Then she gave each one of them a knife...

Then she gave each one of them a knife, and said to him (Yusuf): ‘Come forth to them.’ When they saw him, they extolled him, and (in their amazement) cut their hands and said (exclaimed): ‘Allah Blameless! This is not a human being. This is not other than a noble angel!’” When the wife of ‘Aziz became aware of the intrigue of the Egyptian women, she became very angry. Then she came up with an idea.

She invited them to an elaborate party which she had organized for them and gave each person a sharp knife to peel the fruit served. The verse says: “So when she heard about their malicious talk, she sent for them and prepared a repast for them. Then she gave each one of them a knife...” From the sequence of events, one can readily infer that she did not care much for her husband and was not afraid of him, so she had not learnt anything from the previous scandal.

She then ordered Yusuf to come into the hall so that they could see his beauty for themselves and stop blaming her for what she did. The verse says: “…and said to him (Yusuf): ‘Come forth to them.’...” According to several narrations, when the eyes of the Egyptian women fell upon him they were captivated by his unearthly beautiful stature and shining face.

The verse says: “…When they saw him, they extolled him, and (in their amazement) cut their hands...” They were so overwhelmed that they fell head over heels in love with him, which profoundly embarrassed him.

As soon as they saw how abstinent and chaste he was, and his attractive eyes in his innocent face which had blushed from modesty and shame clearly illustrated these facts, they all exclaimed that that young man had never done anything wrong in his life, he was not an ordinary man, but was a sublime heavenly angel. The verse continues saying: “…and said (exclaimed): ‘Allah Blameless! This is not a human being.

This is not other than a noble angel!’” Explanations The Arabic term /haša/ means: ‘excepting, with the exception’. It was a custom in that time that when they wanted to know a person exempted from an indecency, at first they exempted Allah and then that person. The wife of ‘Aziz was quite politically astute, through the banquet she had arranged she caught the women unawares and was able to expose the vulnerabilities of the rivals in that locality.

Talking about other people’s problems is not always a show of compassion. It can be the result of jealousy, or part of a plot against them.