Talk of the City

But high society has a great deal of spare time, and the women get together and gossip. Some women of that particular level — the luxurious, extravagant, rich and famous upper class — somehow came to know of the event, and knew that the wife of al-ʿAzīz was in love with her slave. So they began to talk about it.

And women in the city said: the wife of al-ʿAzīz is seeking to seduce her slave boy; qad shaghafahā ḥubbā — indeed she loves him violently. We see her in plain error. How could she desire a slave? The gossip was going around, and the news was spreading from one gathering and club to another.