Yusuf (Joseph)

50. “So the king said: ‘Bring him to me.’ Then, when the messenger came to him, he (Yusuf) said: ‘Go back unto your lord and ask him: What was the case of the women who cut their own hands? Verily my Lord is aware of their guile’.”

By interpreting the king’s dream and proposing a precise program of dealing with the future impending famine without attaching any preconditions, Yusuf not only showed in prison that he was an extraordinary person, but he also indicated that he was a knowledgeable and wise man. The verse says:

“So the king said: ‘Bring him to me.’...”

When the messenger came to him, Yusuf did not jump to seize his freedom, instead he requested a reevaluation of his past record, he would not leave the prison just by the king’s permission and forgiveness; yet, he told him that he should go back to the king and ask him about the women who had been at the palace of the ‘Aziz and had cut their hands.

He did not want his freedom to be the result of a royal amnesty. Yusuf wanted his innocence and chastity to be vindicated and get the king to understand that his entire regime was more corrupt and injustice more widespread that he could have imagined. Probably, because he held the ‘Aziz in great respect, he did not mention his wife, and only mentioned the women as a group.

It is mentioned in an Islamic tradition that the blessed Prophet (S) said:

“I am astonished at the patience of Yusuf, whenever the king needed his dream interpreted, Yusuf did not say that he would not do such unless he was freed from prison, but when they wanted to free him, he did not come out until all the charges and accusations against him were refuted.”

Therefore, when the messenger of the king came to Yusuf, instead of being happy that after years of imprisonment he was going to be free, he gave him a negative answer. The verse says:

Then, when the messenger came to him, he (Yusuf) said: ‘Go back unto your lord and ask him: What was the case of the women who cut their own hands?...”

Yusuf did not want to accept the disgrace of the king’s forgiveness, and after freeing from prison to live as a criminal, or at least as an accused one who had been included the royal amnesty. He wanted to perfectly prove his innocence and chastity and then get free honourably.

Then he added implying that if common people of Egypt, and even the people of the royal court, might not know how and by who the plan of his imprisonment was designed, but the Lord was aware of the guile of those women.

The holy verse continues saying:

“…Verily my Lord is aware of their guile’.”

Explanations

1. Freedom at any price is often of no value. To prove one’s innocence is more important than one’s freedom.

2. Yusuf (as) first removed all misconceptions from the people’s minds regarding his role in the scandal, then later accepted his release.

3. It is a religious obligation for everyone to guard and defend his reputation.

4. Yusuf made it known to the king that after his release from the prison, he would not regard him as his Allah, or lord and would not consider himself as his slave. On the contrary, he would regard the Almighty as his Lord.