“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.
- 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)!
- 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.
- 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.