Surah 12. Yusuf, Ayah 53

Lit., "is indeed wont to command [the doing of] evil" - i.e., is filled with impulses which often conflict with what the mind regards as a moral good. This is obviously a reference to the statement in verse {24} above - "she desired him, and he desired her; [and he would have succumbed,] had he not seen [in this temptation] an evidence of his Sustainer's truth" - as well as to Joseph's prayer in verse {33}, "unless Thou turn away their guile from me, I might yet yield to their allure". (See also note [23] above.) Joseph's stress on the weakness inherent in human nature is a sublime expression of humility on the part of one who himself had overcome that very weakness: for, as the sequence shows, he attributes his moral victory not to himself but solely to the grace and mercy of God.

Lit., "except those upon whom...", etc. According to most of the commentators, the pronoun ma (lit., "that which") is here synonymous with man ("he who" or "those who").

See n. 1712. I construe this verse to be a continuation of the speech of the wife of the 'Aziz. It is more appropriate to her than to Joseph.