His statement: "When you were ignorant," meaning: that this was done by you out of ignorance, and they were not prophets at the time they cast him into the well.
قَوْله: ﴿إِذْ أَنْتُم جاهلون﴾ أَيْ: أَنَّ ذَلِكَ كَانَ مِنْكُمْ بِجَهَالَةٍ، وَلَمْ يَكُونُوا حِينَ أَلْقَوْهُ فِي الْجب أَنْبيَاء
