Surah Yusuf, Ayah 42
Quran 12:42 · Joseph · Makki · Para 12 · Page 240
وَقَالَ لِلَّذِیْ ظَنَّ اَنَّهٗ نَاجٍ مِّنْهُمَا اذْكُرْنِیْ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ ؗ فَاَنْسٰىهُ الشَّیْطٰنُ ذِكْرَ رَبِّهٖ فَلَبِثَ فِی السِّجْنِ بِضْعَ سِنِیْنَ ۟ؕ۠
Transliteration
Waqala lillathee thannaannahu najin minhuma othkurnee AAindarabbika faansahu ashshaytanu thikrarabbihi falabitha fee assijni bidAAa sineen
Saheeh International
And he said to the one whom he knew would go free, "Mention me before your master." But Satan made him forget the mention [to] his master, and he [i.e., Joseph] remained in prison several years.
Al-Mukhtasar fi Tafsir
Joseph asked the one he considered to be saved of the two, the wine bearer of the king, to mention his story and his situation to the king, so that he might release him from prison. Satan made the man forget to mention Joseph to the king, so he stayed in prison for several years after that.
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged)
And he said to the one whom he knew to be saved: "Mention me to your king." But Shaytan made him forget to mention it to his master. So [Yusuf] stayed in prison a few (more) years (42)
Yusuf asks the King's Distiller to mention Him to the King
Yusuf knew that the distiller would be saved. So discretely, so that the other man's suspicion that he would be crucified would not intensify, he said,
اذْكُرْنِي عِندَ رَبِّكَ
(Mention me to your King.) asking him to mention his story to the king. That man forgot Yusuf's request and did not mention his story to the king, a plot from the devil, so that Allah's Prophet would not leave the prison. This is the correct meaning of,
فَأَنسَاهُ الشَّيْطَانُ ذِكْرَ رَبِّهِ
(But Shaytan made him forget to mention it to his master.) that it refers to the man who was saved. As was said by Mujahid, Muhammad bin Ishaq and several others. As for, 'a few years', or, Bida' in Arabic, it means between three and nine, according to Mujahid and Qatadah. Wahb bin Munabbih said, "Ayyub suffered from the illness for seven years, Yusuf remained in prison for seven years and Bukhtanassar (Nebuchadnezzar - Chaldean king of Babylon) was tormented for seven years."