The Story of Joseph in the Quran I
Every story told in the Quran whether a biblical one or a contemporary one is told to teach a moral or an ethical lesson. In addition, when a biblical story is retold, it often corrects either the historical facts, the lessons to be learned from them, or both.
This will become evident from reading the story of Joseph in the Quran and comparing it with its counter version in the Torah. The story as told in Genesis 37–50 is too long to be used here so I will copy a summary that was published in Wikipedia:
“His story is told in Genesis (37–50). Joseph, the most beloved of Jacob’s sons, is hated by his envious brothers. Angry and jealous of Jacob’s gift to Joseph, a resplendent “coat of many colors,” the brothers seize him and sell him to a party of Ishmaelites, or Midianites, who carry him to Egypt.”
The story of Joseph will be told in two segments and a comparison will be made to the biblical accounts that I encourage the reader to draw their own conclusions.
The story of Joseph is retold in the Quran with a great many variations from the way it was told in Genesis 37, and the reader is encouraged to read both and deduct whatever lesson they can. The only commonality between the two versions is the names. And the dream of Joseph of having eleven stars, the sun, and the moon prostrating to him.
From the Quran, 12: 3–9
“We narrate to you (Muhammad) the best of stories in this revealed Quran that you were not aware of before. When Joseph told his father:’ O my father I saw in my dream that eleven stars, the sun and the moon prostrating to me.’
He said, O my son: ‘Don’t tell that to your brothers lest they plot against you out of jealousy, Satan is a great enemy. And so, your Lord will favor you with the power of interpreting dreams and will cap His blessings on you and the family of Jacob as He has done with your forefathers Abraham and Isaac.
Verily Joseph and his brothers offer lessons for the inquisitor. They (the brothers) said that our father favors Joseph and his brother (Benjamin) over the whole bunch of us. He is in manifest error. Kill Joseph or cast him far away so you regain the attention of father, and you will become righteous folk.”
So, they talk their father into allowing Joseph to go with them for an outing of fun and play. Once away from home, they elected not to kill Joseph but rather to deposit him in a watering well so he could be picked up later by some passing caravan, and that is what happened.
Joseph was picked up by a caravan and they took him to Egypt and sold him to the Potiphar (referred to in the Quran as the honorable one). The Potiphar told his wife to treat him well because they may adopt him as a son.
One day, the wife while alone in the house, tried to seduce Joseph but he rejected her advances and when he tried to run away, she chased after him and, in the process, tore his shirt. Coincidently, at that same moment, the master returns to his house and his wife greets him at the door complaining that Joseph was trying to seduce her. Joseph denies the charges and claims that she went after him. A family member opinioned that to find the truth, examine the torn shirt. If it was torn from the front, then she is telling the truth but if it was torn from the back, then he was telling the truth. The shirt was torn from the back.
The Potiphar ordered his wife to repent and tried to forget the matter, but rumors spread that the wife of the Potiphar was in love with their slave boy without shame. She invited a bunch of them to her house and then ordered Joseph to appear to them. When they saw him, they glorified God and said this is not a human, he is a gracious angel. The wife thereupon collected her courage and said if he did not comply with my orders, I would order him jailed. Joseph thought that jail was the best option for him, so the Potiphar decided to put him away in jail for a while.
The story will be concluded next week.