It comes with no surprise our friend Stephen Atkins keeps
repeating himself with the same old busted argument, “what was the price that Joseph was sold for"? The problem isn’t on asking what price he was
sold for, rather the problem is the hidden agenda behind the question.
The Quran tells us, Joseph (Pbuh) was sold
by his brothers for a few pieces or silvers. Or according to translations for
the lame like Stephen, a few pieces of silver coins. This is where is gets interesting,
where Stephens actual motive on asking the question get’s revealed.
According to Stephen Atkins, “Dirham” (دِرْهَمٍ) was not used during the time of Joseph Pbuh thus, it’s
historically inaccurate.
Well, our friend Stephen shouldn’t be surprised to know that
on this occasion he is wrong and made an inaccurate statement. just for the record, I am no
scholar or historian on this matter, nor do I hold any such degree on this
subject which gives me an upper hand for my argument. I’ll be using a simple
basic, down to earth, lay man response. If you want an academic response to Stephen
Atkins question, then I recommend you visit, Islamic Awareness website. You’ll
get a highly Academic, bone breaking answer and more. I however, won’t have that
sort of response. I’ll be as simple as possible.
Before I give my response, here’s what Stephen Atkins wrote:
The Storey of Joseph
- Shekels or Coins?
According to Genesis Joseph was
sold for 20 shekels of silver.
Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of
the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They
took Joseph to Egypt. [Genesis 37:28]
Fact
- Joseph lived approximately 1700 BC
- Shekels were weighted measurement
Surah 12:20
- J. B. Irving a few coins
- Muhammed Farooq & Azam Malik dirhams (silver coins)
- Syed Ahamed a few dirhams
- Majid Fakhry dirhams
- The Noble Quran a few dirhams (silver coins)
- Pickthall a number of silver coins
The consensus by those translating the Quran is Joseph was sold for a few
silver coins or dirhams
Fact
- The first coins were developed in Iron Age Anatolia around the 7th and 6th
centuries BC. Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, throughout
Greece and Persia, and further to the
- Dirhams were not used as a coin until the 7th century
Stephen Atkins has the audacity to question the Quran, yet dismisses
his own Bible? His argument is, the Quran uses the word Dirham (Silver Coins),
whereas the Bible uses the word Shekels. He goes on to say and i quote :
“The first coins were developed in Iron Age Anatolia around the
7th and 6th centuries BC. Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BC,
throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the
- Dirhams were not used as a coin until the 7th century”
So, according to Stephens shabby information, “Dirham were
not used until the 7th century”? let’s find out a little about
Dirham before we close this case.
Notice from the above information, Dirham was adopted as
an Arab word, due to the trading with Arabia by the Byzantine Empire. Note after
the “7th century” it became an Islamic currency. This alone has
destroyed Stephen Atkins argument, but we haven’t finished yet.
Coming back to the word Dirham, we read from Oxford English
Dictionary, the word Dirham comes from the word “DRACHMA”. Whats interesting
about the word drachma is, it’s found in the Bible. The very Bible Stephen
Atkins used as his shield to discredit the Quran, will now back fire on him.
Not only is the word Dirham in Arabic found in the
Arabic Bible, the word Drachma is used frequently in the Septuagint Bible,
which apparently Paul was familiar with.
Since Dirham was introduced during the 7th
century according to our friend Stephen Atkins, one wonders why the Arabic
bible would use the word Dirham during the time of David, that’s 1050 B.C.?
Bible:
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV-AR)
7 وَقَدَّمُوا مِنْ أجلِ خِدْمَةِ بَيتِ اللهِ خَمْسَةَ آلافِ قِنْطارٍ وَعَشْرِةَ آلافِ دِرْهَماً مِنَ الذَّهَبِ، وَعَشْرِةَ آلافِ قِنْطارٍ مِنَ الفِضَّةِ، وَثَمانِيَةَ عَشَرَ قِنْطاراً مِنَ البرُونْزِ، وَمِئَةَ ألفِ قِنْطارٍ مِنَ الحَدِيد.
(1 Chronicles 29:7)
And gave for the service of the house of God
of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten
thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred
thousand talents of iron. (1 Chronicles 29:7)
Maybe Stephen Atkins can tell why the Arabic
Bible used Dirham during the time of David if Dirham was supposed to have been
in circulation during the 7th century? We have another, this time
from Ezra.
Easy-to-Read
Version (ERV-AR)
69 فَكانَت تَبَرُّعاتُهُمْ لِهَذا البِناءِ قَدرَ طاقَتِهِمْ: واحِداً وَسِتِّينَ ألفَ دِرْهَمٍ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ، وَخَمسَةَ آلافِ رَطلٍ [a] مِنَ الفِضَّةِ، وَمِئَةَ ثَوبٍ للكَهَنَةِ.
(Ezra 2:69)
They contributed to the treasury for this
work in accordance with their ability: 61,000 golden drachma, 5,000 units of
silver, and 100 priestly robes. (Ezra 2:69)
Once again I ask Stephen atkins, if Dirham circulated during the 7th
century, why then is the Arabic bible using it during the time of Ezra 445 B.C.?
now I’ll post a few verses from the Septuagint Bible and showing the word “DRACHEM”
(Dirham in Arabic دِرْهَماً) being used.
The Book of Leviticus, from the English Translation of the Greek
Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be his
valuation shall be fifty didrachms of
silver by the standard of the sanctuary. 4 And the valuation of ...
