Introduction
Prophet Yusuf is a character in the Holy Book of the Koran, the Bible, and Jews. He lived, preached, and died in Egypt in the sixteenth century BC, living for nearly one hundred and ten years. His name is mentioned twenty-six times in the Qur’an, and there is also an entire surah called Yusuf (Bernstein, 2019). This work provides a critical overview of the stories of Joseph and Yusuf in two scriptures: the Bible and the Qur’an, identifying the differences and similarities between these stories, as well as various sources of their interpretation.
Prophet Joseph’s Story
Yusuf’s father was the Prophet Yakub. He is considered the ancestor of the sons of Israel. The tribe of Yakub grew before the Prophet Musa appeared, and when the Prophet Musa led the children of Israel through the desert, this tribe already numbered six hundred thousand five hundred seventy-seven people. The story of the Prophet Yusuf is full of stories about how outwardly he was handsome, that he knew how to interpret dreams, and also his personality is connected with the story of the epiphany of Yakub, nicknamed Israel, who is described in the Holy Book of the Koran as a chosen person who possesses knowledge—possessing power and a sharp mind.
He lived a life full of trials, adventures, and unexpected turns of fate. The Prophet Yakub had twelve sons, but the life story of the Prophet Yakub is closely related to the story of his son, the Prophet Yusuf (Bernstein, 2019). The boy had many virtues from childhood, he had a likable character, was well brought up, treated people respectfully, and was outwardly beautiful. The story of the Prophet Yusuf in the Qur’an begins with the fact that when he was a child, he had a prophetic dream. Yusuf dreamed of eleven planets, the Moon and the Sun, which perform sujud for him in a dream. Moreover, his father Yakub interpreted it in such a way that Allah Almighty will make Yusuf the chosen person, give perfect mercy, teach to interpret dreams, and also bless the entire family of Yakub, but he asked his son not to tell his brothers about this dream because he feared envy on their part (Qur’an 12:11). The father’s attitude to his son became even warmer, and the brothers noticed this and thought, began to discuss it among themselves.
The rest of Yakub’s sons from another wife became jealous of their father for his brother. Furthermore, gradually their envy and hatred led them to the idea of destroying their brother. They did not have enough determination to take his life, and they took their brother with them out of town and threw him into a well. After that, they took Yusuf’s shirt, smeared it with blood, and presented these clothes to their father as evidence that wild animals had torn their brother to pieces. They hoped that a caravan would pass by, which would pull the boy out and take him with it, take him further away from home.
Prophet Yakub carefully examined the shirt and noticed that if the child had been torn apart by animals, his shirt would have been torn. The poor child was left in the well all alone, there was a desert around, and now and then the cries of wild animals were heard, but since this well was just on the way of the caravans passing from Syria to Palestine and back, a caravan soon appeared, and when one of the servants approached to the well, he saw a boy there and rejoiced (Qur’an 12:24). The caravan men dragged Yusuf out, took him with them, and when they arrived in Egypt, they sold him on the market for practically nothing, not suspecting that they had in their hands the offspring of one of the noblest and highly respected families in the world.
Prophet Yusuf was an exciting and multifaceted person, but especially in his stories, they say a lot about his beauty. Yusuf’s beautiful appearance is also repeatedly mentioned in the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad. A hadith given in the collection of Muslims tells the story of Anas ibn Malik about the ascent of the Messenger of Allah to heaven, and this hadith mentions that half of the beauty was bestowed on the Prophet Yusuf (Al-Tabari, n.d.). The words of Abu l-Qasim al-Suhayli are also cited that the beauty of Yusuf was equal to half the beauty of Adam, but Adam was created by the hand of Allah Almighty, and the most perfect and most beautiful appearance was given to him. Of all the descendants of Adam, no one could compare with his beauty, and Yusuf was given half of the beauty of Adam. Allah Almighty set a limit for beauty, and from this limit, He endowed those of His creations with the beauty that He wished: either angels or houris (Ibn Juzay, n.d.). It is believed that half of this beauty went to Yusuf as a special gift and responsibility.
So Yusuf got into the family of one of the local wealthy, the second person in Egypt after the king himself. Yusuf grew up in his house since the rich man’s wife was a barren woman and happily took the boy for herself. The child grew up learning the customs and culture of the Egyptians. When Yusuf grew up, he became such a beautiful young man that the woman who raised him felt in her heart an inclination towards this beautiful young man (Qur’an 12:25). A woman once showed her affection for a young man, but she met resistance from Yusuf (Qur’an 12:25). This woman’s name was Zuleikha, and in the place the story goes, there were “Zuleikha’s baths.” When Zuleikha brought Yusuf to this place, many women distributed fruits and knives for cutting fruits to the women; she ordered the young man to come out to them. When the young man went out to the women, they cut their hands with knives to cut fruit, looking at his beauty.
