A Trial That Lasted Years

What I am putting before you now — a beautiful woman offering herself to a man — is difficult in itself. Now let us look at the other elements and variables in this situation that make it more complicated still.

First, this woman was extremely beautiful, and she was wealthy. And she was his master, so she had the power to force him, and to punish him if he did not obey her.

Second, we cannot believe that she resorted to such extreme measures suddenly, in that one moment. No. A woman will not resort to force unless she has exhausted every other means. She must have tried everything possible before she began to use force. And imagine this, because Yūsuf was living with her: it was not a spur-of-the-moment matter. Yūsuf had been going through this pain and fitnah for a long time. He had been exposed to this seduction for a very, very long period, because she would not act this way — shut the doors and try to force him — unless she had tried every other means before and they had not worked. So she must have been doing this for months, or maybe even years.

That is what complicates the situation. It is difficult to stop even when it is a spur-of-the-moment thing, and it becomes much, much more difficult to stop when you have been going through it for years — living with her in the same house, seeing her day and night, when they are the ones feeding you and taking care of you, and there is interaction between you. And he had steadfastness, he had persistence, and he was able to stop this fitnah and say: I seek refuge in Allah (swt).

That is why Yūsuf is the leader of those who will come under the shade of Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgement: a man called by a woman of ḥasab wa jamāl — position and beauty — who says: I fear Allah. This woman had position; she had wealth; she had beauty; she had everything. And Yūsuf was able to stand against this sea of seduction and stop it.