Joseph and the Proof of His Lord

Qur'an 12:24 · Yūsuf

وَلَقَدْ هَمَّتْ بِهِۦ ۖ وَهَمَّ بِهَا لَوْلَآ أَن رَّءَا بُرْهَـٰنَ رَبِّهِۦ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ لِنَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ ٱلسُّوٓءَ وَٱلْفَحْشَآءَ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ٱلْمُخْلَصِينَ

(12:24) She certainly made for him; and he would have made for her [too] had he not beheld the proof of his Lord. So it was, that We might turn away from him all evil and indecency. He was indeed one of Our dedicated servants.

The question

“She certainly made for him; and he would have made for her had he not beheld the proof of his Lord” — did Joseph intend sin, and what was the “proof” he saw?

Views answered: reports from Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, Qatāda, ʿIkrima, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and others, al-Ghazālī and al-Zamakhsharī (al-Kashshāf), the “natural inclination” reading (al-Bayḍāwī), al-Ṭabrisī (Majmaʿ al-Bayān), Rashīd Riḍā (Tafsīr al-Manār), the rearrangement and dream readings

Al-Mizan's argument

Al-Mizan sets out how overwhelming the temptation was and that nothing shielded Joseph but his faith in God. The verse means: she certainly made for him, and he would have made for her had he not seen the proof of his Lord — so he never did. The proof is a certainty of the kind God shows His devoted servants, which takes hold of the heart and turns away both the evil and the indecency, because Joseph was one of God's “dedicated servants”. Al-Mizan then examines seven or eight other readings: the reports that Joseph intended the sin and was stopped by a sign (Jacob appearing, a voice, a bird), which he rejects as contrary to Joseph's infallibility and to the virtues God describes in him, and as inconsistent and fabricated reports; the view that his “making for her” was natural inclination; al-Ṭabrisī's view that the two acts differ in meaning; Rashīd Riḍā's view that both meant intent to strike; and readings that rearrange the verse or place it in a dream — showing why each fails and that the first reading is the one the verse supports.

Reading guide

Each part opens the commentary at that point.

1. The temptation, and what shielded Joseph
2. Nothing but faith in God
3. The meaning of the verse
4. The “proof” (burhān) of his Lord
5. “He was indeed one of Our dedicated servants”
6. The other interpretations
7. Reports that Joseph intended the sin
8. Al-Mizan's response
9. Al-Zamakhsharī's account
10. Why some hold this view
11. “Natural inclination”
12. Al-Bayḍāwī's summary, and the reply
13. Two different meanings of “making for” (al-Ṭabrisī)
14. Rashīd Riḍā: the intent to strike
15. Rearranging the verse
16. The dream reading
17. Conclusion

Read the whole commentary on 12:24 →