Page 233 - Mary: An Exemplary Muslim Woman
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her husband by the door. She asked: "How should a man whose inten-
tion was to harm your family be punished for what he did, except with
prison or painful punishment?" (Surah Yusuf: 25)
Clearly, she had an evil character and did not fear or respect Allah,
for she sought to betray her husband by committing a sin and slander-
ing an innocent man so that he, and not she, would be punished. This al-
so indicates that her selfish desire overrode her conscience.
In the face of these dangerous accusations, the Prophet Joseph
(pbuh) told the truth: "It was she who tried to seduce me" (Surah Yusuf:
26). One of the woman's relatives made a suggestion about how to as-
certain the truth:
A witness from her people then declared: "If his shirt is torn in front, she
speaks the truth and he has clearly told a shameless lie. If his shirt is torn
at the back, then she has lied and he has clearly told the simple truth."
(Surah Yusuf: 26-27)
Following this suggestion, her husband saw that the Prophet
Joseph's (pbuh) shirt was torn from behind. Therefore, it became evident
that the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) had been running toward the door and
that his wife had been chasing him. Allah reveals the governor's re-
sponse:
He saw the shirt torn at the back and said: "The source of this is women's
deviousness. Without a doubt, your guile is very great. Joseph, ignore all
of this. And you, my wife, should ask forgiveness for your evil act. There
is no doubt that you are in the wrong." (Surah Yusuf: 28-29)
As these verses make clear, the governor knew that the
Prophet Joseph (pbuh) was innocent. However, this was not
the end of this affair. As revealed in the following
verse, word of this incident spread outside
the palace: "Some city women said:
Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)