moses as described in holy qur'an and old testament a ... · iii- pharaoh in the words of his...

PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY PROPHET MOSES AS DESCRIBED IN HOLY QUR'AN

AND OLD TESTAMENT

A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Thesis Submitted for the Award of

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY

IN

mjnm THEOLOGY

BY

HASHMAT KHAN

Un<f0t thfiSupervision of :

PROF. ABDUL ALEEM KHAN

DEPARTMENT OF SUNNI THEOLOGY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY. ALIGARH.

1992

^S?^^^'^^^^??§s,. ACCNo.

^-^^

3 0 APn 1994

DS2I34

C O N T E N T S

Pap:e No.

INTRODUCTION . . . 1 - xvi

I The Holy Prophet Moses before Prophethood . . . 1 - 2 3

1 - General Condition . . . 1 i i - His Bi r th . . . 5 i i l - His Upbringing . . . 11 i v - Death of Egyptian . . . 12

V - Towards Madyan . . . 14 vi - His meeting with Shuaib(PbUh) . . . 16 v i i - His going back to Egypt . . . 20

I I The Holy Prophet Moses a f t e r Prophethood . . . 2 4 - 3 7

i - The Revelation . . . 24 i i - Endowment of R i sa l a t . . . 27

I I I The Holy Prophet Moses & the Pharaoh . .* 2J8 - 51 i - Pharaoh a^ a person i n the

Holy Qur' an ... 3B ii - Pharaoh in the Old Testament ... 39 iii- Pharaoh in the words of his

own wife ... 39 i v - Holy Prophet ' s con tac t with

Pharaoh . . . 40

IV The Holy Prophet Moses and the Magicians . . . 5 3 - 7 6

i - Magicians profess f a i t h . . . 57 i i - Magicians consis tency . . . 60 i i i - Pharaoh's r eac t ion . . . 62 i v - A Be l i eve r ' s speech . . . 65 V - Natural Calamities . . . 67 vi - The Emigration (Exodus) . . . 70

V The Holy Prophet Moses and Bani I s r a i l . . . 7 7 - 9 5 i - Favours of Alliih on Bani . . . 79

I s r a i l i i - Their ungratefulness . . . 83 i i l - Their disobedience . . . 83 i v - Their making of golden ca l f . . . 85 v - Their Cowardice . . . 91

Appendix - I

Appendix - I I

Summary of some of the events mentioned in the Holy Qur'an

Some of the s l m l l a r l t l e a In the events of the Holy Qur'an and the Old Testament

Appendix - I I I Some of the D i s s i m i l a r i t i e s in the events_mentioned in the Holy Qur'ein and the Old Testament

Appendix -IV Some of the events in the Old Testament only not _ t raced out i n the Holy Qur'an

Bibliography

96

97

99

101

102

#»######

INTRODUCTION

All Praise to Allah T a ' l a , the compassionate, f t i l l

of grace and mercy who sent His Holy Prophets to guide

mankind the r ighteous path to a t t a i n His favour and save

His wrath and b less ings on the Holy Prophet Muhammad

(may peace and b less ings of Allah Ta ' l a be on him) and

a l l h i s companions and t rue be l i eve r s . #

Islam i s a r eve la to ry r e l i g i o n which not only guide

mankind to a pious way of l i f e and suggest t rue so lu t ion

of a l l simple and complex pzxsblems a man o r a na t ion faces

in t h i s world but a lso warns of the most d i s t r e s s i n g and

h o r r i b l e s i t u a t i o n , ever thought of, human beings wi l l

confront a f t e r death and the day of r e s u r r e c t i o n except

those who adhere to the command of Allah and teachings of

h i s holy prophets .

Among the anc ien t people Bani I s r aT l occupy an

important p lace . Their n a r r a t i o n i s quoted ex tens ive ly

In the Holy Qur*an as well a s in the Old Testament, The

number of Holy Prophets sent to t h i s p a r t i c u l a r s ec t of

people i s s u b s t a n t i a l . Down from the Holy Prophet

Ibrahim (may peace and b l e s s ings of Allah be on him) they

spread the message of Allah for many c e n t u r i e s . Among

these the Holy Prophet Moses (may peace and b l e s s ings of

-ii-

Allah be upon him) is also one of the illustrious

prophet who delivered Banl IsraTl out of Egyptian

bondage- a life full of humiliation and servitude.

As the stories of the Holy Prophets have always

been a source of great inspiration,in this work I have

made an attempt to give a comparative account of the

personality of this Holy Prophet of Allah as mentioned

in the Holy Qur'an and the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is a part of the Holy Bible^

which is held in great esteem both by Jews and Christians.

The Holy Bible comprises of two Testaments - Old and New.

The Old Testament traces the stories of the Prophets and

people who lived before Christ, It is a literature of

Jewish people. It consists of 39 books. While the New

Testament is one which deals with Christianity and is a

product shared greatly by its compilers over a long period.

The New Testament has 27 books. " The New Testament books

1. The word 'Bible* strictly employed is the title of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, though occasionally a loose usage of the term it is applied to the sacred writings of pagan religions (Dictionary of the Bible edited by James Hastings, T & T. Clark 38 George Street, Edinburgh, 1909, p.95).

2. Testament means a Will. Testament in the Biblical sense really means covenant, and the two parts of our Bible are the *01d Covenant and the New Covenant, The Jewish division of the Old Testament is into three pai*ts as (i) the law (2) the prophets and (3) the writings, James Hastings op.clt.

-iil-

were written in many places. Most of the Epistles of

St. Paul can be locatedj the Gospel and Epistles of St.

John probably come from Ephesus or its neighbourhood;

but the sites of the origin of all other books are

doubtful" .

'The Old Testament contains most of what is left to

the world of the literature of the Hebrew people, cho sen

and arranged with a deep religious purpose. This litera

ture, like our own English literature came into being in

different ways. Fathers and mothers told their children

stories of they had seen and heard; the children in turn

told their children, and, after many generations of young

people had listened in this way to the stories, these vere

written down in a more permanent form*.

As regards its compilation is concerned it is stated

that 'until quite recently the earliest manuscripts of

the Holy Bible known to us belonged to about the years AJ3.

900 to 1000, whereas the books of the Old Testament were

completed by 100 B.C.^' And Mar yam Jameela with reference

to the Pictorial History of the Jewish People has stated

that 'the first five books were not put into their final

cononized form by Ezra until more than eight centuries after

3. Jaioes Hastings op. cit., p. 9b. ^ — — ^ — U, Jeannie B. Thomson Davies, The Heart of the Bible,

George Allen & Unwin Ltd., Museum Street, London, 1953, p.11.

5. Peter Ackroyd, The People of the Old Testament, Christopher, London, 1959, p.16.

-Iv-

the death of Moses (peace be on him). Under these

circumstances, corruption of the text was Inevitable' .

In this context a few extracts from the Story of the

Bible are quoted below :

(i) "To take first the Old Testament we know, in

fact, very little as to the form in which

these books were originally written" '.

(ii) " Now of these early copies of the Old Testament

books, not one has come down to us" ; and

(iii) " any scribe copying a large quantity of matter

is bound to make mistakes; and from these

errors of the scribe, copied by subsequent

scribes, or variously corrected by various

editors, and also from deliberate alterations

of editors in the supposed interests of greater

clearance or uniformity come the variations

which are found in all the manuscripts extant

today" .

