Surah Yusuf, Ayah 52

The King investigates what happened between the Wife of the `Aziz, the Women in the City, and Yusuf

Allah narrates to us that when the king was conveyed the interpretation of his dream, he liked Yusuf's interpretation and felt sure that it was true. He realized the virtue of Prophet Yusuf, recognized his knowledge in the interpretation of dreams and valued his good conduct with his subjects in his country. The king said,

ائْتُونِى بِهِ

(Bring him to me.) `Release him from prison and bring him to me.' When the king's emissary came to Yusuf and conveyed the news of his imminent release, Yusuf refused to leave the prison until the king and his subjects declare his innocence and the integrity of his honor, denouncing the false accusation that the wife of the `Aziz made against him. He wanted them to know that sending him to prison was an act of injustice and aggression, not that he committed an offense that warranted it. He said,

In the second (52) of the two verses cited above, Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) has himself pointed out to two considerations implied in the way he acted and in the option of delaying his release.

The first consideration was: ذٰلِكَ لِيَعْلَمَ اَنِّىْ لَمْ اَخُنْهُ بِالْغَيْبِ. It means: I delayed my release so that the ` Aziz of Misr comes to know for sure that I did not betray him in any way during his absence.

He was so concerned about making the ` Aziz of Misr become assured of his innocence because he thought it would be terrible if the ` Aziz of Misr continues to harbour doubts in his heart against him and suffer more from them when unable to say much after the royal honour has been conferred on him. If so, he would be displeased with the honour given to him and far more painful would be the silence he would have to maintain. Since, he had been his master when he lived with him, his pain was too much to bear for Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) ، intrinsically gentle as he was. Then, it was equally obvious that once the ` Aziz of Misr came to believe in his innocence, people will stop talking by themselves.

The second consideration he mentions is: وَاَنَّ اللّٰهَ لَايَهْدِيْ كَيْدَ الْخَاۗىِٕنِيْنَ , that is, he asked for investigations to be made in order that people may know that Allah does not lead the guile of betrayers to success.

This statement could be taken to mean that an investigation would expose the betrayal of the betrayers and people would stand warned that betrayers are finally disgraced leaving a lesson for others to stay away from doing things like that in the future. Also possible here is another meaning, that is, had Sayyidna ~suf~ received the royal honours in the same climate of doubt, it may have occured to all watchers that it was not impossible to betray and be honoured at the same time. This would have distorted their faith in fidelity and would have driven away the distaste for betrayal from their hearts. However, it was because of these two considerations that Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) did not favour his leaving the prison immediately after having received the message of his release. In fact, there was a touch of royal elegance in his manner when he demanded that his case be investigated first.

After his release from prison, Joseph had to play a role at the national level. So it was necessary that his personality should become well-known country-wide. This was achieved through the incident of the king’s dream. The king was so anxious to know the interpretation of his peculiar dream that he made a public announcement and gathered all the scholars; the priests and wise people of the country assembled in his court to give their interpretation of this dream. But they all failed to do so. In this way the incident of the dream became a matter of general fame. As soon as Joseph gave the interpretation of the dream, and it was liked by the king, he suddenly came to be known by the whole populace. After hearing the whole history of Joseph’s imprisonment, the king made inquiries of the concerned women. All of them unanimously declared him to be innocent. The wife of the nobleman of Egypt (Zulaykha) did not spare herself in the admission of truth. She declared in clear terms that her friends were telling the truth. She said that she had been entirely to blame in this matter and that Joseph was totally innocent. This admission on the part of the wife of the nobleman was such a noble action that it would not have been surprising if she had been guided towards the true faith thereafter.