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Historical Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions
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→The singular Pharaoh: Added the mistake of the pharaoh being a name not a title
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===The singular Pharaoh=== | ===The singular Pharaoh=== | ||
Geographically, the Coptic land of Egypt is adjacent to Arabia. Thus, most Arabs were aware of the preservation method applied by the ancient Egyptian to their pharaohs. Pharaohs were preserved intact using methods such as salt to dry the body (hence, salt in the body of Ramesses II does not suggest that he drowned in the dead sea). There were many pharaohs from numerous dynasties who were preserved in this way. The Qur'an, by contrast, only speaks of "Pharaoh" ('' | Geographically, the Coptic land of Egypt is adjacent to Arabia. Thus, most Arabs were aware of the preservation method applied by the ancient Egyptian to their pharaohs. Pharaohs were preserved intact using methods such as salt to dry the body (hence, salt in the body of Ramesses II does not suggest that he drowned in the dead sea). There were many pharaohs from numerous dynasties who were preserved in this way. The Qur'an, by contrast, only speaks of "Pharaoh" (''fir'awn'') singularly, as a proper noun without the definite article, suggesting that its author was unaware of the multiplicity of pharaohs.{{Quote|{{Quran|10|92}}| | ||
This day shall We save thee in the body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who come after thee! but verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!" }} | This day shall We save thee in the body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who come after thee! but verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!" }} | ||
==== Pharoah as a name and not a title ==== | |||
Just like the Bible, the Qur'an contains the story of Moses in ancient Egypt where he is the main antagonist and the ruler of Egypt. Both use the respective name 'pharoah' (fir'awn in Arabic)<ref>Pharoah classical Arabic dictionaries - [http://arabiclexicon.hawramani.com/search/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B9%D9%88%D9%86 فرعون] </ref>, however in the Qur'an the word is used as a person's name and not a title as it should be. | |||
The term “Pharaoh,” or parʿo, means “Great Palace/house” in ancient Egyptian, and although he word came to be used metonymically for the Egyptian king under the New Kingdom (starting in the 18th dynasty, c. 1539–c. 1292 BCE), and by the 22nd dynasty (c. 943–c. 746 BCE) it had been adopted as an epithet of respect, but it was never the king’s formal title though.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/pharaoh Pharoah Entry] - Britannica | |||
</ref> Silverstein (2012) notes that it is an idiosyncratic Biblical usage to refer to the ruler of Egypt in this way – as gives an example just as one nowadays might say that “the White House” has issued a statement when referring to the US president.<ref>[https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=SjtbdsMAAAAJ&citation_for_view=SjtbdsMAAAAJ:IjCSPb-OGe4C ''The Qur'anic Pharaoh'']. Adam Silverstein. Taylor and Francis. | |||
Found in: ''pp467 - pp477. New Perspectives on the Qur'an. The Qur'an in its Historical Context 2''. Edited By Gabriel Reynolds. Edition: 1st Edition. First Published 2011. ImprintRoutledge. | |||
DOI <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203813539</nowiki> | |||
eBook ISBN9780203813539 | |||
</ref> | |||
The Bible understands “Pharaoh” to be a regal title while the Qurʾān takes Firʿawn to be a more sharply defined historical character.<ref>Ibid. pp. 468</ref> Pharoah is not used with the definite article 'al'/the for 'the pharaoh', as it is always used for singular specific kings correctly ''(see: mentions of [https://corpus.quran.com/search.jsp?q=king King on QuranCorpus]''), which most official translations reflect (though Ali Ahmed and Muhammad Sarwar add 'the' in). | |||
To show how odd this is with a more commonly used example of 'king', for example, take the following verse: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|28|38}}|'Pharaoh said, ‘O [members of the] elite! I do not know of any god that you may have besides me. Haman, light for me a fire over clay, and build me a tower so that I may take a look at Moses’ god, and indeed I consider him to be a liar!’}} | |||
Would be changed to: | |||
{{Quote|2=King said, ‘O [members of the] elite! I do not know of any god that you may have besides me. Haman, light for me a fire over clay, and build me a tower so that I may take a look at Moses’ god, and indeed I consider him to be a liar!’}} | |||
Instead of '''the king said..''<nowiki/>' | |||
Gabriel Said Reynolds notes [https://twitter.com/GabrielSaidR/status/1676918663767523331 this], as does Sean W Anthony on [https://twitter.com/shahanSean/status/1676710677988212743 Twitter] who also explains his reasoning when asked; ''It's a relatively simple inference. The Qur'an only calls the enemy of Moses "Pharoah" and *never* calls him the "pharoah of Egypt", "one of the pharoahs", etc. Also one has the phrase آل فرعون like آل موسى, etc. This is consistent w/ usage of "Pharoah" as a name in hadith, too.'' | |||
To take another verse we see where a singular noun 'lord' (rabbi) is used without the definite particle 'al', it is followed by (of) the worlds (l-ʿālamīna) to designate the title. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|43|46}}|Certainly We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his elite. He said, ‘I am indeed an apostle of the Lord of all the worlds.’}} | |||
If replaced with another title like 'Queen' in Q43:46 we get the odd '''Certainly We sent Moses with Our signs to Queen and his elite…'' ' | |||
The idea that this is a mistake has further support by the fact that some prominent Christian Preachers post-bible but pre-Islam like Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394) make the same mistake.<ref>Gregory of Nyssa, ''[http://www.newhumanityinstitute.org/pdf-articles/Gregory-of-Nyssa-The-Life-of-Moses.pdf Life of Moses 1.24].'' | |||
'''Pharaoh (for this was the Egyptian tyrant's name)''' attempted to counter the divine signs performed by Moses and Aaron with magical tricks performed by his sorcerers. 47 When Moses again turned his own rod into an animal before the eyes of the Egyptians, they thought that the sorcery of the magicians could equally work miracles with their rods. This deceit was exposed when the serpent produced from the staff of Moses ate the sticks of sorcery—the snakes no less! The rods of the sorcerers had no means of defense nor any power of life, only the appearance which cleverly devised sorcery showed to the eyes of those easily deceived.</ref> It is also sometimes written this way in the Syriac bible (the Peshitta) in Acts 7:13, believed to be published 2nd century CE.<ref>Peshitta verse [https://dukhrana.com/peshitta/analyze_verse.php?verse=Acts+7:13&font=Estrangelo+Edessa Acts 7:13]</ref> | |||
===Nabatean rock tombs at al-Hijr as homes and palaces from before the time of Pharaoh=== | ===Nabatean rock tombs at al-Hijr as homes and palaces from before the time of Pharaoh=== | ||