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We were discussing the section of Surah Yusuf in which the wife of Aziz wasattempting to seduce Yusuf (alayhi salaam ). We mentioned that themurawada is acontinuous verb, which means that she was attempting to seduce, attempting to flirtand attempting to persuade. The one in whose house Yusuf was. As we mentionedlast week, this is a very powerful phrase. Allah didnt say the wife of Aziz temptedhim. Allah says, The one in whose house Yusuf was tempted him. As we allknow, generally speaking it is a man who attempts to seduce a woman and opens upthe flirtation with a woman. It is very rare that the woman is the one who begins thisact, and when it does happen, then psychologically it is very difficult for the man tosay no. In this case, the master, the wife of Aziz, and the one in whose house Yusuf was began to continue to seduce him.

Finally, she attempted to do the very deed itself and said, I am ready for you(haytalak ). Some scholars have said that this means in a vulgar way come on or lets do it. The wordhayta is confusing, as I said. Another interpretation ishaytameans I am ready for you / I have prepared everything for you.

Yusuf sought refuge in Allah ( subhanahu wataala ) and mentioned that Allah has protected him so far. Innahu rabbi ahsana mathway . We said the strongest opinionis that rabbi does not refer to the husband of the one who is seducing him and doesnot refer to his master, but it refers to Allah ( subhanahu wataala ). Allah ( subhanahuwataala ) then says, She desired him, and he desired her. We said that so manyscholars of the past said that this was very problematic how could Yusuf desire her?Yet, the fact of the matter is that human psychology dictates that the average maleand person in this situation would be tempted, and the fact that he rose above thetemptation is what is praiseworthy for Yusuf (alayhi salaam ).

The Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) said in a very importanthadeeth we didnthave time to quote last time: The Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) said,Whoever hamma (intends to do a sin) but stops himself from doing it, Allah( subhanahu wataala ) will write for him a reward instead of the sin. Intending to doa sin and then stopping yourself from doing it is in fact something that is praiseworthy. We are not talking about somebody who wants to do a sin and thensomething comes between him and the sin. For example, we are not talking aboutsomeone who wanted to commit an evil, and he is driving to commit the evil but a cop pulls him over and gives him a speeding ticket, so he cannot do what he wanted todo. We are not talking about that.

We are talking about somebody, like the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) said,who really wanted to do evil but then his conscience got the better of him. Allah(subhanahu wataala ) will reward him for something he didnt do even though thisreward will not be given to somebody who did not have that temptation. For example, we are all sitting in thismasjid andalhamdulillah none of us are drinking or committing any other major sin. Are we getting reward for every single second thatwe are here by not committing a sin? We are getting a reward for being in amasjid and listening to Islam. Are we getting a reward for not committing a sin? No, because there was no desire and no choice.

My point here that I am trying to stress is that the majority opinion found this phrase problematic, but it is in fact not problematic. As I said, sometimes some of our

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classical scholars tried to make prophets superhuman and above who they are. Allahkeeps on emphasizing that prophets are human beings. No doubt they are the best andthe elite and do not commit major sins, but Yusuf did not commit a sin. This is thewhole point. In reality, there is nothing problematic at all with affirming exactly whatAllah says: He also had a desire for her, and he also wanted to do something, but hesaw theburhaan (clear evidence) from his Lord. We said that the strongest opinionabout thisburhaan is that it refers to the knowledge of Yusuf and refers to his prophethood.

Ayah 25

Wastabaqal-baab ( The two of them raced for the door)What this means is that when Yusuf said no, he must have turned around to leave.Again, as we have said over and over again, the Quran does not provide details thatare unnecessary. The Quran does not provide graphic detail because it is notappropriate to talk about this story in such explicit detail. Allah ( subhanahuwataala ) only tells us what we need to know.

We learn from this over and over again that we should not narrate and spreadtitillating details and scandalous stories. We should keep it Islamic and clean. If there is a moral, as there is in this story, even then there is no need to go into juicydetails. Nonetheless, the message is given. So much is said that doesnt need to be said. Bythese two words, Allahazza wa jall gives us the whole picture. There are two peoplein the room, and the rooms are bolted. Remember:wa ghallaqatil-abwaab . All of the doors from the door of the house to the door of the bedroom had been shut. Yusuf stands up to race out, and inside of him, he is fleeing away from sin and fahsha . He isfleeing literally, physically, and spiritually away from this evil. There is the wife of Aziz (his masters wife), and she is fleeing towards sin.

