Al Islam

1368A. The particle hi in the expression fihi may mean either 'him' or 'it,' standing either for Joseph or price. See also "The Larger Edition of the Commentary." (close)

1524. Commentary:

It appears that when a member of the caravan took Joseph out of the well, his brethren became apprised of it and, declaring Joseph to be their slave, sold him to that very caravan for a paltry price. Thus the pronoun "they" in the clause, they sold him for a paltry price, stands for Joseph’s brethren and not for the caravan. The pronoun in the expression (of it) may mean either "him" or "it," standing either for Joseph or the price.

The Bible tells us that Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty pieces of silver (Gen. 37:‌28). Their object in selling Joseph was obviously not to get money; they only did so fearing that if they did not declare Joseph to be their slave, the caravan might take him to be a free man and might send him home. So they represented him as their slave, and sold him for a small sum.

The context of the Quran also shows that those who are spoken of in this verse as selling Joseph were his brothers, and not the people of the caravan. For, in the preceding verse it has been said that when the caravan found Joseph, "they concealed him as a piece of good merchandise," whereas, in the verse under comment, we read that those who sold Joseph displayed no interest in him and "were not desirous" either of Joseph or of the price. This shows that those who are here spoken of as selling Joseph were not the members of the caravan, but, as the Bible tells us, Joseph’s own brethren.

The verse refers to another difference between the Bible and the Quran. According to the Bible, it was not a member of the caravan who drew Joseph from the well but Joseph’s own brothers (Gen. 37:‌28). The unreliability of the Biblical version is apparent from the fact that the passage dealing with this incident is full of contradictions. The Talmud also contradicts the Biblical account, and its description of this incident agrees with that of the Quran (Jew. Enc. under Joseph). (close)

1369. The Egyptian who bought Joseph is known as Potiphar in Jewish literature (Enc. Bib. & Gen. 39:‌1). He was captain of the royal guard, an officer of high rank in ancient times. (close)

a. 12:57. (close)

a. 12:57. (close)

1525. Important Words:

مثوی (stay) is derived from ثوی. They say ثوی بالمکان i.e. he remained, stayed or dwelt in the place; or he remained, stayed or dwelt long therein; or he alighted in the place. اثواہ means, he made him to stay, or dwell, or he made him to stay or remain long. ثوی means, a guest. مثوی means, a place where one remains, stays or dwells; it also means staying or staying long in a place (Lane & Mufradat).

Commentary:

The Egyptian who bought Joseph is known as Potiphar in Jewish literature (Enc. Bib. & Jew. Enc. under Potiphar; also Gen. 39:‌1). He was captain of the royal guard, an officer of high rank in ancient times. He seems to have been struck by the noble appearance of Joseph, and asked his wife to treat him with such honour and affection as are not ordinarily shown to a slave or servant. He expressed the hope that they might one day benefit by his ability or, if he proved to be worthy, might adopt him as their son. It appears that Potiphar had no issue. (close)

b. 28:15. (close)

b. 28:15. (close)

1526. Commentary:

The verse does not mean that Joseph attained to prophethood as soon as he became of age. The Quran generally omits intervening details and mentions only the end. (close)

1370. Rawada-hu means, he endeavoured or sought to turn him to or from a thing by blandishments or deceitful arts (Lane). (close)

1371. Haita meaning, 'come or come forward' or 'hasten,' and the expression haita laka means, 'come thou' or 'now come;' also, 'come I am ready for thee or I am ready to receive thee' (Lane & Mufradat). (close)

1372. The verse shows that the woman who sought to seduce Joseph failed in her efforts and that Joseph successfully resisted her evil suggestion. The words, 'He is my Lord,' refer to God, and not to Joseph’s Egyptian master, as some Commentators have wrongly supposed. (close)

1527. Important Words:

راودته (she sought to seduce him). راود is derived from راد which means, he or it came and went; he went to and fro; he was restless; it also means, he sought or desired a thing; راوده means, he endeavoured or sought to turn him to or from a thing. راوده عن الامر means, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment or by deceitful arts from the thing. راوده علی الامرmeans, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., to the thing. The Quranic expression سنراود عنه اباہ means, we will endeavour to turn his father from him by blandishment or artifice and to make him yield him to us; or we will strive to obtain him of his father. So the words راودته عن نفسه would mean, she desired or sought of him a sinful act using blandishment or artifice for that purpose; she tempted him to do the sinful act; she endeavoured to entice him and to make him yield himself to her; more literally, she endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., from his disdainful noncompliance or from his purpose and will. الرود really signifies going about in search of a thing. المراودة means, seeking to make a person do a thing against his will (Lane & Mufradat).

