Surah Yusuf #28

So when he (the ‘Aziz) saw his shirt was torn from behind, he said: ‘Verily it is of the guile of you women! Truly, your guile is great’.

Surah Yusuf 28

Tafseer:

There are four people here now:  the wife of ‘Aziz, ‘Aziz, Yusuf, and the witness.  The husband knows that he is not supposed to be back at this time and that the doors have been extra locked.  All of these are qara’in (hints) now, and all of the alarm bells start going off and everything fits into place.  He says, “What a dastardly plot, what an evil plot you did.  Indeed, your plot is very mighty.”

The husband realizes his wife is lying, and he tells Yusuf, “Oh Yusuf, turn away from this.”

The Qur’an regards the Satan’s tricks as weak, but the guile of women have been mentioned as great in this verse. According to the ‘Tafsir-us-Safi’, it is because the satanic guile is momentary, invisible and acted in a subtle way, whereas the guile of women is acted along with delicacy, and affection, which are both focused and continuous. 

Allah sometimes accomplishes major tasks by means of some small things. 

For example: ’Abraha was defeated by the birds of ’Ababil; the life of the Prophet of Islam (S) was saved because of a spider’s web; a crow was used to instruct a human being (Cain) on how to bury a human being (Abel); the chastity of Mariam was made manifest through the infant’s talk, Yusuf’s innocence was proved by the tear in his shirt; the faith of a country’s people was known through the messages of a bird (Hoopoe); and finally, the People of the Cave were recognized through the kind of their money. 

All of these incidents are examples of great occurrences divinely fulfilled through objects and incidents that are otherwise seen as commonplace or insignificant. 

The ‘Aziz accepted the method proposed by the “witness” and gazed at Yusuf’s shirt. He noticed that the shirt had been torn from the back, and he remembered that he had never heard Yusuf tell a lie, even once, he turned to his wife and said that this act was part of the guile of women, that their guile is indeed, very powerful.

Reflections :

‣ The dangerous of khalwah (being alone with a strange woman).

‣ The power of women.

• The weakness of men

‣ The fitnah of the wife of Aziz was greater than the fitnah of his brothers.

‣ The plans of Shaitan are very attractive; ∴ a Muslim shouldn’t be fooled by them.

Authentic Tauheed:

The shirt was torn from the back, which means that Zulaikha was the one lying
–it was torn from the back because Yusuf was running away from zina
— the Rasul said :”anytime a man and a woman is alone, the third person there is Satan”

“Do not even go close to adultery, it is a indeed shameful act and evil way to follow.”(17/32)  

— ALLAH did not say “don’t commit zina” but He said do not even come NEAR to zina

“Whenever a man is alone with a woman, Satan (Shaytan) is the third among them.” (Tirmidhi)

How can one come near zina?

By being locked up alone behind closed doors with a woman

Sisters: 

  • don’t go on dates; there’s a chance you’ll be a victim of date rape
  • if a man wants an interview, take your wali with you
  • if someone wants to meet you at a certain location, always try to bring backup

Lesson

Immoral people will do anything to fulfill their desires and such immorality will be supported by the wicked that are.

Surah Yusuf #27

 And if his shirt is torn from the back, then she tells a lie, and he is of the truthful (ones).”

Surah Yusuf 27

Tafseer 

“And if the shirt has been torn from the back, then she is the one who is telling a lie, and he is the one who is speaking the truth.’”

This phrasing has a number of issues and benefits. First and foremost, Allah says, “witness from her own family ,” so the question arises, who is this shaahid?

  It was an elderly man and a normal human being, most likely a cousin or some relative of hers.  How do we know that it is a relative?  Allah says so:  min ahliha.  Why does Allah say min ahliha?  To show us that he had no bias against her, but rather his bias was for her.  

