Historical Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

Historical Errors in the Quran (view source)

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→‎The Children of Israel in Egypt: Have added in the 'double whammy' historical error of the Israelites inheriting Egypt in the Qur'an along with Israel. Have provided academic references as well as for the reason this error occurred.

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 {{Quote|{{Quran|12|20}}|And they sold him for a reduced price - a few dirhams - and they were, concerning him, of those content with little.}}
-===The Children of Israel in Egypt===
+===The Exodus of the Israelites in Egypt===
 In various passages the Quran narrates at length the story of Moses and the plagues striking Egypt, the captivity of the children of Israel, and their escape in the Exodus. There is even a glorious pre-history alluded to such that they were kings (mulūkan, compare with mulūka in {{Quran|27|34}}) and had extraordinary possessions ({{Quran|5|20}}). Historians consider that there is no historical evidence in support of [[w:the Exodus|the Exodus]] events as described, though some theorize that a historical kernal of the Egyptian control over Canaan in the late Bronze age and early Iron age served as an inspiration for the stories. The academic view on the [[w:history of ancient Israel and Juhah|history of ancient Israel and Judah]] is converging on their emergence within the central hill country of Canaan in the early Iron age, a time of small settlements and lacking signs of violent takeover, but rather a revolution in lifestyle.
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 {{Quote|{{Quran|28|3}}|We recite to you from the news of Moses and Pharaoh in truth for a people who believe.}}
+==== The Israelites inherit Egypt as well as Israel/Palestine ====
+Along with the traditional story of [[Scientific Miracles in the Quran#A%20small%20Exodus|the Exodus]], Nicolai Sinai<ref>“[https://www.academia.edu/30057347/_Inheriting_Egypt_The_Israelites_and_the_Exodus_in_the_Meccan_Qur%CA%BE%C4%81n_in_Islamic_Studies_Today_Essays_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_edited_by_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_A_Saleh_Leiden_Brill_2016_pp_198_214_pp_198_199_ ''Inheriting Egypt: The Israelites and the Exodus in the Meccan Qurʾān'']”, Nicolai Sinai, in: Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin, edited by Majid Daneshgar and Walid A. Saleh, Leiden: Brill 2016, pp. 198–214 .
+DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004337121_011</ref> notes in his paper “''Inheriting Egypt: The Israelites and the Exodus in the Meccan Qurʾān''”, the Qur'an has many verses that unequivocally state that the Israelites took over the land of pharaoh and his followers, i.e. Egypt (which many traditional Islamic scholars have agreed with).<ref>E.g. see the debates in https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/26.61 and https://quranx.com/tafsirs/10.93 over what land the Israelites inherit, including Egypt.
+Interestingly in the commentaries on [https://quranx.com/tafsirs/26.59 verse 26:59], the modern tafsir Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an (published 1972) main reason for rejecting the Egyptian interpretation is that the facts are not supported by history, and he alleges other verses in the Qur'an - however as Sinai examines in this paper, this is untrue.</ref>
+{{Quote|{{Quran|26|57-59}}|2=We brought them [the people of Pharaoh] out of gardens and springs and treasures and a noble place. Thus it was; and We caused the Israelites to inherit them [= the gardens and the springs etc.].}}
+That the Israelites take over the land of Pharaoh rather than migrating elsewhere is also implied by the end of the brief Moses pericope in:<ref>“''[https://www.academia.edu/30057347/_Inheriting_Egypt_The_Israelites_and_the_Exodus_in_the_Meccan_Qur%CA%BE%C4%81n_in_Islamic_Studies_Today_Essays_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_edited_by_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_A_Saleh_Leiden_Brill_2016_pp_198_214_pp_198_199_ Inheriting Egypt: The Israelites and the Exodus in the Meccan Qurʾān]''”, Nicolai Sinai, in: Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin, edited by Majid Daneshgar and Walid A. Saleh, Leiden: Brill 2016, pp. 198–214. ''pp. 203.''
+DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004337121_011</ref>
+{{Quote|{{Quran|17|103-104}}|He [Pharaoh] wished to chase them away from the land (al-arḍ), but We drowned him and all who were with him. And after him We said to the Israelites, “Dwell in the land! And when the announcement of the next world comes to pass, We shall bring you forward as a motley crowd.”}}
+Similarly, the Moses narrative in Q 28 is preceded by the following summary:<ref>Ibid. pp. 203</ref>
+{{Quote|{{Quran|28|4-6}}|4 Pharaoh became haughty in the land and divided its people into factions, seeking to weaken a party among them by slaying their sons and sparing their women. He was one of those who wreak mischief.
+We wished to show favor to those who had been oppressed in the land and to make them examples and to make them the inheritors,
+and to give them a place (numakkinu lahum) in the land, and to show Pharaoh and Hāmān and their hosts what they feared from them.}}
+Also Sinai remarks:
