Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:51
Said [the king to the women], "What was your condition when you sought to seduce Joseph?" They said, "Perfect is Allah! We know about him no evil." The wife of al-'Azeez said, "Now the truth has become evident. It was I who sought to seduce him, and indeed, he is of the truthful.
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 words of Allah, the Exalted: قَالَ مَا خَطْبُكُنَّ إِذْ رَاوَدْتُنَّ يُوسُفَ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ قُلْنَ حَاشَ لِلَّهِ مَا عَلِمْنَا عَلَيْهِ مِنْ سُوءٍ قَالَتِ امْرَأَةُ الْعَزِيزِ الآنَ حَصْحَصَ الْحَقُّ أَنَا رَاوَدْتُهُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ وَإِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ (He said: "What was your case when you sought to seduce Yūsuf against his will?" They answered: "Allah forbid! We know nothing evil of him." The wife of the ʿAzīz said: "Now the truth has come to light: I sought to seduce him against his will, and truly, he is among the truthful." — 12:51)
Abū Jaʿfar says: In this text there is an omitted portion whose mention has been left out because the indications in what is mentioned suffice for it; namely: "the messenger returned from Yūsuf to the king with his message, and the king summoned together the women who had cut their hands and the wife of the ʿAzīz" — and said to them: (mā khaṭbukkunna idh rāwadtunna Yūsufa ʿan nafsihi), as in:
19406 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: When the messenger returned from Yūsuf to the king with what he had sent him, he summoned the women together and said: (mā khaṭbukkunna idh rāwadtunna Yūsufa ʿan nafsihi)?
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By His word (mā khaṭbukkunna) He means: what was your case, what was your affair; (idh rāwadtunna Yūsufa ʿan nafsihi) — they answered him and said: (ḥāsha lillāhi mā ʿalimnā ʿalayhi min sūʾin. qālati mraʾatu al-ʿAzīzi al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqqu) — she says: now the truth has become clear and been disclosed; it has appeared and been made visible; (anā rāwadtuhu ʿan nafsihi), and Yūsuf is indeed among the truthful in his word: هِيَ رَاوَدَتْنِي عَنْ نَفْسِي.
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With the same meaning as we have stated regarding (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq) the people of interpretation also spoke.
Mention of who said this:
19407 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq), he said: it has become clear.
19408 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq): it has become clear.
19409 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the like of it.
19410 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the like of it.
19411 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the like of it.
19412 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq): now the truth has become clear.
19413 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the like of it.
19414 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq), he said: it has become clear.
19415 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ informed us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq): he said: it has become clear.
19416 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī — the like of it.
19417 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk — the like of it.
19418 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Rāʿīl, the wife of Iṭfīr, the ʿAzīz, said: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq), that is to say: now the truth has appeared and become clear; (anā rāwadtuhu ʿan nafsihi wa-innahu la-min al-ṣādiqīn) — in what Yūsuf had said concerning what she had reproached him with.
19419 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: The king said: "Bring them to me!" And he said: (mā khaṭbukkunna idh rāwadtunna Yūsufa ʿan nafsihi. qulna ḥāsha lillāhi mā ʿalimnā ʿalayhi min sūʾin) — but the wife of the ʿAzīz had told us that she had sought to seduce him, and that he had entered the chamber with her and had loosened his undergarment, but had then fastened it again, and she did not know what had restrained him. Then the wife of the ʿAzīz said: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq).
19420 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his word: (al-āna ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqq): it has become clear.
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The root form of "ḥaṣḥaṣa" is "ḥaṣṣa," but one says "ḥaṣḥaṣa" — just as one says فَكُبْكِبُوا [Surah al-Shuʿarāʾ: 94] for "kubbū," and one says "kafkafa" for "kaffa," and "dhardhara" for "dharra." The root form of "al-ḥaṣṣ" is the complete removal of something; one says: "ḥaṣṣa shaʿrahu" when one cuts it off to the root. What is meant in this place by his word (ḥaṣḥaṣa al-ḥaqqu) is: the false and the lie have vanished and been extinguished, and the truth has become visible and appeared.
