Joseph: From the Hebrew Bible and the Koran
The Bible and the Koran are both glorious books of the world’s most flourishing religious cultures, Christianity and Islam respectively. At first glance, when you read the story of Joseph from the Hebrew bible and the Koran, they fundamentally seem to talk about similar ideals and storylines. They, however, have some deep seated differences, that may be a little philosophical in nature or might depend on the particular paragraph that we’re comparing.
The story of Joseph in the Bible begins with explanations of Joseph’s youth and innocence and how his brothers were jealous of him because he was the “blessed son”. It involves a lot of specifics, like it mentions that Joseph was seventeen years
The following part in the Hebrew bible where Joseph is given the charge of the land of Egypt by the pharaoh, he (the pharaoh king) acknowledges him as the super wise and makes him the ruler of all the land of Egypt and bestows him with the name “Zaphnath- paaneah”. In stark contrast to this, in the Koran, it is Joseph who asks the king to make him the owner of the granaries, “Give me charge of the granaries of the realm. I shall husband them wisely.
Towards the end of the story, in the Hebrew bible, Jacob along with all his ‘seeds’: his sons, his son’s sons, his son’s daughters, comes to Egypt to live with Joseph . There is no mention of this in the Koran, where Joseph welcomes his parents to Egypt but nothing about his entire family is written and the story ends with Joseph thanking the almighty for the glorious ending, “My lord has been gracious to me. He has released me from prison and brought you out of the desert after Satan had stirred up strife between me and my brothers. My lord is gracious to whom He will. He alone is all knowing and wise.”
The Bible and the Koran, though based on the same storylines can be compared and contrasted not only for the use of language but also in the way they refer to God. The bible is mostly in the form of a narrative with a