So worship Him, and trust in Him,
for your Lord is not unmindful
of what you do.
SURA 12
Joseph (Yusuf)
The third consecutive sura named after a prophet, this late Meccan sura of 111 verses is devoted in its entirety to the story of the prophet Joseph. This is the only sura consisting almost entirely of narrative. At once poetic and compelling, it has parallels but no direct link to the biblical story of Joseph.
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1Alif. Lam. Ra.°
These are the verses
of the clear Book.
2We have sent it
as an Arabic Quran,
so you will understand.
3We narrate to you
the most sublime of narratives
in this Quran
that we reveal to you.
Before this, you were unaware
[of those stories].
4When Joseph said to his father,
“My father, I saw, in a dream,
eleven stars, the sun and moon—
I saw them bowing down
before me,”
5he replied, “My son, don’t tell
your brothers about this dream,
or they might scheme against you—
Satan is an open enemy
to humankind.
6“This is how your Lord
will choose you, and teach you
the deeper meaning of events,
and perfect His favor to you
and the family of Jacob,
as He perfected it before,
to both your fathers,
Abraham and Isaac—your Lord
is All Knowing, All Wise.”
SECTION 2
7In the story of Joseph
and his brothers are signs
for those who inquire.
8His brothers said,
“Joseph and his brother
are dearer to father than us,
though we are more in number;°
our father is obviously wrong.
9“Kill Joseph or cast him out
to some far land,
then your father will
turn his attention° to you alone;
you can always be righteous
afterward.”°
10Another one of them said,
“Don’t kill Joseph; if you must
act on this, throw him down
to the well’s dark depth, so
some caravan will pick him up.”
11They implored, “Father,
why won’t you trust us with Joseph?
For we only have goodwill for him.
12“Send him with us tomorrow,
so he’ll enjoy himself and play;
we’ll be sure to guard him well.”
13Jacob said, “It grieves me
to see you take him, for I fear
the wolf might eat him
while you’re not minding him.”
14They replied, “If the wolf ate him
—despite our large number—
we would indeed be losers.”
15So they took him,
and they all agreed
to throw him down
to the well’s dark depth.
But We inspired him, “In time,
you will apprise them
of this deed of theirs
when they don’t know [you].”°
16They came to their father
in the evening, weeping.
17They said, “Father,
we went racing, and left
Joseph with our things; then
the wolf devoured him.
You won’t believe us,
even though we speak the truth.”
18They brought out his shirt, soiled
with false blood. “No!” he cried,
“Your minds have enticed
you to some misdeed.°
Yet patience is a fine thing,°
and I invoke the help of God
against what you plead.”°
19A caravan came, travelers, who
sent their water carrier to the well,
and he lowered his bucket.
“What good luck,” he cried,
“Here’s a boy!”
And they stowed him
in their merchandise—
God was Aware of what they did.
20They sold him for a low price,
a few silver coins,°
in such low regard did they hold him.
SECTION 3
21The man who bought him
—an Egyptian—told his wife,
“Make his lodging comfortable;
perhaps he’ll profit us
or we’ll adopt him as a son.”
And so We settled Joseph in the land,
that We might teach him
the deeper meaning of events.
And so God prevails
In His affairs; but most
people don’t know.
22When Joseph reached his prime,
We endowed him with
wisdom and knowledge—
this is how We reward those
who do good.
23The woman in whose house
he stayed tried to seduce him;
she secured the doors and said, “Come here!”
“God forbid!” he said. “He is my master;
he gave me a comfortable home.
Those who do wrong cannot prosper.”
24She lusted after him,
and he would have lusted after her,
had he not seen a token from his Lord;
so We kept him away from evil and indecency,
for he was one of Our chosen servants.
25They both raced for the door,
and she tore his shirt from behind;
they found her husband by the door.
“What penalty can there be,”
she cried, “for someone who
contrived harm against your wife,
but prison or torture?”
26He said, “It was she
who tried to seduce me.”
Someone from her family
proposed to use as evidence:°
“If his shirt is torn from the front,
Then she speaks the truth
and he is a liar.
27“But if his shirt is torn from behind,
then she is lying,
and he is speaking the truth.”
28So when her husband saw his shirt
torn from behind, he declared,
“This is your women’s guile,
what great guile you possess.
29“Joseph, let this pass,
and wife, beg forgiveness
for your sin; you
are most certainly at fault.”
SECTION 4
30Women gossiped in the city,
“The governor’s wife tried
to seduce her manservant
—love for him has stormed her heart—
we see her clearly straying.”
31When she heard their gossip,
she sent for them and prepared
a banquet for them.
She gave each of them a knife,
and said to Joseph,
“Come before them!”
When they saw him,
they so marveled at him,
they cut their hands, remarking,
“Glory to God! This is no mortal—
this is nothing but a noble angel!”
32She said, “This is the man
on whose account you reproved me!
Yes, I tried to seduce him
but he refrained.
Yet, if he doesn’t do what I command,
he’ll be thrown into jail, disgraced.”
