Anxiety & worry

When the easy thing is the wrong thing

Yūsuf ﷺ chose a cell over what was being offered to him.

قَالَ رَبِّ ٱلسِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَىَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِىٓ إِلَيْهِ ۖ وَإِلَّا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّى كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُن مِّنَ ٱلْجَـٰهِلِينَ

…rabbi-s-sijnu aḥabbu ilayya mimmā yadʿūnanī ilayh, wa illā taṣrif ʿannī kaydahunna aṣbu ilayhinna wa akun mina-l-jāhilīn.

He said, "My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me. And if You do not avert from me their plan, I might incline toward them and [thus] be of the ignorant."

He does not claim to be strong. He says that unless he is protected he will give in. The prayer is an admission, not a boast.

Source

The Qur'an · 12:33

Qur'an
  • Qur'anic text in the Uthmani script via Quran.com; translation: Saheeh International
Read it at the source ↗

Turn to this when