Historical Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

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→‎The singular Pharaoh: Revised based on recent posts on AcademicQuran reddit. Reduced amount of content contrasting with "The King" is this is often contested as a strong analogy as it isn't a foreign loan word.
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(→‎The singular Pharaoh: Revised based on recent posts on AcademicQuran reddit. Reduced amount of content contrasting with "The King" is this is often contested as a strong analogy as it isn't a foreign loan word.)
 
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{{Quote|{{Quran|20|85}}|“( Allah) said; ‘We have tested thy people in thy absence: the Samiri has led them astray’.” }}{{Quote|{{Quran|20|87}}|They said, ‘We did not fail our tryst with you of our own accord, but we were laden with the weight of those people’s ornaments, and we cast them [into the fire] and so did the Samiri.’}}{{Quote|{{Quran|20|95}}|“( Moses) said, ‘What then is thy case, O Samiri?’”}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|20|85}}|“( Allah) said; ‘We have tested thy people in thy absence: the Samiri has led them astray’.” }}{{Quote|{{Quran|20|87}}|They said, ‘We did not fail our tryst with you of our own accord, but we were laden with the weight of those people’s ornaments, and we cast them [into the fire] and so did the Samiri.’}}{{Quote|{{Quran|20|95}}|“( Moses) said, ‘What then is thy case, O Samiri?’”}}


===The singular Pharaoh===
===Pharaoh as the name of a single Egyptian ruler===
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}}|
One of the most prominent characters in the Quran is Pharaoh (fir'awn<ref>Pharaoh classical Arabic dictionaries - [http://arabiclexicon.hawramani.com/search/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B9%D9%88%D9%86 فرعون]</ref>) in the story of Moses. Historically, Pharaoh was a title held by many rulers of Egypt and there are two in the Biblical Moses story (the first during his infancy). As noted by Gabriel Said Reynolds,<ref>[https://x.com/GabrielSaidR/status/1676918663767523331 x.com post by Gabriel Said Reynolds] - 6 July 2023</ref> the Quran in contrast has a single antagonist throughout the story. Furthermore, the Quran consistently treats fir'awn as his name rather than a title.
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 ====
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|28|8|9}}|And the family of Pharaoh picked him up [out of the river] so that he would become to them an enemy and a [cause of] grief. Indeed, Pharaoh and Haman and their soldiers were deliberate sinners. And the wife of Pharaoh said, "[He will be] a comfort of the eye for me and for you. Do not kill him; perhaps he may benefit us, or we may adopt him as a son." And they perceived not.}}
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 'pharaoh' (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 not the king’s ''formal'' title<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/pharaoh Pharoah Entry] - Britannica
The term “Pharaoh,” or parʿo, means “Great Palace/house” in ancient Egyptian. The 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 not the king’s ''formal'' title.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/pharaoh Pharaoh 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.
</ref> Silverstein (2012) notes that it is an idiosyncratic Biblical usage to refer to the ruler of Egypt in this way – giving as an example just as one nowadays might say that “the White House” has issued a statement when referring to the US president.<ref>[https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203813539-26/qur%CA%BE%C4%81nic-pharaoh-1-adam-silverstein ''The Qur'anic Pharaoh'']. Adam Silverstein. Taylor and Francis.


Found in: ''pp467 - pp477. '''pp. 467'''. 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.
Found in: ''pp. 467 - 477, 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>
DOI <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203813539</nowiki>


eBook ISBN9780203813539
eBook ISBN9780203813539
</ref> so the Qur'an takes its understanding of the Biblical Pharoah rather than Egyptian one.<ref>Ibid. pp. 467.</ref>
</ref> So the Qur'an takes its understanding from the Biblical Pharaoh rather than Egyptian one.<ref>Ibid. p. 467.</ref>


However 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).
However, the Bible nevertheless understands “Pharaoh” to be a regal title held by multiple rulers during the times of Joseph and Moses, whereas the Qurʾān in contrast takes Firʿawn to be a more sharply defined historical character.<ref>Ibid. p. 468</ref> The Bible calls each of the various rulers “Pharaoh” in the Pentateuch, while some later rulers are mentioned as: "Pharaoh [name], King of Egypt", for example in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jer+44.30&version=NIV Jeremiah 44:30].


To show how odd this is with a more commonly used example of 'king', for example, take the following verse:
According to academic scholars, the Quranic understanding of Pharaoh as the character's name is also evident from the fact that fir'awn is grammatically an Arabic diptote, like all other personal names in the Quran, and never appears with the definite article (unlike for example al-Malik, the King), even in construct.
{{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.''
This is sometimes countered by noting a small number of other foreign words loaned into Arabic: Caesar (قيصر), Khosrow (كسرى), and Tubba' (تُبَّع), though these originated as personal names and became titles/adopted names of successive rulers. Foreign titles such as al-Baba (the Pope) or al-Najashi (from Negus, the Abbysinian word for King) generally take the definite article and are not diptotes in Arabic. Even Caesar, Khusrow and Tubba' would in some contexts take the definite article or appear in construct clearly as titles. With the Quranic firʿawn though, this is never seen in any verse.


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.
The reader is left with the strong impression that firʿawn is his name and not a title held by multiple rulers. In {{Quran|40|24}} he even appears in a list of names: "Pharaoh, Haman and Qarun". Similarly, {{Quran-range|28|8|9}} quoted above mentions "Pharaoh and Haman and their soldiers" as well as the "family of Pharaoh" (ālu fir'ʿawna). The ālu [name] structure is used for many other personal names in the Quran such as ālu mūsā (family of Moses) in {{Quran|2|248}}.
{{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 her elite…'' '


The idea that this is a mistake has further support by the fact that some prominent Christian Preachers post-bible but pre-Islam such as Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394) made 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].''  
Historian Sean W Anthony explains this point: ''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.''<ref>X.com post by Sean Anthony [https://x.com/shahanSean/status/1676710677988212743 here] and [https://x.com/shahanSean/status/1676716789688877057 here] - 5 July 2023</ref>
 
The Quranic mistake was shared by some prominent Christian preachers before Islam such as Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394) who made 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.</ref> It is also sometimes written this way in the Syriac Bible (the Peshitta - 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> such as in Acts 7:13, and in the 6th century Syriac ''Cave of Treasures'', so Muhammad would not be the first to make the mistake, but rather could have simply heard it this way to begin with (see [https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1rpwmq6/pharaoh_is_a_name_in_the_quran_not_a_title/ here] for further academic discussion and details).


'''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 - 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> such as in Acts 7:13 so Muhammad would not be the first to make a huge mistake, but rather could have simply heard it this way to begin with.
===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===
The Qur'anic narrative concerning Thamūd contains several major historical inaccuracies:
The Qur'anic narrative concerning Thamūd contains several major historical inaccuracies:
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