Potiphar's wife


Potiphar's wife is a minor character in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. She was the wife of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard in the time of Jacob and his twelve sons. According to the Book of Genesis, she falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape after he rejected her sexual advances, resulting in his imprisonment.
In Genesis she is given no name. In Jewish and Islamic tradition she is known as Zuleikha.

In Genesis

The Bible narrates her treatment of Joseph, slave to her husband Potiphar:

In Jewish sources

Jewish commentators also see some good motives in her actions. A story about Zuleikha is told in Sefer haYashar, where she 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, Zuleikha gave them all oranges and knives to slice them with. While they engaged in this task, Zuleikha had Joseph walk through the room. Distracted by his handsomeness, all the ladies accidentally cut themselves with the knives, drawing blood. Zuleikha then reminded her friends that she had to see Joseph every day. Following this incident, her contemporaries no longer mocked her.

In Islamic sources

Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptural commentators have regarded Zuleikha as a sinner and villainess. Notable exceptions are the great Muslim mystic poets Rumi and Hafiz. For Rumi, Zuleikha'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. Rashi comments that the wife of Potiphar saw through astrology that she would have children through Joseph. The astrological calculations however were slightly off. Asenath, her daughter became the wife of Joseph and therefore the wife of Potiphar begot grandchildren through Joseph.