And again, 'we have to remember, too, that many of the

writings which are in the Old Testament are much older

still, and that during the centuries in which they were

handed down many changes are likely to have been made in

their wording so that the task of discovering what was

6. Maryam Jameela, Islam Vs. Ahl Al Kitab, Taj Co. Delhi, 1982, p.44.

7. The Story of the Bible, W.H.M.Wise & Co.,N.Y.,1956,p.7

8. ibid.

9. ibid.

-V-

originally said or written is often a very difficult one'^°.

All the Old Testament writers, and those of the New

Testament with one exception (St. Luke) were Jews^^. The

church authorities have been at variance over the versions

of this literature. Copies of the version of the Old

Testament known as Wycllffe's work were destroyed after

his death and owners were punished with death or imprison-12

ment . It was the first complete Bible in English

produced in 1380-82 ^, Likewise copies of Tydale's trans

lation were also destroyed and he was burnt to death .

The above mentioned translations are stated to be wrong

and " the style was so stiff and pedantic that revision

was Immediately demanded, and soon after Wycliffe's death

in 1384 a sacred Wycliffe's Bible appeared, which is

connected with the name of John Purvey" -^,

Further, 'the He brew text of the Old Testament was

finally established about the 7th century A.D, by the

schools of Hebrew doctors known as Massoretes. Copies of

the scriptures that were found to be defective or damaged

16 were destroyed after careful examination'.

10. Peter Ackroyd, op.cit., p.17

11. James Hastings op.cit., p.96

12. Story of the Bible op.cit., p.10

13. Encyclopaedia Britanica, 15th edition V.II, Chicago, 1977, p.1

14. Story of the Bible o p . c i t . 15 . i b i d . 16 . Encyclopaedia of Religion and Religions by E.Royston

Pike, George Allen & Unwin Ltd.,London, 1951, p . 5 4 .

-vl-

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in the fifth discourse of his 17

commentary on the Holy Bible ' has mentioned that 'some

of the books of the Holy Bible' which were allowed, for

a long time, to rank among the Canonical books, but

beJLng afterwards doubted as to their genuineness they

were excluded and rejected'. Among such 31 books of the

Old Testament he has also listed the following books

which are related to the Holy Prophet Moses (PbUh).

12. The assumption of Moses

13. The Testament of Moses

14. The book of the Mysteries of Moses

15• The Ascession of Moses

Sir Syed has also indicated the sources from where he

has obtained the above information i.e. Home's Introduc

tion to the Critical Study of the Scriptures pub.1825,

Vol.4, p.2 and Lardner's works Pub:1829, London, Vol.2,

p.512.

Furthermore, 'There is then an interval of at least

a thousand years between the composition of the latest

book in the Old Testament (Daniel 7) and the earliest

Hebrew Ms.

17. The Mohammaden Commentary on the Holy Bible by Syud Ahmud, Ghazeepore, 1862, p.46-47.

18. E. Royston Pike, op.cit., p.55*

-vil-

Next, the Holy Bible la revised Conveniently and

there are several editions. »P (the priestly code,

represented especially by Leviticus, the author of

which revised the earlier parts of the Law books and

inserted additions into them). But J and E are closely

intertwined- an indication that both have been revised'^

Next, Sir Syed has also pointed out that 'Chrysostom

writes in his homily that several prophetic writings have

been lost either through the negligience or infidelity of

the Jews. Some of them were hopelessly lost, and some

20 torn up or committed to the flames' .

Next, apart from all the above quotations, the style

of the present Old Testament in the presentation of the

Personality of the Holy Prophets is very cheap and contem

ptible. Though I do not wish to go into detail of these

vulgar and fabricated stories mentioned in the present

Old Testament but I will do quote a few quotations from

it, so that the reader may realise the manner in which

the Holy Prophets have been dealt with in it. The Holy

Prophet Lut(PbUh) is portrayed to have committed adultery

with his two daughters which is quite inimaginable of any

Holy Prophet.

19* James Hastings op*clt*, p.96.

20. Syud Ahmud op.cit. p.45

-viii-

•And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode In the

mountain, and his two daughters with him»(for

he was afraid to stay in Segor), and he dwelt

in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

And the elder said to the younger. Our father

is old, and there is no man left on the earth,

to come in unto us after the manner of the whole

earth. Come, let us make him drunk with wine,

and let us lie with him, that we may preserve

seed of our father. And they made their father

drink wine that night: and the elder went in and

lay with her father: but he perceived not neither

when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

And the next day the elder said to the younger!

Behold I lay last night with my father, let us

make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt

lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

They made their father drink wine that night also,

and the yoxanger daughter went in, and lay with him!

and neither then did he perceive when she lay down,

nor when she rose up. So the two daughters of

Lot were with child by their father' .

The Holy Prophet Eiaud (PbUh) too is blamed of an obscene

story unbecoming of him.

In the meantime it happened that David arose from

his bed after noon, and walked upon the roof of the

king's house: and he saW from the roof of his house

a woman washing herself, over against him! and the

woman was very beautiful. And the king sent, and

inquired who the woman was, And it was told him,

that she was Bethsabee the daughter of Eliam, the

wife of Urias the Hethite. And David sent messengers,

21. Genesis 19 : 30-36.

-ix-

and took her, and she came in to him, and he

slept with her: and presently she was purified

from her uncleanness: And she

returned to her house having conceived. And she

sent and told David, and said: I have conceived'.

Next, the manner in which it deals with the Holy

Prophets is quite contrary to the facts. The narration

of Old Testament is not only misrepresentation of their

dignified personality but also injurious to the status

they occupy even today.

For the prophets and the priests are defiled:

and in my house I have found their wickedness,

saith the Lord. Therefore their way shall be

as a slippery way in the dark; for I will bring

evils upon them, the year of their visitation,

saith the Lordi And I have seen folly in the

prophets of Samarita; they prophesied in Baal,

and deceived my people Israel. And I have seen

the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying

in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthe

ned the hands of the wicked, that no man should

return from his evil doings; they are all become

unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as

Gomorrha ... thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken

not to the words of the prophets that prophesy

to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of

their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the

Lord.^^

22 . I I Kings 1 1 : 2-5 23 . Jeremias 23 : 11-16

-X-

Next, some of the Holy Prophets are shown in the

Old Testament as mere Priest like the Holy Prophets

Harun and Shualb (Peace be on them) while they are

prophets like all other Holy Prophets .

Next, the present Old Testament is a combination

of both monotheistic and Polytheistic narrations. At

one place it saysI

Thou Shalt not have strange gods before me.

Thou Shalt not make to thyself a graven thing,

nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven

above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those 25 things that are in the waters under the earth. -

Adore not any strange god • •. Thou shalt not 26

make to thyself any molten gods.

While at another place there exist:

(i) Thus saith the Lord: Jsrael is my sone, my 27

firstborn. '

(ii) for 1 am a father to Israel, and Ephsaim pa

is my firstborn .

(ill) He said unto me (David) Thou art my son, 2Q

Myself this day I have begotten thee ^.

24 . Holy Qur'an 3:84 2 5 . Exodus 20:3-4 26. Exodus 34:14,17 27 . Exodus 04:22 28 . Jeremias 31:9 29 . Psalms 2:7

- x l -

The Holy Qur'an takes a very strong exception t o

t h i s dogma. Begetting i s an animal act to which The

Self (dhat) of Allah i s quite pure. I t says:

He begetteth not,

Nor is He begotten

He has no son, no father, no mother and no partner at

all. His self is so sublime that it is far beyond our

limited conception, that the best way in which we can

realise Him is to feel that He is a Personality^ .

