| Quran Surah/Verse | ✔ Agreement | ⇔ Contradiction | ψ Unmentioned | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Su 12:1 | * God given book gives insight: Rev 22:18; Jer 30:2. | |||
| Su 12:2 | * Language and explanation for understanding: Neh 8:8. | * Revelation of God given in Arabic. | * There were of course later translations of the Bible into Arabic. | |
| Su 12:3 | * Story of Joseph: Ge 37:2 until Ge 50:26 | * The most beautiful story is not only the one of Joseph, but many more like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ: Heb 11:7. | * The 412 Bible verses are reproduced in the Quran in only 111 verses with many omissions and distortions. | |
| Su 12:4 | * Josephs dream of the sun, moon and eleven stars: Ge 37:9. | * The first dream of Joseph is omitted: the one of the sheaves of grain of the brothers and parents bowing to the sheaf of Joseph: Ge 37:7. | ||
| Su 12:5 | * Joseph already has told his brothers and not only his father about the two dreams: Ge 37:8 +Ge 37:10. * Jacob, the father of Joseph, does not know in advance that Joseph's brothers would therefore set a trap for him. | * There is no mention of Satan in the biblical narrative. | ||
| Su 12:6 | * God is the God of Abraham, Isaac AND Jacob: Ex 3:6. * The interpretation of dreams comes from God: Dan 2:28. * God knows all: 1Sa 2:3. | * Nowhere in the biblical story of Joseph we find a quotation where God speaks to Joseph except through the dreams. | ||
| Su 12:7 | * Joseph is a sign: Heb 11:22. | |||
| Su 12:8 | * Joseph's brothers are jealous of him: Ge 37:11. | |||
| Su 12:9 | * His brothers plan to kill Joseph: Ge 37:19-20. | * The plan to kill Joseph is only hit when he visits them in the field on command of his father, Jacob: Ge 37:13 + Ge 37:18. In the Quran, the plan is first set out and in order to carry it out, the 10 brothers ask their father Jacob that they may take Joseph with them. | ||
| Su 12:10 | * Reuben, son of Jacob, rescues Joseph's life: Ge 37:21-22. | * Why would the brothers make Joseph's murder plans and consider in detail that they would rather throw him into a cistern without having visited the place before with the knowledge that some caravan travellers would pick him up? Have his brothers been prophets, too? | ||
| Su 12:11 | * In the Bible it is not the brothers of Joseph who ask their father to let them take Joseph with them, but Jacob asks Joseph to look after his brothers and report to him: Ge 37:13-14. | |||
| Su 12:12 | * Why would Joseph still want to play at over 17? | |||
| Su 12:13 | * In the Bible Jacob is not suspicious about a dangerous wolf and asks Joseph to look after his brothers and report to him: Ge 37:13-14. | * In the Bible there is no danger of a wolf mentioned. | ||
| Su 12:14 | * The brothers do not have to convince their father that they may take their brother Joseph with them. | * In the Bible there is no danger of a wolf mentioned. | ||
| Su 12:15 | * The 10 brothers throw Joseph into a pit: Ge 37:24. | * Place and names are suppressed: Shechem: Ge 37:12 and Valley of Hebron: Ge 37:14, Dothan: Ge 37:17; Ishmaelite caravan: Ge 37:27; Egypt and Midianite traders: Ge 37:28. | * Joseph receives no prophecy that he will once again reproach his evil brothers with this wickedness without them even recognizing it. | * The Quran is not interested in the history of God's salvation with the people of Israel, which God has never abandoned. Therefore details about names and places are not given. The Quran is only concerned with confirming the experiences of Muhammad and showing that they were apparently the same with the earlier prophets. |
| Su 12:16 | * The dispute of the brothers, especially of Reuben, Judah about the further proceeding and sale of Joseph is not reported in the Quran: Ge 37:21 up to Ge 37:28. | * Joseph's brothers weep when they tell their father. | ||
| Su 12:17 | * The 10 brothers tell their father the allegedly death of Joseph not directly like in the Quran, but indirectly and let him come to the conclusion: Ge 37:33. | * In the Bible there is the “killing” animal not mentioned as wolf, but rather a “a fierce animal”. * The 10 brothers make a racing game. | ||
| Su 12:18 | * They take Joseph’s robe and slaughter a goat (animal kind is only in the Bible) and dipp the robe in the blood: Ge 37:31. | * In the Quran Jacob refuses to believe that Joseph died and seems to see through the lie of his 10 sons. But in the Bible it is clear, that he believes them, is devastated and mourns for many days: Ge 37:34 + Ge 37:35. | * The Quranic Jacob believes the dreams of Joseph and therefore Joseph could not be killed. The source of this attitude is found in a Jewish source: Azar Ajaj, page 14; Midrasch Raba, On the Torah Neviam Ve Ketovim. Jerusalem: Geshel, 1988, Berashit 94,12. | * In the Quran, the whole tension of the biblical story is lost in that the narrative process is interrupted again and again. |
| Su 12:19 | * The Quran omids the caravan as Midianites who sell Joseph in Egypt to the captain of the guard of Pharaoh, named Potiphar: Ge 37:36. | * The Quran tells the story of an unnamed caravan, a waterdrawer and that he hides Joseph as his treasure. | ||
