Hammad Ahmad

RLST 110: Intro to the Old Testament

Mr John Haas

Insight Paper 5

Joseph and his brothers, Judah and Tamar (Gen 37-50)

The story of Joseph is regarded very profound and popular amongst the three main Abrahamic

religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the Quran, the entire chapter 12 is dedicated to the

story of Joseph, revealed all at once to Muhammad while still in Makkah. The pagans of

Makkah, unfamiliar with Abrahamic concepts of prophethood and revelation, asked the Jews of

Yathrib for tests to question Muhammad’s prophethood. Keeping in mind that Muhammad had

no access to the Jewish and Christian scriptures while Makkah, the Jews gave them a test that if

Muhammad could narrate the story of Joseph in detail upon being questioned, his prophethood

could be considered. The Quran calls the story of Joseph “the best of stories”: “We relate to you

the best of stories in what we have revealed to you from this Quran, although you were, before it,

amongst the unaware.” (12:3) Unlike academic scholars, the Quran also addresses Prophetic

stories as to believed historically true on basis of faith in revelation. Jews and Christians may

accuse Muhammad of plagiarizing the Bible when it comes to prophetic stories. Narrating the

stories of Prophets in the absence of teachers or scriptures in Makkah is but evidence against this

accusation.

The story starts with young Joseph, the son of Jacob from Rachel, narrating to his father a dream

in which he sees the sun, moon, and 11 stars prostrating towards him. Jacob, himself a Prophet,

realized the signs of Prophethood emerging in his young son and realized he was to continue the
chain of Israelite prophethood, and thus warned him from narrating his dream to his half-

brothers. Jacob also revealed that God will grant Joseph the ability to interpret dreams. Due to

this incident, Jacob began to display more affection and caution towards Joseph and his full

brother Benjamin than the other siblings, causing jealousy to bud in the hearts of the other

siblings. One day, the brothers of Joseph, the seed of jealousy having bloomed, plotted to finally

get rid of him, either by killing him or casting him out to another land. One of the brothers,

Reuben, advised against the idea of killing him and decided on throwing him into a well, so

perhaps some travelers would find him and take him into slavery, thus away from the household

forever. They proposed to old Jacob to let them take young Joseph with them on their trip to tend

their cattle, to which Jacob displayed worry and hesitation that he be separated from Joseph for

the duration of their trip and made an excuse, “It saddens me that you go with him, I fear that a

wolf may eat him while you are of him unaware.” (12:13) The brothers convinced their father

and later used this very excuse after they threw carried out their plan.

Joseph was found by a caravan which stopped by the well to collect water and then sold into

slavery by his own brothers, who concealed that Joseph was their brother. They then slaughtered

a goat and smeared the blood on Joseph’s torn cloth, came home weeping to their father of how

what he feared had come true, much to the distress of the already weak and old Jacob, who wept

till he became blind. Joseph was bought by a chief minister of Egypt and ended up in a

comfortable residence, but his comfort was temporary. Joseph had reached adolescence and was

extremely handsome and attractive, and ended up attracting the wife of the minister, named

Zulaikha by Islamic tradition, who wished to seduce him. Joseph out of piety ran from her and in

an attempt to stop him, she ended up tearing his shirt. The minister walked in at that time and

Zulaikha immediately falsely accused Joseph of trying to seduce her. Due to the nature of such
an accusation, an elder from her family arbitrated that depending on wear his shirt was torn from,

the perpetrator of the act can be exposed. Joseph was proven innocent and Zulaikha admonished

by her husband in the words “It is surely a plot of you women! (to tarnish the reputation of

innocent men).”

Islamic tradition takes partly from this incident the doctrine that Prophets cannot commit major

sins; if close to approaching a major sin, God will intervene and prevent the sin. Prophets have

desires just like other humans do, but due to discipline and nearness to God, they avoid sins of

their own will. “And he would have inclined towards her had he not seen the sign of his Lord.

And thus, that we avert from him evil and immorality.” (12:24) Islam does not take accusations

of fornication lightly, one must bring 4 witnesses who witnessed the action, or the accuser itself

is flogged 80 times for slander. The wisdom and practice of equal justice displayed by the elder

in arbitrating is profound, especially in the case of a wife of a minister of Egypt, in which the

slave attained justice over the wife of a minister. In contrast, Prophets in the Old Testament are

accused of committing major sins like Solomon of idolatry, Lot of incest, and Arron of aiding

idolatry.

Zulaikha was teased by other womenfolk of the town and embarrassed. In attempt to get the

other senior-class womenfolk to understand her affair, she called them all to dinner, handed them

fruits with knives, and then called Joseph to appear in front of them. Due to his attractiveness,

the women could not help staring and ended up cutting their hands, to wish they sympathized

with Zulaikha and exclaimed “By God! This is not a man, but a noble angel!” Zulaikha

reapproached them, justifying her desires, and then threatened getting Joseph imprisoned if he

does not obey her. Joseph prayed “My Lord, prison is more beloved to me than to what they

invite me to, and if you do not avert me from their plan, I might incline towards them and
become one of the ignorant. So, his Lord accepted his prayer and averted him from their plan.

Indeed, He is the Seer, the Knowing” (12:33-34) Due to the antics of Zulaikha, Joseph ended up

in prison, and shared a cell with a baker and a cupbearer of the king.

Genesis uses the word “Pharoah” in the story of Abraham and Joseph, while the Quran uses the

word “King”. The usage of the word “King” in the Quran instead of the word “Pharoah” is an

evidence against those who claim Muhammad plagiarized the Bible. The use of the word

"Pharaoh" in Egyptian history began to be used during the reign of Amenhotep IV, in the period

of the New Kingdom. Joseph lived at least 200 years before that time, as Semites penetrating

Egyptian politics occurred in the Second Intermediate Kingdom. We learn this from

hieroglyphics which only became understandable to archeologists less than a century ago. Thus,

it is impossible for Abraham and Joseph to have used the term “Pharoah.” And hence the Quran

accurately uses the word “King”, despite Muhammad not having access to the undeciphered

hieroglyphics. The insight paper regarding Moses shall give us more insights regarding the

Quran unveiling unseen facts of ancient Egypt.

After all the years of hardship and struggle, Joseph came into a position of power in Egypt due to

his prophecy of the famines via dream interpretation and so was able to reunite with his brother

Benjamin and forgive his half-brothers for their actions. Jacob’s eyes were cured upon the shirt

of Joseph being rubbed upon them and thus the house of Jacob moved to Egypt, where some

centuries later, an Israelite son named Moses will be born. The family of Jacob bowed to the

throne of Joseph, thus fulfilling his initial dream: his father, mother, and eleven brothers, bowing

to his feet. When Muhammad finally captured Makkah in a bloodless conquest, his enemies

asked “What shall you do with us?” out of fear as they had persecuted him in all ways possible.

To which Muhammad replied, “Today I reply to you as Joseph did his brothers: “Be free you all,
I have forgiven you.” Thus, tolerance, forgiveness, and remaining steadfast in difficulties are

major themes of the amazing story of Joseph, despite all his sufferings, he emerged the victor.