Wa alaikum salaam, my friend.
Thank you for these translations. They are saying that Joseph was not sold for dirhams, but for a few coins or a few pennies, although the Quranic verse uses the word "dirhams".
Let's assume though that by dirham, the Quran's author just meant coins, or pennies. The problem that still remains is that there were no coins in Egypt during the time of Joseph.
There were no coins at that point anywhere in the world. Coins were not invented until the 7th century BC.
History of Coins
The history of coins extends from ancient times to the present. Coins are still widely used for monetary and other purposes. Any history of coins is going to be very incomplete, money being a central theme in human history since its invention. One could approach the history of minting technologies, the history shown by the images on coins, the history of economics, the history of coin collecting or collectors, or many other topics. A recently published history of the greatest treasures and hoards ever found is fascinating reading. Many histories have been published of the politics around the creation of a single coin, notably the crime of 1873 and its connection to silver coinage of the United States. The history of mining, and various gold and silver rushes and their associated pioneer coining efforts are also extremely interesting reading. Even something as lowly as the history of counterfeiting leads one in a thousand interesting directions. Numismatics is, by its very nature, the study of history. Coins have often been referred to as "History in Your Hands."
All histories of coins begin with their invention between 643 and 630 B.C. in Lydia. Since that time, coins have been the most universal embodiment of money. These first coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring pale yellow mixture of gold and silver. The most famous and widely collected coins of antiquity are Roman coins and Greek coins. The Byzantine empire minted many coins, including very thin gold coins bearing the image of the Christian cross and various Byzantine emperors.
History of the Coin
Peace be on you.
On a lighter note, see one is getting concerned about the tension (which might cause health issues) you are getting about those coins, in the times when people are saying;
1="Many modern-day scholars believe the historicity of the events in the Joseph narrative cannot be demonstrated.
[11][12]"
Joseph (patriarch) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2=Moreover, and we know, these days there are many people, who think God is not present, many so called 'historians' etc belong to same class and the most of their 'unbiased' researches and findings have the same colour!
The solution: Believers should produce their own experts in various fields.
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Holy Quran's Chapter 12, Surah Yusuf has certain lessons of morality, spirituality, governmental ethics, success of Prophets. I believe one should have more focus on that, rather than coins or dirhams;
?=Why cannot we stay contend with the word dirham as some equivalent monetary value, coin or no-coin.
?=Why should we trust those 'archaeological findings' that Egypt or time of Joseph was not using coins. What if they were using? --- Can anyone imagine, once Dollar was being happily used in the streets of Moscow!!--- When some 'historian' will write it centuries latter, same questions will be raised then.
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I can say about Bible, though it is not in original form, yet it talks a lot about morality and relation with God and people, people should practice its message.
and
I can say about Quran, it is not changed, so-called findings (which keep changing otherwise too) cannot be made Judge over it.
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Let me make more clear by some examples, why does not anyone ask questions about verses:
[12:20] And there came a caravan of travellers and they sent their waterdrawer. And he let down his bucket
into the well. ‘Oh, good news!’ said he, ‘Here is a youth!’ And they concealed him as a piece of merchandise, and Allah knew full well what they did.
By which mechanism boy was Ok in a well? were there any hidden niches in walls or was he sitting in buckets? What kind of buckets were used in Egypt those days, Is it proved by modern-historians....etc
If we do not ask these questions then why we are so much worried about next verse i.e.
[12:21] And they sold him for a paltry price, a few dirhems, and they were not desirous of it.
(alislam.org/quran)
Is not the verse clearly giving idea, that it was very low price, in dirhams or coins it was very low. The news is not it was low prices or it was coined-era or not, the news is lack of ethics and morals.
If one wishes to know whether dirhams or coins were present at that time, this research should be done by trustable researchers (at least 50 % of them should be fair-minded believers). In either answer, the verse will stand.
Next, another verse
[12:32] And when she heard of their
crafty design, she sent for them and prepared for them a repast, and gave every one of them a knife and
then said
to Joseph, ‘Come forth to them.’ And when they saw him they thought much of him and cut their hands, and said, ‘Allah be glorified! This is not a human being; this is but a noble angel.’
Should not be researched what kind of knives were those?
What is their historicity?
If they existed, why these ladies cut their hands?
Was there any blood from wounds, were they treated by doctors? What kind of doctors were present at court? Which medicine were applied?
What was the menu?
so on......
I am sure my point is taken by now. Discussion should be done but I feel, it should be reasonable.
Holy Quran is divine truth, it asks to think and ponder, it provides the absolute truth::
[56:78] That this is indeed a noble Qur’an,
[56:79] In a well-preserved Book,
[56:80] Which none shall touch except those who are purified.
[56:81]
It is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
Good wishes.
