Part of The Story of Yusuf and al-'Aziz's Wife (series completed)
· Lesson 16 of 25
The story of Joseph and the wife of Al-Aziz | Episode (16) | The news spread in the city
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The story of Yusuf (peace be upon him) with the wife of al-Aziz.
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And the news spread across the city.
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This is the second scene in the story of Yusuf with the wife of al-Aziz,
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whose events unfold between the wife of al-Aziz and the women of the city,
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and their seduction of Yusuf (peace be upon him).
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Allah Almighty said:
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❝And women in the city said, 'The wife of al-Aziz is seeking to seduce her slave-boy;❞
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❝he has impassioned her with love.'❞
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“And women in the city said: The ruler's wife is asking of her slave-boy an ill-deed. Indeed he has smitten her to the heart with love. We behold her in plain aberration.” (12:30)
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Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
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"He, exalted is His mention, says:
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'Women spoke of the matter of Yusuf and the wife of al-Aziz in the city of Egypt,
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and word of their affair spread therein and could not remain hidden.
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They said: The wife of al-Aziz seeks to seduce her young man—meaning her slave—away from his chastity.'"
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Al-Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
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"This means that the news became well known and spread throughout the town,
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and the women talked about it, beginning to blame her and say:
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“And women in the city said: The ruler's wife is asking of her slave-boy an ill-deed. Indeed he has smitten her to the heart with love. We behold her in plain aberration.” (12:30)
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'That is, this is a disgraceful matter.
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She is a woman of high social standing,
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and her husband is a man of high stature,
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yet despite this, she persistently seeks to seduce her servant who is under her authority and in her service.
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Furthermore, his love has seized a tremendous hold over her heart.'"
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Indeed, the spreading of this news across the city
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gives us an indication of the nature of that society at the time,
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as well as the nature of women's gatherings and the talk that circulated within them.
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People relayed the news until it had spread throughout the entire city,
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and what al-Aziz had feared—that the news would leak from Yusuf's side—came to pass,
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which is why he had advised him, saying:
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“O Joseph! Turn away from this, and thou, (O woman), ask forgiveness for thy sin. Lo! thou art of the faulty.” (12:29)
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So Yusuf turned away from speaking about the matter,
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yet the news spread and circulated among people through a channel other than Yusuf (peace be upon him).
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When the women of the city received the news
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and discussed it in their gatherings,
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they criticized the wife of al-Aziz for this attempted seduction.
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Their criticism of her manifested in several aspects:
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First,
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their denunciation that such behavior could stem from someone of her stature toward someone of his.
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Second,
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their explanation for this attempted seduction,
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namely that it only arose from her because she was utterly infatuated with his love.
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Third,
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their description of her as being in clear error, free of ambiguity or doubt.
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As for the first aspect,
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which is their denunciation that such an act could come from someone of her standing toward someone of his:
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people have long recognized that those of high stature
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and distinguished standing
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should possess morals higher than those of the common folk,
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and that they refrain even from certain permissible acts
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in order to safeguard their honor so that people do not speak ill of them.
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In the story of Heraclius with Abu Sufyan before his conversion to Islam,
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Heraclius asked:
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"Which of you is closest in kinship to this man who claims to be a prophet?"
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Abu Sufyan said:
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"I said: 'I am.'"
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"So they seated me before him,
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and seated my companions behind me.
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Then he summoned his interpreter and said:
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'Tell them
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that I am going to question him about this man who claims to be a prophet;
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if he lies to me, contradict him.'"
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Abu Sufyan said:
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"By Allah,
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had I not feared that they would report lies against me, I would have lied."
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What prevented Abu Sufyan from lying,
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even though he was the chief of his people,
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was his fear that it would ever be recorded against him that he had lied.
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In this lies a profound lesson for all people of high standing in society,
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including scholars, preachers, sermon deliverers, imams of mosques, and others:
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they must watch their conduct and behavior before the people,
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and rise above the ethics of the common masses.
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That is because they are the true leaders of society,
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and because the eyes of the people are constantly turned toward them.
