“Most important for the later literary development of the theme [equating and subsequent identification of the woman with the soul (nafs)], however, was a woman known to us from the Old Testament, Zulaikha (Sulaika) by name, the wife of Potiphar, who concentrated all her efforts on seducing Joseph (Yusuf). Countless poets have turned to her as a nafs symbol, and it goes without saying that this nafs is purified by boundless love and its resultant fathomless sorrow and is finally reunited with Yusuf. At the end of the road, the indefatigably seeking, unspeakably suffering, loving woman finds the incomparable beauty she so ardently sought manifested in Yusuf. Seen in this light, the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha is the story of the soul yearning passionately for the source of all beauty, for God. And many a seeker (both male and female) has identified with Zulaikha.”
Annemarie Schimmel, My Soul is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam (Amazon.com)
Surat Yusuf is my personal favourite especially for Zuleikha.
(via thearanadiscoteca)
(Source: muslimwomeninhistory, via mybrotherspeach)
