Now in JOSEPH and his brethren are signs for the enquirers;4
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 alone shall your father"s face be set! and after this, ye shall live as upright persons."
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."5
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.6 But patience is seemly: and the help of G.o.d is to be implored that I may bear what you tell me."
And wayfarers came and sent their drawer of water,7 and he let down his bucket. "Good news!"8 said he, "This is a youth!" And they kept his case secret, to make merchandise of him. But G.o.d knew what they did.
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 hospitably; 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.sion for him, and she shut the doors and said, "Come hither." He said, "G.o.d 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.9 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 prison10 or a sore punishment?"
He said, "She solicited me to evil." And a witness out of her own family11 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."
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,12 and said, "G.o.d keep us! This is no man! This is no other than a n.o.ble 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 pa.s.s to you. This is a part of that which my Lord hath taught me: for I have abandoned the religion13 of those who believe not in G.o.d and who deny the life to come;
And I follow the religion of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. We may not a.s.sociate aught with G.o.d. This is of G.o.d"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 G.o.d, the One, the Mighty?
Ye worship beside him mere names which ye have named, ye and your fathers, for which G.o.d hath not sent down any warranty. Judgment belongeth to G.o.d 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,14 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 n.o.bles, 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 seven 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."
And the King said, "Bring him to me."15 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, "G.o.d 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 G.o.d guideth not the machinations of deceivers.
Yet I hold not myself clear, for the heart is p.r.o.ne to evil, save theirs on whom my Lord hath mercy; for gracious is my Lord, 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,16 I will be their prudent keeper!"