ھیت لك (now come). ھیت is a word of exclamation denoting wonder. The Arabs say ھیت للحلم i.e. what forbearing mildness or clemency! The word is used in the sense of ھلم or تعال or اقبل meaning, "come or come forward." It is also used to signify "hasten" and "set forth journeying." The words therefore mean, "come thou" or "now come." The words also signify, "come, I am ready for thee, or I am ready to receive thee" (Lane & Mufradat).

معاذ الله (I seek refuge with God). معاذ is the noun-infinitive from عاذ. They say عاذ به من کذا i.e. he sought protection by him from that or sought refuge in him from that; or he put his trust in him, or relied upon him, for protection from such a thing. معاذ means, a refuge; a place to which one has recourse for protection or preservation; also the time at which one does so. The expressions معاذ الله and عیاذ الله and عیاذا بالله are all synonymous with اعوذ بالله معاذا i.e. I seek protection or preservation by God (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse clearly shows that the woman who sought to seduce Joseph failed in her efforts and that Joseph successfully resisted her temptation. The words, "He is my Lord," refer to God, and not to Joseph’s Egyptian master, as some commentators have wrongly supposed. It is difficult to imagine that a highly spiritual man like Joseph should have abstained from sin merely out of regard for the paltry favours of a human benefactor and not for the manifold Divine boons.

Whatever honour Joseph had received from his Egyptian master was really in fulfilment of God’s promises. So it was for the sake of his True Lord and Master that he followed the path of rectitude and refused to be seduced into sin, which would have amounted to an act of ingratitude far more towards God than to any human benefactor.

Joseph not only himself abstained from the heinous sin, but also warned his master’s wife against its evil consequences by saying that the wrongdoers never prosper. The expression راودته translated as "she sought to seduce him against his will," literally means, as shown under Important Words, "she endeavoured to turn him from his purpose or will by blandishment and artifice and make him yield to her against his disdainful noncompliance." This meaning shows that Joseph abhorred the evil deed to which she invited him and was determined not to yield. (close)

1373. The wife of Joseph’s master intended a thing about Joseph (i.e. copulation). Similarly, Joseph intended a thing about her, i.e. resisting her evil intention. That Joseph did not intend anything evil is clear from the previous verse. His only object was to dissuade her from her evil purpose. (close)

1374. By 'manifest Sign' are meant the heavenly Signs which Joseph had already witnessed, e.g. the wonderful dream which foretold his future greatness (v. 5), the revelation he had received when cast into the well, which also pointed to his later eminence and glory (v. 16) and also his being taken out alive from the well. (close)

1375. Just as an attempt was made to tempt Joseph away from the path of piety and rectitude, similarly, the idolaters of Mecca made an unsuccessful attempt to make the Holy Prophet give up preaching the Unity of God by offering to make him their king or to collect great wealth for him or to give him in marriage the most beautiful girl in Arabia. The offer was of course contemptuously rejected by the Holy Prophet with the historic words, 'If you place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left hand, even then I will not give up preaching God’s Unity (Hisham). (close)

1528. Commentary:

This verse tells us that the wife of Joseph’s master intended a thing about Joseph (i.e. copulation) in which she did not succeed. Similarly, Joseph intended a thing about her (i.e. turning her to pure thoughts), but he too did not succeed in his endeavour. That Joseph did not intend anything evil is clear from the previous verse. His only purpose was to dissuade her from her evil course.

By "manifest sign" is meant the heavenly signs which Joseph had already witnessed, e.g. the wonderful dream which foretold his future greatness (v. 5) and the revelation he had received when cast into the well, which also pointed to his later eminence and glory (v. 16). Surely, the person who was being prepared for the exalted office of a Prophet could not debase himself before an idolatrous woman.