Next, above all these the Holy Qur'iTn says that:

Of the Jews there are those

who displace words

from their (right) places'' .

The Holy Qur'an also says that

Then woe to those who write

The Book with their own hands.

And then say; This is from Allah^^

Therefore, in view of all the above, there remains

almost no chance to believe in the authenticity of the

present version of the Old Testament.

30. Holy Qur'an 112:3

31. Abdullah Yusuf Ali p.1714


33. Holy Qur'an: 2:79

- x i i -

Now we come t o the Holy Qur 'an about which Thomas

P a t r i c k Hughes w r i t e s , " and t h e r e i s probably no other

book in the world which has remained twelve c e n t u r i e s

with so pure a tex t^ . I t i s the only ava i l ab l e of the

most authent ic and absolute source of information of

the divine messages ever p rese rved . The Holy Qur'iTn

i t s e l f says :

The r e v e l a t i o n of the Book i s from Allah The Exalted in Power,

Full of Wisdom.^^

We have, without doubt.

Sent down the Message;

And we will assuredly

Guard it(from corruption)^

The p u r i t y of the t e x t of the Qur'iTn through four teen

cen tu r i e s i s a fo re s t a t e of the e t e r n a l care with which

A l l a h ' s Truth i s guarded through a l l ages . Al l c o r r u p

t i o n s , invent ions , and acc re t ions pass away but A l l a h ' s

Pure and Holy Truth w i l l never suf fe r ec l i p se even though 37 the whole world mocked a t i t and was sent on des t roy ing" . '

I t had been wholly and p e r f e c t l y recorded during the l i f e

34 . Thomas Pa t r i ck Hughes, A Dic t ionary of Islam, W.H. Aliens & Co, 13, Waterloo, Place London, 1895, p .487.

3 5 . Holy Qur'an 46:2 36 . Holy Qur'an 15:9 37 . Abdullah Yusuf 'A l i p . 6 2 1 .

-xiii-

time of our Prophet^®. The Sahaba^ who used to write

down the Holy Qur'an Iminedlately after Its revelation

under the guidance of the Holy Prophet are quoted as

besides the first four caliphs, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Zubair

Ibn Awam, Mua'wia, Mughira ibn Sha'ba, Khalid ibn Wahid,

Thabit ibn Qais, Aban ibn Said.^^ As the Qur'an was

descended in the dialect of Quraish, writes Maulana

Abdul Haq Haqqani that Abd-Ullah bin Zubair, Sa'id bin

*As and Abdullah bin Haris bin Hisham also took part in

its compilation as these Sahabas were well versed in

Quraishic dialect and thus recorded it according to the

40 Quraishic idioms.

'The arrangement of the Qur'an was thus a part of

the Divine Scheme. Every portion of the Holy Book was

written and given its specified place, at the bidding

of the Holy Prophet. It was customary with the Messenger

of Allah (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

that when portions of different chapters were revealed

to him, and when any verse was revealed, he called one

of those persons who used to write the Holy Qur'an and

said to him: Write this verse in the chapter where such

and such verses occur (Ad 2: 121; Ah It 57, 69). Thus

the whole Qur'an was arranged by the Holy Prophet himself,

under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

R - Razl Allah- Ta'la Anhu

38, Maulvi Aboo Muhammad Abdul Haqq Haqqani, Al Bayan (English Translation), Thacker, Sjolnk & Co,Calcutta, 1910, p.300. ;w

39. Mufti M.Shafi, Ma'rlful Qur'an,Delhi,1988,1/19. AO. A.H.Haqqani, op.cit., p.302. 41. Maulana Muhammad 'All, The Religion of Islam,Lahore,

1936, pp.27-28.

-xiv-

Maulana Muhammad All In his another book has quoted

a tradition from Sahih Muslim that the Holy Prophet had

himself once directed 'not to write down anything from - 4?

me besides Qur'an .

Therefore there can be no doubt as to the genuineness

of the Holy Qiar'an which exists Just as it was revealed

without a bit of deficiency. As regards the genuineness

of the Present Old Testament is concerned, there are

many things to be considered which I have mentioned above,

though my intention is not to go into any controversy, but

for the faithful accomplishment of my assignment I have

relied on the description of the Holy Qur'an the last

divine revelation on the final Holy Prophet and have

made this divine book as the basis of my work. The Holy

Qur'an itself in many of its verses has confirmed the

revelation of Torah to the Holy Prophet Moses (PbUh) and

the faith of a muslim is not perfect until he believes

in the revelation of all previous Holy Prophets of Allah

and His Divine Books; but at the same time the Holy Qur'an

also points out of the interpretations made in the pre

vious books (Torah and Injil) therefore the contents of

the present Old Testament cannot be relied upon.

42. Maulana K.Ali, Jama' Qur'an, Matbooa Mufide 'Am, Lahore, 1917, p.17.

43. Holy Qur'an: 2:53; 87; 21:48; 23:49; 25:35

- X V -

The Holy Qur'an I s the only Divine Book which

confirms a l l previous r e v e l a t i o n s & the Holy Prophets

of Allaih and speaks very h igh ly of t h e i r P e r s o n a l i t i e s ,

Truthful l and t h e i r s e rv ices rendered in the f a i t h f u l

fu l f i lment of t h e i r missions and suffer ings endured a t

the hands of those who opposed.

The Holy Qur'iTn a lso t e l l s us about the l i f e s t y l e

of a few Holy Prophets, In t h i s work some aspec t s of

the l i f e events of the Holy Prophet Moses (PbUh) which

are important for a comparative study are enumerated.

I have also endeavoured to p o i n t out the misrepresenta

t i o n s and d i s t o r t i o n of f a c t s , i n s e r t i o n s and d e l e t i o n s

made in the present Old Testament by i t s compilers.

In the end, I have added four appendices conta in ing

b r i e f desc r ip t ion of some of the events which a re found

exclus ive ly in the Holy Qur'iin, the S i m i l a r i t i e s , the

D i s s i m i l a r i t i e s and some of those which are quoted i n

the Old Testament only. References to the summarised

events wherever nar ra ted e i t h e r in the Holy Qur'an o r

in the Old Testament are shown aga ins t each event .

The English t r a n s l a t i o n of Qur '^nic ve rses i s

quoted from the English Trans la t ion and Commentary of

the Holy Qur'an by 'Abdullah Yusuf ' A l l , Amana Corpora

t i o n , Brentwood, Maryland, USA, 1989? and e x t r a c t s from

the Old Testament are quoted from the Holy Bib le , The

Caxton Publishing Conpany l im i t ed , London, 1958.

In the l a s t while recording my Indebtedness I must

f i r s t express my deepfel t g r a t i t u d e to my teacher and

benefactor Professor Abdul Aleem Khan, Chairman of the

Department and Dean of the Facul ty of Theology for h i s

ever ac t ive gxiidance and h i s keen i n t e r e s t i n me and my

theologica l s tud ies from the day I entered i n the pi^mlses

of the Faculty of Theology. His kind a s s i s t ance a t every

s tep in the compilation of t h i s t h e s i s has always been

of immense encouragement and eager to complete t h i s vork

a t t h i s ea r ly s tage .