Generally speaking, people of a family stick together and help one another out.  Allah is saying that this was a man from her family.   Generally, he should have supported her.  The fact that he is making the statement shows that he is neutral and looking for the truth.Here is an interesting question:  Allah says, “A witness testified from her family.”  Was he a witness?  No.  Allah uses the word shaahid.  What does shaahid mean?  Somebody who saw.  How can Allah call him a shaahid when he is not a physical shaahid?  Some scholars have said that Allah called him a shaahid because Allah was the shaahid, and what the man said was the truth, so he might as well have been a witness.  Others have said that Allah called him a shaahid because he gave a simple rule.   Allah called him a shaahid because the rule was a valid rule.The man gives his general rule:  look at the front and look at the back of the shirt, and let us see which was torn.  There is other circumstantial evidence as well, which a number of scholars mentioned.This helps to make Yusuf’s case more solid.   1)  Yusuf is a slave, and generally speaking, slaves would never have the audacity to commit this type of crime.  
  2)  Yusuf is the one seeing exiting the door first.  3)The wife of Aziz is dressed up and perfumed because she had prepared. 4)  Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam) has been living in the house for so many years and his character, conduct, and akhlaq are well known.   5) Yusuf accuses her of a specific crime whereas she accuses him of a generic crime.  Generally speaking, the one with the more knowledge is the one who is more truthful.   These are other factors that show who is telling the truth.

Two Motifs:

 racing and shirts.  

We have seen this before.  Where did the first race allegedly occur?  It didn’t actually occur, but the brothers said, “We went racing,” and they then brought back the shirt. 

 The scholars say that it was the shirt that alerted Ya‘qub to the fact that his children were lying.  The shirt was bloodstained without a single scratch on it.  Ya‘qub said, “What a gentle wolf this was that it ate up Yusuf without touching him.  The shirt saved Yusuf’s memory in Ya‘qub’s mind. 

 Here, once again there is a racing and a shirt.  The shirt saves Yusuf’s reputation.  There is this motif of Surah Yusuf of the shirt being symbolic in this regard and literal in that there was a literal shirt there.

Reflections 

Who is the witness?

• Stronger narration: “Somebody knew something about it, and they’re not saying this person is guilty or not”

 Lesson:

Be wise in giving advice 

Always try to give advice in the best possible way. Do you see how the witness gave her advice even though the witness knew who was at fault?

When giving advice one has to be very careful. Another example can be found in the story below which also presents the same lessons:

When we are able to deliver our thoughts to others with beautiful manners, why then resort to horrible ones?

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Surah Yusuf #26

He said: ‘She (it was who) sought to seduce me from my (pure) self,’ and a witness from her own family bore witness, ‘If it be that his shirt is torn from the front, then she speaks the truth and he is of the liars’.

Surah Yusuf 26

Tafseer

Immediately Yusuf responds and says,

“She was the one who attempted seduce me.”

Notice that Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam) immediately defends himself, and he does not allow the accusation to go unchallenged. This shows us that it is permissible to defend your honor and reputation.

Later on in the story, Yusuf will be accused of another crime, and he does not his honor, and he remains silent. That shows us that it is also permissible to remain silent. Look at the situation.

You will be accused of crimes and people will say bad things about you – this is human nature. At times, you should respond back, and if the situation dictates you stand up and defend yourself. At times there is no need to, and you don’t have to do

The irony here is that he defends his honor when he is a slave. When he is the minister, he does not defend his honor. His brothers accuse him of stealing when Binyamin was found with the cup and said, “If he was a thief, then his brother was a thief as well.” Allah says in the Qur’an that when they found Binyamin with the cup, the other brothers said, “If he has stolen, then his brother has stolen as well.” Yusuf did not respond back to that charge.

SubhanAllah at times of lowliness, Yusuf valued that honor and wanted to defend it. Why? Being charged with a crime at that time would be physically harmful. At times of ‘izzah and power, when his brothers said something, it would not harm him.

In fact, to expose himself at that time would be more problematic, so he didn’t defend himself and he let it go. SubhanAllah Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam) looked at the consequences. Right now he needed to defend and be on the defensive.

In this case, Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam) immediately responds back and says, “She was the one who sought to seduce me.” Notice Yusuf accuses her of a specific crime. It was not general like she did. She said, “He wanted to do some bad.” Yusuf is specific and said, “She attempted to seduce me.”

