• A further lesson: once a commodity has passed from hand to hand and become part of people’s wealth, and the parties involved are unaware that its original acquisition was unlawful, no sin is incurred by anyone who thereafter buys, sells, serves, benefits from, or uses it. Joseph’s brothers sold him in a sale that was forbidden to them; the passing caravan bought him on the assumption that he was their slave, took him to Egypt and sold him there, after which he remained with his owner as a slave boy. Yet Allah referred to that owner as “her master” (sayyid) and described both the caravan’s purchase and the sale in Egypt as a valid “transaction,” as we have explained.

• Another lesson is the warning against seclusion with unrelated women, especially when temptation is feared, and against a love whose consequences may prove harmful. The wife of the ‘Azīz fell into what she did because she was alone with Joseph and loved him so intensely that she eventually tried to seduce him, then lied about him, and he was imprisoned for a long time as a result.

• We also learn that the intention Joseph first felt but then abandoned for Allah’s sake—and because of the proof of faith that Allah had placed in his heart—actually raised him in closeness to Allah. The urge to sin comes from the lower self that urges evil; it is part of human nature. When the thought of disobedience arises and a person possesses no counterweight of faith and fear of Allah, the sin is committed.

If, however, the servant is a believer whose faith is complete, then that natural impulse, when confronted by sound and powerful faith, is kept from producing its effect, even if the temptation is strong. Joseph was among the finest examples of this. Allah says, “She certainly desired him, and he would have desired her had he not seen the proof of his Lord,” and He also says, “Thus did We turn evil and indecency away from him; he was surely one of Our devoted servants” (12:24). Because Allah chose him, and owing to the strength of his faith and his sincerity, Allah saved him from falling into sin. He was therefore among those who fear standing before their Lord, restrain their souls from desire, and occupy the highest rank among the seven whom Allah will shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade but His. For that reason the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned