“When she heard of their gossip, she invited them and prepared for them a banquet. She gave each of them a knife and said, ‘Come out before them.’ When they saw him, they were overwhelmed by him and cut their hands, saying, ‘Allah forbid! This is no mortal; he is none but a noble angel.’ (31)”

Regarding His saying, exalted is He, “And women in the city said...” to the end of the verse:

That is, the affair of Joseph and the woman became widely known in the city—the city of Egypt. It was also said that it was the city of Ayn al-Shams, and the women spoke of it. They were five women: the wife of the king’s chamberlain (1), the wife of the stable master, the wife of the baker, the wife of the cupbearer, and the wife of the prison warden. This was stated by Muqatil.

It was also said that they were women from among the Egyptian nobility:

“The wife of al-Aziz is seeking to seduce her servant”—that is, her Canaanite slave—“to yield himself to her”; that is, she was seeking indecency from her slave. “He has captivated her with love”; that is, his love had clung to her.

Al-Kalbi said: His love veiled her heart, so that she could think of no one but him.

It was also said that she loved him until his love entered the shaghaf of her heart—that is, its innermost part.

Al-Suddi said: The shaghaf is a thin membrane over the heart; that is, love entered the membrane until it reached the heart.

Al-Sha'bi and al-A'raj (2) recited it as “sha'afaha,” with the consonant 'ayn rather than ghayn. Its meaning is that love carried her away completely. The same word is used for the peaks of mountains. “Indeed, we see her to be in clear error”; that is, in manifest error. It was also said that this means she had forsaken the chastity and modest reserve expected of women of her standing.

“When Ra'il heard of their scheming”—that is, their words and their conversation, as Qatadah and al-Suddi said.