Surah 12. Yusuf

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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]

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Quran Text of Verse 30-35وَ قَالَAnd saidنِسْوَةٌwomenفِیinالْمَدِیْنَةِthe cityامْرَاَتُThe wife ofالْعَزِیْزِAzizتُرَاوِدُ(is) seeking to seduceفَتٰىهَاher slave boyعَنْaboutنَّفْسِهٖ ۚhimselfقَدْindeedشَغَفَهَاhe has impassioned herحُبًّا ؕ(with) loveاِنَّاIndeed weلَنَرٰىهَا[we] surely see herفِیْinضَلٰلٍan errorمُّبِیْنٍ clear 12. Yusuf Page 239فَلَمَّاSo whenسَمِعَتْshe heardبِمَكْرِهِنَّof their schemingاَرْسَلَتْshe sentاِلَیْهِنَّfor themوَ اَعْتَدَتْand she preparedلَهُنَّfor themمُتَّكَاًa banquetوَّ اٰتَتْand she gaveكُلَّeachوَاحِدَةٍoneمِّنْهُنَّof themسِكِّیْنًاa knifeوَّ قَالَتِand she saidاخْرُجْCome outعَلَیْهِنَّ ۚbefore themفَلَمَّاThen whenرَاَیْنَهٗۤthey saw himاَكْبَرْنَهٗthey greatly admired himوَ قَطَّعْنَand cutاَیْدِیَهُنَّtheir handsوَ قُلْنَthey saidحَاشَForbidلِلّٰهِAllahمَاnotهٰذَا(is) thisبَشَرًا ؕa manاِنْnotهٰذَاۤ(is) thisاِلَّاbutمَلَكٌan angelكَرِیْمٌ noble قَالَتْShe saidفَذٰلِكُنَّThatالَّذِیْ(is) the oneلُمْتُنَّنِیْyou blamed meفِیْهِ ؕabout himوَ لَقَدْAnd certainlyرَاوَدْتُّهٗI sought to seduce himعَنْ[from]نَّفْسِهٖ[himself]فَاسْتَعْصَمَ ؕbut he saved himselfوَ لَىِٕنْand ifلَّمْnotیَفْعَلْhe doesمَاۤwhatاٰمُرُهٗI order himلَیُسْجَنَنَّsurely he will be imprisonedوَ لَیَكُوْنًاand certainly will beمِّنَofالصّٰغِرِیْنَ those who are disgraced قَالَHe saidرَبِّMy Lordالسِّجْنُthe prisonاَحَبُّ(is) dearerاِلَیَّto meمِمَّاthan whatیَدْعُوْنَنِیْۤthey invite meاِلَیْهِ ۚto itوَ اِلَّاAnd unlessتَصْرِفْYou turn awayعَنِّیْfrom meكَیْدَهُنَّtheir plotاَصْبُI might inclineاِلَیْهِنَّtowards themوَ اَكُنْand [I] beمِّنَofالْجٰهِلِیْنَ the ignorant فَاسْتَجَابَSo respondedلَهٗto himرَبُّهٗhis Lordفَصَرَفَand turned awayعَنْهُfrom himكَیْدَهُنَّ ؕtheir plotاِنَّهٗIndeed [He]هُوَHeالسَّمِیْعُ(is) All-Hearerالْعَلِیْمُ All-Knower ثُمَّThenبَدَا(it) appearedلَهُمْto themمِّنْۢafterبَعْدِafterمَا[what]رَاَوُاthey had seenالْاٰیٰتِthe signsلَیَسْجُنُنَّهٗsurely they should imprison himحَتّٰیuntilحِیْنٍ۠a time

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Translation of Verse 30-35

(12:30) And some ladies in the city began to say: "The chief's wife, violently in love with her houseboy, is out to tempt him. We think she is clearly mistaken."

(12:31) Hearing of their sly talk the chief's wife sent for those ladies, and arranged for them a banquet, and got ready couches,²⁶ and gave each guest a knife. Then, while they were cutting and eating the fruit, she signalled Joseph: "Come out to them." When the ladies saw him they were so struck with admiration that they cut their hands, exclaiming: "Allah preserve us. This is no mortal human. This is nothing but a noble angel!"

(12:32) She said: "So now you see! This is the one regarding whom you reproached me. Indeed I tried to tempt him to myself but he held back, although if he were not to follow my order, he would certainly be imprisoned and humiliated."²⁷

(12:33) Joseph said: "My Lord! I prefer imprisonment to what they ask me to do. And if You do not avert from me the guile of these women, I will succumb to their attraction and lapse into ignorance."²⁸

(12:34) Thereupon his Lord granted his prayer, and averted their guile from him.²⁹ Surely He alone is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

(12:35) Then it occurred to them to cast Joseph into prison for a while even though they had seen clear signs³⁰ (of Joseph's innocence and of the evil ways of their ladies).

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Commentary

26. This refers to the banquet where the guests were lying on couches.

Egyptian archaeological monuments also bear out that in such parties’ couches were used.