Generally speaking, the one who accuses specific crimes knows more about what is happening and is more truthful than the one who responds in generalities. She is speaking in generalities, and he is speaking in specifics.

From human psychology, the one who speaks specifics and tells the details knows what is going on and is the one who is truthful. Generally, in human nature, someone denies saying, “Nothing happened” or “I don’t know what he is talking about.”

At the end of the day, there are two people accusing each other of the crime. The husband, the master, the ‘aziz has to make a decision. Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) says, “A witness from her family testified saying…”

It is clear that the torn shirt is lying on the floor, and they can see that the shirt has been torn. Somebody testifies and says,

“If this shirt has been torn from the front, then she is the one telling the truth, and he attempted to seduce her, and he is a liar.” Why? If a man is attacking the woman, then if she is defending herself, she will be defending from the front of the man, and the front of the shirt will be torn.

Reflections

Aziz’s wife used the following ways and facts to her advantage to seduce Yusuf (u):
‣ She seduced him
‣ He was in her house which eliminates all doubts
‣ Aziz’s wife used the following ways and facts to her advantage to seduce Yusuf (u) :
• She closed all doors
• She encouraged him by saying “I am all yours”
• He was young and his sexual strength was at its peek
‣ Aziz’s wife used the following ways and facts to her advantage to seduce Yusuf (u) :
• She was extremely beautiful which would be an encouragement to a young man to commit adultery
• She was a woman of power who would have the support of her people whileYusuf (u)was nothing but a slave
‣ Yusuf (u) had Ihsaan.
‣ Allah mentions Ihsaan in five places: Ayah 22, 36, 56, 78, and 90.
‣ Types of Ihsaan:
• For yourself by obeying Allah
• Ihsaan for the others
‣ Allah protects true believers at the time of weakness.
‣ If it was not for mercy of Allah none of us would be saved from sins.

Lesson

We learn from this that when Islam is attacked, and Islam will always be attacked and people will always make fun of Islam and find problems with Islam and Muslims, at times it is almost waajib to stand up and defend, especially at times of weakness and humiliation because we need that honor and ‘izzah.

The strongest of the testimony is the testimony of a relative.

  1. We must speak up to defend our rights. We do not need to keep silent when others do wrong to us. Allah (swt) gave us a tongue and lips for a reason. It is so that we would use them to speak the words that are pleasing to Him (swt).

It is so that we would use them to speak the Truth. It is so that we would use them to defend ourselves and our honor. This is what Yusuf (AS) did. He (AS) did not want to do evil to anyone.

He (AS) did not want to hurt anyone. But he did not keep silent when she accused him of a crime that he did not commit. Yusuf used the tongue that Allah (swt) gave him (AS) to speak the Truth. To speak to defend his rights as a human being.

We learned from verse that the one who speaks specifics and tells the details knows what is going on and is the one who is truthful. Generally speaking, the one with the more knowledge is the one who is more truthful.

Surah Yusuf #25

And they both raced to the door and she tore his shirt form the back. They both found her husband by the door. She said: ‘What is the punishment for him who intends evil to your wife save he be imprisoned or a painful chastisement?

Surah Yusuf 25

Tafseer

“… (The two of them raced for the door…)”

What this means is that when Yusuf said no, he must have turned around to leave. Again, as we have said over and over again, the Qur’an does not provide details that are unnecessary. The Qur’an does not provide graphic detail because it is not appropriate to talk about this story in such explicit detail. Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) only tells us what we need to know.

Nonetheless, the message is given. So much is said that doesn’t need to be said. By these two words, Allah ‘azza wa jall gives us the whole picture. There are two people in the room, and the rooms are bolted.

Remember: wa ghallaqati’l-abwaab. All of the doors from the door of the house to the door of the bedroom had been shut. Yusuf stands up to race out, and inside of him, he is fleeing away from sin and fahsha. He is fleeing literally, physically, and spiritually away from this evil. There is the wife of ‘Aziz (his master’s wife), and she is fleeing towards sin.

