The Book of Mormon provides the biblical scholar with additional information on the famed "coat of many colors" which was given to Joseph by his father, Jacob. The Bible does not mention what happened to Joseph's coat after it was smeared with blood by Joseph's brothers and taken to Jacob, but according to the Book of Mormon, the coat was preserved, and, miraculously, part of the coat never decayed. The Book of Mormon account is partially substantiated by the following story by the great Moslem historian, Muhammad ibn-Ibrahim ath-Tha'labi, concerning what took place when Joseph finally met his brothers in Egypt:
And when Joseph had made himself known unto them (his brethren) he asked them about his father, saying, "What did my father after (I left)?" They answered, "He lost his eyesight (from weeping)." Then he gave them his garment (qamis, long outer shirt). According to ad-Dahak that garment was of the weave (pattern, design) of Paradise, and the breath (spirit, odor) of Paradise was in it, so that it never decayed or in any way deteriorated (and that was) a sign (omen). And Joseph gave them that garment, and it was the very one that had belonged to Abraham, having already had a long history. And he said to them, "Go, take this garment of mine and place it upon the face of my father so he may have sight again, and return (to me) with all your families." And when they had put Egypt behind them and come to Canaan their father Jacob said, "Behold, I perceive the spirit (breath, odor) of Joseph, if you will not think me wandering in my mind and weakheaded from age . . ." (for, he knew that upon all the earth there was no spirit [breath, odor]) of Paradise save in that garment alone. . . . And as-Sadi says that Judah said to Joseph, "It was I who took the garment bedaubed with blood to Jacob, and reported to him that the bear had eaten Joseph; so give me this day thy garment that I might tell him that thou art living, that I might cause him to rejoice now as greatly as I caused him to sorrow then." And Ibn-Abbas says that Judah took the garment and went forth in great haste, panting with exertion and anxiety . . . and when he brought the garment he laid it upon his face, so that his sight returned to him. And ad-Dahak says that his sight returned after blindness, and his strength after weakness, and youth after age, and joy after sorrow. (Quoted in Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, pp. 178-79.)