In Farid al-Din Attar's Elahi-Nameh, the tale of Joseph looking into a mirror serves as a Sufi allegory for the relationship between the Divine Beloved and creation. Attar illustrates that the mirror (representing the created world or the human heart) is necessary for the Beloved to witness and contemplate His own beauty. Additionally, the narrative warns against the vanity of the mirror itself, which foolishly mistakes the praise of the reflected image for its own merit, symbolizing the ignorance of the ego (nafs) in claiming ownership over divine attributes.