Debunking the Pharaoh and King Miracle
Muslims claim that the Quran is the Word of God by certain miracles unknown at that time. One such miracle has recently gained attention which is that the Quran uses the correct pronouns and titles for rulers of Egypt. Proof of this claim comes from the fact that the Quran uses "king" or malik for Joseph's ruler while using "Pharaoh" or Firaun for Moses ruler where Joseph lived in the Middle Kingdom while Moses lived in the New Kingdom period. Verses use as proof for Joseph's ruler is Qur'an 12:43 and Qur'an 12:72 while proof of Moses ruler is Qur'an 7:104 and Qur'an 10:75. For anyone interested in reading further, here are the original Muslim sources and videos,
https://www.islamic-awareness.org/quran/contrad/external/josephdetail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ovILc_sKY [part 2]
Now for my response,
Part 1: Getting of the Ground First
Before even getting of the ground and proving the miracle, Muslims have to provide solid and concrete proof that Joseph and Moses even existed in the first place. All of the sources above start with the assumption that Joseph and Moses existed without first proving that they existed in real life. For other more in-depth discussions on why Exodus is false, see r/AskHistorians and r/AcademicBiblical.
AskHistorian sources =
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/gxdy62/was_the_exodus_real/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/hdh8em/why_is_the_exodus_a_myth/
AcademicBiblical sources =
https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/wiki/exodus/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/5qunjg/is_the_story_of_the_exodus_in_the_bible/
At best, it's considered a fringe theory and at worse, completely false. But some Muslims may point to Western professors and scholars for proof of Exodus. Number 1, I've already provided with sources above proving why even this isn't proof. Number 2, ignoring all of the sources above, Western academia uses the Bible as the basis for Exodus not the Quran so if Muslims want to go down this route, then they have to also accept the Biblical version and not the Quranic version which is considered as heresy in Islam.
So which one is it? Reject the story or go along with Western academia and accept the Biblical version?
For any Muslims trying to debunk this, please answer Part 1 first and then we move on to Part 2.
Part 2: Still Not Out Of The Woods Yet
But let's say we accept Exodus and everything else as real, does that mean the miracle is true? Not at all. The Quran uses the incorrect title and pronoun for Joseph's ruler(assuming he existed and lived in the Middle Kingdom). The ancient Egyptians before used a variety of titles for their rulers in the Middle and Old periods like the Horus name, Nebty name, Golden Horus, personal name and their throne name. There was no singular title like "King Ramsses " or "Queen Hatshepsut" like in Medieval Europe. In Ancient Egypt "nswt" refers to king. Let's look at a few examples of full and complete ancient Egyptian royal titles of the Middle Kingdom.
1.Pharaoh Amenemhat III(the height of the Middle Kingdom)
Horus name: ꜥꜣ-bꜣwAa-bauGreat of might
Nebty name: ỉṯ-ỉwꜥt-tꜣwyIty-iwat-tawyThe one who has seized the inheritance of the Two Lands
Golden Horus: wꜣḥ-ꜥnḫWah-ankhEnduring of life
Praenomen: nỉ-mꜣꜥt-rꜥNi-maat-reThe one who belongs to the Maat of Re
Nomen: ỉmn-m-hꜣtImen-em-hatAmun is at the forefront
- Sobekneferu(the first true female ruler of Egypt)
Horus name: mryt-rꜥMeryt-reBeloved of Re
Nebty name: sꜣt-sḫm-nbt-tꜣwySat-sekhem-nebet-tawyThe daughter of the powerful one is,Mistress of the Two Lands
Golden Horus: ḏdt-ḫꜥwDjedet-khauStable of appearances
Praenomen: kꜣ-sbk-rꜥKa-sobek-reThe ka of Sobek-Re
Nomen: sbk-nfrwSobek-neferu / Neferu-sobekBeauty of Sobek
As you can see from these examples, the title of king wasn't even considered fit to be one of the five official titles . The first true ruler to use king was King Fuad I of Egypt in the 20th century, the modern age . I wonder why the Quran excludes and doesn't even mention one of the five titles then for ancient pharaohs?
Part 3: Okay, surely the New Kingdom claim then is correct, right?
For the sake of argument, let's assume everything was correct, that the Quran got the Middle Kingdom titles correct, so case closed? Well, it's only partially correct. For number one, the early New Kingdom rulers like Hatshepsut didn't use the title.
Hatshepsut's full title was actually,
Horus name: Wesretkau, "Mighty of Kas"
Nebty name: Wadjrenput, "She of the Two Ladies, Flourishing of years"
Golden Horus: Netjeretkhau, "Divine of appearance"
Praenomen: Maatkare, "Truth [Ma'at] is the Ka of Re"
Nomen: Khnumt-Amun Hatshepsut, "Joined with Amun, Foremost of Noble Ladies"
But let's take Ramses II then, surely he is the correct one? Number 1, the Quran already ignores all of the other five official titles(a big problem). Number 2, the other five were still in used alongside Pharaoh during that time. Number 3, Pharaoh was used as a reverential title not an official one during the New Kingdom. As Wiki says,
"During the Eighteenth dynasty (sixteenth to fourteenth centuries BCE) the title pharaoh was employed as a reverential designation of the ruler. About the late Twenty-first Dynasty (tenth century BCE), however, instead of being used alone as before, it began to be added to the other titles before the ruler's name, and from the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty (eighth to seventh centuries BCE) it was, at least in ordinary usage, the only epithet prefixed to the royal appellative."
The first true ruler to use Pharaoh as an official title and not just reference was Pharaoh Siamun during the 10th century BCE,
" The Year 17 inscription is an important paleographical development because it is the first time in Egyptian recorded history that the word pharaoh was employed as a title and linked directly to a king's royal name: as in Pharaoh Siamun here. Henceforth, references to Pharaoh Psusennes II (Siamun's successor), Pharaoh Shoshenq I, Pharaoh Osorkon I, and so forth become commonplace. Prior to Siamun's reign and all throughout the Middle and New Kingdom, the word pharaoh referred only to the office of the king. "
In summary, the Quran fails to get the names of ancient Egyptians correct let alone haven't proven first the existence of Exodus, Moses and Joseph as real historical figures.
TLDR, the Quran hasn't prove Moses and Joseph were real, ignores all 5 of the other official titles, calls Joseph's ruler as king when the Egyptians used 5 other titles, uses Pharaoh as an official title when it was just a reference title in the New Kingdom
Posted Sep 2, 2022, 3:00 PM UTC · edited