Do not love me!

When Sayyiduna Yusuf (alaihis-salam) was put into prison, after the incident with the women and the wife of Egypt’s governor, he became the centre of attention of the prison population.

Why would he not?

Indeed, he was a person of amicable individuality and unparalleled inner and outer beauty. It was no surprise that the inmates were attracted to him as a magnet would be attracted to iron.

Once the prison officer or one of the inmates approached Yusuf (alaihis-salam) and said to him: “I love a very much!”

In reply to this compliment, Yusuf (alaihis-salam) responded in a manner that was a bit puzzling for that person.

Yusuf (alaihis-salam) said:

“For God’s sake, do not love me! Because whenever I have been loved by someone, I have suffered one way or the other. When I was a child, my paternal aunt loved me. As a result, I was blamed for theft. Then, my father loved me. This led me to be thrown into a well at the hands of my brothers, be enslaved and expelled from my homeland. When the wife of the ‘Aziz (governor of Egypt) loved me, I ended up as an inmate in the prison”. (Tafseer Ibn Kathir and Tafseer Mazhari)