ভূমিকা

Verily we see her in manifest error’.” The term /šaqaf/ refers to the complications of the upper part of the heart, or of the pericardium. It is said that the Qur’anic phrase /šaqafaha hubban/ means that someone’s love has intermingled with the heart of the beloved which, in turn, increases the intensity of the love.

The incident between the wife of the ‘Aziz and Yusuf was a private affair, which the ‘Aziz had sought to cover up, but such affairs do not remain undisclosed for long, especially when they occur in the palaces of kinds and dwellings of wealthy aristocrats where rumor and hearsay abound. So finally the secret leaked out of the palace.

Some of the women of the city spread the rumor that the wife of ‘Aziz had tried to seduce her slave, and that her love for him had overcome her to the extent that it had conquered her entire heart.

The verse says: “And some women in the city said: ‘The wife of the ‘Aziz has sought to seduce her slave from his (pure) self; he has affected her with love...” So they laid the blame squarely at her door, saying: “…Verily we see her in manifest error’.” Those women, who said this statement and blamed Zulaykha therewith, were a group of Egyptian aristocratical women that, from the point of sensuality, were not so far from her.

“So when she heard about their malicious talk, she sent for them and prepared a repast for them.