| Su 12:20 | * The brothers sell Joseph for a price of silver coins to the caravane: Ge 37:28. | * The brothers sell him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver: Ge 37:28. The Quran omids all the detailed places and numbers. 1 shekel is 14 grams of silver. 20 shekels of silver is nowadays about $100 - $200 or more if the purity of silver is high. * In the Bible the first-born Reuben is not present at the sale and is appalled by the sale: Ge 37:29. | ||
| Su 12:21 | * Joseph is sold to an Egyptian: Ge 37:36. * The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: Pro 9:10; Dan 9:22; Eph 1:8. | * The Quran does not mention the name of the Egyptian, Potiphar, and his profession as an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard: Ge 37:36; Ge 39:1. * The Quran sees the reason for Joseph's promotion not in the success the Lord gave him Ge 39:3, but in the Egyptian's idea of adoption. | * Contrary to the biblical report, the nameless man and his wife want to offer Joseph a beautiful home and even adopt him as their child. | * The Quran skips the embarrassing story of Judah, who unwittingly begat a son with his widowed daughter-in-law, Tamar, from whom Jesus Christ is descended: Ge 38:1 following. * Islamic interpreters also felt the missing names in the Quran as a shortcoming and gave names to all persons in the history of Joseph. Potiphar is called Al-Aziz Atfeer; his wife Zalikha; Pharaoh: Al-Raian Ben-Alwaleed, even the stars in Joseph's dream are mentioned by name by the interpreters: Azar Ajaj page 36: Ibn Kathir, Qissass Al Anbia [The Stories of the Prophets]. Amman: Daar Al Thaqfa, 1989, 318 und Al Tabari, Muḥammad b. Jarīr. Jāmiaa Al Bayan fi Ta’wīl Aya Al Quran. Vol. 7. Cairo: Muṣṭafā Al Babi Al Ḥalabī, 1954, 238). |
| Su 12:22 | God can give discernment and wisdom: 1Ki 4:29; Phil 1:9. | God destroys the wisdom of the wise: Isa 29:14; 1Co 1:19. | ||
| Su 12:23 | * The Egyptian’s wife wants to have sexual intercourse with Joseph: Ge 39:7. | * Potiphar’s wife repeatedly tries to commit adultery with Joseph, which is not mentioned in the Quran: Ge 39:7; Ge 39:10 until the decisive showdown: Ge 39:11-12. * Joseph’s answer to the attempt of a sexual assault has a different wording than in the Quran: Ge 39:8-9. | ||
| Su 12:24 | * She wants to sleep with Joseph: Ge 39:12. | * Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Joseph would have liked to sleep with his mistress. * God can keep those who belong to him in temptation: 2Pe 2:9. | * Joseph would have liked to sleep with her, too if God had not prevented it. This is found in a Jewish source: Azar Ajaj, page 16: Massecht Suta n.d., Talmoud Babli Link: 36:2: Joseph sees the face of his father warning him, which he understood as the sign of God. * The actual temptation in a lonely moment in the house is not exactly described in the Quran, but in the Bible: Ge 39:11. | |
| Su 12:25 | * Potiphar's wife grabs Joseph's garment as he flees from her: Ge 39:12. | * She tears Joseph’s shirt from behind and both meet her husband in the door. In the Bible, some time passes until the husband Potiphar comes back: Ge 39:16. In the meantime, she discusses with the other employees: Ge 39:14. * Potiphar's wife knows that Joseph is of Hebrew origin: Ge 39:17. | * Potiphar’s wife tears Joseph’s shirt from the back. * She wants right away the punishment of Joseph either prison or painful punishment. | |
| Su 12:26 | * Joseph defenses himself with words. * Someone unknown defends Joseph by stating that his shirt would have been torn from the front if she had told the truth. | |||
| Su 12:27 | * If Joseph’s shirt is torn at the back, then she is lying, says the unknown defender. | |||
| Su 12:28 | * Potiphar finds his wife guilty of lying, because Joseph’s shirt was torn from the back. * Joseph is therefore not found guilty in the Quran. In the Bible Potiphar gets angry and throws him into the part of prison where the king’s prisoners are confined: Ge 39:20. * The Quran misses to say that the Lord is with Joseph even in prison: Ge 39:21-23. | |||
| Su 12:29 | * Potiphar finds his wife guilty of lying. Joseph is free of guilt. | |||
| Su 12:30 | * Influential women of the city accuse Potiphar's wife of seducing her slave Joseph. This is not found in the Bible. | * Now follows a Quranic insertion (Su 12:30-35) which is again found in the Jewish source: Midrash (Azar Ajaj, page 18; Midrash–Tanhouma, Hameshet Homshi ha Torah, on the Five Books of the Torah. New York: Sepher, 1945, Parashat Vayesev 2). According to this, the seductress brings the rich women's talk about her to a halt by presenting Joseph to them and they cut their fingers with fruit knives in rapturous amazement. Further missing in the Quran are the lemons mentioned in the Midrash, because they do not exist in Mecca. Thus, Potiphar’s wife becomes, so to speak, a victim of Joseph's beauty and is no longer a perpetrator but is excused. | ||
| Su 12:31 | * Potiphar's wife invites the women to a banquet. They accuse her of seducing Joseph. He must appear at her command and the women cut their fingers with a knife in delight. They exclaim that he is an angel because of his beauty. | * As mentioned above. | ||
| Su 12:32 | * Potiphar's wife admits that she tried to seduce Joseph and that he refused. If he continues to refuse, she will see to it that he is put in prison. | * As mentioned above. | ||