I am also thankful to Dr.Mohammad Asadullah, l e c t u r e r

i n the Department of Sunni Theology for h i s I n t e r e s t and

time to time guidance on var ious mat ters r a i sed up during

my study per iod . He too i s generous in en l igh ten ing me

of h i s knowledge to ray f u l l s a t i s f a c t i o n .

My thanks are algo due to my f r iends p a r t i c u l a r l y

Mr.Badar Afroz, who from the very beginning of t h i s work

has been a helpful hand to me; a lso the l i b r a r y s t a f f fo r

t h e i r cooperation i n providing me the mater ia l requi red

i n the conpi la t lon of t h i s t h e s i s .

CHAPTER - I

The Holy Prophet Moses before Prophethood

( i ) General Condition:

The de t a i l ed account of the Holy Prophet Moses

(may peace and b less ings of Allah Ta ' l a be on him) in

the Holy Qur'an besides h i s own d ign i f l fed p e r s o n a l i t y

helps us t o know on the one hand about Bani I s r a l l , a

very t y p i c a l people,and on the other^the Pharaoh, the

haughty king of Egypt, h i s h o s t i l e a t t i t u d e t o Bani

I s r a i l and malevolence towards the Holy Prophet of Al lah .

There are severa l s t o r i e s regarding h i s b i r t h conn

ected with the k i l l i n g of newly born male I s r a l l i t e

bab ie s . One such t r a d i t i o n maintain t h a t Pharaoh dreamt

some f i r e entered in to Egypt from the d i r e c t i o n of Syr ia .

I t consigned the houses belonging t o Egyptians and spared

the property owned by I s r a i l i t e s '^. Another t r a d i t i o n

44.(1) I t i s the na t i ona l des igna t ion of the Jews(English Trans la t ion and Commentary of the Holy Qur 'an by Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Lahore, 1957,Vol.I p . 1 1 ) .

(ii) Hebrews of the Old Testament days c a l l e d themsel ves sons of I s r a e l (B'ne I s r a e l ) , Burgh, De W.G. The Legacy of the Ancient World, London,1947,p.4A.

(iij) In Genesis (32:28) Jacob(the Holy Prophet YaQub (PbUh) i s ca l l ed I s r a e l .

(Iv) I t i s a Hebrew word, I s r a means s e r v a n t , Arabic equivalent 'Abd and e l means Allah, meaning thereby servant of Allah which correspond t o the Arabic proper noun Abdullah, see Qasasul Qur'an by Nbulana Hifzur Rahman Seoharvi,Nadvatul Musannefeen,Delhi, 1987, 1/279. , ,

4 5 . M.Jameel Ahmad, Anbiyae Qur'an,Lahore,1954, 11/114.

claim that Pharaoh, the king o£ the land, dreamed that

he was sitting on his throne, and raising his eyes, saw

before him an old man holding in his hand a pair of a

large balances. The old man hung the balances, and

taking all the elders of Egypt, her princess and cjfficers

he bound them together and placed them on one of the

balances, on the other he placed a lamb, and lo, to the

wonder of the dreaming man, the lamb weighed heavier

than all the mighty men of Egypt. Pharaoh awoke, and

sending for his officers, he related to them his dream,

which caused them both fear and amazement. Now among

the magicians of Egypt there was one whom the king consi

dered especially wise, Bil'am, the son of Be'or. For him

the king sent, and desired an explanation of the vision".

A great evil will befall Egypt in the latter days, "repiLled

Bil'am, the son of Be* or. "A son will be born in Israel

who will destroy Egypt, kill its inhabitants, and carry

his people out from among them. Now, oh lord and king,

give heed to this matter, and destroy the power of the

children of Israel and their future welfare, before thi3

46 misfortune to Egypt buds" . There might be other

legendary embellishments also rendering more or less the

same idea which can be supposed to have been the cause of

Pharaoh's cruel bent of mind towards Bani Israil and

killing of their innocent children. Though it is an

larailite tradition but no mention of such a dream is

46. Polano H, The Talmud, Frederick Warne and Co., London, p«123.

made in the Old Testament. The version of the Old

Testament in this regard is:

Behold the people of children of Israel

are numerous and stronger than we. Come,

let us wisely oppress them, lest they

multiply: and any war shall rise against

us. Join with our enemies, and having

overcome us, depart out of the land '.

From the above quotation of the Old Testament it appears

that the resolution adopted to kill IsraTllte male babies

was based on plitical grounds. Banl IsraTl, it is con

ceived, would have been living a happy life perhaps from

the times of the Holy Prophet Yusuf (may peace and

blessings of Allah Ta'la be upon him) because of his

extraordinary services for Egyptians and their country.

During the life of Joseph, however, the position of

Israelities in Egypt was a favourable one ^. With the

passage of time they waxed exceedingly mighty and would

have become so prosperous that Egyptians envied them and

Pharaoh felt threat to his own person as well as his

kingdom, perhaps, keeping in mind the interpretations

of the foretellers. Things, however, changed soon after

47. Old Testament, Exodus 1;10

A8. b.1927 B.C. and d.1817 B.C.(110 Yrs.) biblical source, Anbiyae Qur'an op.cit. Vol.I,p.302-303.

49. Rapport S. Angelo, Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, Gresham Publishing Co.Ltd., London, 1928, Vol.11, p.189.

the death of Joseph, and half a century later the

Hebrews were gradually deprived of their former pri

vileges, and the apparent love of the Egyptians for

Israel disappeared. The hostility towards the aliens

and foreigners became open, and the hatred implacable.^

Pharaoh made their lives utterly miserable. They were

grievously depressed in the society passing an indigent

life full of humiliation. They deprived them of the

fruitful land which Joseph had given them, and of the

houses which they had built, and the homes they had

made for themselves^ . The land of the Egyptians grew

constantly heavier upon the people till their lives

became a burden to them'' . And in the Old Testament:

And they made their life bitter with

hard works in clay, and brick,* and with

all manners of service, wherewith they 53 were over-charged in the works of earth.

The Holy Qur'an also confirms the hards works imposed

upon Bani IsraTl and killing of their male babies.

They set you

Hard tasks and

punishments,

s laughtered

Your sons and l e t your

womenfolk l i ve t

Therein was a tremendous 54 t r i a l from your Lord.-

50. Rapport S.Angelo, o p . c i t . p.190 5 1 . Polano H., o p . c i t . p.121 52. i b i d . 53 . Exodus 1:1 A 54. Holy Qur'ffn 2:49

The Pharaoh, undoubtedly, was a cruel king who

had divided his people into groups; suppressed Bani

IsraTl and elevated Egyptians so much that they hated

the former^^. Bani IsraTl, were, no doubt,passing a

happy life during the Holy Prophet Yusuf's times but

after that corruption would certainly had found its

way in the matter of their faith in the oneness of

Allah (TawhTd) and other conducts which can be believed

as a basis for their trial. 'The probability, therefore,

is that the pre-Mosaic Hebrews were not so much poly-

thesis as worshippers of a vague power or numen, ....

it seems, however, that among the tribes which went to

Egypt these ideas gave way before the magnificient

polytheism of the Egyptians-^ ,

(ii) His birth :

Now in the circumstances when corruptions found

its way in the teachings of the previous Holy Prophets

and people were completely abandoned and morally irre

claimable, the Will of the Sublime Assembly desired to

raise the Holy Prophet Moses. As regards their social

conditions, it was quite deplorable and acutely wretched.

