Spiritual Disease and Its Cure by Imam Shams-ud-Deen Muhammad bin Abi Bakr bin Qayyim AlJ awziyyah

We conclude this book with a detailed chapter about the present and the future evil consequences of looking at unlawful pictures, or looking at women' s unveiled faces. It corrupts the heart, and if the heart is corrupted, all one's willpower, words and actions would become corrupted, and so one ' s faith would also be affected, if not corrupted. Allah ~ mentioned this disease, with regards to the people of Lut and women. He ~ has informed us of the passionate desire of the King ' s wife for Prophet Yusuf ~ \. He ~ described the way she sought to tempt Yusuf ~\, and the manner Yusuf ~\ withheld himself with patience, abstinence and fear of Allah, and indeed it was Allah ~ Who helped him overcome his test, because it was surely a very difficult trial for human patience, alone. The execution of an act depends on one's motivation and the absence of any obstacle. The motive in Yusuf's case was very powerful for different reasons: First, Allah ~ instilled in man's nature an inclination towards women, just as a thirsty person is drawn to water, and a hungry person to food, to the extent that many people could be patient regarding hunger and thirst yet not women, however this is not rebuked if the inclination is lawful (to one's wife, for example). Rather, it is praised, as in the Hadith of Anas 4, who reported that the Prophet ~ said: "Perfume and women have been made dear to me in this world. I can be patient about hunger and thirst, but cannot be patient about them." 1 Second, the fact that Yusuf ~ \ was a young man, and the passion of the youth is very strong. Third, Yusuf ~ \ was celibate. He had no wife or slave-girl to relieve his powerful desire for women. Fourth, Yusuf ~\ was in another country, where a stranger could more easily have satisfied his sexual desire in a manner, which he could not have been able do in his own country, among his family and relatives. Fifth, the woman who seduced him had both status and beauty, and each of these qualities is a strong incentive to accept her offer. Sixth, the woman was willing and had no objection. As many people's desire for women is impeded by women's objections, as they feel humiliated in asking them. However, other people's desires increase with women's refusal, as they feel more attracted by those women's soft manner, m rejecting their offer! Seventh, it was the king's wife who asked him, tempted him and made the effort to seduce him, so she spared him all efforts to show his desire for her. Eighth, Yusuf ~1 was in her place, under her sovereignty and rule; for it was feared that if he refused her offer, she might harm him. Ninth, there was no worry that she, or anyone from her side, might denounce him, because she was the one who desired him, as she locked all the doors behind them. Tenth, he was publicly seen as her slave in her castle; he used to enter, go out and be present with her, and no one ever rebuked him. Their close company strengthened her desire for him, so this became one of the biggest incentives . It used to be said to a noble Arab woman (in the pre-Islamic era): "What incited you to commit adultery?" She replied: "The closeness of the man's bed and the many secrets between us." Eleventh, she sought the help of her maids to tempt him, but he sought the Allah's Help against them, saying: ( Unless you turn away their plot from me, I will feel inclined towards them and be one of the ignorant ones.)1 Twelfth, she threatened him with imprisonment and disgrace, and this was a type of coercion, with which the incentive of passion got stronger as he had to try to avoid being detained and disgraced. Thirteenth, the woman's husband (the King) never showed any sense of honour or pride in separating his wife from Yusuf ~1. Rather, the best he could say was: ( 0 Yusuf, turn away from this!), and to the woman: ( Ask forgiveness for your sin, verily you were of the sinful.) The king certainly lacked self-respect. Despite that there were all these incentives, Yusuf ~I chose to please Allah ~. Alone. His love and fear of Allah made him choose prison rather than commit fornication: (He said: O my Lord! Prison is dearer to me than that to which they invite me.)2 Yusuf ~ 1 knew that it was in his ability to keep himself away from her invitation, and that if his Lord did not save him from their temptations, he would have felt inclined towards them, as this is in his nature as a man. Yusuf's words showed his perfect knowledge of his Lord and of himself.