Surah 12. Yusuf

---

Verses [Section]: 1-6[1], 7-20 [2], 21-29 [3], 30-35 [4], 36-42 [5], 43-49 [6], 50-57 [7], 58-68 [8], 69-79 [9], 80-93 [10], 94-104 [11], 105-111 [12]

---

Quran Text of Verse 21-29وَ قَالَAnd saidالَّذِیthe one whoاشْتَرٰىهُbought himمِنْofمِّصْرَEgyptلِامْرَاَتِهٖۤto his wifeاَكْرِمِیْMake comfortableمَثْوٰىهُhis stayعَسٰۤیPerhapsاَنْthatیَّنْفَعَنَاۤ(he) will benefit usاَوْorنَتَّخِذَهٗwe will take himوَلَدًا ؕ(as) a sonوَ كَذٰلِكَAnd thusمَكَّنَّاWe establishedلِیُوْسُفَYusufفِیinالْاَرْضِ ؗthe landوَ لِنُعَلِّمَهٗthat We might teach himمِنْ(the) interpretation ofتَاْوِیْلِ(the) interpretation ofالْاَحَادِیْثِ ؕthe eventsوَ اللّٰهُAnd Allahغَالِبٌ(is) PredominantعَلٰۤیoverاَمْرِهٖHis affairsوَ لٰكِنَّbutاَكْثَرَmostالنَّاسِ(of) the peopleلَا(do) notیَعْلَمُوْنَ know وَ لَمَّاAnd whenبَلَغَhe reachedاَشُدَّهٗۤhis maturityاٰتَیْنٰهُWe gave himحُكْمًاwisdomوَّ عِلْمًا ؕand knowledgeوَ كَذٰلِكَAnd thusنَجْزِیWe rewardالْمُحْسِنِیْنَ the good-doers 12. Yusuf Page 238وَ رَاوَدَتْهُAnd sought to seduce himالَّتِیْshe whoهُوَhe (was)فِیْinبَیْتِهَاher houseعَنْfromنَّفْسِهٖhis selfوَ غَلَّقَتِAnd she closedالْاَبْوَابَthe doorsوَ قَالَتْand she saidهَیْتَCome onلَكَ ؕyouقَالَHe saidمَعَاذَI seek refuge in AllahاللّٰهِI seek refuge in AllahاِنَّهٗIndeed, heرَبِّیْۤ(is) my lordاَحْسَنَ(who has) made goodمَثْوَایَ ؕmy stayاِنَّهٗIndeedلَاnotیُفْلِحُwill succeedالظّٰلِمُوْنَ the wrongdoers وَ لَقَدْAnd certainlyهَمَّتْshe did desireبِهٖ ۚhimوَ هَمَّand he would have desiredبِهَاherلَوْ لَاۤif notاَنْthatرَّاٰhe sawبُرْهَانَthe proofرَبِّهٖ ؕ(of) his LordكَذٰلِكَThusلِنَصْرِفَthat We might avertعَنْهُfrom himالسُّوْٓءَthe evilوَ الْفَحْشَآءَ ؕand the immoralityاِنَّهٗIndeed heمِنْ(was) ofعِبَادِنَاOur slavesالْمُخْلَصِیْنَ the sincere وَ اسْتَبَقَاAnd they both racedالْبَابَ(to) the doorوَ قَدَّتْand she toreقَمِیْصَهٗhis shirtمِنْfromدُبُرٍthe backوَّ اَلْفَیَاand they both foundسَیِّدَهَاher husbandلَدَاatالْبَابِ ؕthe doorقَالَتْShe saidمَاWhatجَزَآءُ(is) the recompenseمَنْ(of one) whoاَرَادَintendedبِاَهْلِكَfor your wifeسُوْٓءًاevilاِلَّاۤexceptاَنْthatیُّسْجَنَhe be imprisonedاَوْorعَذَابٌa punishmentاَلِیْمٌ painful قَالَHe saidهِیَSheرَاوَدَتْنِیْsought to seduce meعَنْaboutنَّفْسِیْmyselfوَ شَهِدَAnd testifiedشَاهِدٌa witnessمِّنْofاَهْلِهَا ۚher familyاِنْIfكَانَ[is]قَمِیْصُهٗhis shirtقُدَّ(is) tornمِنْfromقُبُلٍthe frontفَصَدَقَتْthen she has spoken the truthوَ هُوَand heمِنَ(is) ofالْكٰذِبِیْنَ the liars وَ اِنْBut ifكَانَ[is]قَمِیْصُهٗhis shirtقُدَّ(is) tornمِنْfromدُبُرٍ(the) backفَكَذَبَتْthen she has liedوَ هُوَand heمِنَ(is) ofالصّٰدِقِیْنَ the truthful فَلَمَّاSo whenرَاٰhe sawقَمِیْصَهٗhis shirtقُدَّtornمِنْfromدُبُرٍ(the) backقَالَhe saidاِنَّهٗIndeed itمِنْ(is) ofكَیْدِكُنَّ ؕyour plotاِنَّIndeedكَیْدَكُنَّyour plotعَظِیْمٌ (is) great یُوْسُفُYusufاَعْرِضْturn awayعَنْfromهٰذَا ٚthisوَ اسْتَغْفِرِیْAnd ask forgivenessلِذَنْۢبِكِ ۖۚfor your sinاِنَّكِIndeed youكُنْتِareمِنَofالْخٰطِـِٕیْنَ۠the sinful

