Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:33
He said, "My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me. And if You do not avert from me their plan, I might incline toward them and [thus] be of the ignorant."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: قَالَ رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ وَإِلا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُنْ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ (He said: My Lord, prison is dearer to me than that to which they invite me. And if You do not turn their plot away from me, I shall incline toward them and be among the ignorant.) [12:33]
Abū Jaʿfar said: This report from Allah indicates that the wife of the ʿAzīz approached Yūsuf once more in her attempts at seduction, and threatened him with imprisonment if he did not do that to which she invited him; so he preferred the prison over what she invited him to. For had she not approached him again and not threatened him with that, it would have been inconceivable that he would say: رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ — while he was being invited to nothing and being threatened with no imprisonment.
"Al-sijn" (the prison) is the prison itself — the house of confinement.
The reciters of all the great cities read it with kasra of the sīn. The Arabs use names of places that are derived from verbs in place of the verbs themselves; one says: "The sun rose (ṭalaʿa) as a rising (maṭlaʿan), and set (gharabat) as a setting (maghriban)" — they use them, though they are nouns, as substitutes for the infinitive. Likewise "al-sijn": when one opens the sīn of "al-sajn" (with fatḥa), it is a correct infinitive.
It has been transmitted from some of the early ones that they read: "al-sajnu aḥabbu ilayya" — with opening of the sīn. But this reading I may not accept, for the recitation-authorities are unanimously agreed on reading it otherwise.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The meaning of the text is: Yūsuf said: "O Lord, confinement in the prison is dearer to me than transgressing Your command, and more than what they call me to of fornication (zinā) and seduce me toward." As in:
19246 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī — قَالَ رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ — "of fornication (zinā)."
19247 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Yūsuf turned to his Lord and asked for protection from what had befallen him — رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ [note 28] — that is to say: "The prison is dearer to me than that I should do what displeases You."
وَإِلا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ — he says: "And if You — my Lord — do not turn their doing away from me, in their attempts to seduce me toward pursuing themselves [note 29] — أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ — he says: I shall incline toward them and follow them in what they want and desire from me."
From the expression of the speaker: "ṣabā fulān ilā kadhā" (so-and-so inclined toward such); from which is the expression of the poet [note 30]:
"Toward Hind my heart has inclined (ṣabā), and Hind, as she is, makes (one) incline (yuṣbī)." [note 31]
With what we have said concerning this the exegetes are in agreement.
Mention of who said that:
19248 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda — أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ — that he said: "I shall follow them."
19249 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq — وَإِلا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ — that is to say: "What I fear from them" — أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ .
19250 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَإِلا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُنْ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ : "If there is no help and protection from Your side, that will not be from my side nor with me."
وَأَكُنْ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ — he says: "And I shall be — through my inclining toward them — among those who have disregarded Your rights, who have transgressed Your command and Your prohibition." [note 32] As in:
19251 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq — وَأَكُنْ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ — "that is to say: ignorant when I committed disobedience to You."
