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Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 1–3The Quran has been revealed for the guidance of the whole world.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 4–6According to a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, there are three kinds of dreams—those of wish fulfillment, fear of Satan and good tidings from God.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 7–10In the course of the last days of the Prophet Muhammad in Makkah, when Abu Talib and Khadijah had passed away, the people of Makkah intensified their opposition to him.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 11–14The reply given by Jacob to his sons shows that he had already guessed that it was not a question of Joseph playing and enjoying himself in some meadow, but that Joseph’s brothers had hatched a conspiracy against him.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 15–18The story of Joseph is definitely more detailed than what has been described in the Quran.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 19–20After pushing Joseph into the dry well, the brothers returned home.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 21–22It is said that an officer of the Egyptian government, Potiphar, bought Joseph.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 23–24Zulaykha, the wife of the nobleman, was charmed by the beauty of Joseph.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 25–29a) Joseph ran towards the door to save himself and Zulaykha also ran after him and caught hold of his shirt from behind.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 30–34Certain ladies of noble families were invited by Zulaykha to meet Joseph and they saw in him a handsome young man.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 35–36When the ladies of high status of Egypt failed to attract Joseph’s attention towards themselves, they deemed it only right and proper that he should be sent to prison.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 37–40The young prisoners approached Joseph in order to know the interpretation of their dreams.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 41–42Of the two youths who were put in jail, one was a bread maker and the other was a wine-server to the king of Egypt.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 43–45Though the king of Egypt was a polytheist and a wine drinker, God made him see a true dream of the future.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 46–49The interpretation Joseph gave to the king’s dream was that the seven fat cows and the seven green ears of corn stood for seven years when there would be consistently good harvests.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 50–51After his release from prison, Joseph had to play a role at the national level.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 52–53When the king called Joseph to his court, he did not leave the prison immediately but said that first of all that incident on the pretext of which he had been imprisoned should be investigated.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 54–57‘Place in my charge the storehouses of the land.’ (The original Arabic word translated here as storehouses [or granaries] literally means ‘treasure’).Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 58–61There were bumper crops during the first seven years of Joseph’s power.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 62–64Joseph probably felt that it was discourteous to take the price of the corn from his brothers, or he perhaps thought that a lack of money might prevent them from coming back again.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 65–66On reaching home, when they found their money in their bags of corn, they were very happy.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 67–68The ancient capital of Egypt was a city around which there was a rampart with many gates in it.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 69–76At the time of departure of Joseph’s brothers, Joseph out of kindness put his drinking cup (which was perhaps made of silver) in his brother Benjamin’s possessions.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 77–79According to commentators of the Quran, in his childhood Joseph quietly removed an idol from his grandmother’s house and broke it.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 80–82Among Joseph’s stepbrothers there was perhaps one brother who was different from the others.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 83–87a) By saying this Jacob exposed the evil in the hearts of Joseph’s brothers.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 88–90‘God does not waste the reward of those who do good, who are righteous and steadfast.’Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 91–93When the truth came out into the open, Joseph’s brothers acknowledged Joseph’s greatness and freely admitted their guilt.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 94–98After the separation from his father, Joseph lived in the neighbouring country of Egypt for more than 20 years, but Jacob remained unaware of it.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 99–100Here the ‘couch’ does not mean a royal throne but the seat where Joseph used to sit and discharge the duties of his post; here prostration (sajdah) does not mean lying face down in the usual sense but bowing down and kneeling (ruku‘).Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verse 101The one who rejects the truth looks at everything from the point of view of the human being, while a believer looks at everything in relation to God.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 102–104The story of Joseph is in itself a proof of the Quran being the revelation of God and not the discourse of a human being.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 105–108After the Truth, has been made plain, those who do not accept it, say that the requisite sound arguments in its favour were not forthcoming and had such reasoning been put forward, they would have accepted it.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verses 109–110History shows that even those who believed in prophethood also rejected it, when a person in their own community was made a prophet and stood right in front of them.Chapter 12, Joseph (Yusuf) · verse 111The stories of previous prophets and their communities are the stories of all mankind, as far as moral lessons are concerned.