His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿He said, 'What is the matter with you women when you sought to seduce Joseph? They said, 'Glory be to Allah! We know of no evil against him.' The wife of the Aziz said, 'Now the truth has been made clear; I sought to seduce him, and indeed, he is among the truthful.'﴾

The meaning: The king gathered the women and the wife of the Aziz with them, and he said to them: ﴿What is the matter with you?﴾ meaning: What was your story? This is an invitation from him to inform him of the story. The women responded with a good reply that shows their innocence altogether, and they gave Joseph some innocence. This is because when the king confirmed to them that they had sought to seduce him, they said - in response to that -: ﴿Glory be to Allah!﴾. It is possible - though unlikely - that their saying: ﴿Glory be to Allah!﴾ is in regard to Joseph, peace be upon him, and their saying: ﴿We know of no evil against him﴾ is not a complete exoneration. Rather, the complete exoneration would be describing the story in its entirety so that the error is confirmed in both aspects. If they had said: (We know of no evil against him except good), it would have been more inclusive in the exoneration. Al-Bukhari has titled these words as a testimony, and he included the saying of Usama bin Zaid in the Hadith of Ifk: 'We know of no evil against them except good.' As for Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, he does not accept this as a testimony of the witness; because it does not establish justice.

Some of the interpreters said: When the wife of the Aziz heard their statements and their distancing from falling into disgrace, a resolve and determination came to her, and she said: ﴿Now the truth has been made clear.﴾ 'Haqaqa' means: it has become clear after being hidden, as said by Al-Khalil and others. It is said that it is derived from 'hissa', meaning: his portion has become clear from the portion of falsehood. Then she admitted to herself the seduction and acknowledged the sin, and she completely exonerated Joseph.