Jealousy Makes Murder Small

The brothers of Yūsuf made a plan to kill — to assassinate — their brother. Look at how jealousy made their thinking crooked. The small matter of their father's love for Yūsuf became very big in their eyes, and the enormous matter of killing a human soul became very small and insignificant. It was all because of jealousy.

Jealousy made them see the little extra love that Yaʿqūb had for his son as something huge. It was only a little more love, because he loved them all; all of them were his children. But because he loved Yūsuf a little more, they saw it as a great deal, a big thing. It obsessed them, overwhelmed them and took over their thinking. And yet killing a human being became something normal and small. Why? Because of jealousy.

Uqtulū Yūsufa — kill him — awi iṭraḥūhu arḍā — or throw him out into some distant land. Then your father's favour will be for you alone, and after that you can be righteous people. They intended to make tawbah before they had even committed the sin: we will kill him, and then we will repent.

One of them, the softest among them, said: no, do not kill Yūsuf; throw him into the well instead.

One of them said: do not kill Yūsuf, but if you must do something, throw him down to the bottom of a well; some caravan of travellers will pick him up. So they made a deal to throw him into a well. Whenever someone came to draw water from that well, they would pick Yūsuf up and carry him off with them, and the brothers would be rid of him that way. Let us not kill him.