The Quran

Preface

قالَ ما خَطبُكُنَّ إِذ راوَدتُنَّ يوسُفَ عَن نَفسِهِ ۚ قُلنَ حاشَ لِلَّهِ ما عَلِمنا عَلَيهِ مِن سوءٍ ۚ قالَتِ امرَأَتُ العَزيزِ الآنَ حَصحَصَ الحَقُّ أَنا راوَدتُهُ عَن نَفسِهِ وَإِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الصّادِقينَ

Yusuf Ali

(The king) said (to the ladies): “What was your affair when ye did seek to seduce Joseph from his (true) self?”¹ The ladies said: “God preserve us! no evil know we against him!” Said the ?Aziz?s wife: “Now is the truth manifest (to all): it was I who sought to seduce him from his (true) self: He is indeed of those who are (ever) true (and virtuous).²

Joseph’s message was conveyed by the messenger to the king, who sent for the ladies concerned. Among them came the wife of 'Aziz. “What was this affair?” said the king: “tell me the whole truth.” (R).
The wife of the 'Aziz stood by, while the other ladies answered. Their answer was grudgingly acknowledging the truth of Joseph’s innocence and high principles, but holding a discreet silence about their own part in egging on the 'Aziz’s wife to sin, wrongdoing and revenge. When they had done, she began. She did not mince matters. She acknowledged her own guilt, freely and frankly. This was no time for her even to refer to other ladies-their jealousy, their gross mindedness, their encouragement of all that was frail or evil in herself.