Zuleika (legendary)
Encyclopedia
Zuleika is the name given to the wife of Potiphar
in Jewish legend and Muslim
scripture.
The most famous tale about Zuleika is told in a Jewish legend and in the Muslim
Qur'an
.
Zuleika was mocked by other aristocratic Egyptian ladies, her circle of friends, for being infatuated with a Hebrew slave boy. Inviting her friends to her home, Zuleika gave them all oranges and knives to peel them with. While they engaged in this task, Zuleika had Joseph
walk through the room. Distracted by his handsomeness, all the ladies cut themselves with the knives, drawing blood. Zuleika then reminded her friends that she had to see Joseph every day. Following this incident, her contemporaries no longer mocked her.
mystic poets Rumi and Hafiz. For Rumi, Zuleika's obsession with Joseph is a symptom and manifestation of the soul's great deep longing for God
. This, he insists, is true of any person's deep love for another.
Potiphar
Potiphar or Potifar is a person in the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph. Potiphar is said to be the captain of the palace guard and is referred to without name in the Quran. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave...
in Jewish legend and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
scripture.
The most famous tale about Zuleika is told in a Jewish legend and in the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
.
Zuleika was mocked by other aristocratic Egyptian ladies, her circle of friends, for being infatuated with a Hebrew slave boy. Inviting her friends to her home, Zuleika gave them all oranges and knives to peel them with. While they engaged in this task, Zuleika had Joseph
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
walk through the room. Distracted by his handsomeness, all the ladies cut themselves with the knives, drawing blood. Zuleika then reminded her friends that she had to see Joseph every day. Following this incident, her contemporaries no longer mocked her.
Great sinner or great lover
Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptural commentators have regarded Zuleika as a sinner and villainess. Notable exceptions are the great Sufi PersianPersian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
mystic poets Rumi and Hafiz. For Rumi, Zuleika's obsession with Joseph is a symptom and manifestation of the soul's great deep longing for God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. This, he insists, is true of any person's deep love for another.