Surah Yūsuf (Joseph) in English

1. قال يا بني لا تقصص رؤياك على إخوتك فيكيدوا لك كيدا إن الشيطان للإنسان عدو مبين

   5

   he said, ‘My son, do not recount your dream to your brothers, lest they should devise schemes against you. Satan is indeed man’s manifest enemy.

   qāla yā-bunayya lā taqṣuṣ ruʾyāka ʿalā ʾikhwatika fa-yakīdū laka kaydan ʾinna sh-shayṭāna li-l-ʾinsāni ʿaduwwun mubīnun

2. وكذلك يجتبيك ربك ويعلمك من تأويل الأحاديث ويتم نعمته عليك وعلى آل يعقوب كما أتمها على أبويك من قبل إبراهيم وإسحاق إن ربك عليم حكيم

   6

   That is how your Lord will choose you, and teach you the interpretation of dreams, and complete His blessing upon you and upon the house of Jacob, just as He completed it earlier for your fathers, Abraham and Isaac. Your Lord is indeed all-knowing and all-wise.’

   wa-ka-dhālika yajtabīka rabbuka wa-yuʿallimuka min taʾwīli l-ʾaḥādīthi wa-yutimmu niʿmatahū ʿalayka wa-ʿalā ʾāli yaʿqūba ka-mā ʾatammahā ʿalā ʾabawayka min qablu ʾibrāhīma wa-ʾisḥāqa ʾinna rabbaka ʿalīmun ḥakīmun

3. لقد كان في يوسف وإخوته آيات للسائلين

   7

   In Joseph and his brothers there are certainly signs for the seekers.

   la-qad kāna fī yūsufa wa-ʾikhwatihī ʾāyātun li-s-sāʾilīna

4. إذ قالوا ليوسف وأخوه أحب إلى أبينا منا ونحن عصبة إن أبانا لفي ضلال مبين

   8

   When they said, ‘Surely Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than [the rest of] us, though we are a hardy band. Our father is indeed in manifest error.’

   ʾidh qālū la-yūsufu wa-ʾakhūhu ʾaḥabbu ʾilā ʾabīnā minnā wa-naḥnu ʿuṣbatun ʾinna ʾabānā la-fī ḍalālin mubīnin-i

5. اقتلوا يوسف أو اطرحوه أرضا يخل لكم وجه أبيكم وتكونوا من بعده قوما صالحين

   9

   ‘Kill Joseph or cast him away into some [distant] land, so that your father’s attention may be exclusively towards you, and thereafter you may become a righteous lot.’

   uqtulū yūsufa ʾawi ṭraḥūhu ʾarḍan yakhlu lakum wajhu ʾabīkum wa-takūnū min baʿdihī qawman ṣāliḥīna

6. قال قائل منهم لا تقتلوا يوسف وألقوه في غيابت الجب يلتقطه بعض السيارة إن كنتم فاعلين

   10

   One of them said, ‘Do not kill Joseph, but cast him into the recess of a well so that some caravan may pick him up, if you are to do [anything].’

   qāla qāʾilun minhum lā taqtulū yūsufa wa-ʾalqūhu fī ghayābati l-jubbi yaltaqiṭhu baʿḍu s-sayyārati ʾin kuntum fāʿilīna

7. قالوا يا أبانا ما لك لا تأمنا على يوسف وإنا له لناصحون

   11

   They said, ‘Father! Why is it that you do not trust us with Joseph? We are indeed his well-wishers.

   qālū yā-ʾabānā mā laka lā taʾmannā ʿalā yūsufa wa-ʾinnā lahū la-nāṣiḥūna

8. أرسله معنا غدا يرتع ويلعب وإنا له لحافظون

   12

   Let him go with us tomorrow so that he may eat lots of fruits and play, and we will indeed take [good] care of him.’

   ʾarsilhu maʿanā ghadan yartaʿ wa-yalʿab wa-ʾinnā lahū la-ḥāfiẓūna

9. قال إني ليحزنني أن تذهبوا به وأخاف أن يأكله الذئب وأنتم عنه غافلون

   13

   He said, ‘It really upsets me that you should take him away, and I fear the wolf may eat him while you are oblivious of him.’

   qāla ʾinnī la-yaḥzununī ʾan tadhhabū bihī wa-ʾakhāfu ʾan yaʾkulahu dh-dhiʾbu wa-ʾantum ʿanhu ghāfilūna

10. قالوا لئن أكله الذئب ونحن عصبة إنا إذا لخاسرون

    14

    They said, ‘Should the wolf eat him while we are a hardy band, then we will indeed be losers!’

    qālū la-ʾin ʾakalahu dh-dhiʾbu wa-naḥnu ʿuṣbatun ʾinnā ʾidhan la-khāsirūna