Biography of Prophet Yoosha’ ibn Noon
14-11-2017 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. Who was Prophet Yusha’, may Allah exalt his mention? Is there any biography about him? May Allah reward you.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Yoosha’ ibn Noon (Joshua) 
was a prophet of Allah. He was the descendant of Prophet Yoosuf (Joseph), may Allah exalt his mention.
Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar 
said in his commentary on Saheeh Al-Bukhaari:
“The Prophet’s statement: ‘One of the earlier Prophets set out on a military expedition...’ refers to Yoosha’ ibn Noon, as narrated by Al-Haakim with a chain of narrators from Kaʻb Al-Ahbaar. The main hadeeth in this regard was cited as an authentic Marfoo’ hadeeth (directly attributed to the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam) by (Imaam) Ahmad from Hishaam, from Muhammad ibn Seereen, that Abu Hurayrah said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, 'The sun has never stopped from setting for any human being except for Yoosha’ ibn Noon on the evening he marched to Jerusalem.'’” [Fat-h Al-Baari]
In Tareekh Dimashq (History of Damascus), Ibn ʻAsaakir said about him, “His full name was Yoosha’ ibn Noon ibn Afraa'eem ibn Yoosuf ibn Yaʻqoob ibn Is-haaq ibn Ibraaheem, may Allaah exalt their mention. He was the servant boy of Moosa (Moses) ibn ʻImraan and his successor over his nation after him. He accompanied Moosa to the land of Kanʻaan in Al-Balqaa’ near Damascus.”
Muhammad ibn Is-haaq said:
“He was the servant of Moosa, who was with him (in the story mentioned in the Chapter 18 of the Quran). He received prophecy from Allah at the time of Moosa and he was a prophet after him. He conquered Jericho and killed the Jabaabirah (the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were a large giant-like people). Yoosha’ ibn Noon feared that if night came, he would not be able to eradicate the remnants of the Jabaabirah, so he asked Allah to make the sun stop from setting until he would eradicate them; and the sun stopped by the command of Allah until he did so. He was appointed as successor of Moosa over the Israelites by the command of Allah, upholding the Torah and the rulings of Allah that He revealed to them.”
Allah knows best.