They are both running physically in the same direction, but spiritually andemotionally, they are exactly opposite. She wants to reach the door before him so thatshe can bypass him to get to the door to once again attempt to seduce him. She doesnot want him to open the door, and she wants to keep it shut. He is going towards thedoor to open it and exit.

wa qaddat qameesahu min dubur (his shirt was tornfrom the back)

In the process, his shirt was torn.Qaddah means a slit occurred from the back,meaning in her zealousness and crazed mind, she held onto Yusufs shirt and was physically pushing him and begging him to come back into the room. In hiseagerness to leave, he darted out, and the shirt tore from the back.

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Wal-fayaa sayyidahaa ladal-baab (and surprisingly her master returned homeunannounced)

The wordalfayaa has the connotation that they did not expect it and it was notsomething they were planning. As we have said, her plotting and planning from thevery beginning shows that she was not expecting anyone to return. She had plannedin it in such a way that she assumed that everything would be fine for her, and just to be on the safe side, she added a few extra locks.

Now notice here the beauty of the Quran. Allah says sayyidaha even though tosay sayyidaho would be more appropriate here. To say zawjaha would be moreappropriate here. In other words, the man is the husband of this lady and the man isthe master of Yusuf. If Allah had said they found her husband at the door, it would

have made sense, and if Allah had said they had found his master at the door, it wouldhave made sense. Allah ( subhanahu wataala ) merged the two together and said,They found her master ( sayyidaha ). It is not incorrect to call a husband a sayyid , but technically speaking the sayyid means the master, and the man was more of amaster to Yusuf than to his wife.

Instead of saying her husband or instead of saying his master, Allah said, her master. The profundity here is to show how depraved she had become that someonelike her husband who is in fact a type of figure and somebody she has to respect andgive authority to, she betrayed that trust. By calling her husband her master, Allah isemphasizing what an evil act she committed without being so explicit. Allah does notspeak in fahsha and vulgarities. By simply using the term her master, Allah isemphasizing what an evil act she committed without being so explicit. We said thatAllah does not speak in fahsha ; Allah does not speak in vulgarities. By simply usingthe term her master, Allah is emphasizing how depraved she was even though thewhole Quran does not say that, but the meaning is given. As we have said over andover again, this is the methodology of the Quran and theSunnah of the Prophet ( sal

Allahu alayhi wa sallam ).

This also shows the importance of the husband by calling him sayyid . The Prophet( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) said, If a woman protects her chastity and guards whatAllah has protected and is a good wife to her husband, she will enter Jannah from anydoor she pleases. In other words: protecting what Allah ( subhanahu wataala ) has protected. This is one of the meanings of why Allah used the term master.

they found her master at the door.Immediately she said, What is possibly the

penalty for somebody who wanted some evil on your wife except that he be put into jail or be punished?

This shows the immediate response and the simultaneous excuse that she invented.This shows her cunning nature. A more innocent person caught in this act would bespeechless and have no idea what to do. Her cunning mind is demonstrated. We

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know this from our experiences in society that some people are very slick and are ableto get out of difficult situations quite fast.

She was not expecting her husband and had not calculated a plan B. If her husbandactually entered the room and she was successful, can you imagine what would havehappened? If she had been successful and the husband came in, she would have basically been killed. There is no question that she is not planning for the husband tocome back.

The immediate, instantaneous excuse shows her cunning mind. Many times cunningminds can be used for good, but she uses it for evil. She instantaneously thinks of anexcuse.

She says, What is the punishmentfor someone who intended evil against your wife? Notice that she doesnt say someone who intended the act, and she doesntsay someone who intended to rape. She doesnt use a word but simply says anevil.

Also notice she cannot accuse Yusuf of doing a crime. She accuses him of wanting todo a crime. This is for a number of reasons. First, nothing has actually happened.Second, if she says that something has happened, then she is also in trouble. Shedoesnt accuse Yusuf of actually committing a sin. She simply accuses Yusuf of wanting to commit a sin.

