Lowering the status of Prophets to eliminate them as role models of religious culture has been among the actions of antireligious people throughout history. On the contrary, one of the purposes of the Qur’ān is to revive the Prophets’ infallible character. Shalom Goldman, an American orientalist, has conducted extensive research on the representation of Prophet Joseph (a) in the Qur’ān. He holds views in this regard that lead to lowering the status of this great divine prophet. Consequently, this descriptive-analytical study has set out to address his views in this regard. According to Godlman, the Egyptian king’s dreams were confused indeed. If he intends by this claim that such dreams were nonsense and could not be interpreted, then his view is incorrect based on the qur’ānic assertion that the king’s dreams were interpretable. However, he just might mean that the dreams were mixed and diverse. Moreover, Goldman has relied on some distorted narrations to implicitly agree with the opinion that Prophet Joseph (a) had decided to commit the sensual sin or had an inclination to commit it, but refrained when he saw his Lord’s evidence. Such a view is rooted in the wrong literary interpretation of Qur’ān 12:24 as well as Goldman’s incorrect understanding of the high station of prophets and their infallibility. Finally, he has presented some people’s assertions to support his stance. Nonetheless, these assertions rely on narrations that look like Isrā‘īlīyyāt.
_______ (1995), The Wiles of Women/The Wiles of Men: Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife in Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, and Islamic Folklore. Albany (NY, USA): State University of New York Press, 189pp.
REzaee Haftador, H., Intezari, S., Nasiriyan, S. (2024). Evaluation of Shalom Goldman's views about Prophet Yusuf (pbuh) in the Qur'an. Hekmat-e-Balegheh, 4(8), 7-34. doi: 10.22034/hb.2025.652.1100
MLA
Hasan REzaee Haftador; Sayyed Mehdi Intezari; Safar Nasiriyan. "Evaluation of Shalom Goldman's views about Prophet Yusuf (pbuh) in the Qur'an". Hekmat-e-Balegheh, 4, 8, 2024, 7-34. doi: 10.22034/hb.2025.652.1100
HARVARD
REzaee Haftador, H., Intezari, S., Nasiriyan, S. (2024). 'Evaluation of Shalom Goldman's views about Prophet Yusuf (pbuh) in the Qur'an', Hekmat-e-Balegheh, 4(8), pp. 7-34. doi: 10.22034/hb.2025.652.1100
VANCOUVER
REzaee Haftador, H., Intezari, S., Nasiriyan, S. Evaluation of Shalom Goldman's views about Prophet Yusuf (pbuh) in the Qur'an. Hekmat-e-Balegheh, 2024; 4(8): 7-34. doi: 10.22034/hb.2025.652.1100
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