When
he reached 17 years of age, Yusuf’s a.s. youth blossomed and his handsomeness
became very prominent. The wife of
Al-Aziz observed Yusuf a.s. and was full of adoration for him. She began flirting and seducing him with all
her feminine charm. She locked the door
from inside and tried to seduce him to come unto her. Yusuf a.s. refused,
exclaiming that Allah s.w.t. forbids. She
was determined to seduce him.
Her passion
became wild and she started to come after him but Yusuf a.s. ran away from
her. Yusuf a.s. ran towards the door to
leave the room. As he struggled to open
it, she hung on to him in an attempt to pull him away from the door. The woman pulled hard and tore Yusuf’s a.s.
shirt from the back. Just at that moment
the door opened and Al-Aziz entered witnessing the scene. The woman immediately tries to clear her
predicament by putting the blame on Yusuf a.s.
She even suggests that Yusuf a.s. be jailed but spared the penalty of
death.
Yusuf
a.s. defended himself stating in clear terms that it was she who seduced
him. A witness from her family then came
forward and offered a compelling argument.
The witness suggested observing the direction from which Yusuf’s a.s.
shirt was torn. If it was from the front
than she was truthful and Yusuf a.s. was among the liars. If the shirt was torn from the back then it
was she who lied. When Al-Aziz saw Yusuf’s
a.s. shirt torn from the back, he affirmed the truth. No stern action was taken against his wife
despite her shameful behavior. She was
only told to ask for forgiveness.
News
of the incident began to spread and the women of the upper echelon of the Egyptian
society at the time began to gossip. They
look down on the behavior of the Finance Minister’s wife because she seduced he
r slave and was madly in love with him. When
she heard of their gossip and ridicule, she invited them ti her palace for a
dinner party. She prepared a cutting
knife for each of her women guests. Then
she ordered Yusuf a.s. to present himself to the guests. When he entered the dining hall, a strange
thing happened. They cut their hands
repeatedly. They were not even aware of
it nor did they feel the pain.
News
spread among the common people. They began
to gossip about Al-Aziz’s wife and her lady friends. Her dignity and reputation deteriorated. They deliberated what action to take to
protect their status and standing. They then
decided to humiliate Yusuf a.s. He was
put on a donkey and paraded around the streets and markets of Egypt. They proclaim that he was the one who desired
Al-Aziz’s lady and as such will be punished with imprisonment. They framed the innocent Yusuf a.s with false
announcements and subsequently put him away in prison.
STORIES
OF THE PROPHETS IN AL-QURAN
(Lessons that we can
extract, lessons that we can apply)
(Teaser extraction
from the book)
To be continued…
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