Istiʿṣām in the Qurʾan: Seeking Protection and Taking Its Means

One Qur'anic word, spoken by a woman against the man she pursued, holds the whole drama of Joseph's steadfastness, and teaches the difference between God's protection and the servant's striving to seek it.

By Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali Abouseif, President of the American Imams Academy (AIA)

In a palace with its doors shut stands a stranger of a youth with no one to help him, and before him a lady of rank, beauty and power. She bolts the doors and says, "Come, I am yours." No witness is present but God. The days pass, and the woman grows weary of his refusal. She gathers the women of the city, shows them her young man, and says what she had long concealed: ﴿وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدتُّهُ عَن نَّفْسِهِ فَاسْتَعْصَمَ﴾ "I did seek to seduce him, but he held firmly to his purity" (12:32). A single word condenses long nights of steadfastness, and it is a testimony that came from his adversary before it came from those who loved him. She did not say "he refused" or "he kept away." She said ista'sama, meaning that he sought for himself whatever would protect him and spent his utmost effort doing so. The form occurs nowhere else in the Qur'an. Al-Zamakhshari said of it: "Isti'sam is a form of intensification that signifies thorough refusal and strict self-guarding, as though he were already within protection ('ismah) and yet strove to gain more of it"^[1].

Thirteen Times in Five Forms

The root '-S-M occurs thirteen times in the Qur'an^[2]. The verb ya'simu ("to protect") occurs three times, among them ﴿وَاللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ﴾ "And God will protect you from the people" (5:67) and ﴿سَآوِي إِلَىٰ جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِي مِنَ الْمَاءِ﴾ "I will take refuge on a mountain that will protect me from the water" (11:43). I'tasama ("to hold fast") occurs five times, among them ﴿وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا﴾ "And hold fast, all together, to the rope of God" (3:103). Ista'sama ("to seek protection and strive for it") occurs once, in the story of Joseph. 'Asim ("one who protects") occurs three times, among them ﴿لَا عَاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ﴾ "Today there is no protector from God's decree except the one on whom He has mercy" (11:43). And 'isam ("marriage bonds") occurs once, in 60:10.

This count carries an observation that does not appear to someone who reads the word in isolation: the Qur'an has no noun "'ismah" at all. What it has are verbs and active participles. God "protects" (ya'simu), the servant "holds fast" (ya'tasimu) or "seeks protection" (yasta'simu), and there is no "protector" ('asim) but God. It is as though the Qur'an refuses to let protection be a quality attributed to a creature on its own account. It is an act that God performs upon a servant who has spent what lay within his power, and this is exactly what the scene of Joseph brings together.

From Holding On to Seeking a Hold

Al-Raghib al-Isfahani says: "Al-'asm is gripping, and al-i'tisam is clinging fast." Then, of ista'sama, he says: "Ista'sama means to cling fast, as though he sought what he could hold to against committing the indecency... that is, he sought out what would protect him"^[3]. The difference between i'tasama and ista'sama is therefore a difference in seeking: the first clings to what is already in hand, while the second searches for what will protect him and pursues it as one who does not feel safe about himself.

Ibn Ashur said: "Ista'sama is an intensive form of protecting oneself... so the meaning is that he refused as one protected would refuse"^[4]. The report closest to the wording of the verse is the one al-Tabari relays from Ibn Abbas: "so he refused," and Ibn Kathir holds the same^[5]. Al-Tabari also relays from Qatadah: "so he resisted" (fa-ista'sa). That comes from a different root, '-S-Y, and although it may approach the sense of refusal, it does not carry what ista'sama carries of seeking safeguarding and diligently pursuing what shields.

Among the finest things al-Raghib said: "The protector and the protected are bound together, so whichever is attained, the other is attained with it." There is no protector except for one who is protected, and no one is protected except through a protector. This is the foundation of the whole subject.