When Zuleikha again showed her feelings for Yusuf and again met his refusal, she presented him with a choice, threatening him with prison if he did not respond to her feelings, and the young man chose prison. The confinement in the dungeon became a difficult period in the life of Yusuf: he was imprisoned in a stone sack at a depth of thirty-five meters, and the prison itself was located not far from the royal palace.
Prophet Yusuf began to talk with people in prison, calling them monotheism. Together with him, two people in the dungeon were accused of trying to poison the king: one of the prisoners was a cupbearer under the king, and the other was a baker (Qur’an 12:33). Once, one of them told Yusuf about his dream: he saw how he was squeezing grapes. Then the second prisoner told his dream: he was holding a basket of food on his head, and birds pecked this food.
The Prophet Yusuf explained these dreams to the prisoners, saying that the one who saw the grapes would leave the dungeon and return to his work as a cupbearer, and the second would be executed, and birds would peck his head. Everything turned out exactly as the Prophet Yusuf said, and the prisoner who escaped and became the cupbearer in the palace spoke about the Prophet Yusuf and his gift of interpreting dreams and predicting the future.
Once Pharaoh saw in a dream how seven thin cows devoured seven well-fed cows, and then he also saw spikelets, seven of which were green, and seven were dry. The dream excited Pharaoh so much that he immediately began to ask the interpreters what this dream could mean, but they all dismissed it, saying that this dream was nonsense. None of the courtiers could interpret his dream, and then the Pharaoh sent for Yusuf, hearing about his gift to interpret dreams.
The Prophet Yusuf said that this dream means the onset of seven fruitful years, during which the Egyptians should sow the fields and reap the harvest, adding it up and spending only a tiny part sparingly. After seven fruitful years, there will be seven years of famine and drought, and then the Egyptians will be able to live those years, spending from the reserves. In interpreting the meaning of sleep, the Prophet Yusuf taught the Egyptian king a helpful lesson in economics (Qur’an 12: 47-49). When the king decided to release the Prophet Yusuf from prison, Yusuf asked that they bring the woman, through whose fault he was imprisoned unjustly, and that they ask her why he ended up in prison. Then Zuleikha confessed that she had seduced the young man, but he showed himself to be a righteous man.
Yusuf also asked the Pharaoh to appoint him to the manager of all Egyptian warehouses and storerooms since he had sufficient knowledge in economic matters and showed himself to be a righteous and reliable person. Furthermore, Pharaoh appointed him governor; thanks to this decision and interpretation of the future, Egypt was saved from hunger. Yusuf began to take measures to prepare enough supplies for the Egyptians, which would be enough to survive the hunger years. When the famine spread, many began to come to Egypt for provisions. The brothers of Yusuf, who fled from want, became people seeking well-being.
Yusuf recognized the brothers but did not show it, only asked if all the brothers from their family were nowhere. And then his brothers, not recognizing him, said that the youngest brother Benjamin remained with his father. And then Yusuf, who loved Benyamin’s younger brother very much, said that he would definitely give them food, but only if they bring their younger brother to him (Qur’an 12: 80-90). The brothers came to their father and said that they would not receive food if their younger brother did not come with them; the Prophet Yakub was afraid at first to let the child go with them because he feared that the brothers would do to him the same way as they did to Yusuf in their time.
When Benjamin arrived with his brothers, Yusuf went for a trick to keep his brother with him, and the brothers had to return to their father. By that time, the Prophet Yakub, his father, was already blind from the tears he shed for his son, and from the grief that another son was taken away from him, he became even worse. The brothers returned to Yusuf and began to beg him to give up their brother, telling him about their father’s blindness. And then Yusuf gave his brothers, whom he sent to his father, a shirt to put on his father’s face, and this was to restore his sight. After the Prophet Yakub received his sight, he, along with all his relatives, arrived in Egypt to Yusuf, and they all together made sajdah as a sign of respect and greeting, which became the fulfillment of the very vision that Yusuf saw in childhood (Aljalalyn, n.d.). In the Sharia of the Messenger of Allah Muhammad, it is forbidden to bow down to a person, even as a greeting (Al Zamakshari, n.d.). After the death of Yakub, Yusuf buried him in Palestine, according to his will, next to his father – their grave was located in the cave of El-Khalil.
Similarities
The stories are similar in many ways, namely in their main narrative of significant events. The beloved son of father Jacob (Genesis 37.3), he was hated for his wit, kindness, prophetic interpretation of dreams, and love for his ten older brothers, who, after one incident, even wanted to kill him. Envious, they were angry with him for telling them that they were born of the slaves of the Canaanite (Genesis 37.1-36). Joseph also had dreams that in the future turned out to be prophetic. For example, in both scriptures, the prophet saw eleven stars, the sun, and the moon, worshiping him (Genesis 37.3). As a consequence, the stories have almost identical beginnings.
The brothers plotted to kill Joseph, as a result of the attempt, he went to Egypt. According to the biblical story, Joseph is also experiencing imprisonment, where he interprets the dreams of prisoners, including Pharaoh. Like Yusuf, the prophet forgave his brothers who made it to Egypt. As a result, we can conclude that both stories tell about the wisdom that Joseph carried throughout his life, despite the trials, the power received, and the gift of interpreting dreams. However, there are some differences between these stories.
