The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 238
CH. 12 R. 7. YUSUF PT. 12 him to me. ' But when the وَقَالَ الْمَلِكُ ائْتُونِى بِهِ فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُ And the King said, Bring. 51 الرَّسُولُ قَالَ ارْجِعْ إِلى رَبِّكَ فَشَلُهُ مَا messenger came to him, he said بَالُ النِّسْوَةِ الَّتِي قَطَعْنَ أَيْدِيَهُنَّ إِنَّ him how fare the women who رَبِّي بِكَيْدِ هِنَّ عَلِيمٌ 'Go back to thy lord and "ask cut their hands: for, my Lord well knows their design. '1554 crafty "12:32. the Holy Prophet and the latter two to that of Joseph. Thus instead of exposing any weakness in the diction of the Quran, the use of this word emphasizes its excellence. 1554. Commentary: When the King saw that the wise men of his court had failed to interpret his dream and that Joseph had not only interpreted it rightly but had also suggested a remedy for the impending affliction, and when he learnt from his butler that Joseph's previous interpretation of two dreams had also turned out to be true, he realized that Joseph was no ordinary man and desired to release him from the prison forthwith. But Joseph refused to be released until a full inquiry was made into his case and he was proved to be innocent of the charge laid against him. His object in demanding an inquiry seems to be twofold: firstly, that the King might know that he was innocent so that on no future occasion might his mind be poisoned against him by evilly- disposed persons on the basis of the alleged cause of his imprisonment; secondly, that Potiphar, his benefactor, might not remain under the impression that he had proved faithless to him. The Holy Prophet is reported to have once said that if he had remained in prison for so long a time as Joseph did and, like Joseph, had received the orders of his release, he would at once have left the prison (Bukhārī & Muslim). This readiness of the Holy Prophet to leave the prison in contrast to the hesitancy of Joseph to do so shows the former to be spiritually superior to the latter. It is true that the vindication of one's honour is an act of virtue, but to welcome opportunity for discharging one's duties as a Prophet of God, as the Holy Prophet's reported readiness implied, leaving one's honour to take care of itself, is certainly an act of much higher spiritual eminence. 1446 the The words, how fare the women who cut their hands, spoken by Joseph show that the incident of the cutting by the women of their hands did actually take place; otherwise Joseph could not have referred to it in these words. Either the women, while