It is the methodology of the people of dhulm to accuse others of injustice. This is astandard tactic: accusing others of doing an evil. Allahazza wa jall says in theQuran, One of the worst sins is to accuse an innocent person of a crime. This is amajor sin according to the text of the Quran. To accuse an innocent person of acrime is something she has fallen into. This is one of the problems of committingsins. We already talked about the brothers of Yusuf getting into more and more sins. Now we look at the wife of Aziz. She wanted to commit one sin and she ended upcommitting ten or fifteen sins. She wanted to do one evil, and now she has to cover up her tracks and lie. Because of her lies, eventually, as we know, Yusuf ends up in jail.

This is one of the problems of committing sins. Shaytan comes and says, Come on,do one sin. No big deal. There is no such thing as one sin. Every sin is a domino.Every sin leads to other sins.

Her intention to commit an evil now causes her and forces her to commit slander andto go to the next level. It will force her to go again and again, as we will see, moreand more. She says immediately, He is the one who intended to do an evil. It is notonly this woman who accuses falsely.Wallahi it is the methodology of everywrongdoer starting from Iblis. When Iblis did not prostrate to Adam (alayhi

salaam ), he immediately accused Allah ( subhanahu wataala ) and said, Oh Allah,

You are the One who caused me to go astray! He could not take the blame himself.Blaming other people is a sign of Satanic tendencies. Blaming other people for your

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own sin is of the earliest evils we have recorded in human history. She said, Yusuf intended to do some harm to me.

Sidepoint: On his deathbed, the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) accused someof his wives of being like these women of Yusuf. This led to the question: What doesthis mean? Realize that nobody knew the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) todie, and they expected this to be a bad sickness but that he would recover. During thevery last days of his life, literally two or three days before he passed away, hissickness became very bad. It was so bad that he could not lead the salah . You canimagine that when the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) is there, nobody dares tolead the salah in his presence, and if he comes late to themasjid , everybody waits for him. Imagine he is not just any imam, but he is Rasulullah . Nobody has ever led

salah in Masjid Al-Nabi other than the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) unlesshe was not physically present in Madinah, and then he would tell Ubayy ibn Kab or Ibn Abi Makhtoum or others to be the imam. Never had the Prophet ( sal Allahualayhi wa sallam ) prayed in his ownmasjid with somebody else leading the salah .He tried to stand up to go and pray, and he fell down unconscious. They threw somewater on him, and he madewudu again and they tried again and he fell down. For the third time when he could not go because he was physically weak, he said, Go tellAbu Bakr to lead the salah .

He was in the house of Aisha, and Aisha is the one taking the command. Aisha doesnot want to tell her father to lead the salah because she is dreading that this might bethe last few days of the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ), and Abu Bakr will befor the first time in the history of Madinah leading the prayer while the Prophet ( sal

Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) is in his house. If he ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) were to pass away in that time, then she thought that people would associate Abu Bakr and hisimamah with the death of the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) because it would be a direct indicator (not a causal relationship). The only time Abu Bakr is leadingthe prayer is when the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) basically passes away.This is what Aisha is worried about. She is worried that for the rest of Abu Bakrslife, he would always be associated with the death of the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhiwa sallam ).

Regardless of how true or not that was, this was her mentality. She said, Ya Rasulullah , why dont you tell Hafsa to tell Umar to lead the salah ? Aisha kept oninsisting, and he kept on insisting until finally he said, Go command him to lead the

salah ! Wallahi , you are like the women of Yusuf! How is Aisha like the women of Yusuf? Scholars have tried to read in. It seems pretty clear. The Prophet ( sal Allahualayhi wa sallam ) understood that she is attempting to blame somebody else (i.e.Hafsa and Umar). She is attempting to shift the blame and does not want to take anyresponsibility. The Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) saw through her plot andaccused her of being like the women of Yusuf, meaning that: You are thinking thatyou will get out of it and that by shifting the blame things will get better, so he calledher like the companions of Yusuf. He ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) used the phrasethe female companions of Yusuf, and this is what that refers to.

The wife of Aziz says, What is the punishment of somebody who attempted to doevil except that you put him in jail or punish him severely. For any man to attemptany evil on a woman is a sin, but especially for a slave and against his own masters

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wife. This would have been a very evil crime. She is saying that something has to bedone and that he has to be punished or tortured and thrown in jail.

