The Story of Joseph: Variations in the Turko-Persian world between 1000 and 1500

Abstract

The story of Joseph, in the Islamic tradition known as Yusuf, is widely known both from the Bible and the Qur’an. It found great popularity in the Turko-Persian world between 1000 and 1500, when it started to appear in a growing variety of genres. This culminated in the 15th century, when the poet ʿAbd al-Rahman Jami composed his famous version of the narrative in the Timurid capital Herat. Earlier in the 15th century, the story became connected to one of the great names of Persian poetry: Abu’l-Qasim Firdausi, the poet who composed the Shahnama or Book of Kings, around the year 1000. The glorious pre-Islamic past as presented in the Shahnama was embraced in many ways by the Turkic and Mongol rulers who reigned over much of the Islamic world since the year 1000, and so was the moving and pious narrative of Joseph. How and why were the two brought together? This article explores the story of Joseph and its role in the cultural production of the Turko-Persian world, and discusses the connections between the story of Joseph, Firdausi, and the court culture of the Timurids.