His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿She said, 'So that is the one for whom you blamed me. And indeed, I sought to seduce him, but he remained firm. And if he does not do what I command him, he will surely be imprisoned and will be among the humiliated.'﴾ ﴿He said, 'My Lord, prison is more beloved to me than that to which they invite me. And if You do not avert their plan from me, I might incline toward them and be among the ignorant.'﴾ ﴿So his Lord responded to him and averted their plan from him. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.'﴾

Al-Tabari said: The meaning is: 'This is the one for whom you blamed me,' meaning: 'This is the one for whom you cut your hands because of him. He is the one who made me misguided in my desire for him.' The pronoun refers back to Yusuf in 'him.' It is also possible that the reference is to the love of Yusuf, and the pronoun refers back to love, making it a reference to something absent at its door.

Then the wife of the Aziz confessed to the women about the seduction and sought their trust in that; for she knew that they had excused her. And 'he remained firm' means: he sought protection and held onto it and disobeyed me. Then she began to threaten him - while he was listening - with her words: ﴿And if he does not do﴾ until the end of the verse.

The 'lam' in his saying: 'He will surely be imprisoned' is the lam of swearing, and the first 'lam' indicates the coming of the oath, and the 'nun' is the heavy one, and stopping at it is with its emphasis. And 'he will be among the humiliated' has its 'nun' as the light one, and stopping at it is with the 'alif,' similar to His saying, blessed and exalted is He: 'We will surely cast them.' And similar to it is the saying of Al-A'sha:

؎ And send blessings upon the time of the evenings and the morning ∗∗∗ And do not worship Satan, but worship Allah.

He intended: 'Worship.' And a group read: 'And he will be among the humiliated' with the heavy 'nun.' And 'the humiliated' are the lowly ones who have been afflicted by humiliation.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿He said, 'My Lord, prison is more beloved to me'﴾. It has been narrated that when the wife of the Aziz threatened him, the women said to him: 'Obey your mistress, and do what she commands you.' Therefore, he said: ﴿than that to which they invite me.﴾ Al-Hasan said something similar. And the weight of (they invite) in this verse is: they do, unlike your saying: (the men invite).

And the majority read: 'prison' with a kasra on the 'sīn,' which is the noun. And Al-Zuhri, Ibn Hurmuz, Ya'qub, and Ibn Abi Ishaq read: 'the prison' with a fatha on the 'sīn,' which is the reading of Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, and Tariq, his master. It is the source, similar to your saying: 'the cutting' and 'the cut.'

And His saying: ﴿And if You do not avert from me...﴾ until the end of the verse, is submission to Allah, blessed and exalted is He, a desire towards Him, and reliance upon Him. The meaning is: 'And if You do not save me, I will perish.' This is what the context of his words and his state necessitates, and the pronoun in 'to Him' refers back to the immoral act mentioned in His saying: 'than that to which.' And 'I might incline' is taken from 'sabawah,' which means the actions of youth, and from that is the poet's saying - which Al-Tabari narrated -:

؎ To Hind my heart inclined ∗∗∗ And Hind like her captivates.

And from that is the saying of Duraid ibn al-Simmah:

؎ He inclined until gray hair rose on his head ∗∗∗ And when it rose, he said to falsehood, 'Be far away.'

And the ignorant ones are those who do not observe the limits of Allah, exalted and majestic is He, and His prohibitions.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So his Lord answered him." The saying of Yusuf, peace be upon him: "My Lord, prison is more beloved to me" until his saying: "from the ignorant" is a statement that includes complaining to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, about his condition with them. It is a supplication to Him to remove his affliction. Therefore, He said - after the words of Yusuf -: "So his Lord answered him," meaning: He answered him according to his desire and turned away from him their plot by placing a barrier between him and sin. And His saying: "The All-Hearing, the All-Knowing" are two attributes fitting for His saying: "So his Lord answered."