230. Who was made to forget by Shaitan?

230. Who was made to forget by Shaitan?

For the Quranic verse 12:42, we can attribute two different interpretations. i.e., either we can interpret as “Shaitan caused him to forget to mention it to his God” or we can interpret as “Yusuf (pbuh) forgot to remember his God (Allah)”.

In the Arabic verse, the word ‘rab’ has been used, which may be interpreted either as lord or God (Allah)

Certain people would say that Prophet Yusuf (pbuh) had to stay in prison for some years, since he sought the help of men and failed to remember Allah, instead of seeking the help of Allah.

Even though the above two interpretations are applicable, the first one is the appropriate interpretation; since seeking the help of men in certain matters wherein it is necessary, cannot be treated as not remembering Allah. The phrases such as ‘mention me to your lord’ certainly would not hurt ‘Iman’(belief in Allah) in anyway.

If such utterance of Prophet Yusuf (pbuh) was wrong, then we would have to say that we also should not seek the help of anybody in this world. Hence, the second interpretation (he forgot to remember Allah) is an outcome of ignorance.