Kayd in the Qurʾan: One Verb, Two Opposing Agents

A Qurʾanic study of the word kayd (scheming), with which the scene of Joseph's brothers opens and God's design closes, showing how the very same verb, with the very same preposition, is ascribed both to creatures and to the Creator. By Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali Abouseif, President of the American Imams Academy (AIA).

At the very beginning of Sūrat Yūsuf, a father warns his young son, who has just told him his dream: ﴿يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تَقْصُصْ رُؤْيَاكَ عَلَىٰ إِخْوَتِكَ فَيَكِيدُوا لَكَ كَيْدًا ۖ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لِلْإِنسَانِ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ﴾ ("O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers, or they will devise a plot against you; indeed, Satan is to man a manifest enemy") (Yūsuf: 5). More than seventy verses later, when the final meeting between Joseph and his brother is being arranged, the Qurʾān speaks in its own voice: ﴿كَذَٰلِكَ كِدْنَا لِيُوسُفَ ۖ مَا كَانَ لِيَأْخُذَ أَخَاهُ فِي دِينِ الْمَلِكِ إِلَّا أَن يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ﴾ ("Thus did We plan for Joseph. He could not have taken his brother under the king's law unless God willed") (Yūsuf: 76). The verb is the same, the preposition is the same, and the one for whom it is done is the same Joseph; yet the agent in the first case is human beings lying in wait, and in the second a Lord who orders all things. This deliberate paradox opens the door to the concept of kayd (scheming, plotting).

Counting the Word: Its Occurrences

The root k-y-d occurs thirty-five times in the Noble Qurʾān, in three forms: eight times as a verb (yakīdū, kidnā, akīdanna, fakīdūnī, and so on), twenty-six times as the noun kayd, and once as the passive participle al-makīdūn (al-Ṭūr: 42)^[1].

Sūrat Yūsuf alone accounts for nine of these thirty-five instances, about a quarter of the entire root. They are: «فيكيدوا لك كيدًا» ("they will devise a plot against you") (5, two instances); «إنه من كيدكنّ إنّ كيدكنّ عظيم» ("it is of your scheming; indeed, your scheming is great") (28, two instances); «تصرف عني كيدهنّ» ("unless You turn their scheming away from me") (33); «فصرف عنه كيدهنّ» ("so He turned their scheming away from him") (34); «إنّ ربي بكيدهنّ عليم» ("indeed my Lord is Knowing of their scheming") (50); «لا يهدي كيد الخائنين» ("does not guide the scheming of the treacherous") (52); and «كذلك كدنا ليوسف» ("thus did We plan for Joseph") (76). This is a striking concentration for a root that appears in many sūrahs. Kayd is therefore one of the semantic keys of Sūrat Yūsuf: with it the scene of the brothers opens, and with it God's design closes.

The Linguistic Root: A Stratagem That Can Be Blameworthy or Praiseworthy

In al-Mufradāt, al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī defines kayd as a kind of stratagem that may be blameworthy or praiseworthy, although its use for the blameworthy predominates. This definition resolves what may at first seem a difficulty: how can kayd be ascribed to God? If kayd is an unjust trick, it is unworthy of God; if it is an unrestricted stratagem, it befits none but God, for He is the Disposer who is never overcome. The Qurʾān settles the matter through its contexts: it condemns the kayd of Satan, of the disbelievers and of tyrants, and it describes God's kayd as "firm" (matīn).

Linguists also point out the difference between kayd and makr (cunning, devising). Makr, too, is ascribed to God in the Qurʾān (Āl ʿImrān: 54; al-Anfāl: 30), but it chiefly carries the sense of concealment in planning, whereas kayd chiefly carries the sense of contest and of an attempt to lead the adversary into what he does not wish. This may be what makes kayd the better fit for the scene of Joseph, where each party tries to overcome the will of the other.

The Central Structure: One Verb, One Preposition, Two Agents

What Sūrat Yūsuf most strikingly discloses about this word is the morphological symmetry between two distant places. In verse five: «فيكيدوا لك» ("they will plot against you"); in verse seventy-six: «كدنا ليوسف» ("We planned for Joseph"). The verb is the same, and in both places it is made transitive with the particle lām: it is not "they plotted with him" nor "We planned with him," but "they plotted for you" and "We planned for Joseph." This means that in both cases the agent schemes "on account of" the one affected, yet to two opposite ends: the brothers scheme against him in order to destroy him, and God schemes for him in order to establish him.

This opposition is no mere verbal coincidence; it is the framework on which the entire sūrah is built. The sūrah begins with the verb yakīdū as a warning and brings its plot to its close with the verb kidnā as a design. Between the two verbs, dozens of verses see human scheming, by the brothers and by the women, move in every direction without reaching its goal; each time it turns into the opposite of what was intended. The well into which Joseph was thrown so that he might vanish became his road to Egypt, and the prison meant to humble him became his road to the storehouses.

