Al-Aziz
Definition
Al-aziz — 'the mighty one' — is the title of the high Egyptian official who purchased Yusuf from the slave traders who had bought him from the brothers who threw him in the well. His wife, referred to in classical exegesis as Zulaykhah though not named in the Quran, attempted to seduce Yusuf — and Yusuf's refusal, running to the door only to be caught and falsely accused, is narrated with a psychological intensity that Ibn Kathir treats with great care. The trial of Zulaykhah's attempted seduction is the pivotal moral test of Yusuf's story: a young, enslaved, beautiful man with no social power, faced with the advances of the most powerful woman in his immediate world. His choice to flee rather than comply, even when it cost him his freedom, is the supreme model of chastity in the face of temptation.
As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Kathir and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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