236. Can a task be accomplished with a ruse/cunningness?

Verse (12:76) says Prophet Yusuf threw the blame of theft on his brother as a ruse to retain his brother with him.

This verse gives an idea that a person can be wrongly blamed in order to achieve something good.

Prophet Yusuf did not do this act on his own, because as a continuation of this verse we find the words “ We put in him this ruse”.

We cannot take this idea of finding a ruse to blame a person as generally admissable in our everyday life.

In this incident one was slapped a blame not to bring him ignominy, but to make a better arrangement to the one blamed.

Paternal siblings of Prophet Yusuf suffered from drought in the region and were in search of food.He considered his younger brother who accompanied them would be better placed than remaining with them, and carried out his plan in the form a ruse, to retain his brother with him.

Very important aspect of this happening is,prior to blaming his brother for the theft, Prophet Yusuf informed his brother in private about the plan.

Carrying out this kind of ruse in such situations is allowed.

This kind of action is not permissable when its objective is to harm others, or bending Islamic principles.

Please refer to exclamation points 168, 336, to know more about this subject.