Question
What is the source of the popular story that Allāh’s Messenger Yusuf (sws) had entered into marriage with the same woman that had tried to seduce him?
Answer
As you know the Qur’ān is silent about this.
Even in Torah I couldn’t find this information, quite contrary in the Torah another person is introduced as the wife of Joseph with no later references to any other wives:
“Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife.” Genesis 41:44
Even in Islamic sources of history when there is a mention of marriage of Joseph with the wife of Aziz of Egypt, the story is often reported as “it is said” which means there is no reliable source for this story. Interestingly enough in some of our sources it is said that this is mentioned in Torah while (as far as I studied) this is not true.
It seems like the story was developed later mainly in poetry and works of literature in places like Persia and from there has found its way to Islamic literature.
Having said that, I should also say that in all the sources where this story is narrated, it is also made clear that the wife of Aziz of Egypt was sorry about her actions and did repent and accepted the religion of Joseph. In the Qur’ān we also see that there is an element of returning to the truth by the wife of Aziz (12:51, and note that some scholars believe that even 12:52 and 12:53 are the words of the wife of Aziz and not Joseph, which if true then shows that she really reformed herself to a religious woman).
So my conclusion is that we do not have any reliable reports about the story of marriage of Joseph to the wife of Aziz of Egypt and we have a different report about this in Torah. Therefore most probably the story is the product of poets and those fond of love fictions. However, in principle and from moral point of view there is no problem with what the story suggests as it clearly says that the wife of Aziz repented and we know that she tried to seduce Joseph but did not go beyond this.
Answered by: Farhad Shafti
Date: 2015-03-30