The Scene in Its Order

The word "so he sought protection" did not descend suddenly in the thirty-second verse. It is the fruit of a chain. It began with seeking refuge in God when she tried to seduce him: ﴿مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّهُ رَبِّي أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَايَ ۖ إِنَّهُ لَا يُفْلِحُ الظَّالِمُونَ﴾ "God forbid! He is my lord, who has made my stay good. Truly, wrongdoers do not prosper" (12:23). Three arguments in a single breath: I am under God's protection; the one who took me in has been good to me; and there is no success in wrongdoing. Then came the inclination and the proof, then the race to the door: ﴿وَاسْتَبَقَا الْبَابَ﴾ "And they raced to the door" (12:25), then her confession, then his prayer.

What has troubled people most is His saying: ﴿وَلَقَدْ هَمَّتْ بِهِ وَهَمَّ بِهَا لَوْلَا أَن رَّأَىٰ بُرْهَانَ رَبِّهِ﴾ "She desired him, and he would have desired her, had he not seen the proof of his Lord" (12:24). We shall not lay out the disagreement here, but we relate what the great scholars said. Al-Tabari said: "The meaning of hamm (inclination) toward a thing in the speech of the Arabs is a person's speaking within himself about committing it, so long as he does not commit it," and he made the proof "a sign from among the signs of God, which restrained him from committing what he had inclined toward." Al-Zamakhshari said: "What is meant is that his soul inclined toward intimacy and was drawn to it out of the desire of youth... and he was breaking what was in him and repelling it by looking to the proof of God," and then he said: "Had his inclination been like hers, out of resolve, God would not have praised him as one of His devoted servants." Ibn Ashur went further: "It appears that Joseph, peace be upon him, was not touched by any inclination toward the wife of the Aziz, because God protected him from inclining to sin by what He showed him of the proof"^[6].

Despite their differences over the meaning of the inclination, they agreed that Joseph remained within the precincts of protection, that the proof was from God, and that the verse closes with His words: ﴿كَذَٰلِكَ لِنَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ السُّوءَ وَالْفَحْشَاءَ ۚ إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُخْلَصِينَ﴾ "Thus did We, that We might turn away from him evil and indecency. Truly, he was one of Our devoted servants." The turning away is God's act, and then "so he sought protection" comes to name what was the servant's part. Here the balance becomes clear to us: were there protection alone, the meaning of trial would be void; were there effort alone, the weakness of the soul would let him down.

A Shirt Torn from Behind

The race to the door was no passing scene, for the Qur'an recorded it in detail: ﴿وَاسْتَبَقَا الْبَابَ وَقَدَّتْ قَمِيصَهُ مِن دُبُرٍ وَأَلْفَيَا سَيِّدَهَا لَدَى الْبَابِ﴾ "They raced to the door, and she tore his shirt from behind, and they found her master at the door" (12:25). He runs toward deliverance and she runs after him, pulling him, so that the shirt is torn from the back. Then the judgment comes from her own family, not from his: ﴿وَشَهِدَ شَاهِدٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِهَا إِن كَانَ قَمِيصُهُ قُدَّ مِن قُبُلٍ فَصَدَقَتْ وَهُوَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ، وَإِن كَانَ قَمِيصُهُ قُدَّ مِن دُبُرٍ فَكَذَبَتْ وَهُوَ مِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ﴾ "And a witness from her household bore witness: if his shirt is torn from the front, she has spoken truly and he is of the liars; but if his shirt is torn from behind, she has lied and he is of the truthful" (12:26-27). So the most eloquent proof of his seeking protection was a piece of cloth torn from behind: a garment saying that its wearer was turning away from sin, and that the one advancing was the pursuer. It is as though the Qur'an wishes to teach us that the effect of isti'sam is seen on the body, the clothing and the road, not in speech alone. After all this the Aziz said: ﴿إِنَّهُ مِن كَيْدِكُنَّ إِنَّ كَيْدَكُنَّ عَظِيمٌ، يُوسُفُ أَعْرِضْ عَنْ هَذَا﴾ "This is of your guile; truly, your guile is great. Joseph, turn away from this" (12:28-29).

It is striking that the Qur'an did not place deliverance in Joseph's hand alone, nor in the witness's hand alone. The means came one after another: a seeking of refuge in the heart, an escape by the feet, a witness from her household, and a shirt that speaks. This is what God does for the one who seeks protection: He opens for him the doors of vindication from where he does not expect.

