# Sura  12 - Joseph, Peace be on Him

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> SURA XII (12)- JOSEPH, PEACE BE ON HIM   (MECCA 111 VERSES)    (LXXVII  p. 230)
>  
>      In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
>  
>      An Arabic Koran have we sent it down, that ye might understand it.
>  
>      In revealing to thee this Koran, one of the most beautiful of narratives
> will be narrate to thee, of which thou hast hitherto been regardless.
>  
>      When Joseph said to his Father, "O my Father! verily I beheld eleven
> stars and the sun and moon - beheld them make obeisance to me!"
>  
>      He said, "O my son! tell not thy vision to thy brethren, lest they plot a
> plot against thee:  for Satan is the manifest foe of man.
>  
>      It is thus that thy Lord shall choose thee and will teach thee the
> interpretation of dark sayings, and will perfect his favours on thee and on the
> family of Jacob, as of old he perfected it on thy fathers Abraham and Isaac;
> verily thy Lord is Knowing, Wise!"
>  
>      Now in Joseph and his brethren are signs for the enquirers;
>  
>      When they said, "Surely better loved by our Father, than we, who are more
> in number, is Joseph and his brother; verily, our father hath clearly erred.
>  
>      Slay ye Joseph! or drive him to some other land, and on you along shall
> your father's face be set! and after this, ye shall live as upright persons."
>  
> 12:10  One of them said, "Slay not Joseph, but cast him down to the bottom of
> the well:  if ye do so, some wayfarers will take him up."
>  
>        They said, "O our Father! why dost thou not entrust us with Joseph?
> indeed we mean him well.
>  
>        Send him with us to-morrow that he may enjoy himself and sport:  we will
> surely keep him safely.:
>  
>        He said, "Verily, your taking him away will grieve me; and I fear lest
> while ye are heedless of him the wolf devour him."
>  
>        They said, "Surely if the wolf devour him, and we so many, we must in
> that case be weak indeed."
>  
>        And when they went away with him they agreed to place him at the bottom
> of the well.  And We revealed to him, "Thou wilt yet tell them of this their
> deed, when they shall not know thee."
>  
>        And they came at nightfall to their father weeping.
>  
>        They said, "O our Father! of a truth, we went to run races, and we left
> Joseph with our clothes, and the wolf devoured him:  but thou wilt not believe
> us even though we speak the truth."
>  
>        And they brought his shirt with false blood upon it.  He said, "Nay, but
> yourselves have managed this affair.  But patience is seemly:  and the help of
> God is to be implored that I may bear what you tell me."
>  
>        And wayfarers came and sent their drawer of water, and he let down his
> bucket.  "Good news!" said he, "This is a youth!:  And they kept his case
> secret, to make merchandise of him.  But God knew what they did.
>  
> 12:20  And they sold him for a paltry price - for some dirhems counted down,
> and at no high rate did they value him.
>  
>        And he who bought him - an Egyptian - said to his wife, "Treat him
> hospitable; haply he may be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son."
> Thus did we settle Joseph in the land, and we instructed him in the
> interpretation of dark sayings, for God is equal to his purpose; but most men
> know it not.
>  
>        And when he had reached his age of strength we bestowed on him judgment
> and knowledge; for thus do we recompense the well doers.
>  
>        And she in whose house he was conceived a passion for him, and she shut
> the doors and said, "Come hither."  He said, "God keep me!  Verily, my lord
> hath given me a good home:  and the injurious shall not prosper."
>  
>        But she longed for him; and he had longed for her had he not seen a
> token from his lord.  Thus we averted evil and defilement from him, for he was
> one of our sincere servants.
>  
>        And they both made for the door, and she rent his shirt behind; and at
> the door they met her lord.  "What," said she, "shall be the recompense of him
> who would do evil to thy family, but a prison or a sore punishment?"
>  
>        He said, "She solicited me to evil." And a witness out of her own family
> witnessed:  "If his shirt be rent in front she speaketh truth, and he is a
> liar:
>  
>        But if his shirt be rent behind, she lieth and he is true."
>  
>        And when his lord saw his shirt torn behind, he said, "This is one of
> your devices!  verily your devices are great!
>  
>        Joseph! leave this affair.  And thou, O wife, ask pardon for thy crime,
> for thou hast sinned."
>  
> 12:30  And in the city, the women said, "The wife of the Prince hath solicited
> her servant:  he hath fired her with his love:  but we clearly see her
> manifest error."