Ayah 26

Immediately Yusuf responds and says, She was the one who attempted seduce me.

Notice that Yusuf (alayhi salaam ) immediately defends himself, and he does notallow the accusation to go unchallenged. This shows us that it is permissible to

defend your honor and reputation. Later on in the story, Yusuf will be accused of another crime, and he does not his honor, and he remains silent. That shows us that itis also permissible to remain silent. Look at the situation. You will be accused of crimes and people will say bad things about you this is human nature. At times, youshould respond back, and if the situation dictates you stand up and defend yourself.At times there is no need to, and you dont have to do so. Look at the overallsituation. It is notwaajib to defend your honor each and every time. In this situationand scenario, Yusuf (alayhi salaam ) defends himself. Later on, he is accused of something else and remains quiet and doesnt defend himself. We will show onceagain that it is permissible to defend your honor, and it is permissible to remain silent.

The irony here is that he defends his honor when he is a slave. When he is theminister, he does not defend his honor. His brothers accuse him of stealing whenBinyamin was found with the cup and said, If he was a thief, then his brother was athief as well. Allah says in the Quran that when they found Binyamin with the cup,the other brothers said, If he has stolen, then his brother has stolen as well. Yusuf did not respond back to that charge.

SubhanAllah at times of lowliness, Yusuf valued that honor and wanted to defend it.Why? Being charged with a crime at that time would be physically harmful. At timesof izzah and power, when his brothers said something, it would not harm him. Infact, to expose himself at that time would be more problematic, so he didnt defendhimself and he let it go.SubhanAllah Yusuf (alayhi salaam ) looked at theconsequences. Right now he needed to defend and be on the defensive. We learnfrom this that when Islam is attacked, and Islam will always be attacked and peoplewill always make fun of Islam and find problems with Islam and Muslims, at times itis almostwaajib to stand up and defend, especially at times of weakness andhumiliation because we need that honor andizzah . At times when Islam is at itsizzah and glory and some nobody comes blaspheming, then we do not care becausehe will not harm anything. Look at the situation you are in.

In this case, Yusuf (alayhi salaam ) immediately responds back and says, She was the one who sought to seduce me. Notice Yusuf

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accuses her of a specific crime. It was not general like she did. She said, He wantedto do some bad. Yusuf is specific and said, She attempted to seduce me.

Generally speaking, the one who accuses specific crimes knows more about what ishappening and is more truthful than the one who responds in generalities. She isspeaking in generalities, and he is speaking in specifics. From human psychology, theone who speaks specifics and tells the details knows what is going on and is the onewho is truthful. Generally, in human nature, someone denies saying, Nothinghappened or I dont know what he is talking about.

Yusuf (alayhi salaam ) accuses her of a specific crime. Yusuf says, She attemptedto seduce me. He did not accuse her in the first person, and did not say, Youattempted to seduce me. Rather, he speaks in the second person even though she isstanding in front of him. Some scholars have derived and I dont see any problemfrom this derivation that even though she is the criminal and the one doing this evil,nonetheless, at the end of the day she is a woman and deserves some modicum of respect and a little bit of not being so accusatory. Rather, he appeals to the husbandas if she was not present. He speaks to the husband in the second person. And Allahknows best. It does make sense that there is a reason why Yusuf didnt use the directeven though she was standing right there and he speaks to the husband as if she wasnot present there.

At the end of the day, there are two people accusing each other of the crime. Thehusband, the master, theaziz has to make a decision. On what will he make adecision? What will he base is decision on? Every single day, we are also put in asituation of making decisions and people are lying and telling the truth in our jobs,

social networks, and our family areas. Allah ( subhanahu wataala ) says, A witness from her family testified sayingIt is clear that the torn shirt is lying on the floor, and they can see that the shirt has been torn. Somebody testifies and says, If this shirt has been torn from the front,then she is the one telling the truth, and he attempted to seduce her, and he is a liar.Why? If a man is attacking the woman, then if she is defending herself, she will bedefending from the front of the man, and the front of the shirt will be torn.

Ayah 27

And if the shirt has been torn from the back, then she is the one who is telling a lie,and he is the one who is speaking the truth.

