1. Alif. Lam. Ra. These are verse of the Scripture that maketh plain.

2. Lo! We have revealed it, a Lecture in native, that ye may understand.

3. We narrate unto thee Mohammed the best of narratives in that We have inspired in thee this record, though aforetime thou wast of the heedless.

4. When Joseph said unto his father: O my father! Lo! I saw in a dream eleven planets and the sun and the moon, I saw them prostrating themselves unto me.

5. He said: O my dear son! Tell not thy brethren of thy vision, lest they plot a plot against thee. Lo! Satan is for man an open foe.

6. Thus thy Lord will prefer thee and will teach thee the interpretation of events, and will perfect His grace upon thee and upon the family of Jacob as He perfected it upon thy forefathers, Abraham and Isaac. Lo! thy Lord is Knower, Wise.

7. Verily in Joseph and his brethren are signs of God's Sovereignty for the inquiring.

8. When they said: Verily Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we are, many though we be. Lo! our father is in plain aberration.

9. One said: Kill Joseph or cast him to some other land, so that your father's favour may be all for you, and that ye may afterward be righteous folk.

10. One among them said: Kill not Joseph but, if ye must be doing, fling him into the depth of the pit; some caravan will find him.

11. They said: O our father! Why wilt thou not trust us with Joseph, when lo! we are good friends to him?

12. Send him with us to-morrow that he may enjoy himself and play. And lo! we shall take good care of him.

13. He said: Lo! in truth it saddens me that ye should take him with you, and I fear less the wolf devour him while ye are heedless of him.

14. They said: If the wolf should devour him when we are so strong a band, then surely we should have already perished.

15. Then, when they led him off, and were of one mind that they should place him in the depth of the pit, We inspired in him: Thou wilt tell them of this deed of theirs when they know thee not.

16. And they came weeping to their father in the evening.

17. Saying: O our father! We went racing one with another, and left Joseph by our things, and the wolf devoured him, and thou believest not our saying even when we speak the truth.

18. And they came with false blood on his shirt. He said: Nay, but your minds have beguiled you into something. My course is comely patience. And God it is Whose help is to be sought in that predicament which ye describe.

19. And there came a caravan, and they sent their waterdrawer. He let down his pail into the pit. He said: Good luck! Here is a youth. And they hid him as a treasure, and God was Aware of what they did.

20. And they sold him for a low price, a number of silver coins; and they attached no value to him.

21. And he of Egypt who purchased him said unto his wife: Receive him honourably. Perchance he may prove useful to us or we may adopt him as a son. Thus we established Joseph in the land that We might teach him the interpretation of events. And God was predominant in His career, but most of mankind know not.

22. And And when he reached his prime We gave him wisdom and knowledge. Thus We reward the good.

23. And she, in whose house he was, asked of him an evil act. She bolted the doors and said: Come! He said: I seek refuge in God! Lo! he is my lord, who hath treated me honourably. Lo! wrong-doers never prosper.

24. She verily desired him, and he would have desired her if it had not been that he saw the argument of his Lord. Thus it was, that We might ward off from him evil and lewdness. Lo! he was of Our chosen slaves.

25. And they raced with one another to the door, and she tore his shirt from behind, and they met her lord and master at the door. She said: What shall be his reward, who wisheth evil to thy folk, save prison or a painful doom?

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