They were a people totally dejected and imposed upon

all types of difficulties to live a life of servitude.

55 . Holy Qur'Sn 28:4

56. Bl\ant, A.W.F,, I s r a e l , Social and Religious Development, Oxford Univers i ty Press , London, 1924, p .30-31 .

Therefore, In order t o improve upon t h e i r condi t ion

from the paralyzing g r ip of bondage, Allah sent His

Prophet t o make reforms of t h e i r corrupt f a i t h , d e l i v e r

them out of Egypt and a lso improve 'upon t h e i r p o s i t i o n

by an attempt t o provide them with a prosperous land

but as arrogant were they d id not adhered to h i s comnerd.

The Holy Qur'an desc r ibes h i s b i r t h with the i n s

p i r a t i o n t o h is mother conveying a device for safe

del iverance who was worried about the l i f e of her c h i l d .

57 . Holy Qur'an 28J7 Inspiration is a secret disclosure to man of the Will or purpose of God, and there are various forms in which this has been done! Istly, the revelation must come from God, 2ndly, it has been delivered upon earth by an angel. 3rdly, that angel has been clothed in the human shape 4thly, there must be only a supernatural Voice,

without any visible appearance of the speaker; 5thly, it may be conveyed by direct inspiration to

the heart of man and 6thly, it may be announced in a dream, or an opening.

Revelation should come through the channel of those only who were known to be Prophets; for it has pleased the Almighty to give his revelations also to holy character. When, therefore, the Divine purposes have been unfolded to other than the Prophets, in any one of thefirst four of the channels specified above, such revelations are called Tehdees(the holy sayings) ; when they have come in the fifth form, they are designated Ilhara (in3pirQtion)while the sixth description of the medium is known as Mosha-hidat or Mookashfat (displaying). Here is one instance of a revelation to a private individual who was no prophetess.

(Syud Ahmud, The Mohammedan Commentary on the Holy Bible, Ghazepore, 1862, p.6 and 7)

His l i n e a l descent i s Moses son of Imran son of

Lavl son of Yaqub (PbUh) son of ' I s haq (PbUh) son of

Ibrahim (PbUh). The comparative account of h i s b i r t h

as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an and the Old Testament

i s given below:

Holy Qur'an Old Testament

Behold . We sent

To thy mother,

by inspiration,

The message :

Throw (thy child)

into the chest,

and throw

(the chest) into

the river

Surah Ta Ha (20:58,59)

And when she could hide

him no longer , she took

a basket made of bu l rushes ,

and daubed i t with slime

and p i t ched : and put the

l i t t l e babe t h e r e i n , and

l a i d him in the sedges

by the r i v e r ' s

bank.

(Exodus 2:5)

Though the idea of the circumstance conveyed in

the Old Testament i s somewhat s imi la r t o t h a t of the

Holy Qur'an but t he r e l i e s a g rea t dif ference in the

s t y l e and s p i r i t of both the books. The s t y l e of the

Holy Qur'an, as a whole, and p a r t i c u l a r l y on t h i s

occasion i s based on i n s p i r a t i o n to h i s mother while

the Old Testament i s void of i t . The por t ion r e l a t i n g

t o the i n sp i r a t i on has, thus ,been deJPted from the Old

Testament*

8

The box so cas t In to the r i v e r was taken out

of by Pharaoh's men, and when i t was opened, the

uncommon beauty of the ch i l d r a i s e d the a f f ec t ion of

Pharaoh's wife who decided t o adopt him and br ing up

in her house and reqt^ested the king, her husband, t o

save h i s ( c h i l d ' s ) l i f e . The Holy Qur'an says t h a t :

The wife of Pharaoh s a i d : (here i s ) a ;3oy of the eye, For me and for t h e e : Slay him no t . I t may be t h a t he w i l l be of use To us , or we may adopt Him as a son. And they Perceived not (what they were d o i n g ) ^ .

Here again, the re i s a d i f fe rence between the Holy

Qur'an and the Old Testament. The Old Testament says

t h a t i t was Pharaoh's daughter who adopted the Holy

Prophet while the Holy Qur'an says t h a t i t was the wife

of Pharaoh whose mention has been made in the preceding

verses of the Holy Qur 'an.


Then the people of And behold the daughter of

Pharaoh picked him Pharao came down t o wash

up (from the r i v e r ) . . . he r se l f in the r i v e r :

The Wife of Pharaoh . . . . she sent one of her

58 . Holy Qur'an 28:9

said:(Here is) a ;)oy maids for it ... She opened

of the eye .... it and seeing within it an

infant crying, having compa

ssionate on it she said:

This is one of the babes of

the Hebrews.

Al Qasas (28; 8,9) (Exodus 2: 5,6)

The above version of the Old Testament which does

not conform to the Holy Qur'an is an interpolation"^

made in it.

59. It must be considered that the Sacred Scriptures may be corrupted in various ways:-Istly, by adding words or phrases which were not there originally; 2ndly, by striking out existing words or phrases; 3rdly, by the substitution of other words,differing

in meaning from those struck out; 4thly, by making verbal changes while reading,

so as to convey to the ear words different from what were written;

5thly, by reading only some passages and omitting others;

6thly, by instructing the people in a manner contrary to God's teaching in his holy word, and yet making them believe that this instrxiction is the true word;

7thly, by adopting an improper meaning of certain words of ambiguous or equivocal interpretation, which does not suit the sense intended and

Sthly, by misrepresenting those passages which are mysterious and allegorical.

Some maintain, that besides the above, there is yet another method of corrupting Scripture, and that is, by producing spurious books and publishing them as the inspired word of God.

(Syud Ahmud, op.cit., p.65, 66)

10

The legendary character of the Old Testament can be

Judged from, 'since to the best of our knowledge, the

earliest source of the life of Moses Is dated about

three centuries after his death (presumably about 1200

B.C.)» we cannot be sure of the details of his life,

for this source is based on oral traditions and not

ancient writings' . Whereas the Information of the

Holy Qur'ah is absolutely pure free from any change

right from the day of its revelation to completion and

all times to come. The Holy Qur'irn does not go into

unnecessary details but mentions the actual facts.

After casting the child into the river mother's heart

became void of the parted son so she sent for her

daughter, Mariam, to pursue the box along the bank of

61 the river .


And she said to the His sister

sister of (Moses) standing afar off,

follow him so she and taking notice

watched him in the what would be done.

character of a stranger

and they know not.

Al Qasas (28:11) (Exodus 2i4)

60. Robert H.Pfeiffer , Religion in the Old Testament, Adam and Charles Black, London, 1961, p . 4 5 .

6 1 . Here i s somewhat s i m i l a r i t y in t h i s circumstance as mentioned i n the Holy Qur'an and the Old Testament.

11

( l i l ) Hlg Upbr inging i

Now hav ing been saved from the c u r e l hands of

Pharaoh , a s a l r e a d y s t a t e d t h e wife of Pharaoh who

had developed e x t r a o r d i n a r y a f f e c t i o n f o r t h e c h i l d ,

adopted him as h e r son. The Holy P rophe t r e f u s e d

b r e a s t s of a l l o t h e r women, u n t i l h i s s i s t e r bixjught

h e r mother who fed him ^, and t h u s t h e promise of A l l ah

t o restojre the c h i l d t o t h e mother was f u l f i l l e d .

