229. Is it a crime to desire by Prophet Yusuf within his mind?

This verse (12:24) of the Quran says “ She yearned for him, and he advanced towards her”.

This verse (12:24) of the Quran describes as, though the mistress approached Prophet Yusuf with a wrong intention, he was steadfast in his discipline only to start wavering a little later until the Almighty guided him to the straight path.

But some scholars contradict this by saying though the mistress approached him, Prophet Yusuf would have advanced towards her, had he not seen the signs of Allah. denying he ever longed for her.

They say Prophet Yusuf being a messenger of Allah would never have ventured into such an act..

But according to scholars like Ibn Kaseer, trying to understand the contents of this verse on these lines is against the traditions In Arabic language and grammar.

As per Arabic language traditions “ She yearned for him, and he advanced towards her, and had he not seen the signs of Almighty, he would have been led astray” is the correct way to derive the meaning of this verse. We cannot derive any other meaning for Arabic language words leaving out traditions of the language.

Moreover temptations rising out in man’s mind is not a crime in Islam, but putting them into action is questionable.

When a good looking girl seduces a man, normal tendency is he gets tempted, this happens to any man, but in the case of Prophet Yusuf he managed to bring himself together from being misled.

Moreover verse 53 of the same chapter mentions Prophet Yusuf as saying “ I do not wish to prove that my mind is immaculate”. Any manly person would find it difficult to resist such temptations.

When a man and a woman are left alone, Shaitan joins them as a third being. (Tirmidhi 1091).

Hence, with the Quran mentioning clearly there was temptation in Prophet Yusuf, there is no need justifiable reason to offer a different explanation.