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0 The best story in the Quran (Surah 12)

Episode 16: The best story in the Quran

Surah 12: Joseph (Yusuf)

The best story in the Quran

2 We [Allah] revealed this surah in Arabic, so it's easy to understand. 3 It's the best story in the Quran.

Joseph and his brothers

4 Joseph said to his father, “I saw in a dream eleven planets, along with the sun and the moon, prostrating themselves before me. “

5 His father said, “Don't tell your brothers about your dream or they'll plot against you.”

8 Joseph's brothers said, “Our father likes Joseph more than us.”

9 One of them said, “Let's kill him or send him to another land.”

10 Another said, “No, let's throw him in a pit and some caravan will find him.”

11 So they said to their father, “Trust us with Joseph. 12 We'll take good care of him.”

13 Their father said, “I worry that a wolf will eat him.”

14 They said, “Don't worry. We'll protect him from the wolf.”

15 Then they went away and put Joseph in a pit.

16-17 They returned home, and said to their father, while weeping, “A wolf ate Joseph.”

18 Then they showed him Joseph' shirt with fake blood on it.

Joseph and the Egyptian's wife

19-20 Meanwhile, a caravan came by, picked up Joseph, and they sold him to an Egyptian for some silver coins.

23 The Egyptian's wife said to Joseph, "Come." 24 She wanted him, and he would have wanted her, if it wasn't for Allah.

25 While they raced to the door, she tore off his shirt. When her husband saw them, she said, “What will you do with him? Prison or a painful doom?”

26-27 Joseph said, “Hey, she tore my shirt.”

28 When her husband saw that the shirt was torn from behind, he said, “That's just like a woman. Women are filled with guile.”

31 The ruler's wife prepared a couch, gave every woman in the city a knife, and invited them to a feast. Then she said to Joseph, “Come out to them.” When the women saw Joseph, they were so excited that they cut their hands.

32 The ruler's wife said to the women, “See, you can't blame me. If he doesn't do what I want, he'll go to prison.”

33 Joseph said, “I'd rather go to prison.”

35 So they imprisoned Joseph.

36 Two other men went to prison with Joseph. They each had a dream. One dreamed about making wine, the other about carrying bread on his head that the birds ate. They asked Joseph to interpret them.

41 Joseph said to the wine-dreaming prisoner, “You will pour wine for your lord to drink.”

To the other prisoner, he said, “You will be crucified, and the birds will eat from your head.”

43 The king said to Joseph, “I saw in a dream seven lean cows eating seven fat cows. And seven green ears and seven dry ears of corn. OK you notables, interpret my dreams.”

44 They answered, “Those are some jumbled dreams!”

45 One of the prisoners told Joseph the king's dream and asked him to interpret it.

47-49 Joseph said, “There will be seven normal years followed by seven hard years. Then there will be a good year with wine and oil.”

50 The king said to Joseph, “Why did the women cut their hands?”

51 The women told the king, “He did nothing wrong.”

And the ruler's wife said, “I asked him to do an evil act.”

52 Joseph said, “I did nothing wrong.”

54 The king said to Joseph, “I trust you.”

55 Joseph said, “Entrust me with all the storehouses in the land.”

Joseph and his brothers (again)

58 Joseph's brothers came to visit Joseph. He recognized them, but they didn't recognize him.

59 He said to them, “Bring me one of your brothers or you'll get no measure from me.”

61 They said, “Okay, we'll try.”

62 Joseph told one of his young men to put some merchandise in their saddlebags.

63 When they got back to their father, they said to him, “We have to bring our brother to get a measure.”

65 When they opened their saddlebags, they found the merchandise. They said to their father, “What more can we ask? Here's our merchandise returned to us? Now we'll get an extra camel load.”

69 When they arrived back in Egypt, Joseph took the brother that they brought to him and said to him, “I'm your brother Joseph.”

70 He gave them their provisions, put a drinking cup in their saddlebags, and sent them on their way. Then he sent a crier who cried out: "Thieves!"

71 Joseph's brothers said, "What have you lost?"

72 The crier said, "The king's cup."

73 The brothers said, "We are not thieves."

76 Joseph searched his brothers' bags and found the cup.

78 They said to Joseph, “Our father is old, so take one of us instead of him.”

89 Joseph said to them, “I'm your brother Joseph. Do you remember what you did to me?”

90 They said, “Really? You're our brother Joseph? Allah likes you more than us and we are very sinful.”

92-93Joseph said, “That's OK. Allah forgives you. Take my shirt and put it on my father's face. That will make him a seer.”

94 When they returned home, their father said, “I can smell Joseph's breath, though you call me a dotard.”

96 Then a bearer of glad tidings came and laid it on his face, and he became a seer again.

99 When they returned to Egypt, Joseph said to his parents, “Come to Egypt.”

101Then Joseph said to Allah, “Make me die a Muslim.”

A few more words about this episode

Joseph (12:4a)
The Joseph that this verse refers to is the Joseph in Genesis. This is also the Joseph that the surah is named after.
(See Genesis 37-50 for the biblical story of Joseph.)
I saw in a dream eleven planets. (12:4b)
The eleven planets probably refers to Joseph's brothers, with the sun and the moon representing his mother and father.
They sold him to an Egyptian for some silver coins. (12:20)
Silver coins didn't exist at the time this transaction supposedly happened (~1800 BCE). The first evidence for them dates to around 600 BCE, 1200 years later.
You will be crucified (21:41)
Crucifixion was a Roman punishment unknown at the time of Joseph.
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