The Qur'an as the Criterion · History Made Coherent

Joseph's ruler is called the King, not Pharaoh

Handle with care. Handle with care: present the Hyksos dating as one scholarly view, and do not claim the Qur'an mentions hieroglyphs.

In short

• 1.The Qur'an uses al-Malik consistently in Surah Yusuf (12:43, 12:50, 12:54, 12:72, 12:76).
• 2.It uses Fir'awn consistently in the Musa narratives.
• 3.The distinction is maintained without a single slip across the whole book.

The claim being examined

Genesis calls the ruler in Joseph's time Pharaoh, exactly as it does in Moses' time centuries later.

The Islamic position

The Qur'an calls the ruler in Yusuf's time al-Malik, the King, and reserves the title Fir'awn for the ruler in Musa's time.

Analysis

This is a distinction of usage rather than a claim about a single verse, and its strength lies in its consistency. Throughout Surah Yusuf the ruler is al-Malik: "And the King said, indeed I have seen seven fat cows" (Q 12:43); "the King said, bring him to me" (Q 12:50); "the King's measure" (Q 12:72). Yet the same surah uses Fir'awn nowhere, while the Musa narratives use Fir'awn throughout and never al-Malik for him. Egyptologically, per-aa (the great house) referred originally to the palace and only came to be used as a title of address for the monarch from around the New Kingdom, conventionally dated to the reign of Thutmose III onward; earlier rulers were not addressed by it. Many Muslim scholars additionally place Yusuf in the Second Intermediate Period under Hyksos rulers, foreign kings of Asiatic origin, which would make King the appropriate term twice over — though the dating of Yusuf is not settled and should be offered as one view. Two honest caveats. Hebrew usage may simply be anachronistic in the ordinary way ancient texts often are, so this is not a knockdown blow. And the Qur'an makes no claim about hieroglyphs. What it did was hold a distinction that could not be checked by anyone until Egyptian writing was read again after the Rosetta Stone.

Side by side

From the Qur'an

From the Bible

Sources

Qur'an 12:43-76 · Genesis 41; Exodus 5 · Standard Egyptological accounts of the title per-aa · Qur'an 12:43; Genesis 41:14

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