Story of Prophet Yusuf (AS) Part-18

The Difficult Test
Yousif was now in the bloom of youth. He
lived in a magnificent palace. However, all
those things did not corrupt Yousif's soul.
His soul remained as white as the wings of
the white pigeons.
In the magnificent palace Yousif's test began.
All the people loved Yousif. Yousif's test
began from this love.
Yousif lived in that magnificent palace. The
owner of the palace was a beautiful lady. Her
name was Zulaykha.
Zulaykha loved Yousif. She adored him. She
did not love his pure soul. Rather, she loved
his handsomeness. For this reason, she
wanted to possess Yousif.
Yousif was her hope in life. She always
thought of him, to the extent that "he affected
her deeply with (his) love."
She looked at him with love. However, she
treated him as a humble prisoner of war.
She approached Yousif, but he escaped from
her. Yousif did not want to corrupt his soul.
He wanted his soul to be as pure as dew
drops. He wanted it to be as white as the
wings of the white pigeons.
Yousif's test began this way. Zulaykha wanted
him to commit an ugly deed. She wanted him
to break the promise he made with his Lord.
She wanted him to corrupt his pure soul.
However, Yousif wanted Zulaykha to be
faithful, pure and chaste.
For this reason Yousif escaped from Zulaykha.
He escaped from sin. As for Zulaykha, she fell
in love with Yousif. Thus she thought about
away to make him submit to her.
One day there was no one in the palace except
Zulaykha and Yousif. Zulaykha waited for such
an opportunity. While Yousif was doing some
of his work, Zulaykha closed all the doors of
the palace and said to him: "Come forward!"
Yousif understood what Zu1aykha wanted. So
he said to her with anger: "I seek Allah's
refuge! Surely, my Lord has made my abode
good!"
However, love moved Zulaykha. Thus, she
wanted to force Yousif to approach her, As for
Yousif, he prevented her from doing that. He
escaped through the corridors of the palace.
Little by little Yousif became calm. He was
bewildered, not knowing how to avoid that
test. As for Zulaykha, she thought that Yousif
had submitted to her desire. She looked at an
idol in the palace. She was ashamed of
herself . So she covered the face of the idol
with a piece of cloth. When Yousif saw her
doing that, he asked her: "What are you
doing?"
Zulaykha replied: "I'm shy before my god. I
don't want him to see me in this state."
Thus, Yousif scold Zulaykha, saying: "Are you
shy of an idol that doesn't understand
anything? If so, then why don't I feel shy in
front of my Lord, Who's created and honored
me"?
Yousif said that and tried to escape towards
the door. However, Zulaykha chased him
quickly. She siezed his shirt and tore it. Yousif
was able to open the door. At that moment he
saw Zulaykha's husband at the door.
Zulaykha was filled with anger. She wanted
her husband to punish Yousif severly. Thus,
she said to him: "What is the punishment of
him who intends evil to your wife except
imprison,ent or a painful torture"?
Yousif wanted to defend himself, so he said:
"She wanted to tempt me!"
The Commander-in-chief was perplexed, not
knowing what to do. Then he asked himself:
"Which one's truthful- Zulaykha or Yousif?
There was a person with the Commander-in-
chief. The person was Zulaykha's cousin. He
said to Commander-in-chief: "Look at Yousif's
shirt. If the shirt is torn in the chest, then
Zulaykha's truthful. If it's torn in the back,
then Yousif is truthful."
The Commander-in-chief looked at Yousif's
shirt. He saw it torn in the back. He
understood the truth. So he turned to his wife
and said to her: "Surely, it is a guile of you
women, surely your guile is great."
Then he said to Yousif. "Yousif, forget this."
Then he ordered his wife to ask Allah for
forgiveness, saying: "Ask forgiveness for your
fault."
Every thing was over. Yousif and Zulaykha
continued life as usual. However, Zulaykha
went on bothering Yousif. She threatened him,
saying: "If you don't response to what I want,
I'll torture and imprison you!" She always
thought of Yousif. She refused to meet anyone
except Yousif, Her friends in the city did not
see her.
The women of the city heard of the story, They
were astonished to hear it. They asked each
other: "Why has Zulaykha loved her slave
boy'? Isn't she the mistress of the women of
the country'!"