Question
Kindly provide the source of this narration:
ان يوسف عليه السلام لما طال عليه الوقت في السجن قال: يارب جعلتني في السجن طويلاً! فقال الله: أنت سألت السجن فأعطيناك، ولو سألت العافية لعافيناك وقد ورد في القرآن على لسان يوسف عليه السلام: قال ربّ السجن أحبُّ إليّ مما يدعونني إليه
Translation
When Yusuf (‘alayhis salam) had spent a long time in prison, he said: “O Allah! You have kept me imprisoned for a long time’. Allah replied: ‘You asked for imprisonment so I granted it to you, had you asked for ‘aafiyah [protection] I would have protected you’. [Referring to the verse wherein] Yusuf (‘alayhis salam) had said: ‘O my Rabb! Imprisonment is more dear to me than [the haram] they are inviting me towards.'”
Answer
I have not come across this statement. ‘Allamah Baghawi (rahimahullah) has cited a similar narration in his Tafsir as the statement of someone (وقيل), not as a Hadith of Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) nor as the statement of a Sahabi.
The narration is as follows:
“If Yusuf (‘alayhis salam) had not said imprisonment is more dear to me he would not have been afflicted with imprisonment”
(Tafsirul Baghawi, Surah: 12 verse: 33)
On the contrary, some Mufassirun have stated that this statement of Yusuf (‘alayhis salam) (i.e., O My Rab! imprisonment is more dear to me) was not a du’a, his du’a in actual fact was the next part of that verse: “If you do not turn away their plot from me I may incline towards them”
This is substantiated by the next verse where Allah Ta’ala says he answered Yusuf (‘alayhis salam)’s du’a by averting their plot :
“So his Rabb accepted his du’a and turned their plot away from him”
(Refer: Ta’ wilatu Ahlis Sunnah – Tafsirul Maturidi- Surah, 12 verse: 33/34)
And Allah Ta’ala Knows best,
Answered by: Mawlana Suhail Motala
Approved by: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar
Checked by: Mawlana Haroon Abasoomar