For this reason the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he was asked, “Who among people is the most noble?” replied:

“Joseph, the Prophet of Allah, son of the Prophet of Allah, son of the Prophet of Allah, son of the Intimate Friend of Allah.” (1)

Ibn Jarīr (2), Ibn Abī Ḥātim in their Tafsīrs, and Abū Yaʿlā and al-Bazzār in their Musnads, have transmitted—through al-Ḥakam ibn Ẓuḥayr (whom the leading ḥadīth critics deem weak)—from al-Suddī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sābiṭ, from Jābir, who said:

A Jew named Bustānah came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “O Muḥammad, tell me the names of the stars that Joseph saw prostrating to him.” The Prophet ﷺ remained silent and gave him no answer, until Gabriel descended with their names. The Messenger of Allah then sent for the man and said, “Will you believe if I inform you of their names?” He replied, “Yes.” He said, “They are: Ḥarthān, al-Ṭāriq, al-Dhiʾāl, Dhū al-Kitfān, Qābis, Wathāb, ʿAmardān, al-Faylaq, al-Muṣbiḥ, al-Ḍurūḥ, Dhū al-Farʿ, al-Ḍiyāʾ, and al-Nūr.” The Jew said, “Yes, by Allah, these are indeed their names.” (3)

According to the wording preserved by Abū Yaʿlā, when Joseph recounted the dream to his father, he said, “This is a scattered bundle that Allah will unite. The sun is his father, and the moon is his mother.”

“Indeed, in Joseph and his brothers there are signs for those who ask, when they said, ‘Surely Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we, though we are a band. Our father is plainly mistaken. Kill Joseph, or cast him away to some land so that your father’s attention will be yours alone, and afterwards you may become righteous.’ One of them said, ‘Do not kill Joseph; rather throw him into the depths of the well. A passing caravan will pick him up—if you must do something.’” (Yūsuf 7-10)

Thus Allah points out the signs, wisdoms, proofs, lessons, and clear evidences contained in this story. He then mentions the envy Joseph’s brothers felt because their father loved him and his brother—his full brother Benjamin—more than them, even though they were a strong group, saying in effect, “We were more entitled to his affection than these two.” “Our father is in obvious error” for preferring them over us.

They therefore consulted one another about killing Joseph or banishing him to some distant land from which he would never return, so that their father’s face—that is, his exclusive love—would be turned wholly to them. They intended to repent afterwards. When they had agreed and settled upon this, “a speaker among them said”—Mujāhid said it was Shimʿūn; al-Suddī said it was Judah; whereas Qatādah and Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said it was their eldest brother, Reuben—“‘Do not kill Joseph, but throw him into the depths of the well; some travelers will pick him up,’” meaning passing wayfarers.