Answering Islam - A Christian-Muslim dialog The Quran on the Preservation of Pharaoh’s Body Sam Shamoun Certain Muslims think that the Quran foretold the preservation of the body of the Pharaoh of the Exodus as a sign for those who come afterwards: “We took the Children of Israel across the sea: Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in insolence and spite. At length, when overwhelmed with the flood, he said: ‘I believe that there is no god except Him Whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit (to Allah in Islám).’ (It was said to him): Ah now!- But a little while before, wast thou in rebellion!- and thou didst mischief (and violence)! This day shall We save thee in thy body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who come after thee! But verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!’” S. 10:90-92 The Muslims take this passage as an indication that Allah would use the discovery of the Pharaoh’s body to prove to others that the Islamic scripture is divine in origin. These dawagandists then cite Dr. Maurice Bucaille’s assertion that Loret discovered Pharaoh’s body in 1898 at Thebes in the Kings’ Valley (cf. The Bible, the Quran and Science, p. 238). There are several major problems with this claim. First, scholars are in disagreement over the exact identity of the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Some scholars are of the opinion that the Exodus took pace in the 19th dynasty period of Egypt, making Seti I and Rameses II the Pharaohs of the Israelite oppression and their subsequent Exodus from Egypt. Others, citing 1 Kings 6:1 as evidence, believe that the Exodus took place in 1446 BC. This is due primarily to the statement in 1 Kings that Israels deliverance from Egypt took place 430 years before “The fourth year of Solomons reign over Israel,” which means 430 years before 966 BC. This would then make Thutmose III and his son Amunhotep II the Pharaohs of that period. This is a fact with which at least one Muslim commentator agrees: Lit. We shall save thee in thy body: Probably an allusion to the ancient Egyptian custom of embalming the bodies of their kings and nobles and thus preserving them for posterity. Some Egyptologists assume that the evil Pharaoh of the Quran and the Bible was Ramses II (about 1324-1258 B.C.), while others identify him with his unlucky predecessor, Tut-ankh-amen, or even with Thotmes (or Thutmosis) III, who lived in the 15th century B.C. However, all these identifications are purely speculative and have no definitive historical value. In this connection it should be remembered that the designation Pharaoh (firawn in Arabic) is not a proper name but a title born by all the kings of ancient Egypt. (Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Quran [Dar Al-Andalus Limited, 3 Library Ramp, Gibraltar; rpt. 1993], p. 306, fn. 112; bold emphasis ours) Since there is scholarly debate over the exact time of the Exodus, this means that Muslims cannot be certain that the Pharaoh whose body was discovered in 1898 was actually the same one who confronted Moses. Second, the story of Pharaohs repentance at the face of destruction, along with the preservation of his body, was not a new revelation. Both the Holy Bible and the Jewish Talmud documented this story long before the Quran was ever compiled: “The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen - the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw THE EGYPTIANS LYING DEAD ON THE SHORE
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 16:35:03 +0000
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