Their saying: {They said, "O our father, indeed we went racing each other and left Yusuf with our possessions, and a wolf ate him; but you would not believe us, even if we were truthful"}1. The "striving" and "racing" are toward Science, according to the words of the Almighty: {And the forerunners, the forerunners ❁ Those are the ones brought near ❁ In the Gardens of Pleasure ❁ A large company of the former peoples ❁ And a few of the later peoples}2.
And the words of the Mighty and Sublime: {For each is a direction of which He is the prompter; so race to [all that is] good. Wherever you may be, God will bring you forth all together. Indeed, God is over all things competent}3. The Wolf's eating of him: meaning he "ate" him in knowledge and reached that which his brothers did not reach.
The words of the Mighty and Sublime: {but you would not believe us, even if we were truthful}4. Faith (al-iman) is Attestation (al-tasdiq); its meaning: had we been believers, we would have submitted to you when you manifested his magnification and commanded us to obey him, and we would not have doubted, thus we would have been believers.
{And they brought upon his shirt false blood. [Jacob] said, "Rather, your souls have enticed you to something, so patience is most fitting. And God is the one sought for help against that which you describe"}5. He intends: by My manifesting an affair to you, Patience is most fitting—its meaning: stay firm upon that which I have granted you of recognition and hold fast to it.