---

Translation of Verse 21-29

(12:21) The man¹⁶ from Egypt who bought him said to his wife¹⁷: "Take good care of him, possibly he might be of benefit to us or we might adopt him as a son."¹⁸ Thus We found a way for Joseph to become established in that land and in order that We might teach him to comprehend the deeper meaning of things.¹⁹ Allah has full power to implement His design although most people do not know that.

(12:22) And when Joseph reached the age of maturity, We granted him judgement and knowledge.²⁰ Thus do We reward those who do good.

(12:23) And it so happened that the lady in whose house Joseph was living, sought to tempt him to herself, and one day bolting the doors she said: "Come on now!" Joseph answered: "May Allah grant me refuge! My Lord has provided an honourable abode for me (so how can I do something so evil)? Such wrong-doers never prosper."²¹

(12:24) And she advanced towards him, and had Joseph not perceived a sign²² from his Lord he too would have advanced towards her. Thus was Joseph shown a sign from his Lord that We might avert from him all evil and indecency,²³ for indeed he was one of Our chosen servants.

(12:25) Then both of them rushed to the door, each seeking to get ahead of the other, and she tore Joseph's shirt from behind. Then both of them found the husband of the lady at the door. Seeing him she said: "What should be the punishment of him who has foul designs on your wife except that he should be imprisoned or subjected to painful chastisement?"

(12:26) Joseph said: "It is she who was trying to tempt me to herself." And a witness belonging to her own household testified²⁴ (on grounds of circumstantial evidence): "If his shirt is torn from the front, then she is telling the truth and he is a liar.

(12:27) But if his shirt is torn from behind, then she has lied, and he is truthful."²⁵

(12:28) So when the husband saw Joseph's shirt torn from behind he exclaimed: "Surely, this is one of the tricks of you women; your tricks are indeed great.

(12:29) Joseph, disregard this. And you - woman - ask forgiveness for your sin, for indeed it is you who has been at fault."

---

Commentary

16. The Bible refers to this person as Potiphar. At a later point in the Qur’an he is mentioned as ‘aziz (see verses 30 and 51). It is significant that the same m8) ‘aziz has elsewhere been used in the Qur’an for Joseph (see verse; This shows that the person mentioned here was the holder of a highly important title or the incumbent of some highly important office. For ‘aziz literally means one possessed of irresistible power. Biblical and Talmudic accounts describe this person as an officer of the royal bodyguard. Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, on the authority of ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas, describes him as one in charge of the royal treasury. (See al-Tabari’s comments on verse 21 in his Commentary — Ed.)

17. The Talmud names her as Zelicha. This is the basis for the popularity of this name in Muslim folklore. However, the belief that Joseph later married the same woman — a belief which has become a part of popular Muslim tradition — has no basis in authoritative Islamic sources. In fact, no statement to that effect is found either in the Qur’an or in Israelite historical traditions. Above all, it is altogether unbecoming of a Prophet to marry a woman whose moral corruption was directly known to him. The Qur’an, as we know, lays down the following principle concerning matrimonial relationships: ‘Impure women are for impure men, and impure men are for impure women, pure women are for pure men and pure men are for pure women’ (al-Nur 24; 26).

18. The Talmud states that at that time Joseph was eighteen years old. When Potiphar saw Joseph he was greatly impressed by his features. He felt sure that Joseph was not a born slave but came from a noble lineage, who had somehow fallen on bad days. Hence, when Potiphar was buying Joseph, he told the traders that he did not look like a slave. He even expressed the suspicion that the traders might have stolen him from somewhere, this explains why Potiphar did not treat Joseph as a slave. Instead, he put him in charge of his house and all his properties. The Bible says: ‘So he left all he had in Joseph’s charge; and having him he had no concern for anything but the food which he ate’ (Genesis 39: 6).

19. Joseph had been brought up as a shepherd in a semi-nomadic milieu.

There was no organized state at that time in Canaan and northern Arabia. Nor had culture and civilization made any significant headway in that region. A number of independent tribes lived there and they migrated from one part to the other. Apart from those migratory tribes, a few other tribes had also settled down in certain areas where they had established small states.

