Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:30
And women in the city said, "The wife of al-'Azeez is seeking to seduce her slave boy; he has impassioned her with love. Indeed, we see her [to be] in clear error."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَقَالَ نِسْوَةٌ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ امْرَأَةُ الْعَزِيزِ تُرَاوِدُ فَتَاهَا عَنْ نَفْسِهِ قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا إِنَّا لَنَرَاهَا فِي ضَلالٍ مُبِينٍ (And women in the city said: The wife of the ʿAzīz seeks to seduce her young man to be with her; love has penetrated her to the pericardium of her heart; we truly see her in manifest error.) [12:30]
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, the Exalted, says: The women began to speak about the affair of Yūsuf and the wife of the ʿAzīz in the city of Egypt, and what was between them became widely known without remaining hidden. They said: امْرَأَةُ الْعَزِيزِ تُرَاوِدُ فَتَاهَا [note 59] — her slave (ʿabd) [note 60] — عَنْ نَفْسِهِ , as in:
19137 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: The talk spread through the city and the women spoke about his affair and her affair, and said: امْرَأَةُ الْعَزِيزِ تُرَاوِدُ فَتَاهَا عَنْ نَفْسِهِ — that is to say: her slave.
As for "al-ʿAzīz" — that is "the King" (al-malik) in Arabic, [note 61] from which the expression of Abū Duʾād derives:
"A pearl for which a merchant has dived — it was shown to the ʿAzīz on a day of dew." [note 62]
— by al-ʿAzīz he means the King, and it is derived from "al-ʿizza" (might). [note 63]
قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — He says: The love for Yūsuf has reached the "shaghāf" of her heart and passed beneath it, until it overwhelmed her heart.
"Shaghāf al-qalb" (the pericardium of the heart): the membrane and covering of the heart that encloses it. By it al-Nābigha al-Dhubyānī meant in his word:
"And a concern has seized my innermost being, which penetrated as the pericardium penetrates that the fingers seek." [note 64]
The exegetes agree with what we have said about this.
Mention of who said that:
19138 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār informed me; he heard ʿIkrima say concerning His word شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا : "The love for him has penetrated beneath the pericardium of the heart."
19139 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "The love for him has penetrated into the pericardium of her heart."
19140 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "The love for him has penetrated into the pericardium of her heart."
19141 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "The love for him was in the pericardium of her heart."
19142 — [It was related to us, he said:] Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — identical to the narration of Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad via Shabāba.
19143 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: My father related to me, saying: My uncle related to me, saying: My father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "He has seized her by his love."
19144 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "It has overwhelmed her."
19145 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us — and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us — on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ayyūb ibn ʿĀʾidh al-Ṭāʾī, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "Al-mashghūf" is the lover, and "al-mashʿūf" [note 65] is the madman. [note 66]
19146 — [And by it], he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Ashab, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ and Al-Ḥasan — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — one of them said: "The love has penetrated her innermost being," and the other said: "The love has truly touched her."
19147 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of Al-Ḥasan — concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "The love has penetrated her innermost being." Yaʿqūb said: Abū Bishr said: The people of Medina say: "The love has penetrated her innermost being."
19148 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of Al-Ḥasan, he said: I heard him say concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا : "The love has penetrated her innermost being." And the people of Medina say that.
19149 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of Qurra, on the authority of Al-Ḥasan — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "The love has penetrated her innermost being completely." [note 67]
19150 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Abū Qaṭan related to us, saying: Abū al-Ashab related to us, on the authority of Al-Ḥasan — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "His love has penetrated her innermost being."
19151 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Al-Ḥasan — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "It has penetrated her innermost being."
19152 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "The love for him has penetrated her innermost being."
19153 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda — concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that is to say: "He has seized her."
19154 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "The love has seized her."
19155 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: "It is the love that clings to the heart."
19156 — It was related to me on the authority of Al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us — he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا : "She has perished through his love." And "al-shaghāf" is the pericardium of the heart.
19157 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī — قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا — that he said: "Al-shaghāf" is a skin upon the heart that is called "the tongue of the heart" [note 68]; he says: The love has passed through the skin until it reached the heart.
There was disagreement among the Qurʾān reciters over the reading of this.
The general reading of the reciters of the great cities is: قَدْ شَغَفَهَا with the ghain (gh) — in accordance with the interpretation I have described.
Abū Rajāʾ read it: "qad shaʿafahā" with the ʿayn (ʿ). [note 69]
19158 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Abū Qaṭan related to us, saying: Abū al-Ashab related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ: "qad shaʿafahā."
19159 — [It was related to us], he said: Khalf related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Ashab — or ʿAwf, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ: "qad shaʿafahā ḥubban" — with the ʿayn.
19160 — [It was related to us], he said: Khalf related to us, saying: Maḥbūb related to us: ʿAwf read it "qad shaʿafahā."
19161 — [It was related to us], he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Usayd, on the authority of al-Aʿraj: "qad shaʿafahā ḥubban." He said: "shaʿafahā" when he loves her.
Those who read it thus interpreted the meaning of the word as: the love has penetrated her entirely.
Some of the linguists of the Kufan school said: It comes from the expression: "qad shuʿifa bihā" (he has been swept away by her) — as if he says: he has been completely carried away by her, from "shaʿaf al-jibāl" (the peaks of the mountains).
It is related from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī that he said: "Al-shaghaf" is the pericardium of love, and "al-shaʿaf" is the fright of the animal when it is startled.
19162 — Al-Ḥārith related this to me, on the authority of Al-Qāsim, who said: This is related from Abū ʿAwāna, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of him.
Al-Ḥārith said: Al-Qāsim said: Ibrāhīm holds the opinion that the origin of "al-shaʿaf" is fright. He said: This is also correct if he said it as to its origin, but the Arabs sometimes borrowed the word and used it in another context; thus Imruʾ al-Qays said:
"Do you kill me while you have taken possession of her heart, as the man who applies ointment disturbs the animal that is given ointment?" [note 70]
He said: "shaʿaf of the woman" is through love, and "shaʿaf of the animal" is through fright — he likens the painful burning of love to the latter.
Ibn Zayd said concerning this:
19163 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا : "Al-shaghaf" and "al-shaʿaf" differ from each other; "al-shaʿaf" is with hatred, and "al-shaghaf" is with love.
But what Ibn Zayd said has no worth, for "al-shaʿaf" with the meaning of all-encompassing love is too well known in Arabic for anyone who has even the slightest acquaintance with the language to be ignorant of it.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct reading, in our view, is قَدْ شَغَفَهَا with the ghain, because of the consensus of the authoritative reciters concerning it.
إِنَّا لَنَرَاهَا فِي ضَلالٍ مُبِينٍ — they said: We see the wife of the ʿAzīz, in her seducing her young man to be with her and the overwhelming of her heart by his love, truly in an error (ḍalāl, going astray) in her conduct, and deviating from the straight path — مُبِينٍ (manifest): to whoever considers and knows it, that it is error, a going astray that is no correct path. What moved them — the women — to say what they said and to speak about her affair and the affair of Yūsuf was — according to what is mentioned — a stratagem on their part, so that they might be able to see Yūsuf. [note 71]