The words, that We might turn away from him evil and indecency, signify that a person who had witnessed such signs could not stoop to evil. They may also mean that God brought about these circumstances so that Joseph should no longer live in the evil company of his master’s wicked wife and her evil companions which might have exercised a pernicious influence on him.

Here there is another point of resemblance between Joseph and the Holy Prophet. Just as an attempt was made to tempt Joseph away from the path of piety and rectitude, similarly, the idolaters of Mecca made an unsuccessful attempt to make the Holy Prophet give up preaching the Unity of God by offering to make him their king or amass great wealth for him or give him in marriage the most beautiful girl in Arabia. The offer was of course disdainfully rejected by the Prophet with the historic words, "If you place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left hand, I will not give up preaching the Oneness of God." (Zurqani & Hisham). This constitutes the eleventh resemblance between these two great Prophets. (close)

1529. Commentary:

When Joseph saw that all his exhortations and admonitions to his master’s wife to desist from her evil course were of no avail, he thought he should no longer stay in the room, lest it might give rise to unfounded suspicions. So he hastened to leave her presence. Thereupon the woman, in order to prevent him from leaving the room, ran to the door to reach it before Joseph succeeded in getting out. There was thus a sort of race for the door. It was most probably at the door that the woman pulled Joseph’s shirt in order to pull him back and in so doing she tore his shirt at the back.

Here, again, the Bible differs from the Quran. The Bible says that when the woman caught hold of Joseph’s garment, he left it in her hand (Gen. 39:‌12). But as the Hebrews used to wear one garment only, which was generally long enough to cover the whole body, it is inconceivable that Joseph should have run away naked, leaving the only garment he was wearing in the woman’s hand. So the Quranic account that Joseph’s shirt was torn in the scuffle seems to be more reasonable. (close)

1530. Commentary:

Nothing can approach the nobility of mind of God’s Elect. In spite of the fact that Joseph was grievously sinned against, he bore himself with great dignity and refrained from exposing the evil deed of his temptress. But when she herself had the hardihood to bring an utterly false accusation against him, he was compelled to state the facts. A person who appeared to have noticed that Joseph’s shirt had been torn at the back at once came to the conclusion that the woman was to blame. Without having the courage to incriminate her, but wishing to exculpate Joseph, he gave his evidence in a general manner as if he were blaming no one, but was merely laying down a principle by which the culprit could be discovered. (close)

1531. Commentary:

See note on the preceding verse. (close)

1376. The pronoun 'he' stands for the master of the house and not for the man who bore witness. (close)

1377. In his endeavour to screen his wife so far as possible Potiphar seems to accuse the whole fair sex of cunning and guile. (close)

1532. Commentary:

The pronoun "he" in the clause, when he saw his shirt, stands for the master of the house and not for the man who bore witness.

The words, Your device is indeed mighty, will thus be taken to have been spoken by Joseph’s master, and the pronoun "your" refers to "women" generally. In his endeavour to screen his wife as far as possible, he appears to accuse the whole of the fair sex of cunning and guile. But cunning is no characteristic of women; only those women who are oppressed and tyrannized over and whose rights are trampled upon generally develop a tendency to conspiring and adopting wily and cunning ways to avenge themselves on their oppressors. Moreover, the words of a man spoken casually cannot be regarded as an established truth and must be treated with reserve. (close)

1533. Commentary:

Here again there is a difference between the Bible and the Quran. According to the Bible Joseph’s master believed the allegation of his wife to be true and held Joseph to be guilty and was angry with him (Gen. 39:‌19). But other verses of the Bible itself contradict this statement and support the Quran. In Genesis it is stated that when Joseph was sent to prison, its keeper committed all the prisoners to his care. The prison was under the charge of Potiphar, captain of the guard (Joseph’s master), nay, it was in Potiphar’s own house, as the following Biblical verses show: And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound (Gen. 40:‌2,3). Now it does not stand to reason that the keeper of the prison who was subordinate to Potiphar, Joseph’s master, should have given the latter a position of honour in the prison when his superior looked upon him as one who sought to commit an outrage upon his wife. Not only that but we find that Potiphar himself put two of Pharaoh’s officers, the chief of the butlers and the chief of the bakers in charge of Joseph while the former were sent to the same prison (Gen. 40:‌4). These facts clearly show that Joseph’s master believed him to be innocent of the heinous charge brought against him by his wife. (close)