In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
The story of Yusuf, peace be upon him, with the wife of al-Aziz:
The woman’s temptation by a man’s beauty.
It is in the nature of a woman that she loves beauty and adornment for herself,
and she loves to be more beautiful than others wherever she may be,
and she loves for people to praise her beauty and takes pride in that.
Yet she is a human soul, just like a man;
she desires in a man what a man desires in her.
Thus, even if she is beautiful, loves beauty, and entices men with her charms,
she likewise is attracted to a handsome, good-looking man and can be enchanted by him.
For this reason, Allah commanded women with what He commanded men regarding lowering the gaze,
because both are affected by looking at the beauty of the other and are drawn toward it.
Giving free rein to the gaze in looking at the beauty of the other side
is the beginning of ruin, inner torment, distraction of the heart,
and discontent with what one already possesses;
for not everything that is seen can be attained.
Therefore, Islam brought us that which brings peace to souls
and safeguards hearts from being distracted from the remembrance of Allah and gratitude for His blessings;
thus, it commanded lowering the gaze.
In the story of Yusuf, peace be upon him, with the wife of al-Aziz,
we observe how far the bane of casting unrestrained glances
can take a woman, consuming her heart and thoughts,
blinding her sight and eroding her modesty.
In the first scene of the story,
we see the epitome of this bane of repeated gazing by the wife of al-Aziz toward Yusuf,
and what it ultimately led to in her openly attempting to seduce him.
In the second scene of the story,
which is the other women gazing upon the beauty of Yusuf,
their hearts were so captivated that they were oblivious to their hands being cut by the knives,
failing even to feel the pain of the cut.
Allah Almighty said:
"So when she heard of their gossip, she sent for them
and prepared for them a banquet,
and gave each one of them a knife
and said, 'Come out before them.'
When they saw him, they greatly admired him
and cut their hands,
and said, 'Allah forbid!
This is not a human being; [this is none other than a noble angel].'"
“And when she heard of their sly talk, she sent to them and prepared for them a cushioned couch (to lie on at the feast) and gave to every one of them a knife and said (to Joseph): Come out unto them! And when they saw him they exalted him and cut their hands, exclaiming: Allah Blameless! This is no a human being. This is not other than some gracious angel.” (12:31)
And Yusuf, peace be upon him,
had indeed been granted half of all beauty,
as the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said
regarding the journey of al-Isra' and al-Mi'raj:
"Then I was taken up to the third heaven,
and Gabriel asked for it to be opened.
It was said, 'Who are you?'
He replied, 'Gabriel.'
It was said, 'And who is with you?'
He replied, 'Muhammad, peace be upon him.'
It was said, 'Has he been sent for?'
He replied, 'He has indeed been sent for.'
So the door was opened for us,
and there I saw Yusuf, peace be upon him;
he had indeed been granted half of all beauty.
He welcomed me and supplicated for good for me."
Narrated by Muslim.
Thus, the plot of the wife of al-Aziz against those women
who had blamed her for her infatuation with Yusuf
was that she prepared for them a gathering where they could recline,
presented them with food along with knives to cut it,
and then ordered Yusuf to enter upon them
at the very moment they began cutting.
No sooner had they laid eyes on Yusuf
than their hearts, minds, and sight were utterly captivated
by his beauty, oblivious to everything around them,
and they cut their hands,
saying: "Allah forbid! This is not a human being."
“And when she heard of their sly talk, she sent to them and prepared for them a cushioned couch (to lie on at the feast) and gave to every one of them a knife and said (to Joseph): Come out unto them! And when they saw him they exalted him and cut their hands, exclaiming: Allah Blameless! This is no a human being. This is not other than some gracious angel.” (12:31)
As-Sa'di, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"'When they saw him, they greatly admired him'—
meaning they held him in immense awe in their hearts,
beholding an exquisite sight the likes of which they had never seen;
and in their bewilderment, they cut their hands
with those knives that were in their grasp,
and said, 'Allah forbid!'—
meaning, exalting Allah far above all imperfections—
“And when she heard of their sly talk, she sent to them and prepared for them a cushioned couch (to lie on at the feast) and gave to every one of them a knife and said (to Joseph): Come out unto them! And when they saw him they exalted him and cut their hands, exclaiming: Allah Blameless! This is no a human being. This is not other than some gracious angel.” (12:31)
and that was because Yusuf was granted such surpassing beauty,
radiance, and splendor
as to make him a sign for all onlookers
and an admonition for those who reflect."
