Story Of Prophet Yusuf ✔

PART 15:THE GOSSIP SPREADS [Surah Yusuf 12:29-30]

29. “Yusuf turn away from this. (O my wife) seek forgiveness for your sin, Surely you have been of the sinners”.

30. And the women in the city said “The wife of the Aziz has sought to seduce her slaveboy against his will. Surely she is passionately in love with him. Surely we see her to be in clear error”.

The 'Aziz realized his wife is lying. He saw Yusuf exiting the door first, all the doors were locked and his wife was dressed up, perfumed, beautified and finally, Yusuf's shirt was torn from the back. All these signs send the warning bells and the truth has been brought out. So he tells Yusuf, “Oh Yusuf, turn away from this.” In other words forget what happened, pretend as if it never happened. He wants to keep this a secret. He does not want the public to find out that his own wife tried to seduce his own slave. It is an insult to his honor in so many ways. That is why he tells Yusuf (AS) to ignore what happened and to forget about it. Perhaps he reassigned the household chores and tried to reprimand his wife internally, but it is clear here that he underestimated her passion.  He thought that it was a one time mistake and that it was not going to happen again.  He didn’t sell Yusuf or got rid of him. He did not fully take into account and underestimated the danger of the situation.

Despite the attempts of Aziz to keep the matter quiet, the news spreads.  As we all know that this type of gossip and slander people just love to spread.  How did people find out?  Yusuf would not have said anything.  Aziz himself wanted to keep this secret, and the wife would not say anything, and the witness was from her own family.  So how did the news leak? Most likely the witness might have told his wife and she may have spread it amongst other women.

Slowly but surely, gossip spreads. As it spreads, a small tale is made ten times larger.  In Islam, the door has been shut and sealed on gossip and slander and backbiting.  The obligation is to defend the brother in his absence. When backbiting or slandering is done, you defend your brother in his absence. The least you should do is remain quiet and hate it in your heart.  There is no iman lesser than this.  For you to go back and spread the news to him intending to cause damage between the two people is called nameemah. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “The one who does this will not enter Jannah.”  This is not somebody who is doing the backbiting and not somebody who is doing the slander.  All he is doing is being truthful, but there is no need to spread this truth, is there?  What is your intention for this?

LESSONS

1. In verse 30, Allah (swt) brings our attention to the consequences of what the wife of the Aziz did. There is no evil deed except that there will be consequences for it both in this life and in the Hereafter.  Allah (swt) shows us how she had to pay the consequences for what she had done. She became the talk of the town and everyone was pointing figures at her character.

2. Allah (swt) specifically mentions that women engaged in this gossip. This shows us how some women have a propensity to engage in gossip. Some women, usually love to talk about others. This shows us that when these women gossip they often exaggerate and fabricate. They do not care for the Truth. They only want to entertain themselves and bring the other person down. These women had this jealousy and competition with the wife of the Aziz. Most likely they were jealous of her because she was more beautiful than them and wealthier than them and she had a more powerful husband. So they were just looking for an opportunity to bring her down, and in this incident, they found their chance. So we are reminded in this ayah of the thinking and the behavior of those who are heedless of Allah (swt). The thinking and the behavior of the arrogant.

3. To save ourselves from becoming like those women we should not focus on the faults of others. Shaitan wants to make us think that we are better than them. So he will make us see every possible defect and flaw in others and he will make us ignore our own weaknesses and shortcomings. Now that we know this plot of Shaitan and now that we have learned this lesson that Allah (swt) has given us in this ayah, then we must be on our guard. So the next time that you think that your Muslim brother or sister is in clear error then remember this ayah. Remember this plot of Shaitan and what he did to those women. Make certain that Shaitan does not do the same to you.