأْكُلْنَ مَا قَدَّمْتُمْ لَهُنَّ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا مِّمَّا تُحْصِنُونَ (۴۸)
12-48a: This is the interpretation of the seven lean cows that eat the fat cows and of the seven dry ears. The advice to preserve a little of the stored grain is so that seeds may be available to sow for the next year’s crop.
In the commentary of Surah Yusuf in Bukhari, a hadith is recorded here which mentions that as a result of the supplication of the Holy Prophet, a seven-year famine visited the Quraish of Makkah. The Holy Prophet had prayed: قال اللّٰھم اکۡفِیۡنہِم بِسَبۡعٍ کَسَبۡعِ یوسَف (He said: O Allah send them seven years of famine like the seven years of famine in the time of Yusuf) فاصابَتۡہُم سَنَةٌ حَصَّتۡ کُلَّ شیَئۡیٍ حَتّی اَکَلُو الۡعِظَام حتی جَعَل الرجل یَنۡظُرُ الی اسمأ فیری بَیۡنَهٗ و بَبَیۡنَھا مِثۡلَ الدُّخان (and save me from their mischief. As a result of this supplication there was a famine for seven years that destroyed everything. People ate bones to survive and when a person looked upwards, they saw a smokey haze between them and the sky). This prophecy is given elsewhere in the Quran: فَٱرْتَقِبْ يَوْمَ تَأْتِى ٱلسَّمَآءُ بِدُخَانٍۢ (So wait for the day when the heaven brings a drought) (44:10). The clear purpose for mentioning this hadith in Surah Yusuf is that events in the life of the Holy Prophet mirrored the events of Joseph and this is also the purpose of stating at the beginning of this chapter ءَايَـٰتٌۭ لِّلسَّآئِلِينَ (there are signs for the inquirer) (12:7).
12-49 Then after that will come a year in which people will have rain and in which they will press (grapes).a
ثُمَّ يَأْتِى مِنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ عَامٌۭ فِيهِ يُغَاثُ ٱلنَّاسُ وَفِيهِ يَعْصِرُونَ (۴۹)
12-49a: عَام – It means a year just like سَنَة means a year, but the term سَنَة is generally used for a year in which there is drought and severity and عَام for a year that is rainy with an abundance of provisions.
يُغَاث– See 8-9a. غَوۡثmeans aid, help, succor and غَیۡث means rain. Giving aid is called اَغاث and to send rain upon، or water with rain is called غَاثَ (R).
It is given by way of good news that after seven years of drought there will be rain. It is stated in the hadith that when the Quraish had lived through seven years of drought, Abu Sufyan came to the Holy Prophet and said that your people are dying from hunger. The Holy Prophet then supplicated, and the rains came. It is to indicate this that the year in which the rain returns is mentioned at the end.
Bayan-ul-Quran 