| Su 12:33 | * Joseph prays and says that he would rather go to prison than commit adultery with the woman. He asks God to protect him from the affairs of women, because otherwise he would consent. | * As mentioned above. | ||
| Su 12:34 | * God responds to Joseph's prayer and saves him from the cunning of women to get him into bed. | * As mentioned above. | ||
| Su 12:35 | * Joseph ends up in prison, but not for alleged adultery as in the Bible (Ge 39:19-20), but precisely for safekeeping him from sexual abuse emanating from women (Su 12:35). This does not agree with the Bible. There it says that Joseph's feet are bound in shackles and his neck is enclosed in iron: Psa 105:18 + Psa 105:20. | * As mentioned above. | ||
| Su 12:36 | * A cupbearer and baker gets into the same prison where Joseph is: Ge 40:1. * Both dream, one about grapes, which he squeezed, one about the birds eating bread from his head: Ge 40:9 – Ge 40:16-17. | * In the Quran it is missing that God gives Joseph even in prison success and that he rises to be the overseer of the prisoners: Ge 39:21-23. * Joseph is thrown into prison at the same time as the cupbearer and the baker. The Bible says clearly it was some time later: Ge 40:1. * The Bible clearly states that these are the two officials of the King of Egypt, the chief cupbearer and chief baker, who sinned against their Lord: Ge 40:1-2. * The dialogue between “cupbearer” and “supreme baker” is reduced to “two young men”, whose age certainly does not correspond to these tasks. * Joseph's kindness to his fellow prisoners is not mentioned in the Quran: Ge 40:6-7. | ||
| Su 12:37 | * Joseph can interpret both dreams correctly with God's help: Ge 40:12-13; Ge 40:18-19. | * What follows is a sermon on Islam by Joseph against idolatry, which Muhammad would not have delivered better (Su 12:37-40). Of course, we find nothing like this in the Bible! | * Joseph can tell the fellow prisoners what they will receive as food before it is brought. * Joseph believes in God and in life after death. | |
| Su 12:38 | * Joseph follows the faith of his father’s Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He worships no one else but this God. People are ungrateful. | * It makes no sense to include these creed insertions in this story. It rather destroys the flow and logic of the exciting story. | ||
| Su 12:39 | * Joseph tries to convert his two fellow prisoners to Islam. | * see above | ||
| Su 12:40 | * Joseph accuses his two fellow prisoners of worshipping idols, which one may not join with Allah. He has commanded them to worship him alone. That is the correct religion. | |||
| Su 12:41 | * Joseph interprets the cupbearer: Ge 40:12-13 and baker’s dream correctly: Ge 40:18-19. | * The Quran speaks of Joseph’s opinion instead of God’s interpretation of dreams: Ge 40:8. * The Quran does not describe the 3 days waiting period until both dreams will be fulfilled Ge 40:12 + Ge 40:18 + Ge 40:20. * The Quran says: “the birds will peck at his head”, but the Bible says: “And the birds will eat the flesh from you”: Ge 40:19. | * The Quran mentions the baker’s death by crucifixion. While the Bible speaks of him, being hanged on a tree: Ge 40:19 + Ge 40:22. The killing by crucifixion was practiced only in the beginning of 1,000 B.C. by the Phoenicians (Wiki). Joseph lived long before around 1,700 B.C. So what does that tell us? | |
| Su 12:42 | * Joseph’s desperate request that the cupbearer may help him to get out of prison: Ge 40:14. * The cupbearer forgets the good deed of Joseph: Ge 40:23. | * The Quran states that Joseph was in prison for several more years. The Bible clearly says that it was exactly two full years: Ge 41:1. * The Quran always speaks of the (Egyptian) king, while the Bible speaks of Pharaoh: Ge 41:1. | * Satan makes him forget that he should actually help Joseph. | |
| Su 12:43 | * 7 fat cows are eaten by 7 lean ones: Ge 41:4 and 7 beautiful ears of corn are eaten by 7 dry ones: Ge 41:7. * The advisers (Bible: magicians and wise) are to give the king the interpretation for the dream: Ge 41:8. | * The Quran does not mention that these are two different dreams of the Pharaoh: Ge 41:2, the cows rising out of the Nile: Ge 41:5 and the east wind scorches the ears of corn, so that they become lean: Ge 41:6. | ||
| Su 12:44 | * The advisors cannot give the king the interpretation of the dreams: Ge 41:8. | * The counselors have not learned to interpret dreams. That seems very unlikely! | * The consultants say that these are confusing dreams. | |
| Su 12:45 | * The cupbearer remembers Joseph: Ge 41:12. | * The cupbearer remembers Joseph as an interpreter of dreams, but he says to the king that he himself can teach the interpretation to Pharaoh and wants to be sent to Joseph for it. It is very unlikely that he said such a thing to the mighty Pharaoh who almost killed him not too long ago. | ||
| Su 12:46 | * The cupbearer asks Joseph, who is obviously still in prison, to interpret Pharaoh’s dream to him. In the Bible, Joseph tells Pharaoh himself the dream after he quickly had him taken out of the dungeon, had his hair cut and put on new clothes: Ge 41:14. | |||
