• The chief’s wife proves the irresistible attraction of Joseph’s beauty

• Joseph imprisoned

Yusuf (Joseph) Verses 30 – 35

وَقَالَ نِسْوَةٌ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ امْرَأَتُ الْعَزِيزِ تُرَاوِدُ فَتَاهَا عَنْ نَفْسِهِ قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا إِنَّا لَنَرَاهَا فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ

And said the women1in the City: “The wife of the (great) ‘Aziz’2(the chief) seeketh to seduce her slave from his (pure) self; Verily hath he affected her deeply with love; Verily we see her in manifest error.” (12:30)

فَلَمَّا سَمِعَتْ بِمَكْرِهِنَّ أَرْسَلَتْ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَعْتَدَتْ لَهُنَّ مُتَّكَأً وَآتَتْ كُلَّ وَاحِدَةٍ مِنْهُنَّ سِكِّينًا وَقَالَتِ اخْرُجْ عَلَيْهِنَّ فَلَمَّا رَأَيْنَهُ أَكْبَرْنَهُ وَقَطَّعْنَ أَيْدِيَهُنَّ وَقُلْنَ حَاشَ لِلَّهِ مَا هَٰذَا بَشَرًا إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا مَلَكٌ كَرِيمٌ

And when she3heard of their scheming4talk, she sent for them, and prepared for them a repast5and gave unto each one of them a knife and said (unto Joseph) “Come thou out unto them.” So when they saw him, they did extol him; and (in their amazement) cut their hands, and said (exclaimed): “Hasha-lillah!” (Far from God is every imperfection!) This is not a mortal (human being), This is none but a noble angel!” (12:31)

قَالَتْ فَذَٰلِكُنَّ الَّذِي لُمْتُنَّنِي فِيهِ وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدْتُهُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ فَاسْتَعْصَمَ وَلَئِنْ لَمْ يَفْعَلْ مَا آمُرُهُ لَيُسْجَنَنَّ وَلَيَكُونًا مِنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ

Said 6she: “This is he about whom ye blamed me; and indeed I sought to seduce him from his (pure) self, but he did firmly abstain himself guiltless; and (now) if he doth not what I bid him, he shall certainly be imprisoned, and he shall certainly be of those brought low!” (12:32)

قَالَ رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ وَإِلَّا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُنْ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ

Said he7“O’ my Lord! The prison is dearer to me than that unto which they invite me; and if thou turneth8not away from me their guile I may yearn unto them and become of the ignorant ones.” (12:33)

فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ فَصَرَفَ عَنْهُ كَيْدَهُنَّ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

Thereupon heard him9his Lord and turned10He away their guile from him; Verily He is the All Hearing, The All-Knowing. (12:34)

ثُمَّ بَدَا لَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا رَأَوُا الْآيَاتِ لَيَسْجُنُنَّهُ حَتَّىٰ حِينٍ

Then it occurred to them (even) after they had seen the signs (of his innocence) that they should imprison him for a time. (12:35)

Commentary

Verse 31

The imputation against Zulaikha’s conduct had spread almost to every house in the town.

Zulaikha at last chose some of the women, the chief characters among the propagandists, and invited them to a feast with a fruit which needed to be cut with a knife. (It is said that it was Citrus or sweet lemons) and ordered Joseph to enter the chamber and wish the ladies. When Joseph did as commanded by his mistress, all the women were so stunned and got so enchanted that instead of cutting the fruits they cut their own hands and did not know or even feel what they were doing.

‘Hasha lillah’ is an exclamation of wonderful admiration seeking protection of God against getting beguiled to any wrong belief about any experience. The “Alif” at the end of Hasha has been dropped as ‘Mahzoof’ (i.e., understood).

It is reported that there were forty women of whom nine fell unconscious as they saw Joseph.

Verse 35

When the women got hopeless of winning over Joseph, they suggested Zulaikha to imprison Joseph for a few days and subject him to the miseries therein so that he might then realize the value of the luxuries in the palace. Zulaikha readily accepted the suggestion, for that would make the public know that it was Joseph who was guilty and not she. Joseph was enchained and taken through the streets of the town with an announcer calling in the front ‘Look ye'! This is the punishment for the attempt against the chastity of the wife of the ‘Aziz’, Zulaikha.

To know how Joseph felt and whose help he sought Zulaikha was in the guise of an ordinary spectator among the huge crowd witnessing the scene and heard every one in the street praising the beauty and the innocence of Joseph and condemning her as an unchaste and crafty woman. Gabriel inspired Joseph to cry out saying “Getting imprisoned is far better than falling into the displeasure of God and getting punished by the hell-fire.” Zulaikha heard this cry and felt self-condemned. At last Joseph was put into the prison.

Joseph used to always weep remembering his poor old father. Five persons in the world wept

the most:

1. Adam when separated from Eve.

2. Jacob separated from his son Joseph.

3. Joseph separated from his father Jacob.

4. Lady Fatimah after the death of her father, the Holy Prophet, Muhammad.

5. The Fourth Holy Imam Ali Ibn Husayn Zainul Abideen wept for all the forty years he lived - after the martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala.

• 1. The news somehow escaped out of the palace - and became the talk of the town - The title ‘Aziz’ was the title of the Chief of the Royal Staff i.e. a Vizier.
• 2. Aziz the Official Title of the Chief Officer or the Vizier of the King of Egypt.
• 3. ‘Zulaikha’ the wife of the ‘Aziz’.
• 4. Malicious.
• 5. Lit. Cushioned Couch.
• 6. Zulaikha.
• 7. Joseph.
• 8. The turning away of the guile by God does not mean overpowering Joseph against his will and choice. It means raising his Cognitive self above the level of the sexual desires, in response to what he asked for.
• 9. granted his prayer.
• 10. See note to verse 12:33.