They are both running physically in the same direction, but spiritually and emotionally, they are exactly opposite. She wants to reach the door before him so that she can bypass him to get to the door to once again attempt to seduce him. She does not want him to open the door, and she wants to keep it shut. He is going towards the door to open it and exit.

“… (his shirt was torn from the back…)”

In the process, his shirt was torn. Qaddah means a slit occurred from the back, meaning in her zealousness and crazed mind, she held onto Yusuf’s shirt and was physically pushing him and begging him to come back into the room. In his eagerness to leave, he darted out, and the shirt tore from the back.

“… (and surprisingly her master returned home unannounced…)”

The word alfayaa has the connotation that they did not expect it and it was not something they were planning. As we have said, her plotting and planning from the very beginning shows that she was not expecting anyone to return. She had planned in it in such a way that she assumed that everything would be fine for her, and just to be on the safe side, she added a few extra locks.

Now notice here the beauty of the Qur’an. If Allah had said they found her husband at the door, it would have made sense, and if Allah had said they had found his master at the door, it would have made sense. Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) merged the two together and said, “They found her master (sayyidaha).” It is not incorrect to call a husband a sayyid, but technically speaking the sayyid means the master, and the man was more of a master to Yusuf than to his wife.

Instead of saying ‘her husband’ or instead of saying ‘his master,’ Allah said, ‘her master.’ By calling her husband her master, Allah is emphasizing what an evil act she committed without being so explicit. Allah does not speak in fahsha and vulgarities. By simply using the term ‘her master, Allah is emphasizing how depraved she was even though the whole Qur’an does not say that, but the meaning is given. As we have said over and over again, this is the methodology of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

This also shows the importance of the husband by calling him sayyid. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “If a woman protects her chastity and guards what Allah has protected and is a good wife to her husband, she will enter Jannah from any door she pleases.” In other words: protecting what Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) has protected. This is one of the meanings of why Allah used the term ‘master.’

“…they found her master at the door. Immediately she said, ‘What is possibly the penalty for somebody who wanted some evil on your wife except that he be put into jail or be punished?’”

This shows the immediate response and the simultaneous excuse that she invented. This shows her cunning nature. A more innocent person caught in this act would be speechless and have no idea what to do. Her cunning mind is demonstrated. We know this from our experiences in society that some people are very slick and are able to get out of difficult situations quite fast.

She was not expecting her husband and had not calculated a plan B. If her husband actually entered the room and she was successful, can you imagine what would have happened? If she had been successful and the husband came in, she would have basically been killed. There is no question that she is not planning for the husband to come back.

The immediate, instantaneous excuse shows her cunning mind. Many times cunning minds can be used for good, but she uses it for evil. She instantaneously thinks of an excuse.

She says, “What is the punishment for someone who intended evil against your wife?” Notice that she doesn’t say ‘someone who intended the act,’ and she doesn’t say ‘someone who intended to rape’. She doesn’t use a word but simply says ‘an evil’.

Also notice she cannot accuse Yusuf of doing a crime. She accuses him of wanting to do a crime. This is for a number of reasons. First, nothing has actually happened. Second, if she says that something has happened, then she is also in trouble. She doesn’t accuse Yusuf of actually committing a sin. She simply accuses Yusuf of wanting to commit a sin.

I Allah ‘azza wa jall says in the Qur’an, “One of the worst sins is to accuse an innocent person of a crime.” This is a major sin according to the text of the Qur’an. She wanted to do one evil, and now she has to cover up her tracks and lie. Because of her lies, eventually, as we know, Yusuf ends up in jail.

This is one of the problems of committing sins. Shaytan comes and says, “Come on, do one sin. No big deal.” There is no such thing as one sin. Every sin is a domino. Every sin leads to other sins.

Her intention to commit an evil now causes her and forces her to commit slander and to go to the next level. She says immediately, “He is the one who intended to do an evil.” Blaming other people is a sign of Satanic tendencies. Blaming other people for your own sin is of the earliest evils we have recorded in human history. She said, “Yusuf intended to do some harm to me.”

