100 Proofs That Islam Is True (Part 11): King and Pharaoh, the Precise Words of the Qur'an
Mufti Faijullah Aman
Introduction
The Qur'an is not a history book, but when it describes events of the past, every word it uses is precise. Today we will look at one small word that no one questioned fourteen hundred years ago, yet modern research has revealed its deep significance.
Two Rulers of Egypt, Two Words in the Qur'an
The Qur'an speaks of two rulers of Egypt from two different eras.
1. The ruler in the time of Prophet Joseph (Yusuf, peace be upon him). He is mentioned many times in Surah Yusuf, and every time he is called "al-Malik," the King. For example: "The King said: I have seen in a dream seven fat cows..." (Surah Yusuf 12:43), and "The King said: bring him to me." (Surah Yusuf 12:50) Not once in the entire chapter is he called Pharaoh.
2. The ruler in the time of Prophet Moses (Musa, peace be upon him). He is mentioned more than seventy times in the Qur'an, and every time he is called "Fir'awn," Pharaoh. Nowhere is he called "Malik."
What Do Earlier Scriptures Say?
In the Book of Genesis in the Bible, the ruler in Joseph's time is also called "Pharaoh," just like the ruler in Moses' time. In other words, no distinction is made there between the two eras. If the Qur'an had taken its stories from earlier scriptures, the word "Pharaoh" would naturally have appeared here too.
What Does History Say?
The word "Pharaoh" comes from the ancient Egyptian word "per-aa," meaning "great house," that is, the royal palace. According to Egyptologists, for a long time this word was used to refer to the palace, not the king. It began to be used for the king himself during Egypt's New Kingdom, around the fifteenth century BCE.
According to many researchers, the time of Prophet Joseph was before this, when the title "Pharaoh" was not yet used for the ruler. And the time of Prophet Moses was after it, when "Pharaoh" had become the known title of the king. The Qur'an preserves exactly this distinction.
How Could He Have Known?
Here lies the real question. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script had been forgotten many centuries before the Prophet's time. No one in the world could read it. In 1822, the French scholar Champollion deciphered this script with the help of the Rosetta Stone. Only after that did people begin to learn in detail about the history, titles, and word usage of ancient Egypt.
So how could an unlettered Prophet in seventh-century Makkah, where there were no libraries and no archaeology, know that the rulers of the two eras should have different titles? And why did he use a different word instead of following the common account of the People of the Book of his time?
A Small Word, A Great Witness
Someone may say: this is just a matter of one word. But this is exactly where the strength of the proof lies. When a person invents a story, he can arrange the big events, but he makes mistakes in fine historical details, because he does not know them and so does not even think about them. This precise choice of words in the Qur'an shows that its Speaker knows the past as if He had witnessed it.
At the end of the story of Joseph, Allah says: "This is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you. You were not with them." (Surah Yusuf 12:102)
Conclusion
A Book that, while describing history thousands of years old, preserves even such a fine distinction, one that humanity learned only two hundred years ago, cannot be the work of a human being. It is the word of the One to whom the past, the present, and the future are all equally clear.
In the next part, the twelfth proof, in sha Allah.