E x c e l l e n t a r rangements f o r h i s upb r ing ing were made i n

t h e r o y a l p a l a c e of Pharaoh who, i n f a c t , was an enemy

t o him.

No e v e n t of h i s ch i ldhood i s t r a c e d

o u t e i t h e r i n the Holy Qur ' an o r t h e Old Tes tament . The

s t o r y p e r t a i n i n g t o h i s p u t t i n g a b u r i n g c o a l i n t o h i s

mouth which b u r n t h i s tongue i n h i s i n f ancy and r ende red 62 a him impediment i n h i s speech i s a Jewish s t o r y .

The Holy Qur 'an says t h a t when he reached f u l l of 6? age he was endowed wi th wisdom and knowledge •'. Fxxll

age may be t aken to t h e mature youth, say between 18

and 30 yea r s of age . By t h a t t ime a p e r s o n i s f u l l y

e s t a b l i s h e d i n l i f e ; h i s p h y s i c a l b u i l t i s comple ted ,

62 . There i s a l s o s i m i l a r i t y on t h i s account i n bo th t h e books.

6 2 a , E n g l i s h T r a n s l a t i o n of t h e Holy Qur ' an by George S a l e , F r e d e r i c k Wame and Co.Hd, London, p . 306.

63* Holy Qur ' an 28 :14

12

and his mental and moral habits are formed. In this

case, as Moses was go.od at heart, true and loyal to

his people, and obedient and Just to those among whom

he lived, he was granted wisdom and knowledge from on

high, to be used for the tiroes of conflict which were

coming for him. His Internal development being complete,

he now goes out in the outer world, where he is again

tried and proved, until he gets his divine commission .

He led a life of virtue and purity .... his heart was

full of noble and pure sentiments^.

(iv) Dsath of Egyptian:

Now another phase of his life starts. Nothing

happens in this world without a cause. Allah wanted

the Holy Prophet to attain complete perfection in all

walks of his life which was not possible under the

palacial way of life where Pharaoh's brute administra

tion prevailed all over. Therefore in order to keep

him away from such an atmosphere, intervention between

the quarrel of two persons - one (Egyptian) predomina

ting the other (IsraTlite) Holy Prophet's stricking the

oppressor which caused his death became the apparent

cause of his leaving Egypt. When the Egyptian died of

his struck the Holy Prophet was full of regrets and in

64. Abdxallah Vusuf *Ali, p. 964

65. Rapport S.Angelo, op.cit. p.232-233.

13

penitence he prayed to Allah for His Forgiveness

because it was an act of satan . This was the first

day's event '. Other day, the same IsraTlite was found

fighting with another Egyptian. This time also the

IsraTlite seeing the Holy Prophet called him again for

help but he did not extend his helping hand as he was

a quarrelsome person •

The narration of the second day's fight as recorded

in the Old Testament is different from what is mentioned

in the Holy Qur'an.


Then, when he decided

to lay hold of the

man who was an enemy

to both of them, That

man saidt 0 Moses .

Is it thy intention

to slay me as thou

alewest a man yesterday?

Al Qasas. (28»19)

And going out

the next day, he saw

two Hebrews quarrelling!

and he said to him that

did the wrong! why

strikest thou the

neighbour ?

(Exodus 2:13)

66. Holy Qur'Sn 28:15 67 . There i s s i m i l a r i t y of the f i r s t days f igh t in both 68 . Holy Qur'an 28:18 *^® ^ ° ° ^ ^ -

14

The Holy Qur'an clearly indicates that one of

them was an IsraTlite, the same person whom he had

helped. Otherwise how he would come to know that

the Egyptian died of his stricking. It was till then

a secret between the Holy Prophet and the IsraTllte

so favoured. Secondly, 'an enemy to both of them' is

a proof that the second person with whom the IsraTlite

was quarrelling was an Egjrptian as the Egylians were

enemies to the IsraTlites as well as the Holy Prophet.

The disclosure of the news spread so rapidly that it

reached Pharaoh and an insidious scheme against the

Holy Prophet was chalked out. A well-wisher informed

him of the ill-designs of Pharaoh well before anything

could happen and advised him to leave the place (Egypt)

immediately.

(v) Towards Madyan:

As the decision to leave Egypt was all of a sudden

he had no idea even any preparation and where to go so

he prayed to Allah for guidance. This is another

peculiar style of the Holy Qur'an while mentioning the

character of the Holy Prophet that previously also he

sought forgiveness and guidance though he did not strike

the Egyptian with an inclination to kill him but he

died inadvertantly. The Holy Prophet felt regrets on

his part and prayed to Allah. Here again, lies differe

nce between the two books. The Holy Prophet said:

15

I do hope

That my Lord will show me

The smooth and straight Path' 69

No mention of such a prayer of the Holy Prophet

while leaving Egypt is made in the Old Testament. After

that he made his way towards Madyan - a place stated

to be about 300 miles on the eastern side of the Gulf

of Agaba where control of the Pharaoh would not work.

He is now rescued from the mischievous plan of the

Pharaoh and his chiefs. After performing a long and

troublesome Journey all alone even without any provi

sions with him he reached Madyan at an hour when people

were watering their animals at a well. Travel stained

he sat down by the well under a shadow. 70


And when he ar r ived a t the

the watering(place) in

Madyan, He found the re

a group of men watering

( t h e i r f locks ) , and besides

them he found two women

who were keeping back

( t h e i r f l o c k s ) .

Al Qasas (28:23)

but he fled from his sight,

and abode in the land of

Madian, and he sat down

by a well. And the Priest

of Madian had seven daugh

ters who came to draw water

and when the troughs were

filled, desired to water

their father's flocks.

(Exodus 21 15,16)

69. Holy Qur'an 28:22 70. Here is again somewhat similarity between the _

version of the Old Testament and the Holy Qur'an.

16

(v) His meeting with the Holy Prophet Shualb(PbUh):

So while taking rest from travel exertions he

saw two young girls driving back their animals and

waiting for their chance after all other people have

driven away their animals.

Here again we come to notice another interpola

tion made in the Old Testament regarding the number of

the girls of the Holy Prophet Shuaib(PbUh) who had

come to the well for watering their animals. In the

Holy Qur'ah the number of daughters is stated as two

while in the Old Testament it is seven which is not

correct. Second thing is about the status of the Holy

Prophet Shuaib (may peace and blessings of Allah be on

him) who is quoted as a priest quite contrary to the

description of the Holy Qur'iTn. He is very much the

Messenger of All'ah like all other Messengers mentioned

in the Holy Qur'an raised for the betterment and reform

faith of the people of Madyan in the same way as other

Holy Prophets were sent to other places. Therefore the

version of the Old Testament designating him a priest Is

totally against the description of the Holy Qur'an both

in words and spirit.

Here too, at the well of Madyan the Holy Prophet

Moses witnessed injustice with the weaker. The auda

cious quality of his temperament did not, permit him to

17

be a mere silent spectator at the helplessness of the

girls. He stood up and assisted the girls in watering

their animals and retired again to his resting place .


So he watered( the i r f locks)

for them: then he turned

back t o the shade, and said;

Al Qasas (28:24)

and Moses arose,

and defending the

maids, watered their

sheep.

