Yusuf · Makki · ayah 31 of 111

Yusuf 12:31

فَلَمَّا سَمِعَتْ بِمَكْرِهِنَّ أَرْسَلَتْ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَعْتَدَتْ لَهُنَّ مُتَّكَـًٔا وَءَاتَتْ كُلَّ وَٰحِدَةٍ مِّنْهُنَّ سِكِّينًا وَقَالَتِ ٱخْرُجْ عَلَيْهِنَّ ۖ فَلَمَّا رَأَيْنَهُۥٓ أَكْبَرْنَهُۥ وَقَطَّعْنَ أَيْدِيَهُنَّ وَقُلْنَ حَـٰشَ لِلَّهِ مَا هَـٰذَا بَشَرًا إِنْ هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا مَلَكٌ كَرِيمٌ

“So when she heard of their scheming, she sent for them and prepared for them a banquet and gave each one of them a knife and said [to Joseph], "Come out before them." And when they saw him, they greatly admired him and cut their hands[593] and said, "Perfect is Allāh![594] This is not a man; this is none but a noble angel."”

Saheeh International

Essence

She answered their words with cushions and a knife for each guest, and the women who judged her cut their own hands unaware.

A reflection

It was not only his face they saw

Most of us remember this as the scene about Yusuf's looks. A man so handsome that women hurt themselves staring at him.

That reading is not wrong. The commentaries mostly take it that way, and a sound hadith speaks of his beauty. But read the last word the women say. Not a beautiful angel. A noble one.

The word for noble is used of a vine whose clusters hang within reach, of rain-bringing cloud, of soil that answers the seed. It means what is finest of its kind and gives freely. It is a word about worth, not surface.

One major commentary argues that this is the better reading of the whole scene. The women saw the bearing of a prophet. They saw that he did not look at them, that nothing in his face reached for them or the food. Angels are free of appetite, and that is what they saw. A young man in a room full of women showed no trace of wanting.

Ask former pupils why one teacher is the one they all remember. They usually start with something about his presence. They usually end somewhere else: he never once made you feel looked at.

So the scene the familiar reading keeps for beauty is also, on this reading, a scene about restraint. They expected a pretty slave. What overwhelmed them was a man who was not available.

That is harder to imitate than beauty, and far more within reach.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.