Q&A Thread (September 2021)
Question 8: Carried Forward Joseph famine policy seems to have serious ethical issues and I am not sure if God and his Prophet can be attributed such an exploitation scheme. As per the story, basically Pharaoh with the help of Prophet acquired hungry and dying Egyption’s belongings and their self for providing them food. For example, If we visualize ourselves being part of the Egyptians of that time and in order to get food for our kids we have to sell our belongings and our self to the King/Prophet while they have enough supplies. While we know that God is directly involved through his Prophet. Quran mentions Joseph giving enough food for his own family when his brothers came for help. Something seems to be off here. Can we even think of similar scheme employed by Caliph Umar when Arabian Peninsula was struck by severe famine and drought? Does basic ethics change with the time period? Original Thread: Discussion 51372