A Threat Heard That Only Strengthens Resolve

After the confession, the woman raised her voice before the women: ﴿وَلَئِن لَّمْ يَفْعَلْ مَا آمُرُهُ لَيُسْجَنَنَّ وَلَيَكُونًا مِّنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ﴾ "And if he does not do what I command him, he will surely be imprisoned and will surely be among the humbled" (12:32). Ibn Ashur said: "She said that within his hearing, to intimidate him." In the writing of "wa-la-yakunan" with an alif, it is the light nun of emphasis written as an alif following the rule of pausing, as al-Zamakhshari pointed out^[4]. The threat is thus emphasized twice, with the heavy nun in "la-yusjananna" and with the light one in "wa-la-yakunan." That is, the pressure was not passing, but enticement followed by intimidation, insistence followed by threat.

Here it becomes clear that isti'sam is not a moment that passes but a stance that is tested with every insistence and then with every threat. Ibn Kathir drew this picture when he said: "That is, God protected Joseph, peace be upon him, with a great protection and guarded him, so he refused her with the utmost refusal and chose prison over that. And this is among the highest stations of perfection: that with his youth, his beauty and his completeness, his mistress calls him, she who is the wife of the Aziz of Egypt and who, besides, is at the height of beauty, wealth and rank, and he refuses that and chooses prison over it, out of fear of God and hope for His reward"^[5].

A Prayer by Which the Servant Casts His Burden upon His Lord

What did Joseph say when he heard the threat? He did not defy, and he did not boast of his strength. He raised his hands: ﴿قَالَ رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ ۖ وَإِلَّا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ﴾ "He said: My Lord, prison is dearer to me than what they invite me to. And unless You turn away their guile from me, I may incline toward them and be among the ignorant" (12:33). How truthful these words are! In a single verse he joined practical precaution ("prison is dearer to me") with complete need of God ("and unless You turn away from me"). He did not trust himself, he who had stood firm before the fiercest temptation, but said: if You do not turn it away from me, I will incline. Here lies the reality of isti'sam: it is not self-confidence but knowledge of one's weakness, having taken refuge with the Strong. And after it: ﴿فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ فَصَرَفَ عَنْهُ كَيْدَهُنَّ﴾ "So his Lord answered him and turned away their guile from him" (12:34).

This is what the Prophet ﷺ explained in what Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported: «ما استُخلف خليفةٌ إلا له بطانتان: بطانةٌ تأمره بالخير وتحضّه عليه، وبطانةٌ تأمره بالشر وتحضّه عليه، والمعصومُ مَن عصم الله» "No caliph is appointed but that he has two circles of intimates: one that commands him to good and urges him to it, and one that commands him to evil and urges him to it; and the protected one is he whom God protects"^[7]. The protected one is the one whom God protects, not the one who relies on himself. That is why isti'sam rests on three: a soul that commands evil, a servant who seeks, and a Lord who protects.

"Except What My Lord Has Mercy On": When the Steadfast Confesses His Weakness

If we wish to know how Joseph himself viewed his steadfastness, let us hear his words after his innocence appeared and he came out of prison honored: ﴿ذَٰلِكَ لِيَعْلَمَ أَنِّي لَمْ أَخُنْهُ بِالْغَيْبِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي كَيْدَ الْخَائِنِينَ، وَمَا أُبَرِّئُ نَفْسِي ۚ إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّي غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ﴾ "That is so that he may know that I did not betray him in his absence, and that God does not guide the guile of the treacherous. And I do not declare myself innocent; the soul is ever inclined to evil, except those on whom my Lord has mercy. Truly, my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful" (12:52-53). Look at this man who stood firm where men fall: he did not say "I am the one who held firm," but said, "And I do not declare myself innocent." Then he returned all the credit to its source: "except what my Lord has mercy on."

Between this phrase and the phrase of Noah, peace be upon him, there is a subtle link: ﴿لَا عَاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ﴾ "Today there is no protector from God's decree except the one on whom He has mercy" (11:43). In both places there is an exception made through mercy: the true Protector is God, and the protected is the one He has shown mercy. Therefore the highest degrees of isti'sam belong to the one who believes that his steadfastness is a gift and not an entitlement. Whoever sees his steadfastness as coming from himself stands at the edge of falling, and whoever sees it as coming from the mercy of his Lord grows in need and so grows in being guarded.