The Book of Exodus, from the English Translation of the Greek
Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... bull gore a man-servant or maid-servant, he shall pay to
their master thirty silver didrachms,
and the bull shall be stoned. 33 And if any one open ...
The Book of Joshua, from the English Translation of the Greek
Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... done: 21 I saw in the spoil an embroidered mantle, and two
hundred didrachms of silver,
and one golden wedge of fifty didrachms,
and I desired ...
The Book of Nehemiah, from the English Translation of the Greek
Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... before me oppressed them, they even took of them their
last money, forty didrachms for
bread and wine; and the very outcasts of them exercised authority over ...
The Book of Genesis, from the English Translation of the Greek
Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... my lord, I have heard indeed, the land is worth four
hundred silver didrachms, but what
can this be between me and thee? nay, do ...
The Book of Numbers, from the English Translation of the Greek
Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... even take five shekels a head; thou shalt take them
according to the holy didrachm,
twenty oboli to the shekel. 48 And thou shalt give the money ...
The Book of Deuteronomy, from the English Translation of the Greek
Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... man who lay with her shall give to the father of the
damsel fifty silver didrachms, and
she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her; ...
Now for the grand finale!
8 او اية امرأة لها عشرة دراهم ان اضاعت درهما واحدا ألا توقد سراجا وتكنس البيت وتفتش باجتهاد حتى تجده. (Luke
15:8)
Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose
one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently
till she find it? (Luke 15:8)
From the lips of Jesus, Drachem (Dirham درهما)
used in the Arabic Bible. Were the Arab Christians told by Muslims to insert Dirham in
the Arabic Bible? Hope Stephen Atkins has a good response.
-------------
Smith's says that according to
Genesis 37:28 Joseph was sold for 20 shekels. This was "about
a price of a slave around that time period. So not only does the Bible get the
right denomination, it also gets the right currency." There are serious
problems with Smith's claims. To start with, in the book of Genesis, Joseph was sold twice; firstly by his
brothers "who sold him for twenty shekels of silver to
the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt" (Genesis 37:28) and secondly, the
Midianites who "sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the
guard" (Genesis 37:36). The Qur'an, on the other hand, mentions only one sale of Joseph to al-ʿAziz in
Egypt by travellers who picked him from a well (12:19-21). Comparing the biblical and the Qur'anic stories, it
is amply clear that neither of the two books mention any price for the sale of
Joseph in Egypt. But the Qur'an does describe this sale as the one
involving a few pieces of silver which are countable. Undoubtedly, Smith has
confused himself thoroughly with the stories.
Secondly, the claim that Joseph
was sold for 20 shekels being "about a price of a slave
around that time period" is not based on data from Egypt because this sale
never took in Egypt! If he had bothered to check, he would have found that
Professor K. A. Kitchen used the data from the ancient Near East to work out
the price of a slave around the time when Joseph lived.[90]
From <https://www.islamic-awareness.org/quran/contrad/external/dirham.html>
Conclusions
In a lecture given to his
fellow missionaries Joseph Smith had claimed that the use of the word dirham during
the time of Joseph is an anachronism in the Qur'an. To support his claim, he
said that the dirham was created only after the advent of
Islam by ‘Umar, who subsequently introduced the dirham to
replace the drachma. Furthermore, he added that Joseph was sold to
the Egyptians for a few dirhams, counted out. According to him,
only coins are counted and there were no coins in the time of Joseph, it was
bullion. Regrettably, Smith's superficial knowledge of numismatics in general
and the numismatic history of the ancient near east in particular, has caused
him to make many gross errors fundamental in nature.
It was shown that pre-Islamic
Arabs were aware of the dirham. The evidence comes from the
pre-Islamic romance poetry of ‘Antara. The Arabs from pre-Islamic Arabia
handled Persian currency and called it dirham which came from
the Persian drahm. Both Muslim and non-Muslim philologists agree
that this is a word of foreign origin borrowed into Arabic. It is clear that
the use of the dirham in the Qur'an is not an anachronism, as
the Arabs from pre-Islamic times were already aware of it.
Moreover, during the advent of
Islam, any silver coin was called a dirham; it was also a unit of
weight and coinage, and represented a monetary unit that might or might not be
represented by a circulating coin. Given the multifarious nature of dirham,
the use of this word in the story of Joseph represents silver
"coinage"; the silver used as deben or sh‘t in
ancient Egypt. A study of "coinage" in ancient Egypt clearly shows
that precious metals, especially silver, were used as money in the form
of deben and sh‘t. During trade, the
numbers of deben or sh‘t were
specified, clearly suggesting that they were counted and were of a standard
metal quality as well as of a standard weight. The texts do not say that
either deben or sh‘t were weighed or
tested for quality during commercial transactions. Although very common from
Ramesside times onward, the evidence of such transactions extend all the way
down to the mid-5th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom Period, where, in one particular
market scene, a particular length of cloth is valued at 6 sh‘t.
In assessing the evidence of
coinage in ancient Egypt, Černý came to the conclusion that sh‘ty "was
a flat, round piece of metal 1/12 deben, that is about 7.6 grams,
in weight, possibly with an inscription to indicate this weight or the name of
the issuing authority", adding "If so, the 'piece' was
practically a coin."[103] Although Černý's assessment was startling,[104] he
was not too far off the mark.
In conclusion, the Qur'anic
description of the transaction darāhima maʿdūdatin (i.e., a
few pieces of silver, countable) is accurate from the point of view of ancient
Egypt.
And Allah knows best!
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