This phrasing has a number of issues and benefits. First and foremost, Allah says,wa shahida shaahidun min ahliha , so the question arises, who is this shaahid ?Here, so manymufasiroon have given so many stories. Some have said it was asupernatural testimony. Some of them even said that the shirt began to speak even

though the Quran has given no such indication and clearly, it is a human being

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because Allah says someone from her family, and the shirt is not from her family.Sometimes the scholars of tafsir went into a little bit too much imaginative detail.

It is reported that some of the sahabah andtabiun said that this was a baby whospoke from the cradle a baby of one of the servants or members of the household, but obviously not their child because Aziz and his wife did not have a child, which iswhy he had said they might want adopt him. It is reported that Ibn Abbas also saidthat this was a baby. They bring thehadeeth : Four children spoke from thecradle One of them is Isa (alayhi salaam ), another is the son of the prostitutewho attempted to seduce Jurayj, another is the child of the one who used to comb thehair of Firawns daughter, and they say that the other is this baby (the shaahid of Yusuf (alayhi salaam )). This is ahadeeth that allegedly says this. Thishadeeth isnot mentioned in the six books; it is mentioned in the more obscure books. Themajority of scholars say that thishadeeth is not authentic and rather is a statement of Ibn Abbas and later narrators mistakenly raised it to the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa

sallam ). The Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) did not say this.

In an authentichadeeth in Sahih Bukhari, the Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam )said, Three children spoke from the cradle, and the three are those mentionedexcept for the shaahid of Yusuf. Thishadeeth is in Bukhari, and we have no doubtabout it. They are: 1) Isa (alayhi salaam ), 2) the child in the story of Jurayj, and 3)the son or the daughter of the woman who used to comb the hair of the daughter of Firawn. When Firawn wanted to kill all of the male children and those who believedin Musa, one of them was the woman who used to comb the hair. She had acceptedIslam and was a follower of the prophet. When Firawn attempted to kill her with her child, she almost stopped and went back to the religion, but the child spoke from her hand and said, Proceed, oh mother. You are upon the truth. Thishadeeth is inBukhari.

We have these three children that spoke from the cradle. Ibn Abbas said four peoplespoke from the cradle and added the shaahid of Yusuf. This is why it became a very popular misconception, and I say it is a misconception because the fact of the matter is, the wording of the Quran indicates that there is nothing that supernatural about the

shaahid . In other words, if a child spoke, there would be no reason to say, A witnessfrom her family said. It would have been a miracle in and of itself. Additionally,what did the witness say? The witness said a simple rule: If the shirt is torn from thefront versus if the shirt is torn from the back. If a child speaks, it is a miracle and it

doesnt need to give you rules, so if it were a child, then the child would not have togo into the rules of law.If the child speaks, and khalas , we know that Yusuf istelling the truth. So really, it makes no sense that this was a baby. Rather, it was anelderly man and a normal human being, most likely a cousin or some relative of hers.How do we know that it is a relative? Allah says so:min ahliha . Why does Allahsaymin ahliha ? To show us that he had no bias against her, but rather his bias wasfor her. Generally speaking, people of a family stick together and help one another out. Allah is saying that this was a man from her family. He is not a biased personand not somebody who had a vendetta or grudge. Generally, he should havesupported her. The fact that he is making the statement shows that he is neutral andlooking for the truth.

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Somebody testified from her house. Here is an interesting question: Allah says, Awitness testified from her family. Was he a witness? No. Allah uses the word

shaahid . What does shaahid mean? Somebody who saw. Now in this case, the manobviously did not witness anything. How can Allah call him a shaahid when he is nota physical shaahid ? Shaahid in the Arabic language would not be used for themodern terminology of an expert witness.Some scholars have said that Allah called him a shaahid even though he wasnt a

shaahid because Allah was the shaahid , and what the man said was the truth, so hemight as well have been a witness.Allah was the shaahid , and the man spoke thetruth, so Allah is testifying that this man spoke the truth even though the man isnot a shaahid . Others have said that Allah called him a shaahid because he gave asimple rule. The rule being valid, regardless of who is right or wrong. Allah calledhim a shaahid because the rule was a valid rule.

