12 Sūrat Yūsuf (xii) and Some of Its Possible Jewish Sources,

This is a story about a story; this is a history of a sacred story and how it was shaped in Jewish and Islamic sources. Here is a tale of how a story was developed and was embellished during the course of its transmission among Jews and Muslims. The aim of this study is to discuss some of the possible sources of Sūrat Yūsuf (XII). Needless to say, there is no intention to discuss the broader picture of the relationships between the Jews and Islam in its formative stages. This is a very confined research on some details that are mentioned in this sura, and there is no intention whatsoever to infer any generalizations. Sūrat Yūsuf is a well-known kind of biblical story that was retold and rewritten in the Qurʾān. It tells the story of Joseph and his brothers, a story that is considered to be “the best of all tales” of humankind (Q. 12:3); at least the narrator of the Qurʾān as well as Leo Tolstoy thought so. It is so famous that there is no need to present it in detail: Joseph was sold by his brothers to Ishmaelites and taken to Egypt. As a slave Joseph was accused of being a rapist and went to jail, but by his cleverness he became the viceroy and later saved his brothers and the whole family was reunited. Jealousy, hatred, sex, dream interpretation, famine, and good luck can generate a very good story. This is the story that tells how the Jews came to Egypt in the first place, so one Collapse