His saying: {And she certainly desired him, and he would have desired her}1. She desired him in order to attain science without a Gate or a Veil; and "he desired her": meaning he guided her to the Gate and the Veil. His saying: {had he not seen the proof of his Lord}2. The "Proof" is the evidence toward which He pointed. {Thus [it was] that We should avert from him evil and immorality. Indeed, he was of Our chosen servants}3. He—Sublime and Exalted—has no evil in Him nor immorality. {Indeed, he was of Our chosen servants} is a conjunction applying to Zulaikha, because she is a masculine personage and not in reality a female; rather she is among the chosen servants and angels of God.
His saying: {And they both raced to the door, and she tore his shirt from the back}4. An indication from the Meaning to the Gate, so that he might guide her to the Name, and then the Name might guide her to the Meaning. At that moment she tore his shirt. The "Shirt" is the Heart in the language of the Arabs—meaning the very essence of the thing. The poet said:
If a trait of mine has displeased you, then draw out my clothes from your clothes and they shall be drawn.
Meaning: free my heart from your heart. Another said:
I pierced his clothes with the solid spear, for the noble one is not prohibited to the spears.
Meaning: I pierced his heart with the spear. I [Zulaikha] "lost" the shirt and reached the recognition of the Truth from its path and its face.