What was the rule? In kaana qameesuhu qudda min qubulin fasadaqat wa huwa minal-kaadhibeen . He begins with her innocence because he wants her to be innocent. The first half of therule is for her benefit: lets hope that the shirt is torn from the front. He wants himto be the liar and her to be the one who is safe. This shows that he is a shaahid minahliha and that he is a shaahid who is neutral and unbiased, and if anything, he wantshis own cousin to be scot free.

Qudda here and the precise meaning only Allah knows it doesnt seem like therewas a physical tear on the ground. In other words, it doesnt look like the shirt toreapart, rather, there was a tear within a shirt, and the shirt itself had torn in a verticalmanner; this is the general connotation.The man is saying, We know that his shirt has been torn. How did they know that?Perhaps the outer shirt was on the floor. Perhaps it was given in the conversation thatAllah did not mention. We can only assume, and we dont know. He gives thetestimony: Let us examine the shirt, and the let us see if the shirt is torn from thefront or from the back.This clearly shows us that in Islamic law, it is permissibleto base judgment and testimony on what we call in English circumstantial evidence. This is a controversial point, and I dont want to go into too much detail in

fiqh , but most of our scholars in our history have said that for any crime to be prosecuted, you must have two adult witnesses, except for the crime of zina whichrequires four, who saw the crime. According to that law, fingerprints or videotestimonials would not be considered valid in a court of law. In those days when theyformulated that law, they didnt have fingerprints and they didnt have all of thisdetective science. TheShariah came and it said two witnesses.

There were a very few people of them are Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Al-Qayyim, whowere intellectual giants who thought outside of the box all of the time who arguedthat two witnesses are good but not necessary if there is enough circumstantialevidence that clearly shows the crime occurred. Not every crime has two witnesses.What if we dont have the two witnesses? Are we allowed to base the verdict onother types of evidence? Believe it or not, mainstream fiqh would say that we are notand that we still require the two witnesses. There has always been a healthy minority,

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and in our times, many of the Muslim judges across the Muslim world are arguing for the position of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Al-Qayyim, which is that you look at DNAevidence, fingerprints, and detective work. This incident here would be used as oneevidence that shows that you can use supporting evidence because Allah called it a

shahadah even though it was not a shahadah . This is the key that Ibn Al-Qayyimuses. Allah called it a testimony even though it was not an eyewitness testimony.The man gives his general rule: look at the front and look at the back of the shirt, andlet us see which was torn. There is other circumstantial evidence as well, which anumber of scholars mentioned. This helps to make Yusufs case more solid. Of themis that Yusuf is a slave, and generally speaking, slaves would never have the audacityto commit this type of crime. This is a very unheard of thing even in jahiliyy andearly Islamic society. The people looked at slaves astaghfirullah as if they weresub-human or not fully human, so they dont have these desires and wouldnt dare dothis, or else they would be in serious trouble. The fact that Yusuf is making thisaccusation really shows that this is a very big thing, and it would be very difficult for society to imagine a slave attempting to do this.

Number two: Yusuf is the one seeing exiting the door first. Number three: The wifeof Aziz is dressed up and perfumed because she had prepared.Qaalat hayta lak . Iam prepared for you. Clearly she has prepared herself, decorated herself, perfumedherself and was wearing those types of attire. This sends of warning bells as well. Number four: Yusuf (alayhi salaam ) has been living in the house for so many yearsand his character, conduct, andakhlaq are well known. This is not ever expectedfrom him. Number five: Yusuf accuses her of a specific crime whereas she accuseshim of a generic crime. Generally speaking, the one with the more knowledge is theone who is more truthful. Yusuf accuses her of seducing, and she says he wanted todo some evil. Generally speaking, this shows who has more authority. These areother factors that show who is telling the truth.

Two Motifs

Now before we go on, two interesting motifs:racing and shirts . We have seen this before. Where did the first race allegedly occur? It didnt actually occur, but the brothers said, We went racing, and they then brought back the shirt. The scholarssay that it was the shirt that alerted Yaqub to the fact that his children were lying.The shirt was bloodstained without a single scratch on it. Yaqub said, What a

gentle wolf this was that it ate up Yusuf without touching him. The shirt savedYusufs memory in Yaqubs mind. Here, once again there is a racing and a shirt.The shirt saves Yusufs reputation. There is this motif of Surah Yusuf of the shirt being symbolic in this regard and literal in that there was a literal shirt there.

