splendid sight. They held knives with which to cut their food, and were so astonished that they cut their hands without realizing it.

It has been said that they severed their hands, but the apparent meaning indicates otherwise. Their cutting their hands meant wounding and slashing them with the knives, so overwhelmed were they by what they saw. She thus countered their verbal scheming with this practical scheme. This woman was supremely cunning among women.

[Surah Joseph (12): verse 40]
“You worship besides Him nothing but names which you and your forefathers have invented, for which Allah has sent down no authority. Judgment belongs to Allah alone. He has commanded that you worship none but Him. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know.” (40)

They actually worshipped the things bearing those names. However, they had bestowed false names upon them, such as al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzā: mere false, baseless names with no corresponding reality.

They called them gods and worshipped them because they believed that they truly possessed divinity. Yet they possessed nothing of divinity beyond the names, without the reality those names signify. Thus, they worshipped nothing but names, with no corresponding realities. This is like someone who calls onion skins meat and eats them. He is told, “You have eaten nothing of meat but its name, not the thing itself.” Likewise, someone who calls dust bread and eats it is told, “You have eaten nothing but the name of bread.” Indeed, this negation applies even more emphatically to their gods, for their divinity has no reality whatsoever. The point here concerns nothing but the name.

Reflect, then, on this precious insight into the words of Allah Most High.

[Surah Joseph (12): verse 53]
“I do not absolve myself. Indeed, the soul constantly urges one towards evil, except when my Lord bestows His mercy. Surely my Lord is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (53)

If it is asked, “How could he say, at the very moment his innocence became clear, ‘I do not absolve myself’?”

The answer is that a number of Quran commentators have indeed attributed these words to him. Others, more eminent than they, disagreed, saying that these were the words of the wife of al-‘Azīz, not Joseph, peace be upon him.

They are correct for several reasons.

First: these words continue the woman’s speech, namely her statement in 12:51–53: “Now