A good-looking, handsome man
can indeed be a source of trial and temptation for women
if they let their gaze wander toward him.
Today, my sister,
a woman can fall into temptation by looking at men
through satellite channels,
in television series, movies,
and various other programs,
wherein a man appears
with makeup applied to his face
to beautify him before the public,
presenting him in the image of a romantic hero
who flatters women
with sweet, honeyed words
that leave a profound impression on the female viewer
as he acts,
until she falls in love with him
and grows resentful toward her own husband.
Truly, a woman’s infatuation
with an attractive man’s appearance
and her emotional attachment to him
can reach such a point
that she loses her self-awareness
and behaves in ways that disgrace her
in the eyes of onlookers,
just as happened to those women
when they saw Yusuf, peace be upon him.
They lost all awareness of what was happening to their hands
from being cut by the knives,
and their eyes were riveted
upon Yusuf, peace be upon him,
while the wife of al-Aziz looked at them,
gloating and delighted
at the success of her plot against them.
Muhammad Rashid Rida,
may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"'When they saw him, they greatly admired him'—
meaning they were awestruck by him and stunned
by that breathtaking magnificence
and extraordinary beauty;
they lost all presence of mind
and cut their hands
instead of cutting what they were eating,
utterly oblivious to what they were doing.
This occurred because
the voluntary motion of the knives continued
even after conscious control was lost,
carrying on in its original path
due to that loss of presence;
yet the cuts fell upon the palms of their left hands,
from which the food had already slipped
due to the slackening of their grip
in the stupor of that shock.
Thus the knives cut them—
that is, wounded them—
and had their grip not slackened, they would have severed their fingers entirely.
It appears that
their hostess
deliberately had the knives sharpened
far beyond what is customary for dining knives,
in order to maximize her cunning plot against them,
so that she might establish
an irrefutable proof over them
which they could never deny."
Scenes similar to this,
or closely resembling it,
are seen today in mixed-gender cafes
within shopping malls,
when an observer watches
from a distance
to take in the full picture;
one sees unfolding before them
unmistakable scenes
of a woman becoming infatuated with the man
she is gazing at,
drifting away from full awareness
and composure out of being intensely captivated by him.
My advice
to every righteous mother
is to keep a watchful eye on her daughters
in such mixed environments;
for a daughter might not display
her feelings in front of you,
yet her frequent
visits to these mixed
places can cause her to fall
into an infatuation with a handsome
young man without your realizing it.
Indeed, a young woman’s emotions
at this youthful stage
are passionate and fiery;
and many young men
in shopping malls
are eager to present themselves
in a handsome, elegant manner,
wearing pleasant perfumes,
and when they sit in cafes,
they adopt mannerisms and behaviors
specifically meant to attract girls.
Therefore, do not cast your precious child
into such mixed
gatherings,
which are no longer limited to cafes
in shopping malls,
but have become a widespread trial
across many domains:
such as universities,
private and public schools,
vocational training institutes,
workplaces,
mixed professional environments, and elsewhere.
And these words of mine
do not mean, my sister,
that gazing and staring repeatedly
at the faces of men
is a hazard only for your daughter;
for here was the wife of al-Aziz:
despite being a married woman,
she was enchanted by a handsome youth
younger than her in age.
Likewise, the women who
plotted against the wife of al-Aziz,
just as she plotted against them,
fell completely infatuated with Yusuf
from a single glance.
For captivating beauty can seduce
even a righteous woman if
she lets her gaze wander,
or if she indulges in moments of comparison
between the man she is looking at
and her own husband.
Indeed, gazing at a handsome man
is a poisoned arrow that strikes your heart
once you unleash it.
And the more frequently
those arrows strike, the deeper the wound
in the heart becomes,
the more heavily the blood bleeds,
and the harder the healing will be.
To be continued;
we will carry on in a future
gathering, if Allah wills,
with the story of Yusuf—
the story of Yusuf with the wife of al-Aziz.