>  
>          And when she heard of their cabal, she sent to them and got ready a
> banquet for them, and gave each one of them a knife, and said, "Joseph shew
> thyself to them."  And when they saw him they were amazed at him, and cut their
> hands, and said, "God keep us!  This is no man!  This is no other than a noble
> angel!"
>  
>        She said, "This is he about whom ye blamed me.  I wished him to yield to
> my desires, but he stood firm.  But if he obey not my command, he shall surely
> be cast into prison, and become one of the despised."
>  
>        He said, "O my Lord!  I prefer the prison to compliance with their
> bidding:  but unless thou turn away their snares from me, I shall play the
> youth with them, and become one of the unwise."
>  
>        And his Lord heard him and turned aside their snares from him:  for he
> is the Hearer, the Knower.
>  
>        Yet resolved they, even after they had seen the signs of his innocence,
> to imprison him for a time.
>  
>        And there came into the prison with him two youths.  Said one of them,
> "Methought in my dream that I was pressing grapes."  And the other said, "I
> dreamed that I was carrying bread on my head, of which the birds did eat.
> Declare to us the interpretation of this, for we see thou art a virtuous
> person."
>  
>        He said, "There shall not come to you in a dream any food wherewith ye
> shall be fed, but I will acquaint you with its interpretation ere it come to
> pass to you.  This is a part of that which my Lord hath taught me:  for I have
> abandoned the religion of those who believe not in God and who deny the life to
> come;
>  
>        And I follow the religion of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
> We may not associate aught with God.  This is of God's bounty towards us and
> towards mankind:  but the greater part of mankind are not thankful.
>  
>        O my two fellow prisoners! are sundry lords best, or God, the One, the
> Mighty?
>  
> 12:40  Ye worship beside him mere names which ye have named, ye and your
> fathers, for which God hath not sent down any warranty.  Judgment belongeth to
> God alone.  He hath bidden you worship none but Him.  This is the right faith:
> but most men know it not.
>  
>        O my two fellow prisoners! as to one of you, he will serve wine unto his
> Lord:  but as to the other, he will be crucified and the birds shall eat from
> off his head.  The matter is decreed concerning which ye enquire."
>  
>        And he said unto him who he judged would be set at large, "Remember me
> with thy lord."  But Satan caused him to forget the remembrance of his Lord, so
> he remained some years in prison.
>  
>        And the King said, "Verily, I saw in a dream seven fat kine which seven
> lean devoured; and seven green ears and other withered.  O nobles, teach me my
> vision, if a vision ye are able to expound."
>  
>        They said, "They are confused dreams, nor know we aught of the
> unravelling of dreams."
>  
>        And he of the twain who had been set at large, said, "I will tell you
> the interpretation; let me go for it."
>  
>        "Joseph, man of truth! teach us of the seven fat kine which have lean
> devoured, and of the seven green ears, and other withered, that I may return to
> the men, and that they may be informed."
>  
>        He said, "Ye shall sow seven years as is your wont, and the corn which
> ye reap leave ye in its ear, except a little of which ye shall eat.
>  
>        Then after that shall come seven grievous years which shall eat what ye
> have stored for them, except a little which ye shall have kept.
>  
>        Then shall come after this a year, in which men shall have rain, and in
> which they shall press the grape."
>  
> 12:50  And the King said, "Bring him to me,"  And when the messenger came to
> Joseph he said, "Go back to thy lord, and ask him what meant the women who cut
> their hands, for my lord well knoweth the snare they laid."
>  
>        Then said the Prince to the women, "What was your purpose when ye
> solicited Joseph?" They said, "God keep us!  we know not any ill of him." The
> wife of the Prince said, "Now doth the truth appear.  It was I who would have
> led him into unlawful love, and he is one of the truthful."
>  
>        "By this" (said Joseph) "may my lord know that I did not in his absence
> play him false, and that God guideth not the machinations of deceivers.
>  
>        Yet I hold not myself clear, for the heart is prone to evil, save theirs
> on whom my Lord hath mercy; for gracious is my Lord, the Merciful."
>  
>        And the King said, "Bring him to me:  I will take him for my special
> service."  And when he had spoken with him he said, "From this day shalt thou
> be with us, invested with place and trust."
>  
>        He said, "Set me over the granaries of the land, I will be their prudent
> keeper!:
>  
>        Thus did we stablish Joseph in the land that he might house himself
> 
> therein at pleasure.  We bestow our favours on whom we will, and suffer not the
> reward of the righteous to perish.
