Comparing and Contrasting the Qur'anic and Biblical Perceptions of Prophet Joseph


This article is adapted from Louay Fatoohi's book "The Prophet Joseph in the Qur'an, Bible and History", pages 226-235

Instead of generally referring to the shortcomings in the Bible, let us identify flaws in the story of Joseph specifically. The following flaws differ in their significance. Some of them may be seen as weaknesses, but the majority are fundamental flaws. The order in which they are listed here does not reflect their relative significance, but often the order in which they occur in the text of the Old Testament.

1) The Old Testament claims that seventeen-year old Joseph was well aware of his brothers' envy of him, yet that did not prevent him from recounting his dreams to them. Even their bad reaction to hearing the details of the first dream did not make him refrain from relating the second dream to them!

2) When describing Joseph's dream, the Qur'an mentions the eleven stars before the sun and moon: "O my father! ! saw eleven stars, the sun, and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me." I have mentioned in my comment on verses 12.4 and 12.100 that this reflects the fact that the prostration of Joseph's brothers' before him was going to happen before his parents', as shown in the Qur'anic story. Having failed to notice this subtle reference, the writers of the Old Testament used the traditional style of mentioning the two luminaries before the planets: "Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me" (Genesis, 37:9). They did that despite their explicit statement that Joseph's brothers prostrated before him in the two visits they made to Egypt to buy corn, i.e. before the arrival of Jacob to Egypt: "and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth" (Genesis, 42:6), "And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth" (Genesis, 43:26).

3) The Old Testament states that Jacob reprimanded Joseph for his dream, as if he was responsible for seeing it: "And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" (Genesis, 37:10)! This accuses Jacob, implicitly, of being ignorant of the fact that such dreams are divine visions, and that the person has no control over seeing them. At the same, the Bible points out that Jacob understood from the dream that the sun stood for himself and the moon for Joseph's mother; he realized the truthfulness of that dream and knew its interpretation. The Biblical writers have fallen in an obvious contradiction.

4) One major weakness in the Biblical account of the story of Joseph is its complete omission of the prostration of Jacob and Joseph's mother to their son, although it is mentioned in the dream and in Jacob's successful interpretation! This omission has great significance, because dreams play such a major role in the story of Joseph; the failure of the Biblical writers to mention the realization of one of them represents a failure to recount essential details of the original story

5) In my comment on verse 12.10, I point out that the decision of Joseph's brothers to cast him down the well represented a rejection of the suggestion to kill Joseph. They adopted the alternative plan of abandoning him in a land far from where his father lived, as some caravanners would pick him and take him away. Joseph's brothers cast him in the well instead of trying to give or sell him directly to those travelers because Joseph was bound to resist such a plot and expose his brothers in front of the potential buyers. This was going to undermine Joseph's brothers' plan, and perhaps land them in trouble. The Qur'anic story is absolutely consistent.

In the Old Testament, we find one of Joseph's brothers convince his brothers not to kill Joseph and to cast him in the well instead: "And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again" (Genesis, 37:21-22). The Old Testament claims that Reuben's aim was to rescue Joseph and return him to his father; it does not explain why the rest of Joseph's brothers agreed to that suggestion. When a group of merchants passed by that place, one of Joseph's brothers said: "What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?", which indicates that although they threw Joseph in the well, they were still thinking of killing him. This clear contradiction prompts the question about their consent to cast Joseph in the well in the first place!

Joseph's brothers then sold him to Midianite merchants. This is another contradiction with the fact that they threw him in the well. The cause of these contradictions and weaknesses is simple. The Biblical writers knew from the original story that Joseph was put in the well, and that he was picked up by the caravanners. They did not understand, however, the causes of these events and their connection with each other. When they mentioned them and tried to link them to each other as they thought fit, the narrative came out weak and discrepant.

6) According to the Qur'an, this was Jacob's reaction to seeing the blood-stained shirt: "[No,] rather your souls have suggested to you [doing] something [evil]; so: [my course is] perfect patience. And it is Allah whose help is sought against what you describe" (from 12.18). In contrast, this was Jacob's reaction according to the Old Testament: "And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him" (Genesis, 37:33-35). The immense difference between the Qur'anic account and its Biblical counterpart reflects the great difference between the image of Jacob in the two books.

As I have already mentioned in §1.3 and §12.1, the Old Testament portrays the prophets of Allah in a way that often does not distinguish them from ordinary people, ignores their revered status, and shows little respect toward them. Note how Jacob's reaction in the Qur'an reflects his knowledge that his sons have plotted an evil scheme and that their account was untrue: "[No,] rather your souls have suggested to you [doing] something [evil]"; his perfect, prophetic patience, "[my course is] perfect patience"; and his reliance on Allah to reveal the truth: "And it is Allah whose help is sought against what you describe."

Conversely, the Old Testament portrays Jacob as being ignorant of the truth of what his sons claimed. It even claims that Jacob did not believe his sons at the beginning when they came back from Egypt with the news that Joseph was still alive: "And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die" (Genesis, 45:25-28).