Yusuf · Makki · ayah 51 of 111

Yusuf 12:51

قَالَ مَا خَطْبُكُنَّ إِذْ رَٰوَدتُّنَّ يُوسُفَ عَن نَّفْسِهِۦ ۚ قُلْنَ حَـٰشَ لِلَّهِ مَا عَلِمْنَا عَلَيْهِ مِن سُوٓءٍ ۚ قَالَتِ ٱمْرَأَتُ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْـَٔـٰنَ حَصْحَصَ ٱلْحَقُّ أَنَا۠ رَٰوَدتُّهُۥ عَن نَّفْسِهِۦ وَإِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ

“Said [the king to the women], "What was your condition when you sought to seduce Joseph?" They said, "Perfect is Allāh![600] We know about him no evil." The wife of al-ʿAzeez said, "Now the truth has become evident. It was I who sought to seduce him, and indeed, he is of the truthful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Questioned by the king, the women cleared Yusuf; then the wife of al-ʿAzīz, unasked, said the words that settled it.

A reflection

Nobody caught her

We tend to picture this as the moment she was exposed. The inquiry closed in, the evidence piled up, and she had no way out.

Read the ayah again. The king asks the women what happened. They answer that they know nothing bad about Yusuf. Nobody points at her. Nobody produces the shirt. Yusuf himself had not even mentioned her.

Then she speaks. One commentary notes that she said this although she had not been asked. Her confession went beyond the question.

Why did she do it? The commentaries offer several reasons. Perhaps the women turned to her and pressed her. Perhaps she feared they would recall what she had said on the day of the knives. But one commentary gives a deeper reason. She noticed that Yusuf had left her name out of his message. She understood he had spared her out of regard for her. And she wanted to repay that kindness, so she removed the covering entirely.

That is how hearts often move. Accusation makes people defend themselves. Being spared makes room for honesty.

A woman in her fifties sits at a family gathering. Thirty years ago a glass vase broke and her younger brother took the blame. He never once raised it. Tonight, unprompted, she says: it was me. His silence all those years did what no accusation could.

She was not caught. She was given room, and she used it to tell the truth.

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.