>  
>        And truly the recompense of the life to come is better, for those who
> have believed and feared God.
>  
>        And Joseph's brethren came and went in to him and he knew them, but they
> recognised him not.
>  
>        And when he had provided them with their provision, he said, "Bring me
> your brother from your father.  See ye not that I fill the measure, and am the
> best of hosts?
>  
> 12:60  But if ye bring him not to me, then no measure of corn shall there be
> for you from me, nor shall ye come near me."
>  
>        They said to his servants, "Put their money into their camel-packs, that
> they may perceive it when they have returned to their family:  haply they will
> come back to us."
>  
>        And when they returned to their father, they said, "O, our father!  corn
> is withholden from us:  send, therefore, our brother with us and we shall have
> our measure; and all care of him will we take."
>  
>        He said, "Shall I entrust you with him otherwise than as I before
> entrusted you with his brother?  But God is the best guardian, and of those who
> shew compassion He is the most compassionate."
>  
>        And when they opened their goods they found their money had been
> returned to them.  They said, "O, our father, what more can we desire?  Here is
> our money returned to us; we will provide corn for our families, and will take
> care of our brother, and shall receive a camel's burden more of corn.  This is
> an easy quantity."
>  
>        He said, "I will not send him with you but on your oath before God that
> ye will, indeed, bring him back to me, unless hindrances encompass you."  And
> when they had given him their pledge, he said, "God is witness of what we say."
>  
>        And he said, "O, my sons!  Enter not by one gate, but enter by different
> gates.  Yet can I not help you against aught decreed by God:  judgment
> belongeth to God alone.  In Him put I my trust, and in Him let the trusting
> trust."
>  
>        And when they entered as their father had bidden them, it did not avert
> from them anything decreed of God; but it only served to satisfy a desire in
> the soul of Jacob which he had charged them to perform; for he was possessed of
> knowledge which we had taught him; but most men have not that knowledge.
>  
>        And when they came in to Joseph, he took his brother to him.  He said,
> "Verily, I am thy brother.  Be not thou grieved for what they did."
>  
> 12:70  And when he had provided them with their provisions, he placed his
> drinking cup in his brother's camel-pack.  Then a crier cried after them, "O
> travellers!  ye are surely thieves."
>  
>        They turned back to them and said, "What is that ye miss?"
>  
>        "We miss," said they, "the prince's cup.  For him who shall restore it,
> a camel's load of corn!  I pledge myself for it."
>  
>        They said, "By God! ye know certainly that we came not to do wrong in
> the land and we have not been thieves."
>  
>        "What," said the Egyptians, "shall be the recompense of him who hath
> stolen it, if ye be found liars?"
>  
>        They said, "That he in whose camel-pack it shall be found be given up to
> you in satisfaction for it.  Thus recompense we the unjust.:
>  
>        And Joseph began with their sacks, before the sack of his brother, and
> then from the sack of his brother he drew it out.  This stratagem did we
> suggest to Joseph.  By the King's law he had no power to seize his brother, had
> not God pleased.  We uplift into grades of wisdom whom we will.  And there is
> one knowing above every one else endued with knowledge.
>  
>        They said, "If he steal, a brother of his hath stolen heretofore."  But
> Joseph kept his secret, and did not discover it to them.  Said he, aside, "Ye
> are in the worse condition.  And God well knoweth what ye state."
>  
>        They said, "O Prince!  Verily he hath a very aged father; in his stead,
> therefore, take one of us, for we see that thou art a generous person."
>  
>        He said, "God forbid that we shall take but him with whom our property
> was found, for then should we act unjustly."
>  
> 12:80  And when they despaired of Benjamin, they went apart for counsel.  The
> eldest of them said, "Know ye not how that your father hath taken a pledge from
> you before God, and how formerly ye failed in duty with regard to Joseph?  I
> will not quit the land till my father give me leave, or God decide for me; for
> of those who decide is He the best.
>  
>        Return ye to your father and say, 'O our father!  Verily, thy son hath
> stolen:  we bear witness only of what we know:  we could not guard against the
> unforeseen.
>  
>        Enquire for thyself ion the city where we have been, and of the caravan
> with which we have arrived; and we are surely speakers of the truth.'
>  
>        He said, "nay, ye have arranged all this among yourselves:  But patience
> is seemly:  God, may be, will bring them back to me together; for he is the
> Knowing, the Wise."
