The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

قَالَتْ فَذَلِكُنَّ الَّذِي لُمْتُنَّنِي فِيهِ...

12: 32. She said:

"There before you is the man about whom ye did blame me!

...وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدتُّهُ عَن نَّفْسِهِ فَاسَتَعْصَمَ...

I did seek to seduce him from his (true) self but he did firmly save himself guiltless!

C1680. Her speech is subtle, and shows that any repentance or compunction she may have felt is blotted out by the collective crowd mentality into which she has deliberately invited herself to fall.

Her speech falls into two parts, with a hiatus between, which I have marked by the punctuation mark ( ... ).

In the first part there is a note of triumph, as much as to say, "Now you see! mine was no vulgar passion! you are just as susceptible! you would have done the same thing!"

Finding encouragement from their passion and their fellow-feeling, she openly avows as a woman amongst women what she would have been ashamed to acknowledge to others before. She falls a step lower and boasts of it. A step lower still, and she sneers at Joseph's innocence, his firmness in saving himself guiltless!

There is a pause. The tide of passion rises still higher, and the dreadful second part of her speech begins. It is a sort of joint consultation, though she speaks in monologue.

The women all agree that no man has a right to resist their solicitations. Beauty spurned is the highest crime. And so now She rises to the height of tragic guilt and threatens Joseph. She forgets all her finer feelings, and is overpowered by brute passion. After all, he is a slave and must obey his mistress! Or, there is prison, and the company of the vilest.

Poor, deluded, fallen creature! She sank lower than herself, in seeking the support of the crowd around her! What pain and suffering and sorrow can expiate the depth of this crime? (R).

...وَلَئِن لَّمْ يَفْعَلْ مَا آمُرُهُ لَيُسْجَنَنَّ وَلَيَكُونًا مِّنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ ﴿٣٢﴾

And now, if he doth not my bidding, he shall certainly be cast into prison, and (what is more) be in the company of the vilest!"

قَالَ رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ...

12: 33. He said:

"O my Lord! the prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me:

C1681. "To which they invite me." Notice it is now "they" not "she".

Where there was the snare of one woman before, it is now the collective snare of many women - of womankind!

...وَإِلاَّ تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ ﴿٣٣﴾

unless thou turn away their snare from me, I should (in my youthful folly) feel inclined towards them and join the ranks of the ignorant."

C1682. Joseph's speech is characteristic.

Like a true Prophet of Allah, he takes refuge in Allah. He knows the weakness of human nature. He would not pit his own strength against the whole assault of evil. He will rely on Allah to turn evil away from him, and praise Him alone for any success he achieves in his fight.

It is only the ignorant who do not know man's weakness and Allah's strength!

فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ فَصَرَفَ عَنْهُ كَيْدَهُنَّ...

12: 34. So his Lord heard him (in his prayer), and turned away from him their snare:

C1683. Joseph was saved from the wiles of the women, which would have degraded him. But more, his truth and character were completely vindicated in the eyes of all concerned by the avowal of the wife of the 'Aziz. (R).

...إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ﴿٣٤﴾

verily He heareth and knoweth (all things).

Other versions:

12: 32

Yusuf Ali She said: "There before you is the man about whom ye did blame me! I did seek to seduce him from his (true) self but he did firmly save himself guiltless!... And now if he doth not my bidding he shall certainly be cast into prison and (what is more) be in the company of the vilest!"

Pickthall She said: This is he on whose account ye blamed me. I asked of him an evil act, but he proved continent, but if he do not my behest he verily shall be imprisoned, and verily shall be of those brought low.

Transliteration Qa_lat faza_likunnal lazi lumtunnani fih(i), wa laqad ra_wattuhu_ 'an nafsihi fa-sta'sam(a), wa la'il lam yaf'al ma_ a_muruhu_ layusjananna wa layaku_nam minas sa_girin(a).

12: 33

Asad Said he: “O my Sustainer! Prison is more desirable to me than what these women invite me to: for, unless You turn away their guile from me, I might yet yield to their allure and become one of those who are unaware [of right and wrong] .”

Yusuf Ali He said: "O my Lord! the prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me: unless thou turn away their snare from me I should (in my youthful folly) feel inclined towards them and join the ranks of the ignorant."

Pickthall He said: O my Lord! Prison is more dear than that unto which they urge me, and if Thou fend not off their wiles from me I shall incline unto them and become of the foolish.

Transliteration Qa_la rabbis sijnu ahabbu ilayya mimma_ yad'u_nani ilaih(i), wa illa_ tasrif 'anni kaidahunna asbu ilaihinna wa akum minal ja_hilin(a).

12: 34

Yusuf Ali So his Lord heard him (in his prayer) and turned away from him their snare: verily He heareth and knoweth (all things).

Pickthall So his Lord heard his prayer and fended off their wiles from him. Lo! He is Hearer, Knower.

Transliteration Fa-staja_ba lahu_ rabbuhu_ fasarafa 'anhu kaidahunn(a), innahu_ huwas sami'ul 'alim(u).