And she certainly desired him, she sought sexual intercourse with him, and he would have desired her [too], he would have sought the same, had it not been that he saw the proof of his Lord: Ibn ‘Abbās said, ‘Jacob was made to appear before him, and he struck his [Joseph’s] breast, whereupon his [sexual] desire withdrew [from his body] through his fingernails (the response to lawlā, ‘had it not been’, has been omitted: [understood to be] la-jāma‘ahā, ‘he would have lain with her’). So it was, that We made him see the proof, that We might ward off from him evil, betrayal, and lewdness, [the act of] fornication. Truly he was of Our devoted servants, in terms of obedience (mukhlisīn: a variant reading has mukhlasīn, in other words, ‘chosen/purified [servants]’).