| Su 12:47 | * There will be 7 years of sowing and harvest in abundance. Of this a stock should be created: Ge 41:29 + Ge 41:34-35. | * There is no mention in the Quran that the Pharaoh tells Joseph both dreams again exactly: Ge 41:17 following. * The Quran conceals that both dreams are one and that God shows by the double presentation that it will inevitably happen soon: Ge 41:32. * The Quran omits that Joseph gives glory to God and that God lets Pharaoh know what he is about to do: Ge 41:16 + Ge 41:25 + Ge 41:28. * It is not mentioned that Joseph proposes that Pharaoh should demand exactly one fifth of all grain as tax and put it in reserve: Ge 41:34. | ||
| Su 12:48 | * 7 years of severe famine will follow: Ge 41:30-31 | * The Quran says that everything but a small part will be used up. | ||
| Su 12:49 | * The Quran says that after the 7 years of hunger will follow a year with much rain and a good harvest. Actually logical, if the previous years were 7 years of hunger, which are over now. | |||
| Su 12:50 | * A messenger of Pharaoh wants to bring Joseph to Pharaoh. But Joseph refuses. First the Pharao is to call the bad women to account, which brought him into the prison and which had cut themselves because of him into the hands. He wants to be justified first. It remains not realistic how he, as a prisoner, can defy the command of the powerful Pharaoh. Joseph comes across as very arrogant. * Has the cupbearer meanwhile told Joseph’s interpretation of his dream to the Pharaoh? If so, why does he still depend on Joseph and send for him? That is not natural! | |||
| Su 12:51 | * It is astonishing that the mighty Pharaoh does not insist that Joseph will come to him immediately. He responds to Joseph’s request and interrogates the women who wanted to seduce Joseph. * These women even defend Joseph and acquit him of being blameless. The wife (Potiphar’s) admits that it was she who wanted to seduce Joseph. He is an honest man. | |||
| Su 12:52 | * God does not allow the wicked to succeed. This is not always true: 1Co 3:19 but Ac 7:19; Mt 5:45. | * So Joseph is only interested in Potiphar finding out afterwards that he is innocent. But Potiphar knows this already before: Su 12:28-29. This does not make sense. | ||
| Su 12:53 | * Joseph confesses that he would also have fallen into sin if God had not preserved him. At no point does the Bible mention that Joseph would have liked to sleep with Potiphar’s wife. | |||
| Su 12:54 | * Only now, according to the Quran, Joseph is to be summoned once more by the king. He gives him a firm and important position in the state. | |||
| Su 12:55 | * Joseph suggests himself as the expert for stockpiling. How haughty and arrogant! * According to the Bible, Joseph himself interprets Pharaoh's dreams in front of him and advises Pharao to set aside a fifth of the harvest for the years of need. The Pharaoh recognizes that God's spirit is in Joseph and logically designates him as administrator for this task: Ge 41:38-41. * Joseph is not only chief of the supplies, he is set over the whole land of Egypt. He receives the signet ring of Pharaoh, gets special clothes and a golden chain around his neck. He shall ride on Pharaoh's spare chariot and all must bow down before him. Joseph gets the honorary name Zaphenath-Paneah and marries him to the daughter of the priest Potiphera (not Potiphar!) named Asenath. Because the two names are so similar, there may have been a confusion in the Quran that Potiphar's wife, who tried to marry Joseph, eventually married him. | |||
| Su 12:56 | * God gives Joseph an important position in the land of Egypt: Ge 41:44. * God rewards those who do good: 1Sa 26:23; Psa 19:12; Pro 14:14; Lu 6:35 * Joseph can move freely in the land of Egypt where he wants to: Ge 41:46. | * The Bible gives the exact age of Joseph when he is released from prison with 30 years: Ge 41:46. | * A sermon on Islam at its finest follows here, which considerably hinders the course of the story. | |
| Su 12:57 | * God rewards in the coming age those who believe in him and serve Him: Rev 11:18. | * The Bible describes exactly how Joseph will stockpile food for the coming years: Ge 41:47-49. In the same way, it reports about the beginning of famine and its effects in the known world: Ge 41:54-57. The Quran does not report about it at all. * The Bible mentions the births of the sons of Joseph: Manasseh and Ephraim: Ge 41:51-52. The Quran is not interested in it, because it is a book for Arabs and does not take the genealogy of the Jewish people seriously, as the history of salvation of God who remains faithful even if his people are unfaithful. |
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| Su 12:58 | * The 10 brothers of Joseph come to visit him in Egypt without recognizing him. But he recognizes them: Ge 42:7. | * The reason for the journey (famine) is not mentioned and the discussion of Jacob with his sons in advance as well: Ge 42:1-5 | ||
| Su 12:59 | * The 10 brothers have arrived without their brother Benjamin: Ge 42:4. * Joseph demands that they should bring Benjamin with him next time: Ge 42:15. * They get the grain they need to survive: Ge 42:25. | * The Quran suppresses the fact that Joseph first questioned his brothers and then accused them of espionage: Ge 42:8 + Ge 42:12 + Ge 42:14. * Joseph’s goal is for his brothers to recognize their guilt and humble themselves before him, as his earlier dreams predicted: Ge 42:9 + Ge 42:21. | * Joseph presents himself in the Quran as the perfect host. Typically oriental but true? | |