As to their lifestyle, it would seem to have resembled that of the Pathan tribes in the free tribal area adjacent to the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Thanks to Joseph’s upbringing in such a milieu, he possessed the virtues characteristic of a Bedouin tribal life. Moreover, he had also inherited the spirit of godliness and religious piety.

God wanted to entrust Joseph with the mission of Prophet in Egypt, at that time the most advanced country. However, the qualities, experience, vision and insight needed to carry out such a task could hardly have been developed in his nomadic surroundings. God, therefore, placed Joseph in the house of an Egyptian high official.

Observing Joseph’s exceptional qualities and talents, the official concerned put him in charge of his house and all his properties. Thus, Joseph had the opportunity to develop his potentialities to the full. In addition, the experience of handling the properties of this official gave Joseph the necessary expertise that would later help him in administering a vast kingdom. ‘The above verse alludes to that.

20. The Qur’an often uses such an expression to signify the conferment of prophethood. As to the expression, ‘judgement’, it refers both to the capacity and the authority to judge. Hence, the statement that God granted someone ‘judgement’ suggests that God equipped him with the capacity to make sound judgements relating to human affairs and also conferred upon him the requisite authority to do so. As for ‘knowledge’, this refers to that special knowledge of the truth which is directly intimated to Prophets by means of revelation.

21. The translators as well as the commentators of the Qur’an interpret the expression ‘my lord’ as referring to the person in whose employment Joseph worked at that time. In other words, Joseph said that he could not betray his ‘lord’ — i.e. the chief who had treated him so well. What this meant is that in view of the official’s kindness to Joseph, his indulgence in illegitimate sex with the wife of the chief was absolutely out of the question.

Personally speaking, I do not agree with the interpretation that the word rabbi (‘my lord’) refers to the official. It is true that from the viewpoint of Arabic usage, such an interpretation is admissible. For the expression rabbi is also used to signify human masters. However, it seems altogether unbecoming of a Prophet that he would abstain from a sin out of consideration for some human being rather than out of consideration for God.

If we turn to the Qur’an, there is not a single instance in which a Prophet would have called anyone other than God his rabbi (‘lord’). Moreover, in verses 41, 42 and 50 of this very surah, Joseph underscores the basic difference between his own faith and the faith of the Egyptians. The difference consists of the following. Whereas the One True God alone is the Lord of Joseph, the Egyptians had taken human beings to be their lords. (See verses 39-40 - Ed.) Thus, there is strong reason to consider the expression used by Joseph as meaning God. Now, since there is a good basis for such an interpretation, there is no reason to prefer an interpretation that is inconsistent with the station of a Prophet.

22. The word burhan denotes an argument or proof. ‘Burhan’ from the Lord signifies the argument inspired by God to arouse Joseph’s conscience and convince him that it is not at all appropriate for him to accept the woman’s invitation to illegitimate enjoyment. Now, what was the ‘argument’ to which reference has been made in the present verse? That argument has already been mentioned in the previous verse: ‘My Lord has provided an honorable abode for me (so how can I do something so evil?). Such wrongdoers never prosper’ (Yusuf 12: 23). This was the argument which dissuaded Joseph in such a tempting circumstance and in the very prime of his youth from committing the sin to which he was invited.

Moreover, the Qur’an also states that Joseph too would have advanced towards her had he not perceived the burhan from his Lord (see verse 24). This throws full light on the infallibility of Prophets. The doctrine of the infallibility of Prophets does not mean that they are devoid of predisposition towards sin.

What infallibility of the Prophets means is that even though Prophets have the potential to commit sin, even though they possess all human characteristics — feelings, passions and desires — their nature is so righteous and they are so God-fearing that they never consciously intend to do so. This is so because they are endowed with such powerful arguments from their Lord that they are not carried away by their lusts, And even if a Prophet succumbs to any weakness — and then only inadvertently — God immediately sends a revelation which enables him to mend his behavior. This is a special arrangement that has been made by God with regard to Prophets. The reason being that if a Prophet deviates even slightly from the right way, this encourages others to become engrossed in a variety of sins.

23. The Qur’anic statement: ‘Thus it happened so that We might avert from him all evil and indecency’ (verse 24), may be interpreted in two ways. The first interpretation is that Joseph perceived an argument from his Lord and refrained from committing the sin under God’s direction and because of His succor. This was because God wanted to keep Joseph, to whom He had entrusted prophethood, free from every evil and indecency.