Ayah 28

When they all saw that his shirt had been torn from t he back, he said, This is of your plotting.Your plotting is indeed very mighty, very powerful.

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There are four people here now: the wife of Aziz, Aziz, Yusuf, and the witness.The husband knows that he is not supposed to be back at this time and that the doorshave been extra locked. All of these areqarain (hints) now, and all of the alarm bellsstart going off and everything fits into place. He says, What a dastardly plot, whatan evil plot you did. Indeed, your plot is very mighty.

One of the scholars of old made a comment, and only Allah knows if he meant it in jest or not, but we will take it as a jokeinshaAllah . He said, When Allah describedShaytan and the plotting of Shaytan inSurah Al-Nisa v. 76, He says, The plotting of Shaytan is very weak, and when Allah describes the plotting of women, He says,

The plotting of women is a very big thing. One of thescholars of thetabiun said, I fear women more than I fear the Shaytan because the plotting of Shaytan is weak, but the plotting of women is mighty. We hope he meantit in jest. Perhaps what can be derived is that the seduction of women is far moredifficult for a man to repel and save himself from on average more than the most of

the seductions of Shaytan. This is something that I think everybody would understandand agree to.

The husband realizes his wife is lying, and he tells Yusuf, Oh Yusuf, turn away from this.

Ayah 29

Yusuf, turn away from thisThis means: dont tell anybody, ignore it, imagine that this never happened. Therewere only four people, and it is a small thing, and I know Im not going to tellanybody what happened, and I know my wife is not going to tell anybody, and I trustthis man because he is a part of her family, and he would not bring dishonor to hisown family. The only person left is Yusuf. Yusuf, turn away from this

As for you, ask forgiveness for your sin.Make up for this sin.You were of thosewho committed a major sin.

The question arises, why did the husband basically let her off with a tap on the wrist?This is a serious crime here. May Allah protect all of us. If any man, Muslim or non-Muslim, found even a fraction or even a portion of this from his own wife, you canimagine what would happen. Why did this man overlook all of this? Scholars havestruggled to come up with a reason. Some of them have said he was an imbecile and

completely out of it. This doesnt make any sense because he clearly understandswhat is going on and pronounces a verdict and knows who is right and wrong.

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up to our gods. You have to seek forgiveness. You are of those who committed asin.

Ayah 30

The women of the city began speaking, The wife of Aziz is attempting to seduceher own slave.She has loved hi m a violent, passionate love.We see her to be in suchmanifest and clear error.

Despite the attempts of Aziz to keep the matter hush-hush and quiet, nonetheless thenews spreads.SubhanAllah this is theSunnah of Allahazza wa jall , and this is whathappens. This type of gossip and slander and innuendo people just love to spread.How did people find out? Most scholars say that it was from the household of Yusuf and the slaves in the house other than these four. They dont blame any of these four.Of course we know Yusuf would not have said anything. Aziz himself was tooembarrassed, and the wife would not say anything, and the shaahid was from her ownfamily. Most likely the news spread amongst the slaves of the house other thanYusuf. It might have been also that in her passion she is so obvious in her flirtationswith Yusuf that the other slaves clearly see this. They might not know the full detailsand might not know of that incident, but they do know that she is in love with Yusuf.The other slaves spread it to the other slaves households, and they spread it to themistresses and the masters. Slowly but surely, gossip spreads.

As we said, gossip is the bane of society and the social network of society. Everysociety is immersed in gossip. Often, gossip spreads, and as it spreads it gets bigger and larger. As it spreads, a small tale is made ten times larger. In our Shariah , thedoor has been shut and sealed on gossip and slander and backbiting. In our Shariah ,we dont get involved with any of this.

Gossip is of many types in theShariah : gheebah , nameemah , buhtaan ; all of thiscomes under types of gossip.Gheebah means saying something about someone in hisabsence that he doesnt like, even if this is the truth. What you are saying is true.You are putting him down and mocking him and making fun of him and spreading

something he does not like to be mentioned in his absence.Gheebah is one of the sinsthat will be punished in theadhaabl-qabr (the punishment of the grave). We knowwhat Allah has called it in the Quran and compared it in the Quran.