The False Refuges

Among the subtleties of the root is that the Qur'an sets holding fast to God over against other holdings-fast that avail nothing. Noah's son said: ﴿سَآوِي إِلَىٰ جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِي مِنَ الْمَاءِ﴾ "I will take refuge on a mountain that will protect me from the water," and his father answered him: ﴿لَا عَاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ﴾ "Today there is no protector from God's decree except the one on whom He has mercy" (11:43). He took the mountain to be a protector, and the mountain does not protect from God's decree. How many people make for themselves a mountain to take refuge on: wealth, or status, or connections, or the thought that "someone like me would not fall into this"! And the Qur'an warns against all these mountains: ﴿مَا لَكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ عَاصِمٍ﴾ "You will have no protector from God" (40:33).

On the other side stands another woman who faced a similar scene, and she began as Joseph began: by taking refuge in God. Mary, peace be upon her, said to the spirit who appeared to her as a man: ﴿إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِالرَّحْمَٰنِ مِنكَ إِن كُنتَ تَقِيًّا﴾ "I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing" (19:18). The first weapon of the steadfast in the Qur'an was seeking refuge, before any argument or stratagem.

A Man Who Says: "I Fear God"

Among the seven whom God will shade in His shade on the day when there is no shade but His, as is established in the two Sahihs: «ورجلٌ دعته امرأةٌ ذات منصبٍ وجمال، فقال: إني أخاف الله» "and a man whom a woman of rank and beauty called, and he said: I fear God"^[8]. The causes of temptation are complete: rank, beauty and seclusion, and his answer is a word that comes from a heart that fears: "I fear God." It is Joseph's very word in another form.

In the story of the people of the cave there is a second human portrait that pulses with life. The second of them said that he loved a cousin of his as intensely as men love women, and sought her for himself but she refused, until she was struck by one of the years of famine and came to him. He gave her a hundred and twenty dinars on the condition that she yield herself to him, and when he sat between her legs she said: "Fear God, and do not break the seal except by right"^[9]. He rose and left her. Thus the restraint may come from the other side: a single word falling into a heart that holds a store of faith, and reviving it. Whoever has no store gains nothing from the admonition when it comes, while whoever has built up his heart finds the word as though it had been waiting for him.

Isti'faf: A Brother to Isti'sam in Construction

The Qur'an has another form of the same pattern serving the same meaning: ﴿وَلْيَسْتَعْفِفِ الَّذِينَ لَا يَجِدُونَ نِكَاحًا حَتَّىٰ يُغْنِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ﴾ "And let those who cannot find the means to marry keep themselves chaste until God enriches them from His bounty" (24:33), and His saying ﴿وَأَن يَسْتَعْفِفْنَ خَيْرٌ لَّهُنَّ﴾ "But to abstain is better for them" (24:60). The sin and ta in yasta'fifna are like the sin and ta in ista'sama: a seeking and striving to attain chastity ('iffah), not merely a state that arrives of its own accord. So the Qur'an teaches us that purity is sought as provision is sought, and that steadfastness is a craft with its own means.

Among these means is what the Sunnah brought. The Prophet ﷺ said: «يا معشر الشباب، من استطاع منكم الباءة فليتزوج، فإنه أغضّ للبصر وأحصن للفرج، ومن لم يستطع فعليه بالصوم، فإنه له وِجاء» "O company of young men, whoever among you is able to marry, let him marry, for it lowers the gaze and guards the chastity; and whoever is not able, let him fast, for it is a shield for him"^[10]. In it is ease through the lawful for the one who can, and discipline of the soul through fasting for the one who cannot, while lowering the gaze is the first step of the road. In the Qur'an: ﴿قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ﴾ "Tell the believers to lower their gaze and guard their chastity" (24:30), where lowering the gaze is placed before guarding chastity: guarding begins with the glance, and whoever does not guard the eye will find it hard to guard what comes after. And He says: ﴿وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا﴾ "And do not approach adultery" (17:32). The prohibition of approaching is stronger than the prohibition of the act, for it closes the road before it begins.

