Tafsir of Yusuf 12:33

(He said) — an explanatory resumption, as if a questioner were to ask: "What did Yusuf do then?" It is said:

(He said), supplicating to his Lord, the Exalted and Majestic: "O my Lord, the prison" which You promised to cast me into. It is a name for the place of confinement. Uthman, his freedman Tariq, Zayd ibn Ali, al-Zuhri, Ibn Abi Ishaq, Ibn Hurmuz, and Yaqub read al-sajn with a fatha on the sin, as a verbal noun (masdar) of sajanahu, meaning his imprisonment. In both readings, it is a subject whose predicate is what follows. Others read rabba (in the accusative) and al-sijn (with a kasra on the sin and in the genitive case via annexation). In that case, rabba is the vocative, and the predicate is the same as above. The meaning, as has been said, is: "The meeting with the owner of the prison, or the endurance of its trials, is more beloved to me" — that is, more preferred by me, because it contains a slight, passing hardship followed by eternal comforts — "than what they invite me to," which is compliance with them, leading to misery and painful punishment. The superlative form is not meant in its literal sense, for there is no shred of love in him—peace be upon him—for what they are inviting him to; rather, he and the prison are two evils, and the lighter and more preferable of the two is the prison. Expressing preference as "love" is to cut off the material of their hope for his compliance by threatening him with imprisonment. The restriction to [mentioning] the prison is because disgrace is one of its consequences, as has been said. It is also said: He was satisfied with mentioning the prison without mentioning the disgrace because it sufficed the purpose, which is to cut off their hope of his compliance out of fear of what she threatened him with. She presumed that prison was more severe for him than disgrace, based on her claim that he was her young servant, and that young servants are not troubled by such things as they are by prison. Since the more severe [option] was more beloved to him than what they were inviting him to, it follows a fortiori that the less severe was also more beloved. This, however, contains an obvious prohibition.

Attributing the invitation to them is because they frightened him away from opposing her and adorned the act of obedience to her for him. It has been reported that they said to him, "Obey your mistress and fulfill her need so that you may be safe from her punishment; for she is the wronged one, and you are the wrongdoer." It is also reported that each of them sought seclusion to counsel him, and when she was alone with him, she invited him to herself. From Ali ibn al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them both—it is reported that each of them sent for him in secret, asking for a visit. Thus, attributing this to them is because they also invited him to themselves, either explicitly or by allusion.

In a tradition mentioned by al-Qurtubi: When he—peace be upon him—said, "O my Lord, the prison is more beloved to me," Allah, the Exalted, revealed to him: "O Yusuf, you have wronged yourself. Had you said: 'The wellbeing is more beloved to me,' you would have been granted wellbeing." For this reason, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah’s peace be upon him—replied to one who was asking for patience. Al-Tirmidhi reported from Mu’adh ibn Jabal, from him—peace be upon him—that he heard a man saying, "O Allah, I ask You for patience." The Prophet—may Allah’s peace be upon him—said: "You have asked Allah for trial, so ask Him for wellbeing."

(And if You do not turn away from me their plot) — that is, if You do not ward off their plot to make this inviting to me and to embellish it in my sight, by keeping me steadfast in the chastity and purity I am upon, (I will incline toward them) — that is, I will lean, according to the nature of the human condition and the rule of the appetitive power, toward responding to them by compliance with them, or toward them themselves. This is a metonymy for their compliance. This is a seeking of refuge by him—peace be upon him—in the kindness of Allah, the Exalted, following the practice of the Prophets—peace be upon them—and the righteous in attributing the attainment of goodness and salvation from evils solely to the presence of Allah, the Exalted, and in stripping themselves of power and ability. It is an exaggeration in soliciting His grace—glory be to Him—to divert their plot by demonstrating that he has no power to defend himself, like the saying of one seeking help: "Rescue me, or I shall perish." It is not that he—peace be upon him—is asking to be forced and compelled into chastity and purity while there is within him an urge inviting him to evil. This is how the Master Abu al-Sa‘ud has explained it, and it is a subtle meaning; he took it from the words of al-Zamakhshari.

However, al-Qutb and others said: It is a flight toward i‘tizal (seclusion/detachment) and an allusion to the answer for the Ash’arites' inference from this verse that the servant does not refrain from disobedience unless Allah turns him away from it. The Imam has decided this as he decided it, so let it be consulted and contemplated.

The origin of (illa) is in la, so it is composed of the conditional in and the negative la, as we have indicated; the nun has been assimilated into the lam. (Asbu) is from saba, yasbu, sabwah, meaning to incline toward desire. From this comes al-saba (the morning breeze) for the wind, because souls incline toward it due to the pleasantness of its breeze and its spirit. It is an imperfect verb in the jussive mood, being the response to the conditional. The conditional clause is a conjunction to his saying: "The prison is more beloved." The first [clause] was brought as a nominal sentence, unlike the second, because his "loving the prison more than what they invite him to" was a fixed and continuous state, whereas the requested diversion is not. It has been read as asbu from sabaytu sababatan (to be infatuated/enamored). In al-Bahr, sababah is described as excessive longing, as if the one possessed by it is pouring into what he desires. The verb also implies the meaning of inclination; hence it is transitive with ila (to), meaning: I will incline toward them.

(And I will be of the ignorant) — that is, those who do not act according to what they know, because one whose knowledge is of no benefit is like one who does not know at all. Or, [it means] among the fools by committing the abominations they invite me to, for the wise man does not commit an abomination. Thus, ignorance here is in the sense of folly, which is the opposite of wisdom, not in the sense of lack of knowledge. From this is the saying: Let no one be ignorant (foolish) toward us, for we will be more ignorant (foolish) than the ignorance (folly) of the ignorant (fools).