>  
>        And he turned away from them and said, "Oh! how I am grieved for
> Joseph!" and his eyes became white with grief, for he bore a silent sorrow.
>  
>        They said, "By God thou wilt only cease to think of Joseph when thou art
> at the point of death, or dead."
>  
>        He said, "I only plead my grief and my sorrow to God:  but I know from
> God what ye know not:
>  
>        Go, my sons, and seek tidings of Joseph and his brother, and despair not
> of God's mercy, for none but the unbelieving despair of the mercy of God."
>  
>        And when they came in to Joseph, they said, "O Prince, distress hath
> reached us and our family, and little is the money that we have brought.  But
> give us full measure, and bestow it as alms, for God will recompense the
> almsgivers."
>  
>        He said, "Know ye what ye did to Joseph and his brother in your
> ignorance?"
>  
> 12:90  They said, "Canst thou indeed be Joseph?"  He said, "I am Joseph, and
> this is my brother.  Now hath God been gracious to us.  For whoso feareth God
> and endureth.  . . . God verily will not suffer the reward of the righteous to
> perish!"
>  
>        They said, "By God! now hath God chosen thee above us, and we have
> indeed been sinners!"
>  
>        He said, "No blame be on you this day.  God will forgive you, for He is
> the most merciful of those who shew mercy.
>  
>        Go ye with this my shirt and throw it on my father's face, and he shall
> recover his sight:  and bring me all your family."
>  
>        And when the caravan was departed, their father said, 'I surely perceive
> the smell of Joseph:  think ye that I dote?"
>  
>        They said, "By God, it is thy old mistake."
>  
>        And when the bearer of good tidings came, he cast it on his face, and
> Jacob's eyesight returned.
>  
>        Then he said, "Did I not tell you that I knew from God what ye knew
> not?"
>  
>        They said, "Our father, ask pardon for our crimes for us, for we have
> indeed been sinners."
>  
>        He said, "I will ask pardon of my Lord, for he is Gracious, Merciful."
>  
> 12:100 And when they came into Joseph he took his parents to him, and said,
> "Enter ye Egypt, if God will, secure."
>  
>        And he raised his parents to the seat of state, and they fell down
> bowing themselves unto him.  Then said he, "O my father, this is the meaning of
> my dream of old.  My Lord hath now made it true, and he hath surely been
> gracious to me, since he took me forth from the prison, and hath brought you
> up out of the desert, after that Satan had stirred up strife between me and my
> brethren; for my Lord is gracious to whom He will; for He is the Knowing, the
> Wise.
>  
>        O my Lord, thou hast given me dominion, and hast taught me to expound
> dark sayings.  Maker of the Heavens and of the Earth!  My guardian art thou in
> this world and in the next!  Cause thou me to die a Muslim, and join me with
> the just."
>  
>        This is one of the secret histories which we reveal unto thee.  Thou
> wast not present with Joseph's brethren when they conceived their design and
> laid their plot:  but the greater part of men, though thou long for it, will
> not believe.
>  
>        Thou shalt not ask of them any recompense for this message.  It is
> simply an instruction for all mankind.
>  
>        And many as are the signs in the Heavens and on the Earth, yet they will
> past them by, and turn aside from them:
>  
>        And most of them believe not in God, without also joining other deities
> with Him.
>  
>        What!  Are they sure that the overwhelming chastisement of God shall not
> come upon them, or that tht Hour shall not come upon them suddenly, while they
> are unaware?
>  
>        Say:  This is my way:  resting on a clear proof, I call you to God, I
> and whoso followeth me:L and glory be to God!  I am not one of those who add
> other deities to Him.
>  
>        Never before thee have we sent any but men, chosen out of the people of
> the cities, to whom we made revelations.  Will they not journey through the
> land, and see what hath been the end of those who were before them?  But the
> mansions of the next life shall be better for those who fear God.  Will they
> not then comprehend?
>  
> 12:110 When at last the Apostles lost all hope, and deemed that they were
> reckoned as liars, our aid reached them, and we delivered whom we would; but
> our vengeance was not averted from the wicked.
>  
>        Certainly in their histories is an example for men of understanding.
> This is no new tale of fiction, but a confirmation of previous scriptures, and
> an explanation of all things, and guidance and mercy to those who believe.
>
> — *Sura  12 - Joseph, Peace be on Him*