The wife of ‘Aziz says, “What is the punishment of somebody who attempted to do evil except that you put him in jail or punish him severely. For any man to attempt any evil on a woman is a sin, but especially for a slave and against his own master’s wife. This would have been a very evil crime. She is saying that something has to be done and that he has to be punished or tortured and thrown in jail.

Reflections:

  • Aziz was gentle and generous.
  • He was a bright future for Yusuf (u).
  • Aziz was a’qeem (barren).
  • Allah had honored Yusuf (u) by allowing him to be raised in the house of the Aziz.
  • If the youth were raised in the obedient of their Lord; Allah will bless them with Ilm, Hikmah and Hukam.
  • The dangerous of khalwah (being alone with a strange woman).

Lesson

  • When you do something wrong, admit it, and don’t blame someone else.
  • We learn that a place where there is a danger of getting involved in sin must be abandoned outright.
  • We are required to follow the commands of Allah to the best of our ability
  • Never give results are in the hands of Allah.
  • We learn from this over and over again that we should not narrate and spread titillating details and scandalous stories.
  • We should keep it Islamic and clean. If there is a moral, as there is in this story, even then there is no need to go into juicy details.

Surah Yusuf #24

“And indeed she desired him, and he would have desired her if he had not seen the evidence of his Lord. Thus (it was) that We turned away from him evil and indecency. Verily he was (one) of Our chosen servants, (sincere and purified).”

Tafseer:

This has led to so much consternation and worrisome commentary about how could Yusuf have desired her when she was an evil lady and she was not legitimate for him and not lawful. “She desired him. He would have desired her had he not seen the evidence from Allah.” So he did not actually desire her. He did not actually have the hamm for her.

Hamm is the strongest will before any action is done. Will has levels. Hamm means that you have made the strongest possible desire that you are going to do this, but you haven’t actually physically done anything yet. This is the level of hamm. The only thing preventing her was the actual act. Hamm is a very hard word, meaning it is something that you are actually very close to physically doing. She desired him, or she had that inclination for him, and he would have desired her.

This to me is common sense and logical. Some of us have absolutely no desire for some sins. Alhamdulillah, I have no problem saying that I have no desire to do drugs and alcohol. Alhamdulillah, there is not even the slightest inclination. Alhamdulillah, there is no fitnah at all. Now, the sad part of it is that I am not rewarded for having free wine in the hotel room and not drinking it. Why? Because there is no battle.

The point is that the one who is tested and overcomes it is worthy of praise and not the one who has no inclination. To me it is pretty obvious then, and I don’t see a problem that he did have a hamm. In fact, people have a tendency to make prophets super-human. In my humble opinion, the Qur’an does not tell us that the prophets are super-human; the Qur’an tells us that prophets are the best of humans.

They are not super-human; they are simply the best of men. If we look at the lives of the prophets and what the prophets have done, it leads to a very deep theological question: Can the prophets of God commit mistakes and what we call sins? The strongest position seems to be that the prophets of Allah are protected from major sins . It is possible that the prophets of Allah do mistakes out of a human emotion such as anger or doing something out of a basic sense of wanting something that is otherwise permissible.

Our father Adam (‘alayhi salaam) wanted life, and so he did what he did and ate from the tree. Wanting life is a human desire. It does not corrupt your morality if you want life. But any time a prophet does do it, immediately Allah corrects him, and immediately he stops. Prophets do not commit repetitive sins. It is possible that the prophets of God do commit minor sins.

In this case, we do not have to worry about that because Yusuf did not commit any sin because he did not do anything. It is understood that Al-‘Aziz had a beautiful wife. Well Yusuf is a human being. He would have desired it, Our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) has said, “I have not left any trial that is more difficult and unbearable for men than women.”

“The two would have done something, but he saw a sign from his Lord.”

What is a burhaan? Burhaan means a clear, unambiguous evidence; an evidence that is crystal clear and there is no doubt about it. What was this burhaan?

