'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' He said, 'She indeed sought to seduce me, and a witness from her family testified, if his shirt is torn from the front, then she has spoken the truth, and he is among the liars. And if his shirt is torn from the back, then she has lied, and he is among the truthful.' So when he saw his shirt torn from the back, he said, 'Indeed, this is from the cunning of you women. Indeed, your cunning is great.' Yusuf, turn away from this and ask forgiveness for your sin. Indeed, you were among the wrongdoers.' Nuf al-Shami said: Yusuf, peace be upon him, did not clarify the story. When she wronged him, he became angry and spoke the truth. He informed that she indeed sought to seduce him. It is narrated that the witness was the man, her cousin. He said, 'Look at the shirt; if it is torn from the back, then she has lied, or from the front, then she has spoken the truth.' This was said by al-Suddi. Ibn Abbas said: He was a man from the king's inner circle, as stated by Mujahid and others. It was said that the witness was a child in the cradle who spoke this, as stated by Ibn Abbas, Abu Huraira, Ibn Jubair, Hilal ibn Yasaf, and al-Dahhak. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: One of the weaknesses of this is that in Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim: 'Only three spoke in the cradle: Jesus son of Mary, the companion of Jurayj, and the son of the black woman who wished for him to be like the tyrant.' He said, 'Only three spoke,' and he excluded the companion of Yusuf from it. Moreover, if the child had spoken, it would have been sufficient evidence by his own words without needing to rely on the shirt. Al-Tabari attributed to Ibn Abbas that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Four spoke in the cradle,' mentioning the three and adding the companion of Yusuf. Al-Tabari also narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the son of the woman who combed Pharaoh's hair spoke in the cradle, thus making them five. Mujahid also said: The witness is the shirt. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is weak because it is not described as being from the family. The majority of the people read: 'from the front' and 'from the back' with the two b's being pronounced and with tanween. Ibn Yamur, al-Jarud ibn Abi Sabra, Nuh, and Ibn Abi Ishaq read: 'from the front' and 'from the back' with three dhammas without tanween. Abu al-Fath said: They are two ends built like His saying, 'from before and from after.' Abu Hatim said: This is very poor in Arabic, and this construction only occurs in circumstances. Al-Hasan read 'from before' and 'from behind' with the two b's being silent and with tanween, and it was narrated from Abu Amr. It was narrated from Nuh al-Qari that he made the two b's silent and pronounced the endings without tanween, and it was narrated from Ibn Abi Ishaq from Yahya ibn Yamur. The one who spoke these words is called a witness in that he indicated to the witness, and the essence of the witness is the tearing of the shirt. A group read: 'So when he saw his shirt torn from the back.' The pronoun in 'saw' refers to the Aziz, who is the one saying, 'Indeed, this is from the cunning of you women,' as al-Tabari said. It was said rather that the witness said that, and the pronoun in 'Indeed, this' refers to her earlier statement in the complaint against Yusuf.

And for this verse, those who see the ruling by leadership among the scholars have taken it as their basis. And 'Yusuf' in his saying: ﴿Yusuf, turn away from this﴾ is a call - as Ibn Abbas said - he was called by the witness, which is the man who was with the Aziz. And ﴿turn away from this﴾ means: from speaking about it, that is, keep it secret and do not talk about it. Then he returned to her and said: ﴿And ask forgiveness for your sin﴾, meaning: ask forgiveness from your husband and your master. And he said: ﴿from the wrongdoers﴾ and did not say: 'from the wrongdoers (feminine)' because 'the wrongdoers' is more general. It is from: khati'a, yakhṭa'u, khat'an, and khatā. And from it is the saying of the poet:

By your life, my error and my correctness are upon me, and I have only wasted my wealth.

And he recites the verse of Umayyah ibn Abi al-Salt:

Your servants make mistakes, and You are the Lord, with Your hands are death and destruction.