"The Devoted" and the Secret of Being Guarded

The twenty-fourth verse closes with His words: ﴿إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُخْلَصِينَ﴾ "Truly, he was one of Our devoted servants." It has been recited with a fathah on the lam (mukhlasin) and with a kasrah (mukhlisin), and both enrich the meaning: with the fathah, it is God who chose him and singled him out; with the kasrah, it is he who devoted his religion to God. So the Qur'an joins the servant's sincerity and the Lord's choosing in a single word. From this we understand that steadfastness at the time of temptation does not begin at the locked door but long before it, in the hours of solitude in which the servant built his bond with his Lord. That is why the first thing Joseph uttered when she tried to seduce him was "God forbid!", because he returned to what had settled in his heart beforehand.

Five Pillars

From reflecting on the scene and the hadiths, five pillars become clear: magnifying God in the heart at the moment of the summons ("God forbid!"); cutting off the cause rather than bargaining with it ("they raced to the door"); need of God together with taking the means ("and unless You turn away their guile from me"); accepting the worldly price with contentment ("prison is dearer to me"); and then perseverance, for one who stood firm once may be asked to stand firm many times. Joseph was solicited, then threatened, then imprisoned, and he did not change.

Over against it stands the claimed isti'sam: its owner lingers at doors, boasts of his strength, walks toward places of suspicion and then claims to be fortified. In the Qur'an there is that which repels this conceit: ﴿وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا﴾ "And man was created weak" (4:28).

When Adversaries Bear Witness

Joseph's seeking of protection did not remain a secret. After years, the king gathered the women: ﴿مَا خَطْبُكُنَّ إِذْ رَاوَدتُّنَّ يُوسُفَ عَن نَّفْسِهِ ۚ قُلْنَ حَاشَ لِلَّهِ مَا عَلِمْنَا عَلَيْهِ مِن سُوءٍ﴾ "What was your affair when you sought to seduce Joseph? They said: God forbid! We know of no evil in him," and then the wife of the Aziz said: ﴿الْآنَ حَصْحَصَ الْحَقُّ أَنَا رَاوَدتُّهُ عَن نَّفْسِهِ وَإِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ﴾ "Now the truth has come to light. It was I who sought to seduce him, and he is truly among the truthful" (12:51). The steadfastness that was hidden became public testimony on the tongue of one who had been an adversary. This does not mean that we do good so that our reputation will be raised, but that we may rest assured that God does not let the reward of those who do good be lost.

From the Individual's Isti'sam to the Community's I'tisam

Then the Qur'an moves from the individual's seeking of protection in his trial to the community's holding fast in its common affair: ﴿وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا﴾ "And hold fast, all together, to the rope of God, and do not be divided" (3:103), ﴿وَمَن يَعْتَصِم بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ﴾ "And whoever holds fast to God has been guided to a straight path" (3:101). The one root guards the individual from slipping and guards the community from division, and what protects both is one: clinging to God and to His revelation.

Temptation Today: The Structure Is the Same

The forms of temptation change in this age, but its structure remains: an invitation in seclusion, an enticement with some benefit, and a threat if he refuses. It may be in a workplace where a person of influence holds power, or in a digital space with no doors. The Qur'an teaches us a method: begin with the remembrance of God and seeking refuge in Him at the hour of temptation; take the tangible means, so get up, leave, delete, block; then ask God to turn it away from you, and be ready to bear the price of steadfastness. And to educators: teach the young that isti'sam is not withdrawal or a complex but strength and prudence, for Joseph was in the place where temptation is strongest and chose obedience, and it does not contradict this that the servant confesses his weakness before his Lord.

Conclusion

One word, "so he sought protection," condensed the whole scene of steadfastness: a seeking of refuge in God, a proof from Him, a race to the door, a prison dearer than disobedience, and a prayer for being turned away. In the distinction between protection ('ismah), which is God's act, and isti'sam, which is the servant's act, lies a lesson for every Muslim: ask for protection, strive for its means, and do not feel secure about yourself. Our Lord, do not leave us to ourselves for the blink of an eye, and protect us with what You protected Your devoted servants with: ﴿وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ ۖ فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ﴾ "And hold fast to God; He is your Protector, and what an excellent Protector and what an excellent Helper" (22:78).