Right at the opening of Joseph's story, the Qurʾān sums up this truth: ﴿وَاللَّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَىٰ أَمْرِهِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("And God is predominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know") (Yūsuf: 21). That is to say, all the scheming and stratagem that will follow in the tale are only links in a greater design that the schemers cannot see.

A Methodological Caution: "Indeed, Your Scheming Is Great" Is the Words of the ʿAzīz, Not a Ruling of the Qurʾān

In popular discourse it is common to cite the words «إنّ كيدكنّ عظيم» ("indeed, your scheming is great") (Yūsuf: 28) to claim that the Qurʾān judges the scheming of women to be great. Verifying the verse shows that the speaker is the ʿAzīz, addressing his wife after he saw Joseph's shirt torn from behind; the Qurʾān is relating a statement, not laying down an independent ruling. The Qurʾān's own judgment on kayd is set out in other places, and it is a general judgment that is not restricted to one sex: ﴿إِنَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطَانِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا﴾ ("Indeed, the scheming of Satan has ever been weak") (al-Nisāʾ: 76), thus making the scheming of the greatest of schemers weak before God's promise to the believers.

This does not mean denying the rhetorical exaggeration in the ʿAzīz's phrase as a description of what he saw; it means that a reported statement should not be raised to the rank of a Qurʾanic principle. The Qurʾanic principle concerning kayd is something else entirely, and the following section outlines it.

The Fate of Human Scheming: Error, Ruin and Misguidance

If we trace the twenty-six instances of the noun kayd, we find that the Qurʾān passes judgments on human scheming that differ in wording but agree in meaning: it does not reach its aim. It is "in error" for the disbelievers: ﴿وَمَا كَيْدُ الْكَافِرِينَ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ﴾ ("And the scheming of the disbelievers is not but in error") (Ghāfir: 25); it is "in ruin" for Pharaoh: ﴿وَمَا كَيْدُ فِرْعَوْنَ إِلَّا فِي تَبَابٍ﴾ ("And the scheming of Pharaoh was not but in ruin") (Ghāfir: 37); it is "in misguidance" for the people of the Elephant: ﴿أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ﴾ ("Did He not make their scheming go astray?") (al-Fīl: 2); it is something God "weakens": ﴿وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُوهِنُ كَيْدِ الْكَافِرِينَ﴾ ("and that God will weaken the scheming of the disbelievers") (al-Anfāl: 18); and it does not harm the patient and God-fearing: ﴿وَإِن تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا﴾ ("But if you are patient and fear God, their scheming will not harm you at all") (Āl ʿImrān: 120). In Sūrat Yūsuf itself, Joseph closes his case with a comprehensive rule: ﴿وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي كَيْدَ الْخَائِنِينَ﴾ ("and that God does not guide the scheming of the treacherous") (Yūsuf: 52), that is, He does not let their scheming succeed or bring it to its goal.

By contrast, when kayd is ascribed to God it is described as firm: ﴿وَأُمْلِي لَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ كَيْدِي مَتِينٌ﴾ ("And I give them time; indeed, My plan is firm") (al-Aʿrāf: 183; al-Qalam: 45), and the direct confrontation is stated outright: ﴿إِنَّهُمْ يَكِيدُونَ كَيْدًا ۝ وَأَكِيدُ كَيْدًا﴾ ("Indeed, they are planning a plan, and I am planning a plan") (al-Ṭāriq: 15-16). The Qurʾān sets the two schemes face to face in two consecutive verses and decides the outcome.

It should be noted that the act of kayd is not condemned in every instance. Abraham, peace be upon him, says: ﴿وَتَاللَّهِ لَأَكِيدَنَّ أَصْنَامَكُم﴾ ("And by God, I will surely plan against your idols") (al-Anbiyāʾ: 57), and the Qurʾān does not rebuke him but simply continues its narration. This confirms what the people of the language have said: that kayd in itself is a form of planning, and the judgment on it depends on its aim and on whom it strikes.

The Prophetic Witness

The Prophet ﷺ taught his community a supplication that gathers all these meanings: «رَبِّ أَعِنِّي وَلَا تُعِنْ عَلَيَّ، وَانْصُرْنِي وَلَا تَنْصُرْ عَلَيَّ، وَامْكُرْ لِي وَلَا تَمْكُرْ عَلَيَّ، وَاهْدِنِي وَيَسِّرِ الْهُدَى لِي، وَانْصُرْنِي عَلَى مَنْ بَغَى عَلَيَّ» ("My Lord, help me and do not help others against me; give me victory and do not give victory over me; plan for me and do not plan against me; guide me and make guidance easy for me; and give me victory over whoever transgresses against me")^[2]. This supplication uses makr rather than kayd, yet it draws the very truth that Sūrat Yūsuf draws: the believer does not rely on his own stratagem alone to ward off people's scheming, but asks God to place His design on his side and not against him. Joseph did exactly this, literally, when he prayed: ﴿وَإِلَّا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ﴾ ("And unless You turn their scheming away from me, I might incline toward them") (Yūsuf: 33), and his Lord answered him: ﴿فَصَرَفَ عَنْهُ كَيْدَهُنَّ﴾ ("so He turned their scheming away from him") (Yūsuf: 34).