33He said, “My Lord,
prison is more appealing to me
than the deeds they call me to;
unless you turn their guile
away from me,
I might succumb to them,
in ignorance.”
34Then his Lord answered him
and turned their guile
away from him.
He is All Hearing, All Knowing.
35Even after they had seen the signs
of his virtue, it seemed to them,
they should imprison him a while
[to quell gossip].
SECTION 5
36Two young men entered the prison
with him. One of them said,
“I dreamt I was pressing wine.”
The other, “I dreamt I was carrying
some bread on my head,
which birds were pecking.
Tell us the deeper meaning—
we can see you’re a virtuous person.”°
37He said, “Yes, I’ll inform you
of the dreams’ deeper meaning
even before your food comes
to sustain you. This is part
of what my Lord has taught me.
I reject the creed of a people
who don’t believe in God
and who deny the hereafter.
38“And I follow the creed
of my forefathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob; it was not for us
to join any other gods
with God. This is due
to God’s grace upon us,
and upon humankind,
though most of them
are ungrateful.
39“My fellow prisoners,
which is better: diverse lords
[differing among themselves],
or the One God, the Unique,
the Omnipotent?
40“You worship nothing
besides Him but names—invented
by you and your fathers—for which
God has revealed no sanction.
Judgment belongs
to none but God.
He commands you to worship
none but Him.
This is the right religion,
but most of humankind
do not know.
41“Fellow prisoners, one of you
will serve his lord with wine;
the other will be crucified,
and birds will peck at his head.
This is what is decreed
in the matter on which
you both inquired.”°
42And he said to the one
he thought would go free,
“Mention me to your lord.”
But Satan made him forget,
so Joseph remained in prison
for several years more.
SECTION 6
43The king said, “I saw,
in a dream, seven fat cows,
which seven lean ones devoured;
and seven ears of corn, green,
with seven others, withered.
Counselors, explain my dream to me,
if you can interpret dreams.”
44They said, “[A medley of]
confusing dreams—we are not versed
in the reading of dreams.”
45Of the two prisoners,
the one who was freed
now remembered, after all this time,
and said, “I shall disclose
its deeper meaning to you.
Dispatch me [to visit Joseph].”
46[On arriving, he asked,]
“Joseph, you who are truthful,
explain [the meaning of] this to us:
seven fat cows,
which seven lean ones devoured;
and seven ears of corn, green,
with seven others, withered—
explain, so I may return
to let the people know.”
47He replied, “You will sow,
as usual, for seven years,
and what you reap, you will store,
leaving it in the ear,
all but a little, from which
you will eat.
48“After that shall come
seven harsh years
which shall consume
what you have prepared for them,
all but a little, which
you will preserve.
49“After that shall come
a year in which the people
have abundant rain
and press grapes.”
SECTION 7
50Then the king said,
“Bring him to me.”
But when the envoy came
to Joseph, Joseph said:
“Return to your lord, and ask him
what was in the minds of the women
who cut their hands.
My Lord is Aware of their guile.”
51The king said to the women,
“What do you have to say about
your intent to seduce Joseph.”
They said, “Glory to God,
we know nothing bad about him.”
The governor’s wife cried,
“Now the truth is out:
It was I who tried to seduce him,
and he, without doubt,
is telling the truth.”
52[Joseph said,]°
“By this, my master may know
that I never betrayed him
in his absence, and that God
does not guide the guile
of those who are treacherous.
53“Nor do I absolve my own soul;
the soul is always prone to evil—
unless my Lord shows mercy.
My Lord is Forgiving,
Ever Merciful.”
54And the king said,
“Bring him to me, so I may
keep him in my personal service.”°
When he had spoken with him,
he said, “Today, we confer on you
high status and trust.”
55Joseph said, “Let me oversee
the granaries of the land—
I will be a prudent custodian.”
56So We settled Joseph
in the land, to live
wherever he wished.
We bestow Our mercy
on whom We will,
and We do not withhold the reward
of those who do good.
57But the reward of the hereafter
is better, for those who believe
and are mindful of God.
SECTION 8
58Joseph’s brothers arrived,
and came before him;
he recognized them,
but they did not know him.
59When he had provided them
with supplies, he said, “Bring to me
your other brother,° who is with
your father. Do you not see
that [I trade fairly], giving full measure,
and that I am a most gracious host?
60“But if you don’t bring him to me,
you’ll have no further measure
of corn from me, nor
shall you come near me.”
61They replied, “We’ll try to get
his father’s consent for him—
we’ll be sure to do it.”°
62Joseph told his servants,
“Place the goods they bartered
back in their saddlebags,
so they’ll recognize them
when they return to their people—
then they might come back.”
63And when they returned
to their father, they said,
“Father, we’ve been denied
any further measure of corn;
send our brother with us,
so we can procure our measure;
we’ll be sure to protect him.”
64He said, “Shall I trust you
with him as I trusted you before
with his brother?
Yet God is the Best of Protectors,
and He is the Most Merciful
of the merciful.”
65When they opened their baggage,
they found their goods
returned to them. They said,
“Father, what more can we want?
Our goods here are returned to us:
we’ll get food for our