There is also another interpretation of the verse, one that seems more profound. According to this view, the situation in which Joseph was placed was in fact an important part of his moral training. In order to enable Joseph to attain the highest degree of spiritual purity and excellence, it was an essential part of God’s plan to test him and so expose him to such temptation. In this test, Joseph was required to marshal his will-power and piety to the optimum so as to subdue his sensual desires once and for all. In order to appreciate this particular mode of training, one should remember the moral conditions pertaining to Egyptian society at that time. In this surah (see verse 23 ff.), we have a glimpse of these conditions. We know from the Qur’an (see verse 30 ff.) that sexual licentiousness was almost as rampant in the Egyptian society of those days, and particularly among the upper class, as it is among contemporary Westerners or those non-Westerners who mimic their ways.

Thus we note that Joseph was required to carry out his. mission — the mission of a Prophet — among a people who were immersed in moral corruption. In addition, Joseph had to carry out his prophetic mission not in the capacity of an ordinary person, but in the capacity of a ruler. We also know the extent to which the upper-class ladies of Egypt were infatuated with Joseph even though they believed him to be a slave. It is not difficult to imagine, therefore, the extent to which those ladies would have gone in order to seduce such an attractive young man after he had become ruler of Egypt. God enabled Joseph to successfully pass through this test and to further develop his firmness of character. It also became clear to the ladies of Egypt — dissolute though they were — that their amorous gestures to Joseph were-of no avail.

24. The situation that comes to mind seems to be the following. The chief official (‘aziz) seems to have been accompanied.by someone who was a relative of his wife. This relative would have thus come to know of the incident and heard the two parties exchanging charges of guilt. Now, it so happened that besides Joseph and the official’s wife there was no other first-hand witness of the incident. Thus, it was not possible to ask anyone else to testify.

The only course left, therefore, was to decide the case on grounds of circumstantial evidence. In some traditions it has been claimed that the statement mentioned in the verse was made by an infant baby who lay in his cradle. God had especially granted him the faculty of speech in order that he might make his deposition. (See al-Qurtubi’s comments on verse 26 in his Commentary — Ed.) It must, however, be noted that this tradition is not supported by any reliable chain of transmission. Moreover, the infant’s ability would seem to suggest something miraculous. Furthermore, the circumstantial evidence to which the person in question has referred also seems quite reasonable. Were we to consider his suggestion, it would become quite evident that he was intelligent, mature and experienced, and was able quickly to get to the heart of the matter.

It would not be surprising if he was a judge or magistrate. It is interesting to note that this story about the evidence of an infant mentioned by Qur’an commentators is derived from Jewish traditions. (See Paul Isaac Hershon, Talmudic Miscellany, London, 1880, p. 256.)

25. The whole point of this statement is that if the shirt was rent from the front, it indicated that Joseph had taken the initiative in advancing towards the lady and that the latter had resisted his amorous advances. However, if Joseph’s shirt was rent from the back, that showed the opposite, viz. that it was the lady who had made the advances while Joseph had tried to run away from her. This statement also contains a subtle suggestion which needs to be pointed out. The fact that only Joseph’s shirt was mentioned implies that there were no traces of any violence on the body or dress of the lady. Had Joseph been guilty of making any advances, traces of his violent advances would clearly have been visible.

25(a). The Biblical account of the incident is quite clumsy. It reads as follows: ... she caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me’. But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and got out of the house. And when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household and said to them: ‘See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; and when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me, and fled and got out of the house.’ Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; but as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me and fled out of the house.’ When his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, ‘This is the way your servant treated me’, his anger kindled. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined . . . (Genesis 39: 12-20).

In sum, this highly improbable report suggests that Joseph was dressed in such a garment that would fall away as soon as Zelicha laid her hands on it. As for Joseph, leaving his garment behind, he ran away, probably stark naked. Thus Joseph’s garment remained in possession of the lady, providing undeniable proof of his guilt. In such circumstances, no sensible person would believe that Joseph was not guilty.

So much for the Biblical account. Now let us turn to the Talmudic version.

According to the Talmud, on hearing the complaint from his wife, Potiphar had Joseph severely whipped. Then he lodged a case against him in the court.

However, when the judges looked at Joseph’s garment, they concluded that the woman was at fault for it was rent from the back and not from the front. Even a little reflection makes it evident that the Qur’anic version is much more plausible than the Talmudic one. For who on earth could believe that such an influential dignitary would take to court a case which would bring him into disrepute by highlighting that his wife was molested by his own slave.

This is one of the most obvious differences between the Qur’anic and Israelite accounts of Joseph’s story. This difference proves beyond any shadow of doubt the absurdity of the Orientalists’ allegation that the Prophet (peace be on him) had taken over the stories of the Prophets from the Israelites. On the contrary, the fact is that it is the Qur’an which purged the Israelite stories of their demeaning errors. The world is indeed indebted to the Qur’an for having provided the true version of those stories and thus restored the correct image of the Prophets.