Then he raised his parents to the throne, and they all fell down in prostration to Joseph,23 who then said, “O my dear father! This is the interpretation of my old dream. My Lord has made it come true. He was truly kind to me when He freed me from prison, and brought you all from the desert after Satan had ignited rivalry between me and my siblings.23 Indeed my Lord is subtle in fulfilling what He wills. Surely He ˹alone˺ is the All-Knowing, All-Wise.”
And he raised his parents high on the throne (of dignity), 1779 and they fell down in prostration, (all) before him.(1779-A) He said: "O my father! this is the fulfilment of my vision of old! Allah have made it come true! He was indeed good to me when He took me out of prison and brought you (all here) 1780 out of the desert, (even) after Satan had sown enmity between me and my brothers. Verily my Lord understandeth best the mysteries of all that He planneth to do, for verily He is full of knowledge and wisdom.
1779 Certainly metaphorically: probably also literally. By Eastern custom the place of honour at a ceremonial reception is on a seat on a dais, with a special cushion of honour, such as is assigned to a bridegroom at his reception. To show his high respect for his parents, Joseph made them sit on a throne of dignity. On the other hand, his parents and his brothers—all performed the ceremony of prostration before Joseph in recognition of his supreme rank in Egypt under the Pharaoh, And thus was fulfilled the dream or vision of his youth (12:4 above, and n. 1633). 1779-A The ceremony of prostration for paying respect might have been allowed at the time of previous prophets, but with the advent of the complete and final revelation prostration before anyone other than Allah is a grave sin strictly prohibited. (Eds.).
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And he raised his parents to the highest place of honour; 97 and they [all] fell down before Him, prostrating themselves in adoration. 98 Thereupon [Joseph] said: "O my father! This is the real meaning of my dream of long ago, which my Sustainer has made come true. 99 And He was indeed good to me when He freed me from the prison, and [when] He brought you [all unto me] from the desert after Satan had sown discord between me and my brothers. Verily, my Sustainer is unfathomable in [the way He brings about] whatever He wills: 100 verily, He alone is all-knowing, truly wise!
97 Lit., "onto the throne (al-‘arsh)", in the metaphorical sense of this word.
98 According to `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas (as quoted by Razi), the personal pronoun in "before Him" relates to God, since it is inconceivable that Joseph would have allowed his parents to prostrate themselves before himself.
99 The fulfilment of Joseph's childhood dream consisted in the high dignity with which he was now invested and in the fact that his parents and his brothers had come from Canaan to Egypt for his sake: for "no reasonable person can expect that the fulfilment of a dream should be an exact replica of the dream itself" (Razi `, alluding to the symbolic prostration of the eleven stars, the sun and the moon mentioned in verse 4 of this surah).
100 As regards my rendering of latif as "unfathomable", see surah 6, note 89. In the present instance, this term supplies a further accent, as it were, on the theme "judgment as to what is to happen rests with none but God" (verse 67).
23 Joseph’s parents and his eleven brothers prostrated before him out of respect, not as an act of worship. This was permissible in their tradition, but in Islam, Muslims prostrate only to Allah.