"And she certainly determined [to seduce] him." [Yusuf 12:23]

Asalaamu alaykum waRahmatullah waBarakaatuh.

I’ll tel you one Gem which amazed me at the depth of the Quranic Arabic;

In surah Yusuf, ayah [12:]23, Allah tells us [in translation of the meaning in english]:

وَرَاوَدَتْهُ الَّتِي هُوَ فِي بَيْتِهَا

“And she certainly determined [to seduce] him.” [Yusuf 12:23]

That’s a common English translation, it seems boring and simple. But now I’ll tell you the word in arabic and its deep meaning;

The word Allah used for ‘attempted seduce’ [on the pattern of muFaa’alah = ‘attempted’] is: رَاوَدَ

The Root letters of this word are; رودَ

1st meaning: ( رود) Ra-Waw-Dal = to seek, ask a thing gently, search (for food), go to and fro in a pasture, go round about.

2nd meaning: rawada – to long after, desire, seduce, entice, seduce against the will

3rd meaning: The word iradah is used for power and capacity with reference to subjugation as well as to option and choice. i.e. ruwaidan = to leave someone for a little while, go gently with them (even though you have authority to punish them.) [i.e. see surah Tariq 86:17])

So we’re not trying to do a Tafseer of the ayah, but just for personal reflection, we see the depth of the ayah so the wife of al Azeez could probably fit all those descriptions when trying to seduce Yusuf:

She would show him hints that; she likes him, she would go around him and give him attention, she would entice him, she would go around him ‘to and fro’, she would try to subjugate him while giving him abit of choice so that he might start getting attracted to her.
Subhaan Allah, the depth of Allah’s speech! This is all explained – just through one word Root; Raawada – رود / رَاوَدَ

[I got the definitions from Lane’s Lexicon [PRL Online], which is an Arabic-English Lexicon with definitions from Classical Arabic dictionaries.]