Yusuf · Makki · ayah 26 of 111

Yusuf 12:26

قَالَ هِىَ رَٰوَدَتْنِى عَن نَّفْسِى ۚ وَشَهِدَ شَاهِدٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِهَآ إِن كَانَ قَمِيصُهُۥ قُدَّ مِن قُبُلٍ فَصَدَقَتْ وَهُوَ مِنَ ٱلْكَـٰذِبِينَ

“[Joseph] said, "It was she who sought to seduce me." And a witness from her family testified, "If his shirt is torn from the front, then she has told the truth, and he is of the liars.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Accused, Yusuf answers in one plain sentence, and a witness from her own family proposes a test: which side of the shirt is torn.

A reflection

Truth that holds when tested

A witness from her family speaks, and what he offers is not an opinion but a test. If the shirt is torn at the front, she has told the truth and he is a liar. The next ayah gives the other half.

Notice what Yusuf is not asked to do. He is not asked to swear, or weep, or simply be believed. His word is put to a test that the cloth will answer.

The root of 'she has told the truth', ṣadaqat, is a picture of strength. A spear shaft that was ṣadq was hard and sound, straight through, and did not snap when it was put to the test. Truth is called ṣidq for its strength, the lexicons say; a lie has none.

They keep a proverb too. A man selling a young camel claimed it was full-grown. Then it bolted, and he called it back with the cry used only for young camels. His camel's teeth told me the truth, people said. The animal itself gave the claim away.

That is the shape of this ayah. A claim has been made at the door. Now something that cannot lie is about to be turned over and examined.

One commentator notes that the household already had other signs. Yusuf had been seen running hard for the door, and a man pursuing a woman does not flee her house like that. The shirt would confirm what the running had already shown.

Hold the picture of the spear shaft, bent across a knee to test it. Truth is not afraid of that knee. Only a cracked shaft is.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.