411. Why was an innocent jailed? 

In this verse (12:35) of the Quran it is being said, after analyzing the evidence they felt the need to imprison him.

And we also find in the verses 12:28,29 of the Quran that the wife of Aziz was caught red handed, on seeing the shirt of Yusuf been flipped from behind, Aziz was convinced his wife was the culprit

In this incident it was proved beyond doubt that Yusuf was innocent, and there is absolutely no justification for imprisoning him.

Then how did they come to the decision they should imprison him on viewing the evidence? Is the question raised by some? Because they seem to be contradictory statements.

When going through the subsequent verses we find Prophet Yusuf being slammed with accusations accompanied with false witnesses.

When the whole town was aware about the incident involving the inappropriate behaviour of Aziz’s wife, he paraded Yusuf in front of the women from the town, who were astonished at the handsomeness of Yusuf, and cut their hands with knives, by saying ‘Perfect is Allah! This is not a man; this is not but a noble angel’.

In verse 12:32 of the Quran we find the details of Aziz’s wife (justifying her inappropriate behaviour) asking the women who were paraded in front of Prophet Yusuf ‘how can you find fault with me in my behaviour when you slash yourself by admiring him. And the details of the warning by her if he does not fulfill her desires is also seen in verse (12:32) of the Quran.

From this it can be seen she schemed to frame him in a new accusation and imprison him.

And we also find Prophet Yusuf’s plea to God to protect him from the evil deeds of those women in this verse of the Quran.

By the usage of the plural word for woman, it can be assumed not only did Aziz’s wife but also some other women schemed or either helped her in the planning to have him framed in an accusation.

Since Prophet Yusuf did not consent for the desires of these women, they collectively planned to discredit him with false accusations. Verse 12:35 of the Quran talks about the resultant decision taken by them after going through these false evidences by the evil women.

Verses 12:50 to 12:52 of the Quran further confirm the same.

Since Prophet Yusuf interpreted the dreams by the king, he sent the courtiers to fetch him. When the courtiers met him, at that instance Prophet Yusuf told them to inquire about the status of the women who slashed their own hands.

From Prophet Yousuf asking the king’s courtiers to inquire about the status of the women who slashed their own hands, it could be understood that Prophet Yousuf did not undergo imprisonment because of the earlier incident with Aziz’s wife but on another false complaint filed by her and her other women accomplices.

The reason Prophet Yusuf asked the courtiers to inquire about her accomplices.

And the king on enquiring with the women accomplices found out that Prophet Yusuf was not in any way to be blamed.

And later Aziz’s wife owns up to her wrong doing, these facts can be seen from the three verses of the Quran.

Had Prophet Yusuf been imprisoned for the incident involving Aziz’s wife there would be no need to inquire about her women accomplices because they were not witness to the incident at all.

Hence Prophet Yusuf was imprisoned on the basis of the false complaint filed for the second time with the women accomplices as witnesses. And based on this it was decided by them on evidence to imprison him. . Hence the