The Story of Prophet Joseph ON HOLD

Introduction

The story of Prophet Joseph or Yusuf as is known by Muslims, is one that is documented in the religious texts of Jews, Christians and Muslims. As a revert or convert to the Muslim faith, his story holds one of my fondest memories from attending Sunday School in church as a child and one of the many stories that I have been fortunate to share with my children and now grandchildren.

This story of Prophet Joseph will be entirely taken from the religious text of the Muslims, called the Quran. This is because although the original story of Prophet Joseph is in the other religious texts, it is retold in its' final revelation to humanity called the Quran.

As the Quran was revealed in Arabic, there have been and still are, Muslim scholars who have provided a tafsir (or interpretation) of the Quran for non-speakers of the Arabic language. The word tafsir is an Arabic word that means: grammatical, historical, allegorical, or traditional interpretation of the Quran. The foremost scholar in the Science of tafsir, whose work is well respected throughout the Muslim World, is known simply as Ibn Kathir. He lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago and I will be relying on his work for a greater part of this book.

In addition to Ibn Kathir, I will also be incorporating information from the tafsir of another, living, Muslim scholar called Nouman Ali Khan or NAK. One may well ask, why include material from the tafsir of another scholar in your book as you already intend to use the interpretation from the leader of tafsir exegesis, Ibn Kathir? My answer to that question is simple. The tafsir of Nouman Ali Khan, for me, can be compared to eating a comforting bowl of beef stew or any other comforting food! Whether that stew was cooked by you, or you watched someone else cook it, when you finally sit down to eat it, from the first spoonful to the last, you can taste each of the fine ingredients in the stew. You tasted the meat, vegetables, spices, how the onions were sliced and so on and so forth. By the end of eating that bowl of stew, you leave the table feeling satisfied and nourished!

As he is still very much alive, he makes his tafsir into a living, breathing interpretation, with anecdotes to make this incredibly ancient story, as relevant today, as it was hundreds of years ago. In the tafsir of NAK, he provides, at times, a comparison of the story of Prophet Joseph/Yusuf from the Biblical text side by side with the Quranic text and I will be including that in this book as well. This is for those who would like to see a comparison of both stories.

The story of Prophet Joseph is the most comprehensive story of a prophet in the Qur'an and thus it is long! If you are interested in following along with me chapter by chapter, you can find the recording from Nouman Ali Khans' tafsir on Muslim Central online. It would be interesting to read comments about this tafsir from other readers and hear your views on the story as well.

FYI, I am a not a Muslim scholar; not by a long shot ; )! I am merely a student of knowledge with a desire to share this amazing story with readers on Wattpad who may not be aware of the final version of this story as re-told in the Quran.

I hope that you join me on this journey into understanding this fascinating story. It is one that is full of some modern-day negative weaknesses in humanity such as jealousy, cruelty, pride, hatred, unrequited passion, deception, rejection and terror. It also contains some positive human characteristics such as compassion, bravery, nobility, uncompromising fatherly love, and patience.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this introduction and I hope that you decide to read my book. This is my first book and I appreciate criticism from a place of sincerity for development and growth. Negative, hurtful comments are unwelcome.

Assalamu alaikum

khadijaholmes