Answering a doubt: How did Joseph care about the wife of Al-Aziz, even though he was chaste?!

 

Allah the Almighty said: (And she certainly desired him, and he would have desired her had he not seen the proof)
Her desire was to commit a sin. As for Joseph , peace be upon him, if he had not seen the proof of his Lord, he would have desired her - due to human nature - but he did not desire her because of the existence of the proof.
So there is an order of precedence in the speech, meaning: had he not seen the proof of his Lord, he would have desired her.
Abu Hatim said: I was reading the strange verses of the Qur’an to Abu Ubaidah, and when I came to the statement: (And she certainly desired him, and he would have desired her), Abu Ubaid said: This is an order of precedence and delay; as if he meant: And she certainly desired him, and had he not seen the proof of his Lord, he would have desired her.
Al-Qurtubi, Al-Jami’ li-Ahkam al-Qur’an 9/165.
Al-Shanqeeti said in Adwa’ al-Bayan [3/58]:

“The answer to this is from two aspects:

First: What is meant by Joseph’s concern was a thought of the heart that was diverted from it by the deterrent of piety. Some of them said: It is the natural inclination and instinctive desire restrained by piety. There is no sin in this, because it is an innate matter that is not subject to obligation, as in the hadith: That the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, used to divide his time among his wives fairly, then he would say: “O God, this is my division of what I control, so do not blame me for what I do not control,” meaning the inclination of the heart. Abu Dawud, Sunan, hadith no. 2134.

This is similar to the fasting person’s inclination towards cold water and food, even though his piety prevents him from drinking and eating while he is fasting.

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “Whoever intends to do something bad but does not do it, a complete good deed will be recorded for him.” Narrated by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih, No. 6491, and by Muslim, No. 207.

The second answer: Joseph , peace be upon him, did not have any worries at all, but rather it was denied him due to the existence of evidence.

Until he said: This aspect that Abu Hassan and others chose is the most appropriate according to the rules of the Arabic language.
Then he began to elaborate on the evidence for what he preferred, and based on what was presented, the meaning of the verse, and God knows best, is that if Joseph , peace be upon him, had not seen the proof of his Lord for them, but when he saw the proof of his Lord, he did not intend to do it, and it did not happen from him at all.
Likewise, merely intending to do something without doing it is not considered a sin.

And God knows best, and may God bless and grant peace to his noble Prophet.

Islam Question and Answer