Differences
First of all, the Qur’an emphasizes the beauty of Yusuf, which is only mentioned in passing in the Bible. The prophet received wisdom and knowledge in both sacred texts, but his beauty is often mentioned in the Quran. Yusuf subsequently even began to cover his face to keep women from temptation (Al Zamakshari, n.d.). The biblical prophet did not have such qualities; the emphasis in the scriptures was on the trials themselves, the wisdom that he showed in them.
Moreover, through the story of Yusuf and Zuleikha, adultery is exposed as a sin; the emphasis on this story in the Qur’an is highly indicative. This story differs from the biblical one in that Joseph also did not want to share the bed with the dissolute wife of his master, but the master imprisoned Joseph in the Bible, while the fate of Yusuf was decided by another sage who checked which side of the tunic was torn (Genesis 39.12). The period of imprisonment in the Bible ends with the confession of the vizier’s wife when Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream (Genesis 41.17-24). In the future, the narration of the two scriptures continues again in the same way.
Discussion
In fact, the stories are very similar, but there are several significant differences in reality. The Koran emphasizes the beauty of Yusuf much more than it does in the biblical story. When a person is beautiful from the inside, everything is harmonious, in tune, high, youthful, taut, he looks uniquely with a beautiful, dignified look, beauty envelops him entirely, it can be seen in every word of this person, in every gesture, facial expressions (Ferdowsi and Arzani, 2019). At the same time, being able to see and feel it in others, everyone unconsciously joins this spiritual beauty, saturated with it, which means that it becomes better (Kueny, 2020). Therefore, Yusuf is given wisdom and knowledge for adulthood since good should be rewarded.
Yusuf did not use his beauty for his own needs because his beauty gave him vast power over women. However, on the contrary, he tried not to tempt women and did not succumb to temptations. Only in the union of these two hypostases (spiritual and physical) is born a natural, whole-person who can know and reveal himself, which means he has a chance to know more, Him, God (Akbarnezhad and Zolfaghari Far, 2017; Ibn Kathir, n.d.). It is not for nothing that the Prophet Muhammad, that truly Allah has only the beauty that He loves beauty, and it is in His power to give it for virtue.
In the biblical story, the brothers’ envy was Joseph’s wit, his wisdom. God also rewarded him with gifts for passing tests and virtuous use of his gift of interpretation of dreams. The very concept of beauty was not found so often in the Holy Scriptures, emphasizing more internal harmony over external grace. Although his natural beauty was mentioned in the Bible, it was not considered a possible advantage or power over others. It is not for nothing that the Bible contains the phrase “let it be your adornment not with the external braiding of hair, not with golden headwear or fancy dress, but the innermost man in the imperishable beauty of a meek and silent spirit, which is precious before God,” which shows the importance of spirituality and inner beauty over the outer (I Peter. 3.3-4). In the Quran, in turn, beauty is also a divine gift and an opportunity to get closer to God, but at the same time, it is a dangerous temptation to sin.
In this concept, the main differences between the two scriptures in this story are observed. First, the temptations of a dissolute wife are the fall of man because of the outward beauty of the slaves. Secondly, the emphasis on Yusuf’s external beauty symbolizes humility over the temptation, which he, as a faithful servant of God, hides from others. The prophets in both stories are rewarded for their wisdom by God; truth goes hand in hand with beauty when the soul is humble and pure. Only then can a person receive a blessing. Beauty is a temptation not only for the people around but also for the most beautiful person who has the temptation of power. In this regard, once gifted with the beauty of God, a person receives both a gift and a test for his entire life, having passed which with dignity and honor, the servant of God can be rewarded again (Ab Halim, 2017). The Prophet Joseph was awarded another gift of interpretation of dreams, which he also did not use for his good but shared with everyone on his way, thereby creating virtues.
True love can be built on inner spiritual beauty when a person is ready to give without wanting anything in return. Prophet Yusuf gave away his beauty and was often faced with temptations. Joseph sought the truth through patience, humility, and wisdom in the Bible. Through these trials, Joseph attained love for God, which accompanied him all the way. The Prophet achieves justice and recognition through virtues with genuine wisdom, regardless of his external beauty. The Qur’an emphasizes this, while the Bible confirms this fact.
Conclusion
The stories and interpretations of these scriptures are highly indicative and, as a result, have more in common than differences. The plot differences are explained by different attitudes and emphasis on the concept of external beauty, internal beauty, and true love, each of which is full of temptation both for the wearer and for those around him. As a result, this story reflects the constant struggle for the truth, for the love of God, devoid of falls and full of wisdom. At the same time, God himself rewards the prophet for passing all these tests with dignity and faithfulness. First of all, this story teaches virtues, while the ulterior motives of beauty, temptation, and envy are only an excuse to show one or another virtue. A divine gift is a responsible mission that, with good service, can lead other gifts on the path.
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