Worse than this isbuhtaan . Buhtaan means spreading a blatant lie about somebody;this is a slander, and it is worse than gheebah . Gheebah means you are telling thetruth. Spreading the gheebah andbuhtaan back to the person is callednameemah .

Nameemah means: you are in a gathering and somebody mentions brother Yasir, andhe starts saying something about Yasir that he shouldnt say in public. Yasir wasntthere, and the damage that has been done was between him and Allah ( subhanahuwataala ). Now somebody comes back to Yasir and says, You know what happenedin that gathering when you werent there? Fulaan ibn fulaan said this about you.

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How will Yasir feel? The damage is done when the news comes back to him. This iscallednameemah . The one who tells the news back to you even that isharam . Theobligation is to defend the brother in his absence. When gheebah or buhtaan is done,you defend him in his absence.

The least you should do is remain quiet and hate it in your heart. There is noimanlesser than this. For you to go back and spread the news to him intending to causedamage between the two people is callednameemah . The Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhiwa sallam ) told us about the punishments of thenammaam . The Prophet ( sal Allahualayhi wa sallam ) said, The one who does this will not enter Jannah. This is notsomebody who is doing the gheebah and not somebody who is doing thebuhtaan .All he is doing is being truthful, but there is no need to spread this truth, is there?What is your niyyah for this?

I dont want to go into a long fiqh discussion. Once in a while, in some exceptionalscenarios, there is a reason to go and tell the person. The better thing to do is causereconciliation, and if there are people fighting or having a problem, then you get inthe middle and solve the problem. To get in the middle to cause damage, this personthe Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) said, The one who goes and tries to break these friendships, he will not enter Jannah. The one who makes it a habit to spreadnameemah , and his reason for doing so is to cause problems in society this personhas a major threat of being punished in the fire of Hell.

This is very relevant in every single society. It is relevant to the story here. It showsus human nature. We can talk about it in the story of the slander of Aisha as well. Inthe slander of Aisha, when themunafiqoon said something about Aisha, Allahcriticized themunafiqoon for saying it, and then Allah criticized the sahabah for spreading it. Both are worthy of criticism. The first group Allah said will go tonarl-jahannam . They have invented a blatant lie. If they dont repent, Allah saysthey will go to the fire of Hell. The second group Allah says, Why didnt you keepquiet? Why did you throw it from tongue to tongue?Tallaqa means it came to your tongue and you threw it back at somebody. It is as if Allah is giving an imagery thatthis evil rumor is spread from tongue to tongue like wildfire. Allah says, Why didyou do it? Why did you have to go and tell other people? You should have simplystayed quiet and said, This is an evil lie, Im not going to say anything. Just be quietabout this.

This shows us again and again that a Muslim society and a Muslim character and aMuslimakhlaq rises above gossip and rises above innuendo and slander. A Muslimdoes not get involved in these matters. The Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam )said, Of the perfection of ones Islam is that he leaves what does not concern him.If somebody comes and tells you, Oh, so-and-so said this, then say, I dont need toknow. Why are you telling me? You dont go and tell other people.

Once somebody came running up to one of the famous scholars of the past and said,Shaykh, do you know? Shaykh, do you know? So-and-so said that about you. Thescholars said, Couldnt Shaytan find somebody better than you to use as hismessenger to come and tell me? He criticized him. You arerasool of Shaytan whenyou say this. My point is, brothers and sisters,wAllahi it is human nature that gossipspreads and it will exist until the Day of Judgment. It is human nature. Every one of

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us should strive to overcome it in his or personal life. Every one of us should strive torise above gossip in our daily life.

In particular and I have to say this because Allahazza wa jall Himself says this inthe context of Surah Hujurat which talks aboutbuhtaan and spreading gossip andwhat-not, Allah specifically mentions women because it is true and Im not makinga sexist statement that generally speaking, women are more involved with gossipand with spreading these types of tales than men are. And even here, it is the womenwho did the talking. And inSurah Al-Hujurat , Allah has a specific commandment.Generally Allah only speaks in the masculine because it suffices, but when it comes tothis topic, specifically Allah mentions inSurah Hujurat the issue of women. This is because we know from experience, and it is a simple fact that it is more predominantthat women do talk about other women and other groups and other people in mattersthat are simply not beneficial.