بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
If you protect your Iman (Faith) and chastity in your youth, Allah will bless you with religiosity in your old age generally speaking and Prophet Yusuf alayhissalaam is one of those who Allah protected.
Men and women have natural dispositions and it is foolish to ignore them. It is not healthy to ignore the Islamic etiquettes and manners. The more we obey the Islamic etiquettes and manners the less problems we will have. To control our urges is the essence of Taqwa (Godfearingness) and that's how Paradise is earned.
Prophet Yusuf alyhissalaam was seduced by the minister's wife and he would have inclined to her but he saw that as a test from his Lord and he did not act upon the desire. Prophet Yusuf has the fortitude and the Iman and the Taqwa that he said no to her. Allah Most High related the incident in Surah Yusuf,
وَرَٰوَدَتْهُ ٱلَّتِى هُوَ فِى بَيْتِهَا عَن نَّفْسِهِۦ وَغَلَّقَتِ ٱلْأَبْوَٰبَ وَقَالَتْ هَيْتَ لَكَ ۚ قَالَ مَعَاذَ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ رَبِّىٓ أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَاىَ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ ﴿٢٣﴾ وَلَقَدْ هَمَّتْ بِهِۦ ۖ وَهَمَّ بِهَا لَوْلَآ أَن رَّءَا بُرْهَـٰنَ رَبِّهِۦ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ لِنَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ ٱلسُّوٓءَ وَٱلْفَحْشَآءَ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ٱلْمُخْلَصِينَ ﴿٢٤﴾
And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him. She closed the doors and said, "Come, you." He said, "[I seek] the refuge of Allah. Indeed, he is my master, who has made good my residence. Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed." (23) And she certainly determined [to seduce] him, and he would have inclined to her had he not seen the proof of his Lord. And thus [it was] that We should avert from him evil and immorality. Indeed, he was of Our chosen servants. (24) [Quran, Yusuf 12:23-24]
There is no way we can come between ourselves and our desires except Allah. Whatever you are strugging with and whatever your addictions are if you turn to Allah sincerely, Allah will protect you. Our sincerity means we are more concerned about how Allah Most High views us than how people view us. So turn to Allah because the worship of Allah is sweeter and more pleasurable than anything a sin can give us.
The inner beauty of good character and the decency of morality is just as attractive. In fact, this is more attractive and desirable than the outer beauty. Yusuf's beauty was so perfect, and when he showed decency and refuse the wife of the minister coming on he became more desirable to her than before. To live an upright life even in a society that is evil earns the respect of everybody around you. The real beauty is not the outer skin beauty but is of iman and taqwa. This what makes us attractive to another believer.
Always conduct ourselves with the dignity of Islam and good mannerisms in all our affairs. Even in prison, Prophet Yusuf conducted himself with the dignity of Islam and good manners, that even the criminals recognized his piety and goodness.
وَدَخَلَ مَعَهُ ٱلسِّجْنَ فَتَيَانِ ۖ قَالَ أَحَدُهُمَآ إِنِّىٓ أَرَىٰنِىٓ أَعْصِرُ خَمْرًا ۖ وَقَالَ ٱلْءَاخَرُ إِنِّىٓ أَرَىٰنِىٓ أَحْمِلُ فَوْقَ رَأْسِى خُبْزًا تَأْكُلُ ٱلطَّيْرُ مِنْهُ ۖ نَبِّئْنَا بِتَأْوِيلِهِۦٓ ۖ إِنَّا نَرَىٰكَ مِنَ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ ﴿٣٦﴾
And there entered the prison with him two young men. One of them said, "Indeed, I have seen myself [in a dream] pressing wine." The other said, "Indeed, I have seen myself carrying upon my head [some] bread, from which the birds were eating. Inform us of its interpretation; indeed, we see you to be of those who do good." (36)[Quran, Yusuf 12:36]
The best da'wah is through your good character and manners. We need to exemply this in our lives as we interact with people, Muslims or non Muslims, and especially our own family.
This Ramadhan work on building our character. First identify our bad and blameworthy traits and make a sincere intention to rid of them.
Perhaps what we don't have is the biggest blessing. Imagine if you are very good looking and people would be interested in you all the time. Can you survive even a fraction of the tests that Prophet Yusuf went through? Whatever people have, don't be jealous. Whatever you have thank Allah and in whatever you don't have thank Allah as well. Allah already knew we are weak. If we were born into a multimillionaire or a royal family, with certain good looks or talents, with plenty of wealth, we would not have the strength to maintain our islamic identity. So Allah saves us by giving what He gave us. Whatever Allah gave us, these are the tools that we can pass our life exams with the best of grades, with a potential to get into the highest Paradise, Jannatul Firdaus. It is likely that if we were to be given a different life with different set of parameters we would fail miserably.
Prophet Yusuf has the most noble lineage. He was born in a household of a prophet (Ya'qub). His grandfather (Ishaq) and his greatfather (Ibrahim) are prophets. He had loving parents. But overnight he was trapped in a well, then sold into slavery, then jailed for no crime. Then overnight he became the minister of finance of all of Egypt. You need to go through a metaphorical well, metaphorical slavery and metaphorical dungence before you can get to the metaphorical palace.
May Allah grant us noble character, help us remove our blameworthy traits and replace them with praiseworthy traits. May Allah make us of the muttaqeen, the muhsinin, and the soliheen. May Allah cause us to die a Muslim and join us with the righteous. Aameen.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.
And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all.
Wassalaam
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