(Exodus 2tl7)

He,Still then a homeless person weary of the

exertions of the long Journey and did not know what was

going to happen to him but as is the confidence of the

Holy Prophets, full of trust in the Authority and Mercy

of Allah. He prayed to Allah, as also previously, for

His help.

0 my Lord .

Truly am I

in (desperate) need

of any good

That Thou dost send me .

Al Qasas (28:24)

The girls reaching home, perhaps earlier than the

usual time, spoke high of the young man as they were

71. Here is also similarity.

18

very much impressed by his chivalrous character in

defending the weaker. Their father, the Holy Prophet

Shviaib (peace be on him) sent for one of the girls,

probably his future wife, to call hira home .

The Holy Prophet now meets the. Sheikh of Madyan

and told his woeful story - his Leaving of Egypt after

the inadvertlnant deatii of the Egyptian and also perhaps

the troubles suffered during his long and troublesome

Journey. The Sheikh pacified him sayfng that he is now

75 escaped from the mischievous plan of the wrong doers' ,

In the Old Testament there is no such discussion except

that the priest of Madian asked his daughter to " call 7 k him that he may eat bread' .

Perhaps the girl who had brought him home advised

her father to engage the young man to tend the flocks.

She supported her statement with the argument that the

young man is strong in built and trustworthy.

0 my (dear) father . engage

Him on wages: truly the best

Of men for thee to employ is

The (man) who is strong and trusty'^.

72 . Here is similarity- Holy Qur'an 28:25; Exd.2:20


74. Exodus 2:20


19

The father was an old man who might stood In

need of the services of some young person to share

his responsibilities particularly to look after his

animals which require a great deal of wandering

through out the day in the desert for their pasturing.

He immediately responded to the valuable suggestion

of his daughter and put up a proposal' in the following

words!

I intend to wed

One of these my daughters

To thee, on condition that

Thou serve me for eight years;

But if thou complete ten years

It will be (grace) from thee '

No such a proposal is mentioned in the Old

Testament except the words 'And Moses swore that he 78

would dwell with him'.

In fact, the Holy Prophet was in need of a dwelling

place and this was an excellent proposal providing him

an ideal abode. It was all in accordance with the Will

76. In patriachal society it was not uncommon to have a marriage bargain of this kind conditional on a certain term of service (Abdullah Yusuf 'All, op.cit. p.969).


78. Exodus 2:21

20

of Allah that He wanted to prepare him for the great

responsibility, and thus the proposal was accepted.

He said: Be that (the agreement)

Between me and thee :

Vfhichever of the two terms

I fulfil, let there be no

ill-will to me.

Be Allah a witness

To what we say'^.

He, then, placed his services at the disposal of

his benefactor. He was very true and faithful in the fin

discharge of his du,ties. Moses(PbUh) always used to

lead his sheep to open places, so as to prevent them

81 from pasturing in private property . He fulfilled the

convenant by completing the longer term of ten year

to the full satisfaction and giving maximum advantage

out of his services. Then he was married to one of the

daughters as already agreed upon.

(vli) His goin^ back to Egypt;

The Holy Prophet stayed at Madyan for more than a

decade as evident from the fulfilment of his longer term

79. Holy Qur'an 28:28 80. Rapport S.Angelo, o p . c i t . p.260 81. Rapport S. Angelo, op.cit. p.270

82. Mufti Mohammad Shafi, Ma'riful Qur'an, Rabbani Book Depot, Delhi, 1988, Vol.VI, p.67.

21

of the convenant and after his marriage he planned to

return to his country where the great destiny was await

ing for him. He made his return Journey with his family.

In the Old Testament his family comprised of 'his wife

and sons' ^. The narration of the Old Testament differs

in this respect also with the Holy Qur'an.


Now when Moses had

fulfilled the term

and was travelling

with his family, he

perceived a fire in

the direction of

mount Tur.

Al Qasas (28:29)

Now Moses fed the sheep

of Jethro his father in

law, the priest of MadianI

and he drove the flock to

the inner parts of the

desert, and came to the

mountain of God, Horeb....

wu3 not burnt.

(Exodus 3:1-2)

The Old Testament further says that after he had

seen the fire he came back to his father in law and

sought for his permission saying 'I will go and return

to my brethren into Egypt, that I may see if they be

yet alive' . And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian;

Go and return into Egypt: for they are all dead that

sought thy life'^. The permission was granted and he

took his Journey towards Egypt after having bagged the

83. Exodus 2:22 84. Exodus 4:18

85. Exodus 4:19

22

blessings of his father in law 'Go in peace'^^.

This is another interpolation made in the Old

Testament which does not conform to the Holy Qur'a"n.

The fact is that after completing his term of covenant

and getting married, he departed from Madyan to Egypt

with his family and while on his way back to Egypt he

passed by the mountain of Tur. It was during night

stated to be cold and snowy that he perceived fire;

and as he stood in need of it asked his family to stay

for he would bring a firebrand for their comforts; and

after that he had conversation with the Sublime Assembly

and did not come back to Madyan but went forward making

his way towards Egypt. Thus the version of the Old

Testament is a clear cut interpolation made in it Just

to distort the actual event. Further it says that:

And when he was in his Journey, In the

inn, the Lord met him, andj|ould have

killed him. Immediately^ Wphora took

a very sharp stone, and circumcised the

foreskin of her son, and touched his

feet, and said: A bloody spouse art thou

to me. And he let him go after she had

said; A bloody spouse art thou to me, flV

because of the circumcision.

So he was saved by his wife Sephora on his return Journey.

86. Exodus 4:18

87. Exodus 4:24-26

88. Old Testament p.50 (footnote)

23

Nothing of this sort is traced out in the Holy

Qur'an, therefore it is all addition in the Old Testament,

24

CHAPTER II

The Holy Prophet Moses after Prophethood

(i) The Revelation:

Now the high time to be appointed to the Office

of Prophethood had reached near after being stood

firmly many an exertions of patriarchal society quite

reverse of the palacial way of life in Eg.ypt. He is

on the threshold of a great spiritual revolution -

receive the message of Allah; its spreading* face

challenges and opposition of false powers which has

always been the course of all the Holy Prophets and

their followers; make his way out of many obstacles

and thus lead IsraTlltes out of bondage for which he

was raised. The occasion at the mountain of Tur

attract great significance for the Holy Prophet Moses

had directly conversed with the Sublime Assembly in

the form of revelation already mentioned in the pre

vious chapter that 'a Supernatural Voice without any

visible appearance of the speaker'. For this conver

sation and also that followed later on, the Holy Prophet

is also remembered with the title 'Kalim Allah*.

Secondly, the occasion is also important from the point

of view that it is marked with the beginning of his

25

spiritual life. When he came near to the seeming

fire he heard the Divine Call from the right side of

the mountain of Tur as mentioned In the Holy Qur'an.

As It was a sacred valley the Holy Prophet was desired

to put off shoes as a mark of respect.


Verily I am thy Lord . And he said; Come not

Therefore (In My presence) high hither, put off the

put off thy shoes: thou shoes from thy feet; for

art the place whereon thou

In the sacred valley standest Is holy ground.

Tuwa.

