The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3)

The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 223

PT. 12 YUSUF CH. 12 وَلَقَدْ هَمَّتْ بِهِ وَهَمَّ بِهَا لَوْلَا آن را And she made up her mind. 25 with regard to him, and he made بُرْهَانَ رَبِّهِ كَذلِكَ لِنَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ up his mind with regard to her السُّوءَ وَالْفَحْشَاءَ إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا المُخْلَصِينَ If he had not seen a manifest Sign of his Lord, he could not have shown such determination. Thus was it, that We might turn away from him evil and indecency. Surely, he was one of Our chosen servants. 1528 The words, "He is my Lord," refer to God, and not to Joseph's Egyptian master, as some commentators have wrongly supposed. It is difficult to imagine that a highly spiritual man like Joseph should have abstained from sin merely out of regard for the paltry favours of a human benefactor and not for the manifold Divine boons. Whatever honour Joseph had received from his Egyptian master was really in fulfilment of God's promises. So it was for the sake of his True Lord and Master that he followed the path of rectitude and refused to be seduced into sin, which would have amounted to an act of ingratitude far more towards God than to any human benefactor. Joseph not only himself abstained from the heinous sin, but also warned his master's wife against its evil consequences by saying that the wrongdoers never prosper. The expression translated as "she sought to seduce him against his will," literally means, as shown under Important Words, "she endeavoured to turn him from his purpose or will by blandishment and artifice and 1431 make him yield to her against his disdainful noncompliance. " This meaning shows that Joseph abhorred the evil deed to which she invited him and was determined not to yield. 1528. Commentary: This verse tells us that the wife of Joseph's master intended a thing about Joseph (i. e. copulation) in which she did not succeed. Similarly, Joseph intended a thing about her (i. e. turning her to pure thoughts), but he too did not succeed in his endeavour. That Joseph did not intend anything evil is clear from the previous verse. His only purpose was to dissuade her from her evil course. By "manifest sign" is meant the heavenly signs which Joseph had already witnessed, e. g. the wonderful dream which foretold his future greatness (v. 5) and the revelation he had received when cast into the well, which also pointed to his later eminence and glory (v. 16). Surely, the person who was being prepared for the exalted office of a Prophet could not debase himself before an idolatrous woman.