The Bible makes no mention of this banquet. However, the Talmud mentions it though its account differs significantly from that in the Qur’an. The Talmudic narrative is totally bereft of the vividness, the underlying spirit, the naturalness and the moral tenor of the Qur’anic narrative.

27. This gives some idea of the moral degeneration of the upper classes of Egyptian society. Obviously, the guests invited to the banquet of the official’s wife would have been upper-class ladies. Now, the official’s wife presented before them the attractive young man with whom she was passionately in love.

By so doing she tried to make the ladies realize why she could not help falling madly in love with such a handsome ‘youth. It is significant that those ladies fully agreed that the young man was overwhelmingly attractive, and that it was quite understandable why any woman would have had such a crush on him. It is significant that the hostess felt no reluctance in brazenly declaring that if Joseph did not respond to her amorous advances, she would have him cast into prison and suffer humiliation. ‘ All this goes to show that there is nothing so new about the promiscuity which characterizes the social life of Europe and America today. Centuries ago more or less the same situation obtained in Egypt as it obtains in our ‘enlightened’ times.

28. These verses recapture the situation in which Joseph found himself. He appears as a handsome young man about nineteen or twenty years old. Having come to Egypt after spending the early part of his life in a Bedouin milieu, Joseph was physically attractive and appeared to be full of youth and vigor.

After having passed through the adversities of poverty, banishment and forced slavery, by a quirk of fate Joseph came to the house of a highly influential person, a representative of the most civilized ‘empire of the world in those days.

In this new environment, Joseph first encounters the amorous advances of the lady of the house. As the news of his comeliness spread through the capital, upper-class ladies of the town also fell for him.

All alone, Joseph vigilantly resists temptation at almost every step. Every possible effort is made to arouse his passions and to destroy the foundations of his righteous character. Wherever he goes he encounters temptation and seduction in their most alluring forms. At the slightest show of inclination on Joseph’s part, those ladies were willing to do all that lay in their power to pander to his lust. Joseph faced this difficult situation all day and all night.

Were he to suffer a momentary lapse, he would have entered any of the innumerable portals of sin that stood ajar, waiting to receive him. Placed in such a situation this God-fearing youth overcomes all Satanic temptations with astounding success.

What is all the more amazing is that despite such exceptional restraint, such remarkable resistance to temptation, there is no trace of pride in Joseph. He never boasts that by dint of his righteousness he was able to overcome the temptations which faced him. He never displays any feeling of self-adulation.

He never brags at remaining firm in the face of the temptation. On the contrary, Joseph is highly conscious of his human susceptibility. He admits the possibility that unless God graciously assists him, he might at some point fall prey to any temptation. He humbly implores God, therefore, to help him and to rescue him from those temptations.

This was in fact the most sensitive stage in Joseph’s training. The qualities of honesty, trustworthiness, chastity, truthfulness, fairness, self-discipline, moderation, and mental poise and balance which lay dormant in his personality were all fully mobilized. Joseph himself was unaware of those qualities.

However, when he was put to the test, they all came to the fore. Joseph, thus, became aware of the qualities he possessed and began to know to what use he could put them.

29. Averting ‘the guile of these women’ refers to God’s investing Joseph with a firm character which enabled him to frustrate their guile. This also Means that it is because of Divine Providence that Joseph suffered imprisonment. This, as we shall see, proved to be a blessing in disguise.

30. The imprisonment of Joseph under such circumstances amounted, on the one hand, to his moral victory. On the other hand, it amounted to the defeat of the Egyptian élite. Joseph was now no longer an unknown person. Everyone in the capital had now become familiar with his name. Most of the ladies of the Egyptian upper-class had fallen for him. The ruling classes grasped the gravity of the problem posed by Joseph’s overwhelming attractiveness, a problem which menaced their family lives. They-thought it prudent that such a person be put behind bars.

Obviously, a person who was so extraordinarily attractive could not have remained unknown to others. It was natural that he would have become the talk of the day in every household. People would also have come to know that Joseph was not just a physically attractive youth. He was also possessed of nobility, firmness of character and elegance of behavior. People would also have become aware that Joseph had not been imprisoned because he was a criminal. They fully knew that it was easier for the ruling classes to consign Joseph, despite his innocence, to suffer imprisonment than to keep their women within the bounds of decent behavior. It is for this reason that they afterwards decided to consign him to prison.

This also shows that sending innocent persons to prison in disregard of the due process of justice and without caring to establish their guilt or innocence is one of the accepted practices of rulers from olden days. In this regard, the evil forces of today are no better than those of four thousand years ago.

The only difference perhaps is that the rulers in those days did not pay lip-service to ‘democracy’ while the rulers of today never tire of that. Even today they indulge in acts of lawlessness to achieve their ends. Whenever they are in need of a legal cover for their excesses, they know how to hammer out a piece of legislation geared to that end. The evil forces of the past committed wrongs against others in a clumsy manner. The evil forces of today also resort to excesses against others. However, when they do so they try to convince others that the persons concerned posed a threat to the whole nation rather than just to them. The evil ones of the past were simply oppressors. The evil ones of today, in addition to being so, are also liars and devoid of all sense of shame.