| Su 12:60 | * Joseph forces his brothers to bring Benjamin next time: Ge 42:20. | * The Quran speaks of barter goods, while the Bible speaks of money that is used as the equivalent of the grain: Ge 42:28. * Presumably Joseph wants to give them back the barter goods in the Quran because he thinks that this will motivate them to buy again. Maybe he thought they were poor and couldn’t afford the next purchase and therefore couldn’t come? | ||
| Su 12:61 | * The brothers want to persuade their father Jacob so that he lets Benjamin go with them next time. | |||
| Su 12:62 | * Joseph orders that the equivalent of the grain be put back into the brothers’ sacks: Ge 42:25. | * The Quran speaks of barter goods, while the Bible speaks of money that is used as the equivalent of the grain: Ge 42:28. * Presumably Joseph wants to give them back the barter goods in the Quran because he thinks that this will motivate them to buy again. Maybe he thought they were poor and couldn’t afford the next purchase and therefore couldn’t come? | ||
| Su 12:63 | * A return of the brothers to Egypt is only possible if Benjamin comes along: Ge 42:34 + Ge 43:3. * The sons (Bible: Reuben) guarantee to protect Benjamin on the trip: Ge 42:37. | * Reuben swears in the Bible that Jacob may kill his two sons if he does not bring Benjamin back safely: Ge 42:37. What Reuben did not succeed with Joseph, does he want to achieve here: Ge 37:29? | ||
| Su 12:64 | * Jacob accuses them of not having preserved Joseph: Ge 42:36. * God protects: 2Sa 22:31; Pro 30:5. | * The Quran suppresses the brothers’ discussion with their father Jacob and his accusations that because of them two sons are already missing, Joseph and Simeon (in prison) and the third, Benjamin, they want to take from him too: Ge 42:36. | * Is the statement that God protects at this point an indication intended by the Quran that Jacob knows that Joseph is alive? This is confirmed elsewhere. Then why does Jacob mess around like that when he already knows everything? | |
| Su 12:65 | * When the brothers open their sacks, they see the purchase price / equivalent value with which they bought the grain returned. | * It is interesting that in the biblical report it is told that only one of the brothers discovers his money in a hostel, while the others only discover their money in shock at home with Jacob while emptying the goods Ge 42:27 + Ge 42:35. The Bible is much more detailed. * The Quran speaks of barter goods, while the Bible speaks of money that is used as the equivalent of the grain: Ge 42:35. * Joseph’s plan in the Quran seems to work. The brothers are enthusiastic about the returned barter goods. They plan their next purchase with it. Shouldn't they have to fear the wrath of Joseph, who has lost his revenue. They do not know until then that he himself has arranged it. In the Bible, the discovery of the bundles of money drives the brethren into fear and terror: Ge 42:35. This sounds logical. | ||
| Su 12:66 | * Jacob actually does not want to send his son Benjamin with his brother Reuben: Ge 42:38. | * Jacob demands a promise from his sons to bring Benjamin back. In the Bible, Judah guarantees for him without being asked by his father in order to convince him: Ge 43:8-9. The Quran does not mention that Jacob finally agrees after a long discussion and the continuing famine. In the Bible, he orders them to take double shopping money and gifts from the country: Ge 43:11-12. * In the Bible, Jacob reckons that he might also loose Benjamin Ge 43:14. | * In the Quran the sons receive liberation from their oath to return Benjamin safely if they are attacked. | |
| Su 12:67 | * One should rely on God: Heb 10:23 | * The sons are not to enter the Egyptian capital through a single gate on the orders of Jacob because he expects an attack? This is found in Jewish sources: Midrasch, Die Josefsgeschichte in Koran und hebräischer Bibel - Synoptischer Vergleich - Harald Schweizer, Tübingen über http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_(Prophet) Bereschit Rabba 91,2). | ||
| Su 12:68 | * The sons enter the city through various gates. But the clever action of Jacob does not bring success. | |||
| Su 12:69 | * Joseph reveals himself directly to his brother (Benjamin) during the 2nd journey of his brothers. But only to him. * Joseph tells Benjamin not to be sad about the evil deeds of his brothers. * The Quran does not mention the great feast with alcohol Ge 43:34, which Joseph arranged for his brothers: Ge 43:16. * The seating arrangement ordered by age Ge 43:33 and five times larger portions for Benjamin are not mentioned: Ge 43:34. * Nor does he mention the brothers’ fear that they will be made slaves because the first payment has been returned: Ge 43:18. * That the brothers storm the steward over Joseph’s house and he calms them down is omitted in the Quran: Ge 43:19-23. * Nor does the Quran mention the gifts that the brothers give Joseph so that he may show them mercy: Ge 43:25, nor does it mention that they prostrate themselves before him as foretold in his dreams: Ge 43:26. * Nor are Joseph’s emotions mentioned: Ge 43:30-31. | |||
