And the lady, in whose house he lived, tried to seduce him. She locked the doors ˹firmly˺ and said, “Come to me!” He replied, “Allah is my refuge! It is ˹not right to betray˺ my master, who has taken good care of me. Indeed, the wrongdoers never succeed.”
12:23
She advanced towards him, and he would have done likewise, had he not seen a sign from his Lord.1 This is how We kept evil and indecency away from him, for he was truly one of Our chosen servants.
12:24
They raced for the door and she tore his shirt from the back, only to find her husband at the door. She cried, “What is the penalty for someone who tried to violate your wife, except imprisonment or a painful punishment?”
12:25
Joseph responded, “It was she who tried to seduce me.” And a witness from her own family testified: “If his shirt is torn from the front, then she has told the truth and he is a liar.
12:26
But if it is torn from the back, then she has lied and he is truthful.”
12:27
So when her husband saw that Joseph’s shirt was torn from the back, he said ˹to her˺, “This must be ˹an example˺ of the cunning of you ˹women˺! Indeed, your cunning is so shrewd!
12:28
O Joseph! Forget about this. And you ˹O wife˺! Seek forgiveness for your sin.1 It certainly has been your fault.”
12:29
Some women of the city gossiped, “The Chief Minister’s wife is trying to seduce her slave-boy. Love for him has plagued her heart. Indeed, we see that she is clearly mistaken.”1
12:30