Quran and Novel: The Story of Yusuf in Qur'an

It is now generally accepted that the rise of the genre of novel required a kind of worldview as well as a philosophical theory of man which had not been in existence until recent centuries, after severe changes which resulted into Modern civilization. Novel and realistic novel in particular, is a genre dealing with individual man and his possibilities in facing with problems and issues of the modern world. It can be argued that any novel, from 16th century classics to so-called ‘post-modern’ ones are essentially realistic. If we take realism from novel, there would be nothing but fairy tales or satirical mimics of epics. We recognize two different types of realism: Naive realism, which is very common to the novels. It depicts man’s reaction to difficulties, stimulated by his environment, class, family, society and values. In naive realism, man is left alone with his choices in absence of God. This is the author, not God, who usually depicts an ethical framework in the course of the story. That is why a novel has always a hidden ethical framework within. In Qur'anic realism, or the second type of realism which we highlight here, in opposition, we always see an invisible, but sensible line of heavenly guidance and supervision by a divine existence. Lukacs called novel, epic of a world which has been abandoned by God. He was true in his formulation, when we consider that the rise of novel was in deep relation with the rise of Protestantism. Protestant man is left alone, here on the earth. He has too seek his redemption, but lonely. He has nowhere to confess, other than his personal diaries. Many of classic novelists were Protestant. Defoe as an example, was Protestant and his widely read Robinson Crusoe, is an exemplar of a man left alone. Story of Yusuf (Joseph), among Qur’anic stories, has many things in common with genre of novel, and that is why many researches tried to analyze this relation. They attempted to construe story of Yusuf a novel, regardless of their internal antinomies. It is argued in this article that in spite of having a number of elements in common with novel in the story of Yusuf, like place, conversation, problem of I, and realistic narrative, this story is far from being a novel because of the substantial differences due to the presence of Allah, and non-loneliness of man. Story of Yusuf is realistic, though its realism is far from those of Moll Flanders and Roxana in which the hero is completely abandoned. The story of Yusuf is an example of a Qur'anic narrative. Story of a man who face severe difficulties, but we see the invisible guidance of God in different episodes. In this article we questioned the formal likeliness and substantial differences between novel and the story of Yusuf in Qur’an. We based this article on the basis of Lukacs’ theory of novel as the theoretical framework. We also had an eye on Kundera's and Watt's theory of novel and referred to other critics where needed.