| Su 12:70 | * The drinking vessel of Joseph is smuggled into the sack of Benjamin Ge 44:2. * A man accuses the brothers of theft: Ge 44:2 | * It is not Joseph himself (as in the Quran) who places his drinking cup, but Joseph’s co-workers put the purchase price back a second time and the drinking cup of Joseph: Ge 44:1-2 | ||
| Su 12:71 | * In the Quran the brothers ask, in the Bible they defend themselves as innocent and are ready to take the punishment if something stolen is found with them: Ge 44:9. | |||
| Su 12:72 | * In the Quran, people want to receive a reward for finding the stolen drinking cup. | |||
| Su 12:73 | * The brothers defend themselves that they are not criminals: Ge 44:7. | |||
| Su 12:74 | * In the Quran, people ask what the brothers consider a proper punishment for theft. In the Bible, the brothers themselves suggest, without being asked, that the thief should be killed and the others become slaves: Ge 44:9. | |||
| Su 12:75 | * In the Quran the brothers suggest that the thief should be a slave, in the Bible that the thief should be killed and the others become slaves: Ge 44:9. | |||
| Su 12:76 | * The search of the baggage follows: Ge 44:12. * The drinking cup is found in Benjamin’s sack: Ge 44:12. * God exalts whom he will: Psa 75:7. * God gives wisdom: 2Ch 1:11. | * Suddenly Joseph is present in the Quran and searches the luggage. In the Bible, it is Joseph’s employees who begin still outside the city the search: Ge 44:12. * Only the Bible describes the exact sequence of the search: Ge 44:11-12 and the despair of the brothers: Ge 44:13. | * God performed this deception for Joseph so that he could have taken Benjamin as a slave according to the king’s law. In the Quran, the prophet Joseph must always stay above reproach. | |
| Su 12:77 | * Joseph keeps everything secret: Ge 44:15. * God knows all things: 1Sa 2:3; 1Jo 3:20. | * Judah’s confession of sin is omitted in the Quran: Ge 44:16. | * The brothers blame themselves that before Benjamin, another brother must have stolen on the first journey. What is meant by this, however, remains unclear. Does it mean the purchase price of the first journey, which a brother then put back into all the sacks? | |
| Su 12:78 | * A brother (Bible: Judah) begs Joseph for Benjamin. He has an old endangered father who will not be able to cope with his absence: Ge 44:18 - Ge 44:34. * One (Bible: Judah) wants to be punished instead of Benjamin: Ge 44:33. | |||
| Su 12:79 | * Joseph wants to punish only those who have been found with stolen goods. The others may depart in peace: Ge 44:17. | |||
| Su 12:80 | * The brothers lost all hope for a solution: Ge 44:34. | * The Quran reports at this point about a confidential conversation and review of the brothers. The eldest is the spokesman (Bible: Reuben). They remember the time when Joseph was not anymore part of the family: Su 12:80-87. * The Quran is consistent and repeats that the brothers had sworn to their father for young Joseph and neglected their duty. * In this situation Reuben does not want to leave Egypt and face his father. | * It is not quite clear whether this insertion in the Quran (Su 12:80 - Su 12:87) is just a discussion or whether the brothers have really made a third journey back to the father. For the father answers in Su 12:83 to this apparent discussion of his sons. So it must have happened according to Quran. But in the Bible only 2 trips to Egypt are recorded not 3. | |
| Su 12:81 | * Reuben suggests to his brothers that they should return to the father and tell him that a son (Bible: Benjamin) has stolen and they cannot help it. | |||
| Su 12:82 | * The brothers should convince the father by pointing to other witnesses of the deed from their group. | |||
| Su 12:83 | * In the Quran, Joseph claims to have opposed his sons. Like a good Muslim, he calls them to submit to the fate and to practice patience. He even has the belief that God can bring all sons back. Even the „deceased“ Joseph. A faith hero? | |||
| Su 12:84 | * Jacob mourns extremely for his son Joseph and could not be comforted: Ge 37:34-35 | * Here it seems clear that Jacob is actually visited by his sons and that this is not just a discussion between brothers. This would be the third trip. According to the Bible there are only two trips. | * It seems that after the Quran Jacob becomes blind which a later Quran verse confirms: Su 12:96. | |
| Su 12:85 | * The sons of Jacob say that he mourns so much for Joseph that it will cost him his life. In the Bible, however, Jacob himself says that he is so sad that he wants to be dead and with Joseph: Ge 37:35. | |||
| Su 12:86 | * Jacob is unquenchably sad and yet he knows something of God that is outrageous that Joseph is alive. But then it remains completely strange why he still mourns when Joseph is alive. | |||
| Su 12:87 | * Jacob instructs his sons to seek Joseph and his brother (Bible: Benjamin). Here it becomes clear that the Quran obviously speaks of a 3rd journey, since Jacob wants to let both sons search. * Only unbelievers despair of God’s grace, says the Quran. But in the Bible we find many examples where even believers despair at first: Ecc 2:20; Elijah: 1Ki 19:3; Jesus Christ: Lu 22:44; Paul: 2Co 1:8. Jacob must appear in the Quran as a hero of faith. | |||
