Mention Me to Your Lord

Then Yūsuf went to the one he thought would be saved, the one who would be close to the king, and told him: please, mention my name before the king. Yūsuf had been thrown into prison; he had been wronged. And there was no one Yūsuf could appeal to except the king, because the one who had put him in prison was al-ʿAzīz, the second-highest authority after the king. The king was the next higher authority. So Yūsuf wanted his case put before the king, so that the king would look into it and perhaps free him.

And he said to the one whom he knew would be saved: mention me to your lord — "your lord" here meaning your king. There are two interpretations of what comes next: fa-ansāhu al-shayṭānu dhikra rabbih — but Shayṭān made him forget to mention it to his lord.

One interpretation is that this man left prison and went to work for the king, and when he reached the palace, close to the king and to all the luxury of life, he forgot about Yūsuf (peace be upon him). Shayṭān made him forget. That is one meaning.

The other meaning is that Yūsuf (peace be upon him) forgot to ask Allah (swt), and asked this man to ask the king instead. Instead of asking Allah, he asked the king to help him — Shayṭān made him forget. It is said in the books of tafsīr that Jibrīl came to Yūsuf (peace be upon him) and asked him: who freed you from the well? He said: Allah. Who delivered you to safety in Egypt? He said: Allah. Who put you in the right place to be raised up, and honoured you? He said: Allah. Who saved you from the fitnah of the wife of al-ʿAzīz? He said: Allah. He said: if Allah is the One who saved you through all of this, how is it that instead of asking Allah, you are asking the king to get you out of prison?

And because of that mistake, he paid a price. Allah (swt) says: fa-labitha fī al-sijni biḍʿa sinīn — so he stayed in prison some years more. For this mistake, which seems small, he paid the price and spent a few more years in prison. Ask Allah (swt) directly; He is the One who saved you through all of this.

Yūsuf was certainly making duʿāʾ to Allah. But because he went through this human being, and thought the man could do something for him, Allah (swt) wanted to teach him a lesson. Whenever the prophets of Allah make a mistake, Allah (swt) teaches them, so that the message they leave us is clean. When the prophets of Allah commit mistakes, Allah (swt) corrects those mistakes for them, so that when they die, the whole message they leave behind is pure, without any mistakes: if there was anything in it, it has been corrected. So Yūsuf stayed in prison for a few more years.