“And the woman in whose house he was sought to seduce him. She bolted the doors and said, ‘Come to me!’ He said, ‘I seek refuge in Allah! Indeed, he is my master, who has made my stay good. Indeed, the wrongdoers will not prosper.’” (23)

“And the woman in whose house he was sought to seduce him”: that is, the wife of al-Aziz. Seduction means soliciting an act; here it means that she invited him to herself so that he might have intercourse with her. “She bolted the doors”: that is, she shut them tightly; and there were seven of them. “And she said, ‘Come to me!’”: that is, come forward and approach.

The people of Kufa and Basra recited it: hayta laka, with the ha and ta both vowelled with fatha.

The people of Medina and Syria recited it: hīta, with the ha vowelled with kasra and the ta with fatha.

Ibn Kathir recited it: haytu, with the ha vowelled with fatha and the ta with damma.

Al-Sulami and Qatada recited it: hi’tu laka, with the ha vowelled with kasra, the ta with damma, and with a hamza; meaning, “I have made myself ready for you.” Abu Amr and al-Kisa’i rejected this recitation, saying, “This has not been transmitted from the Arabs.”

The first is the form known among the Arabs.

Ibn Masud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught me to recite: hayta laka (1).”

Abu Ubaydah (2) said: Al-Kisa’i used to say, “It is a dialect of the people of Hawran that was brought to the Hijaz; its meaning is: ‘Come [to me]’ (3).”

Ikrimah said: In the Hawran dialect as well, it means, “Come forward.”

Mujahid and others said: It is an Arabic expression, a word used to urge and invite someone to come toward something.

Abu Ubaydah said: The Arabs do not use a dual, plural, or feminine form of hayta; rather, it remains in one form (4) in every case.