Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)

and ask him about the affair of women
who cut their hands.
My Lord is indeed well aware of their stratagems.’
51 The king said, ‘What was your business, women,
when you solicited Joseph?’
They said, ‘Heaven be praised!
We know of no evil in him.’
The prince’s wife said,
‘Now the truth has come to light!
It was I who solicited him,
and he is indeed telling the truth.’
52 [Joseph said], [I initiated] this [inquiry],
that he ¹ may know that I did not betray him
in his absence,
and that Allah does not further
the schemes of the treacherous.

53 Yet I do not absolve my [own carnal] soul,
for the [carnal] soul indeed prompts [men] to evil,
except inasmuch as my Lord has mercy.
Indeed my Lord is all-forgiving, all-merciful.’
54 The king said, ‘Bring him to me,
I will make him my favourite.’
Then, when he had spoken with him, he said,
‘Indeed today [onwards]
you will be honoured and trustworthy with us.’
55 He said,
‘Put me in charge of the country’s granaries.
I am indeed fastidious [and] well-informed.’