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
Surah Yusuf 26be that his shirt is torn from the front, then she speaks the truth and he is of the liars’.
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
‣ 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
‣ 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
The strongest of the testimony is the testimony of a relative.
- 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.