| Su 12:88 | * The brothers say that they have experienced much misfortune, so they do not confess guilt in the Quran. They talk about insufficient finances and that Joseph should see the whole thing as alms and expect God to reward him. What should happen to the thief is no longer a question here. Just forget about it? | |||
| Su 12:89 | * Joseph reveals himself to his brothers: Ge 45:3. | * Before that, Joseph has already made himself known to Benjamin and one wonders why he did not tell his brothers. * The tears with which Joseph fights are not mentioned in the Quran: Ge 45:2. Is this not appropriate for a male? | * Strange remains the statement that the brothers do something not only to Joseph, but to his brother (Benjamin) too. What has happened to Benjamin and what is the injustice they have done to him? The Quran does not say. | |
| Su 12:90 | * The brothers realize that they have Joseph before them: Ge 45:3. * Joseph says a second time that it is really him: Ge 45:4. * With the calamity in Joseph’s life, God has a greater salvation in mind: Ge 45:5 + Ge 45:7. | * The first reaction of the brothers is not a question like in the Quran, because of the shock they could not ask anything: Ge 45:3. * The Quran does not mention the 2 years of famine in the country and 5 more difficult years to come: Ge 45:6. | ||
| Su 12:91 | * The brothers realize that they were wrong and that God really put Joseph above all the brothers, as described in his former dreams. Because of the shock and speechlessness of the brothers, the Bible reports no further words from them in this situation. | |||
| Su 12:92 | * Joseph tells his brothers not to argue on the way back to their father: Ge 45:24. | * Joseph's words and the invitation for his father to come to Egypt are omitted in the Quran: Ge 45:9-11. * Joseph's emotional embrace with Benjamin and his brothers is missing: Ge 45:14-15. * The involvment, the chariot equipment and the promise of Pharaoh that they may dwell in the land of Goshen, all are missing in the Quran: Ge 45:10; 45:16-20. | * God forgives his brothers or Joseph prays for them that he may forgive them. | |
| Su 12:93 | * The brothers shall bring their loved ones to Egypt: Ge 45:5 + Ge 45:7 + Ge 45:18. | * The Quran does not mention the gift of clothes, the 300 pieces of silver as a gift for Benjamin, the 10 donkeys with grain, and also the carriages for the transport: Ge 45:22-23. | * Now follows another Quranic insertion with Joseph's request to his brothers to lay a shirt of themselves on the blind father Jacob who then becomes seeing: Su 12:96. Joseph as a miracle healer in the Quran. | |
| Su 12:94 | * The caravan of the brothers returns to their father (Bible: to Canaan): Ge 45:25. | * In contrary to the Quran, where it says that Jacob can already “prophetically” smell his son while his sons are still on the road, the Bible says that Jacob's heart remained cold and he did not believe his sons: Ge 45:26. | * Jacob is afraid that people will call him senile. | |
| Su 12:95 | * People still accuse Jacob of being stuck in his old illusion that Joseph is still alive. | |||
| Su 12:96 | * Jacob recognizes that his son Joseph is still alive: Ge 45:28. | * The garment of Joseph, which his sons put on their fathers face, really leads to healing. Jacob can see with his eyes again. * Jacob triumphs that he has always believed that Joseph is alive and has not perished. A foreknowledge of God that only prophets can have. The prophet must not be mistaken. * God's direct and exciting address to Jacob on the road at Beersheba, in which God encourages him and says the he himself goes with him to Egypt and that God will once again bring his descendants back to Canaan, is missing (Ge 46:1 – Ge 46:4). This information does not interest the Quran, which seems only to look for parallels for the life of Muhammad. Therefore the biblical account of the descendants of the 70 Israelites (Ge 46,8 – Ge 46:27) is also omitted. | ||
| Su 12:97 | * In the Quran, the sons of Jacob confess their guilt to their father and ask him to intercede for them with God. | |||
| Su 12:98 | * Jacob agrees with his sons and assures them of his intercession. | |||
| Su 12:99 | * Joseph meets his father Jacob after all these years and is emotionally moved: Ge 46:29. | * The Quran does not mention that Jacob sends Judah to learn from Joseph how to get to the area of Goshen: Ge 46:28. * The Quran speaks of Joseph embracing his parents, which is not possible because his mother has died long ago: Ge 35:19; Ge 46:19. * Why would Joseph tell his parents to enter Egypt if he is already visiting them in Goshen, Egypt: Ge 46:29? There seems to be a lack of knowledge of the geographical place. | ||
| Su 12:100 | * God's plans are much more detailed than we can imagine: Isa 55:8-9. | * The Quran omits the conversation between Pharaoh, his brothers and Jacob, his age (130 years) and his job title shepherd: Ge 47:1-10. | * In the Quran, Joseph lets his parents sit on the throne, but they still bow down before him. * Joseph triumphs before his father over the fulfillment of his dreams by God and his liberation from prison. God has made Israel settle down from its nomadic way of life. * The fraternal quarrel is explained with satanic influence. | |