One interpretation, and this is that the burhaan that Allah gave him was his own knowledge and his own certainty that Allah is watching him because that is where the praise comes. He is a prophet of God, and he has that sense of iman and sense of yaqeen that Allah is watching him. The burhaan that he saw is the knowledge that Allah ‘azza wa jall gave him and the iman that he had. Allah calls it burhaan to show how it clear it was. It has reached a level where it is not mere iman but is higher than even iman and is a yaqeen.

Burhaan means an evidence that you cannot dispute. It is the strongest word you can use for certainty and is higher than yaqeen, and you cannot get higher. Allah uses the highest word possible. He was so sure of something, and that is why he did not do this. What could this possibly be? He is so sure that this is a sin and that if he does it, Allah will watch him and know what he is doing. This is the burhaan.

“This is how We will turn him away from evil and fahsha.”

Kadhaalik means ‘this is how.’ Suu’ is any type of evil, and fahsha is in particular evil of a sexual nature (lewdity and vulgarity). Allah is saying ‘this is how’ meaning the knowledge that he has.

“Surely he was of our servants who was mukhlaseen.”

There are two ways of reading the verse. For those of you who are not aware, the Qur’an has many recitations (qira’at), and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) recited it in different ways. We recite it in one of them, which is called Hafs and Asim, and other places of the Muslim world have other recitations (qira’at), and there are minor differences in fatha, kasra, and dhamma, and all of them come from the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). This is a science that is called the science of qira’at. Sometimes if you listen to AbdulBasit, and he starts reciting slightly differently than what you are used to, and this is differences in qira’at. All of these are authentic, and this is a science in and of itself.

Some qira’at have mukhlaseen and some qira’at have mukhliseen. Mukhlaseenmeans ‘Yusuf was of Our servants whom We chose.’ Mukhliseen means ‘Yusuf was of our servants who had ikhlaas (sincerity).’ Both of them are authentic. Because Yusuf had sincerity, Allah chose him. How do you become Allah’s chosen? By having sincerity. This verse is very, very powerful because the verse says:

“This is how We averted evil away from him because he was a sincere servant.”

Allah is saying, “We averted this evil because he was sincere.” Without Allah’s Help, he would have fallen into this.

Yusuf has perfected it to a level that we ask that none of us is even tested by a fraction of all of these tests. Imagine being in the case of Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam) where nothing would have happened and in fact, more lavishment and nourishment and money would have poured on him in a strange land and in the house of his mistress and in the privacy of the room in the house. Nobody was seeing this except for Allah.

Similarly, if you are facing any problem or have any issue and don’t turn to Allah (subhanahu wata’ala), you are not going to get it resolved. There is no way you can fight it by yourself. If he didn’t have that ikhlaas or Allah had not chosen him, it would not have happened.

Imam Sadiq (as) has said that /burhanu rabbi/ (a Sign from my Lord), is identical with the light of knowledge, certainty and wisdom which Allah has said in a phrase of the previous verses:

“We gave him wisdom and knowledge”

Solemnity in Statement

One of the amazing things about the Qur’an, which is also one of its miracles, is its solemnity and its use of respectable language. That is, it never uses indecent words or concepts.

It’s speech is never in keeping with the ordinary and illiterate individuals, in the environment of ignorance, but at the same time, it is accessible to all, using a language that the ordinary men and the intellectual can understand.

Among all the biographies mentioned in the Qur’an, there is only one real love story which is the story of Yusuf and Zulaykha.

This story explains the ardent love of a beautiful sensual woman unto a handsome youth, but pure.

However, the Qur’an has beautifully combined precision in expression with solemnity and chastity, and despite the fact that it talks about affairs of the heart, it has utilized the principles of piety, morals and respect without being paralysed in the process.

Reflections

‣ Some scholars say how could Yusuf have those desires?

• And he WOULD have also, not that he actually did

‣ What is the evidence of his Lord at he saw?