A Reading in Light of the Higher Objectives

The nine instances of kayd in Sūrat Yūsuf show that the Qurʾān teaches the believer three means of facing scheming, ascending from the lightest to the deepest. The first is prudent concealment: this is what Jacob commanded his son. He did not say "confront them" or "accuse them," but "do not relate your vision to your brothers," so that he protected Joseph by silence before protecting him by confrontation. The second is turning to God in supplication when human effort fails, as Joseph did in the prison. The third is the acceptance that God's design is wider than every human stratagem, which Joseph voiced at the end of his ordeal: ﴿إِنَّ رَبِّي لَطِيفٌ لِّمَا يَشَاءُ﴾ ("Indeed, my Lord is Subtle in what He wills") (Yūsuf: 100). The fuller treatment of this meaning will come in the article on luṭf (divine subtle kindness).

It is also worth noting that Joseph himself was not without planning: he arranged with his brother the affair of the drinking cup, and the Qurʾān said that this was of God's kayd for him. There is a fine lesson here: planning is not blameworthy in itself if it lies within the framework of God's will and a just aim, but it becomes blameworthy kayd when it is taken as a path to injustice. The difference between the two is that the former is "unless God wills," while of the latter it is said "God does not guide the scheming of the treacherous."

The Contemporary Practical Dimension

In workplaces, institutions and digital communities, kayd takes modern forms: a rumor spread in secret, a rival burned with a truncated piece of information, a team pushed aside by a procedural maneuver. Many who are subjected to this fall into one of two errors: either they become schemers like their opponents, in the name of self-defense, or they collapse as if scheming were a fate with no recourse. The Qurʾanic model offers a third way: patience and God-fearing (Āl ʿImrān: 120), prudent concealment before harm occurs (Yūsuf: 5), supplication for the scheming to be turned away (Yūsuf: 33), and confidence that scheming which is not guided to its goal will recoil on its authors (Yūsuf: 52).

For the one from whom the scheming proceeded, the lesson is sterner: Joseph's brothers planned what they planned in order to be rid of him, and their plan became the bridge over which he crossed to kingship; after years they ended up standing before him, in need of his generosity. There is no scheme that may not itself be the very instrument by which God accomplishes what it was meant to prevent.

The Scheming of Satan: Weak in Itself, Dangerous If Neglected

The sūrah itself begins with a warning about Satan: ﴿إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لِلْإِنسَانِ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ﴾ ("Indeed, Satan is to man a manifest enemy") (Yūsuf: 5), as the reason for Jacob's forbidding his son to relate the dream, as though he were saying that the brothers' envy is only the fruit of a satanic whisper. Joseph's words at the end of the sūrah confirm it: ﴿مِن بَعْدِ أَن نَّزَغَ الشَّيْطَانُ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ إِخْوَتِي﴾ ("after Satan had induced [estrangement] between me and my brothers") (Yūsuf: 100). Human scheming in the story was not cut off from a subtler scheming that moved it.

Yet the Qurʾān describes the scheming of Satan as weak: ﴿إِنَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطَانِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا﴾ ("Indeed, the scheming of Satan has ever been weak") (al-Nisāʾ: 76). There is no contradiction in combining "manifest enemy" with "his scheming is weak": the enmity is real, while the weakness is relative to the one who has taken refuge in God; as for the one left to himself, Satan's scheming weighs heavily upon him. This perhaps explains why Joseph did not rely on his own strength but asked God to turn the scheming away from him.

Three Questions the Concept Puts to the Reader

The reader may leave this study with three questions with which to hold himself to account. First: am I in the position of the one schemed against or of the schemer? If I am schemed against, the story holds a path of patience and supplication; if I am a schemer, I have seen the end of those who went before me. Second: do I distinguish between legitimate planning and blameworthy kayd? Planning that preserves a right or repels an injustice is permissible, while that which takes falsehood as its means is rejected. Third: do I await the reversal of scheming according to God's way (sunnah), or do I hasten it with a like scheme of my own? The story points to the first.

Conclusion

Sūrat Yūsuf begins with the verb yakīdū and ends with the verb kidnā, and between the two verbs it teaches that every human stratagem runs within a circle greater than itself, and that when God wishes to raise a servant He makes the scheming of his adversaries a ladder for him. Whoever knows that scheming has two agents and not one may rest assured that the final Schemer is God, and that He schemes only for His close friends.