| Su 12:101 | * There is not a single prayer in the Bible that Joseph is said to have directed to God. * The Quran completely ignores the fact that Joseph is only now really getting started with his government. He enslaves the Egyptians gradually, because they have to sell themselves for their food from the supply barns: Ge 47:14-26. It is omitted because it would not suit an Islamic prophet Joseph. Also Jacob's blessing, death: Ge 47:29-31 and Joseph's death and his last words are omitted in the Quran: Ge 48:1-33. | * Here follows a hymn to the mighty Creator (Su 12:101-102) and a sermon on Islam of the finest quality, which Muhammad may have addressed to the Meccans in the same way (Su 12:103-110). It warns against idolatry and the following judgment. | ||
| Su 12:102 | * God explains hidden knowledge to Joseph, such as that his brothers agreed to harm him. | Islamic theology has derived from Joseph's interpretation of dreams, among other things, those dreams must be understood as the guidance of God. Muhammad is told to have said: “A good dream comes from God, a bad dream from Satan.” (Bukhari Vol.7, 71, 643). | ||
| Su 12:103 | * Most people remain unbelieving: Mt 7:14. | |||
| Su 12:104 | * The message of God is free of charge: 1Co 9:18. | |||
| Su 12:105 | * People see God's indications, but do not pay attention to them: Ro 1:20-21. | |||
| Su 12:106 | * Faith in God is often associated with idolatry: Ro 1:23. | |||
| Su 12:107 | * God's judgment will come: Ro 2:2. | |||
| Su 12:108 | * There are visible proofs of God's reality: Jn 3:11; Ac 4:20; 1Jo 1:1 + 1Jo 1:3 * We choose to follow God alone and not the idols: Jos 24:15. | |||
| Su 12:109 | * God has often sent prophets Heb 1:1. * A better world awaits the righteous in the hereafter: 2Pe 3:13; Phil 3:20. | |||
| Su 12:110 | * The help of God only comes to the messengers of God when they have given up hope, says the Quran. This does not correspond to the fact: Heb 11:13 + Heb 11:21-22 + Heb 11:37. | |||
| Su 12:111 | The words of God are not fairy tales: 1Th 2:3. | * If Surah 12 is a confirmation of what is written in the Bible, it would not deviate so much and convey a different message. | Joseph is the image of the coming Savior Jesus Christ in many ways: 1. both are honored in the Father's house 2. both are rejected and persecuted by their own family. 3. both are sold for one price. 4. both become slaves, in order to free slaves through a purchase price. 5. they are tempted to sin against God. 6. Joseph's life is “sinless”, the life of Jesus is sinless anyway. 7. they are unjustly accused. 8. both are acknowledged by those who hold them captive. 9. both predict the future for fellow prisoners. 10. God lets both succeed in everything. 11. both ask those who know them to remember them. 12. both forgive their enemies. 13. both are lifted up into the highest position of power over all. 14. only Pharaoh is greater - when all things are subject to him, the Son himself will place himself under the Father: 1Co 15:27-28. 15. both prepare a dwelling for those who belong to them (Jn 14:2-3; 1Co 2:9). 16. enemies become friends. 17. first they are damned, then honored saviors for their own people and other gentile nations. 18. God makes of the greatest wickedness against his chosen ones something wonderfully glorious good. 19 Both chosen ones bring salvation from the righteous judgment of God. | While the story of Joseph in the Bible is an important link in the history of the fathers (Abraham - Isaac - Jacob … - Moses; the move to Egypt a fulfillment of God's prophecy to Abraham in Ge 15:13: “400 years” in Egypt) and thus cannot be neglected. The story in the Quran is completely slimmed down and removed from its context. This could just as well be left out. For it only repeats the Islamic beliefs that are also constantly repeated in many other passages of the Quran. Joseph is declared the prototype of a Muslim (Su 12:101). So we see different aims of the reports. The Bible wants to bear witness to God's work in the lives of people as a continuous history of salvation. In Joseph's case, he saves the small family of Jacob from which a great nation and the Redeemer will come, and he saves then the population of Egypt and its surroundings. While the Quran aims to confirm Muhammad in his role as a prophet to the Meccans, who strongly reject him, in certain points. The Bible emphasizes the geographical, historical and theological side, while the Quran only represents the theological side, Islam. Accordingly, the Quran uses the Bible texts, shortens them, omits events and takes up content from other sources (which Jesus Christ rejects: e.g. Mt 15:3; Mt 15:6). The author of the Quran produced a kind of patchwork that fitted the intention of Muhammad. Thus the Quranic story of Joseph loses its credibility. What is particularly beautiful about the story compared to the biblical narrative remains a mystery. In the Bible, Joseph is not even called a prophet. He is an important figure in the salvation history of God, which shows many parallels to Jesus Christ. |