Joseph in Islam

Yusuf (Arabic: يوسف ٱبن يعقوب ٱبن إسحاق ٱبن إبراهيم, romanized: Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb ibn ʾIsḥāq ibn ʾIbrāhīm, lit. 'Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham') is a prophet and messenger of God mentioned in the Quran^[1] and corresponds to Joseph, a person from the Hebrew and Christian Bible who was said to have lived in Egypt before the New Kingdom.^[2] Of Jacob's children, Joseph reportedly had the gift of prophecy through dreams. Although the narratives of other prophets are presented in a number of surahs, Joseph's complete narrative appears in only one: Yusuf. Said to be the most detailed narrative in the Quran, it contains more details than its biblical counterpart.^[3]

This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. (March 2023)

Yusuf is believed to have been the eleventh son of Ya'qub (Arabic: يعقوب) and, according to a number of scholars, his favorite. Ibn Kathir wrote, "Jacob had twelve sons who were the eponymous ancestors of the tribes of the Israelites. The noblest, the most exalted, the greatest of them was Joseph."^[4] The narrative begins with Joseph revealing a dream to his father, which Jacob recognizes.^[5] In addition to the role of God in his life, the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha (Potiphar's wife in the Old Testament) became a popular subject of Persian literature and was elaborated over centuries.^[6]