any mention of his chastity and refusal to yield. For what the women said was:

“We know of no wrongdoing on his part.”

And the wife of al-ʿAzīz said:

“I sought to seduce him.”

This exposes the falsehood of her earlier statement; it does not describe what Joseph himself actually did. Thus, the claim that the word “That” was spoken by Joseph—when no preceding statement or action of his appears here—is wholly untenable.

“The seventh argument”

On this interpretation—even if there were some preceding statement or action of Joseph to which “that” could refer—the meaning would be: “I refrained from indecency so that al-ʿAzīz would know that I had not betrayed him.” Yet Joseph, peace and blessings be upon him, refrained from it only out of fear of Allah, hope for His reward, and the knowledge that Allah saw him—not merely so that a created being would know.

Allah Most High said:

“She certainly desired him, and he would have inclined towards her had he not seen the proof of his Lord. Thus We turned evil and indecency away from him. Indeed, he was one of Our chosen servants.”

Allah thus states that Joseph saw the proof of his Lord and that he was one of His chosen servants. Someone who abstains from forbidden acts so that a created being will know of it has not done so because of a proof from his Lord, nor does that make him a chosen servant. If an ordinary person acted in the manner they attribute to Joseph, he would receive no reward from Allah; rather, his reward would rest with the one for whose sake he acted.