• Differences of opinions

• Stronger opinion: he realized the great blessing that was bestowed upon him, and that

Allah made him a prophet, and that Allah blessed him with knowledge of

interpretation of dreams

‣ He didn’t desire because he was strong

‣ Knowledge helps a person stay away from sin

“Indeed only those amongst his servants who fear Allah are those who have knowledge.”

‣ This means that he didn’t go after her because of the realization of the great blessing of Allah

‣ When Allah bestows a blessing upon any one of us, we should use those blessings in ways to please Allah

Authentic Tauheed

— Moses killed a man Abraham told 3 lies Adam ate from the haraam tree
— Nuh asked a question he shouldn’t have but NO prophet committed zina!

2 types of sincere people mukhlas = mukhlis
–mukhlas is the one who is sincere and Allah accepts his sincerity because he is on the right aqeedah
–mukhlis is the one who is sincere but they are WRONG on the wrong aqeedah

Lesson

If we are sincere to Allah and if we are truthful to Allah, Allah will avert evil away from us. We will never be able to conquer evil alone. Many of us say that we cannot do it and are addicted and have a problem. Many of us say that we cannot become a better person. You cannot by yourself, and I agree with you completely, but the reason why you fail is because you don’t turn to Allah. If you turn to Allah with ikhlaas, Allah will then avert the evil away from you. Notice Allah is saying, “We averted this evil because he was sincere.” Without Allah’s Help, he would have fallen into this.

Similarly, if you are facing any problem or have any issue and don’t turn to Allah (subhanahu wata’ala), you are not going to get it resolved. There is no way you can fight it by yourself. If he didn’t have that ikhlaas or Allah had not chosen him, it would not have happened

Don’t leave young men alone with women. Always control your desires

Knowledge and intelligence leads one who possesses it to do good acts and prevents him from evil. Ignorance on the other hand, calls the one who is ignorant to conform to his desires, even if it is harmful to him.

In this part of the ayah Allah (swt) tells us that Yusuf (AS) at that moment also had a desire for her. But he (AS) did not even approach her because he had seen the evidence of his Lord. From this, we are first and foremost reminded of the humanity of Yusuf (AS). He (AS) was also a human being just like you and me, and he also had these desires that we have.

We cannot think the prophets and messengers to be angels or some kind of super natural beings. Rather we have to always believe that they were also human beings just like we are. They also had the same weaknesses that we have. They also had the same desires that we have. They also had to walk by putting one foot in front of the other just like we do; So we should never think that we can never be like Yusuf (AS) or the Prophet (PBUH).

They were human beings just like us. Of course, we will fall where they never fell. We will sin while they never sinned. But we must always keep them as the goal that we are trying to reach, and we must always strive to reach that goal, even if we know that we are never going to get there.
So in other words, we may fall, we may stumble, we may commit sins but what’s important is to acknowledge our weakness and to seek Allah’s help; and if we fall then seek His forgiveness and stand up to fight and resist the desires again.

  1. Then in the next part of the verse, Allah (swt) says “Thus it was that We may turn away evil and indecency from him.” Here Allah (swt) reminds us that it was only He (swt) Who saved Yusuf (AS) from this trial. Allah (swt) gave Yusuf (AS) this certainty of faith, and through that, He (swt) turned away from him all evil and indecency.

This reminds us once again that it is Allah (swt) Who guides our hearts. It is Allah (swt) Who gives us this certainty of faith. It is Allah (swt) Who turns evil and immorality away from us. So if we want to be saved from sin, then we should always be turning to Allah (swt). Sins and temptations are always chasing us. The only way that we can save ourselves from them is by humbly turning to Allah and asking Him (swt) to save us from them. Only Allah can grant us that certainty of faith, that enabling grace, that determination and willpower, with which we can resist the temptations. Even to escape the smallest of sins we need the Help and Support of Allah (swt)!

  1. If you protect your chastity and are pious in your youth, Allah will protect you in your old age. A youth who grew up in the worship of Allah will be under the shade on the Day of Judgment.
  2. It is true that the concern for hereafter is something which can keep every human being protected from every evil wherever he or she may be. May Allah bless us all with this concern.