Yusuf · Makki · ayah 34 of 111

Yusuf 12:34

فَٱسْتَجَابَ لَهُۥ رَبُّهُۥ فَصَرَفَ عَنْهُ كَيْدَهُنَّ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ

“So his Lord responded to him and averted from him their plan. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Yusuf asked in a half-sentence, and the answer came back in his own words: his Lord turned their scheming from him.

A reflection

His chastity was an answered prayer, not a trophy

The ayah closes on two of Allah's names, and the commentaries spell out what each covers here.

The All-Hearing: hearing Yusuf's prayer, and the prayer of every caller among His creation. The All-Knowing: knowing what each one asks for, what each one needs, and what is good for each, which is not always the same thing. One commentary puts it in four words. Hearing the word, knowing the deed.

Sit with the scale of that for a moment. In one prison-bound slave's half-sentence, spoken in a room full of other voices, nothing was missed. And at the same moment, every other plea on earth was heard as fully.

Now notice what this does to the ego. We are used to admiring Yusuf for his resistance, and he deserves it. But the ayah does not say Yusuf turned their scheming away. It says his Lord did. One commentary explains the answer this way: Allah made him firm on chastity and came between him and the sin.

That is humbling for anyone proud of their own virtue. A woman praised all her life for her honesty may know, privately, that she has never once been in real need. Her honesty has never been tested; it has been kept.

The names are told to us not because Allah needs our praise. He needs nothing. They are told so that the next person cornered in a room knows two things for certain. Someone hears. And He knows what to do with what He hears.

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.