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For people take their guidance from this distinguished group,
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which represents the practical role model and spiritual leadership in every community.
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Moreover, the enemies of Islam and those lying in wait against it
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attack Islam solely by attacking the conduct of this very group in society.
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Therefore, it is unacceptable for any scholar, preacher, or sermon deliverer,
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or anyone else who represents this religion,
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to display behaviors that become a pretext for turning people away from Islam,
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or to open the door for slander against scholars, callers, and others—
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particularly concerning interactions with women in society across their various professional roles,
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such as interacting with media figures and appearing with them on televised programs;
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for this opens the door to questioning the integrity of preachers and scholars generally.
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The second aspect is their explanation for this attempted seduction,
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namely that it only arose from her because she was overwhelmed with his love.
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Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
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"He says: 'Yusuf's love reached the inner lining of her heart (shaghaf),
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penetrating beneath it until it dominated her heart.'
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And the shaghaf of the heart is its pericardium, the protective veil enclosing it."
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This is the sixth station among the ten stations of love
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mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) in his book Madarij al-Salikin,
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where he said: "The sixth is al-shaghaf."
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He explains: "One is 'shaghaf' by such-and-such, meaning infatuated with it;
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and the beloved 'shaghafahu', meaning his love reached the inner core of his heart,
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as the women said regarding the wife of al-Aziz:
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'He has impassioned her with love' (qad shaghafaha hubba), and concerning this there are three views:
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The first is that it is love that takes total possession of the heart,
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shielding it from everything else;
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al-Kalbi said: 'His love veiled her heart so that she could no longer comprehend anyone besides him.'
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The second is love that penetrates into the interior of the heart;
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the proponent of this view said:
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'The meaning is that she loved him until his love entered the shaghaf of her heart, meaning its core.'
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The third is love that reaches the pericardial membrane of the heart;
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and al-shaghaf is the membrane of the heart:
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once love reaches it, it directly touches the heart itself.
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Al-Suddi said: 'Al-shaghaf is a delicate skin covering the heart;
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he means: love entered through it until it struck the heart.'"
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Some of the salaf (early generations) recited it as 'sha'afaha' with the unpointed 'ayn,
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meaning that love swept her away in every direction
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and carried her to its absolute peak, from which comes 'sha'af al-jibal', the peaks of mountains.
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And this intense level of infatuation
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is precisely what a corrupt man strives to plunge a young woman into
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through his sweet talk and deceitful behavior,
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so that once the young woman falls into it,
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she becomes a captive in his hands, allowing him to do with her as he pleases,
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submitting to him just as a blind person follows their guide.
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Then, once he achieves his selfish desire with her,
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he casts her aside to move on to someone else.
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In this lies an admonition for every young woman:
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she must never admit into her heart anyone other than her husband,
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nor surrender such a profound degree of love to anyone besides her spouse,
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for the consequences of doing so are disastrous for her.
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The third aspect:
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their description of her as being in clear error, free of ambiguity or doubt.
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Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
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"They said: 'We truly see the wife of al-Aziz, in seeking to seduce her young man
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and allowing his love to overpower her,
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to be engaged in a wrongful act and deviating from the straight path,
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which is evident to anyone who reflects and recognizes
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that it is error and misconduct, lacking any soundness or propriety.'"
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Al-Tahir Ibn Ashur (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
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"'Dalaal' (error) here means departing from the correct course;
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that is, her reason has been captivated by the love of this young man."
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Thus, this was their judgment against her—that she was in manifest error—
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based upon her disgraceful conduct in failing to observe her social status,
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and the consuming passion that seized her heart out of love for her servant, Yusuf (peace be upon him).
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This is how society, even when corrupt, inevitably condemns wrongful actions,
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which are recognized by all rational people even if they themselves might commit them.
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But was the women's criticism of the wife of al-Aziz intended as sincere advice,
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or was it meant to denounce her,
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or was there another hidden motive behind such talk?
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There is more to be said on this subject.
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We will continue in an upcoming session, if Allah wills,
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the story of Yusuf with the wife of al-Aziz.