Zuleika (legendary)
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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.
[edit] 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 Persian 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.
[edit] See also
- Yusuf and Zulaikha
- Potiphar Gubbins
- Zuleika Dobson
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