+{{Quote|[https://www.academia.edu/30057347/_Inheriting_Egypt_The_Israelites_and_the_Exodus_in_the_Meccan_Qur%CA%BE%C4%81n_in_Islamic_Studies_Today_Essays_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_edited_by_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_A_Saleh_Leiden_Brill_2016_pp_198_214_pp_198_199_ “Inheriting Egypt: The Israelites and the Exodus in the Meccan Qurʾān”], Nicolai Sinai: Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin, edited by Majid Daneshgar and Walid A. Saleh, Leiden: Brill 2016. pp204.|What Pharaoh and his notables fear is being displaced from their land: in Q 20:57, Pharaoh asks Moses whether “you have come to drive us from our land by your sorcery” (li-tukhrijanā min arḍinā bi-siḥrika), and the same apprehension resonates in Q 20:63 (“They said, ‘These two men are sorcerers who wish to drive you from your land by means of their sorcery’ . . .”) as well as in Q 26:35 and 7:110. The inference that it is Pharaoh and his followers rather than the Israelites who are removed from “the land” is also supported by other verses from the extended Moses narrative in Q 7:103–74. According to Q 7:128, Moses exhorts his people to “seek God’s help and be patient; for the land belongs to God, and he gives it as an inheritance to whom he wishes,” and in the following verse Moses consoles his people by saying that “perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and appoint you as successors ( yastakhlifakum) in the land.”}}
+He notes that starting with the earlier Meccan Quran, there are no references whatsoever to an Exodus, with no indication that Moses lead the Israelites out of captivity.<ref>Ibid. pp. 200</ref> The only purpose of the sea in the story appears to be to set a trap for the Egyptians to drown them.<ref>Ibid. pp. 205</ref>
+Later verses imply that only after taking the Pharaoh and his people's land, they eventually settled in another land.<ref>Ibid. pp. 206-208</ref> The Qurʾān’s Blessed Land would appear to fuse Egypt, the Sinai, and Palestine into one sacred landscape that is understood to provide the setting for biblical history and all of which, it seems, the Israelites came to inherit.<ref>Ibid. pp. 207</ref>
+While as mentioned above, there was no evidence the Israelites came from Egypt, who never mention the event,<ref>Finkelstein, I., & Silberman, N. A. (2001). ''The Bible unearthed: archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its sacred texts''. New York, Free Press. See: ''Chapter 2: Did the Exodus Happen? And Chapter 4: Who Were the Israelites?''</ref> this adds another layer of historical difficulty of the Jews actually taking over Egypt having no historical or archaeological evidence for what would be a momentous event where we would expect to see it.
+This interpretation was first noticed in Western scholarship by orientalist Aloys Sprenger in 1869, who attributed it to a supposed simple mistake by Prophet Muhammad.<ref>“''[https://www.academia.edu/30057347/_Inheriting_Egypt_The_Israelites_and_the_Exodus_in_the_Meccan_Qur%CA%BE%C4%81n_in_Islamic_Studies_Today_Essays_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_edited_by_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_A_Saleh_Leiden_Brill_2016_pp_198_214_pp_198_199_ Inheriting Egypt: The Israelites and the Exodus in the Meccan Qurʾān]''”, Nicolai Sinai, in: Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin, edited by Majid Daneshgar and Walid A. Saleh, Leiden: Brill 2016, pp. 198–214. ''pp. 198 - introduction. See footnote 3.''
+DOI: <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004337121_011</nowiki></ref> However, Sinai notes a clear reason for this repacking of biblical material to suit different theological concerns, relating Muhmmad's immediate life. Primarily in the Meccan period of the Qur'an before banishment to Medina, Muhammad aligning with principle of istikhlāf, understood as a general rule of God’s compensatory intervention in the world in this context, i.e. the followers of god will be given the lands and property of the unbelievers who will be destroyed.<ref>Ibid. pp. 208-209</ref> There are consistent stories told that god will intervene with a supernatural destruction to those who reject monotheism after a call from a prophet, with the so-called 'punishment stories' dominating here, and direct references that this will happen to the Meccans,<ref>On the Meccan promise of Allah intervening to destroy the unbelievers and Muhammad's followers promise to inherit the land see as well for example: Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. Chapter 2: The Eschatological Crisis and 3: A Nonbiographical Qurʾanic Chronology.'' Lexington Books. 2018.
+Marshall, David. ''God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers.'' 1999. <nowiki>ISBN 9780415759946</nowiki>
+Selah, Walid. [https://www.academia.edu/28915104/End_of_Hope_Suras_10_15_Despair_and_a_Way_Out_of_Mecca ''End of Hope: Suras 10-15, Despair and a Way Out of Mecca.''] Qur' anic Studies Today. Edited by Angelika Neuwirth and Michael A. Sells. pp. 105-123. </ref> in line with the principle of messenger uniformitarianism.<ref>Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 135-142)  (pp. 281-294 Kindle Edition)''. 5.3 Messenger Uniformitarianism. Lexington Books. 2018.</ref> And the true believers will survive and inherit their land,<ref>''Inheriting Egypt: The Israelites and the Exodus in the Meccan Qurʾān,'' Nicolai Sinai, in: Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin, edited by Majid Daneshgar and Walid A. Saleh, Leiden: Brill 2016, ''pp 208-209 & 211-214''</ref> which this story seeks to validate as part of a repeated pattern in history. However in later parts of the Qurʾān we see that actual events followed a different course: the Qur'anic community was “expelled” from its “homes” (Q 3:195 and elsewhere) and forced to “emigrate” (hājara) to Medina<ref>Ibid. pp. 213</ref> - who Muhammad now identifies his followers with the Israelites leaving Egypt, and comes up against Jewish traditions who recognize this story - with many Meccan verses extended and undergoing revisions during this period.<ref>Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an and Late Antiquity: A Shared Heritage (Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity) (p. 232 Kindle Edition).</ref> Critics contend this creative adaption of biblical material to suit current needs, has simply added another historical inaccuracy into the Qur'an.
 ===Noah's worldwide flood===