Ta Ha (20:12) (Exodus 5»5)

The occasion la similar In both the books. Then comes

the Prime Message, Oneness of Allah (Tawhld) as communi

cated to all the Holy Prophets of Allah. This message

is ONE through out the ages and fundamental to all the

subsequent messagest The address is cited at different

places In the Holy Qur'an. We cannot prefer any one over

the other. It is only because of the peculiar style of

the Holy Qur'an that all its revelations are in the form

of an address made on various occasions as demanded.

In Surah Ta Ha it is in the following words:

Verily, I am Allah

There is no god but I :

So serve thou Me (only)

89. Holy Qur'an 20x14

26

While in Surah Al Naml It la t

0 Moses . Ver i ly ,

1 am Allah, the Exalted

In Might, t he Wise .^°

and a l so in Surah Al Qasas :

0 Moses • Verily

1 am Allah, the Lord

Of the Worlds. ''

In the Old Testament the address is quoted in the

following words5

And he said: I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob .... I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the rigour of them that are over the works I And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, .... But come, and I will send

thee to Pharao, that thou mayst bring forth 92

my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.^ and at another place in the same chaptert

93 I am who am.


91. Holy Qur'an 281330

92. Exodus 3 : 6-10

93. Exodus 3 : 14

27

As already stated, In this case also, the version of

the Old Testament is totally opposite to the spirit

and words of the Holy Qur'an. There can actually be

no comparison of both the books at all. Coming dovm

or going up is basically against the attributes of

Allah. His self (dhat) is omnipresent. His glory is

always with us. The Holy Qur'an says t

And He is

With you wheresoever ye may be

Abdullah Vusuf 'Ali in his translation and Commentary

of the Holy Qur'an says that 'His knowledge comprehends

all, the earth, heavens, what is in them or above them

or whatever is in between them, comes out of them or

goes into them, for " not a leaf doth fall but with His

knowledge" , and " there is not a grain in the darkness

(or depths) of the earth, nor anything fresh of dry

(green or withered) but is inscribed in a Record . In

the same way His coming down is mi3lnteiT)retlng and

misleading of the penetrating knowledge and attributes

of Allah.

(ii) Endowment of RISILAT:

Now again we come to Surah Ta Ha

I have choosen theeJ

Listen, then to the Inspiration

(sent to thee)

94. Holy Qur'an 57:4 95 . Abdullah Vusuf A l i , p .1421. 96. Holy Qur'an 20:15

28

It reminds us of the time fixed for the fulfilment of

the Promise of Allah made with his mother when she was

revealed to cast down her son into the river, and fear

not, We shall make him one of our messengers. Thus

the Promise of Allah is fulfilled and he is appointed

to the dignified Office of Prophethood.

The Holy Prophet had actually went upto the

mountain in search of fire he had seen. There he found

the glory of Allah which called him for handling over

the Prophetic mission.

Verily I am Allah

There is no god but I :

So serve thou Me (only)

And establish regular prayer

97 For celebrating My praise

This is the Universal Message given to all the

Holy Prophets of Allah wherein there is a lesson of

Tawhid, faith in the ONENESS of Allah and announcement

of His Message to His servants for the establishment

of regular prayer, though its forms might be different

but the spirit of the message is the same through out

the ages. Then followed the conversation pertaining

to the conferment of the two miracles so that the people

may realize and be confirmed of the veracity of his

statement and the Prophetic commission.

97. Holy Qur'an 20.14

29

The comparative account of the two most popular

and widely accepted miracles given to the Holy Prophet

Moses Is mentioned below:


And what is that In thy

right Notice that Islam

attaches great importance

to the word " right" -

right path, right hand,

right side etc, hand 0

Moses? He said, it is my

rod on it I lean: With it

I beat down fodder for

my flocks; and in it I

find other uses(Allah)

said, throw it 0 Moses,

He threw it and behold

it was a snake, active a

motion(Allah) said, seize

it and fear not: We shall

return it at once to its

former condition.

Ta Ha (20.17-21)

What is that thou boldest

in thy hand? He answered:

a rod. And the Lord said;

cast it down upon the

ground. He cast it down,

and it was turned into a

serpent so that Moses fled

from it. And the Lord said:

put out thy hand and take

it by the tail. He put

forth his hand and took

hold of it and it was

turned into a rod.

(Exodus k : 2-4)

The uses of the rod as enumerated in the Holy

Qur'an are omitted in t he Old Testament, otherwise the

account i s somewhat s i m i l a r .

30

Now the second mi rac l e .


Now draw thy hand c lose to thy s ide : I t s h a l l come for th while (and sh in ing) , without harm(or s ta in ) as another Sign in Order t h a t We may show thee (two of our Greater Signs.

Ta Ha (20:22-23)

And the Lord said again:

Put they hand into thy bosom.

And when he had put in into

his bosom, he brought it

forth leprous as snow. And

he saidl put back thy hand

into thy bosom. He put it

back, and brought it out

again, and it was like the

other flesh.

(Exodus 4:6-7)

Here is also somewhat similarity in the assign

ment of the second miracle termed as Wonders in the

Old Testament. Besides these two miracles an additional

one is also mentioned in the Old Testament.

But if they will not even believe

these two signs, nor hear thy voice:

take of the river water, pour it out

upon the dry land, and whatsoever thou

drawest out of the river shall be

98 turned into blood.

After the conferment of these two miracles the Holy

Prophet was asked to go to Pharaoh for the proclaima-

tion of Truth and to seek release of Bani Israil from

98. Exodus 4:9

31

Egyptian bondage. This was the purpose for which the

Holy Prophet was raised and he performed his assignment

with great zeal facing formidable opposition and at last

led Israllites out of Egypt, A great spiritual revolu

tion was ahead of him. At this Juncture also he prays

to Allah for His help and guidance for the faithful

ftilfilment of his mission which was apparently a difficult

one.

The handing over of his mission is mentioned in

various verses of the Holy Qur'an (20:24; 79s17; 7t103»

28:32) and in the Old Testament in Exodus 3:10.

Seeking of help from Allah is mentioned in the

following verses;

Moses said : 0 my Lord .

Expand me my breast;

Ease my task for rae»

And remove the impediment

from my speech.

So they may understand

\lha.t 1 say:

And give me a Minister

From my Family,

Aaron, my brother;

Add to my strength

though him,

32

And make him share

My task : That we may celebrate

Thy praise without stinc.

And remember Thee without stint.

For Thou art He that (ever) regardeth us

The above prayer is granted :

(Allah) said: Granted

99 Is thy prayer, 0 Moses .

In the Old Testament also such a request is

cited in the following words:

Moses said: I beseech thee. Lord, I am

not eloquent from yesterday and the day

beforet and since thou hast spoken to thy

servant, I have more impediment and slow

ness of tongue. The Lord said to him!

who made man's mouth ? or who made the

dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the

blind? Did not I 7 Go therefore, and I

will be in thy mouth: and I will teach

thee what thou shalt speak. But he said:

I beseech thee Lord, send whom thou wilt

send. The Lord being angry at Moses said:

Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know

that he is eloquent: behold he cometh forth

to meet thee and seeing thee shall be glad

at heart .... He shall speak in thy stead

to the people, and shall be thy mouth.* but

Shalt be to him in those things that

pertain to God. And take this rod in thy

99. Holy Qur'an: 20:25-56

33

hand, wherewith thou shalt do the . 100 signs.

It would be rather unfair on our part to compare

the Divine Message with the interpolated matter. To

some extent it can be said that one thing is common

that is pertaining to seeking the help for the discharge

of his duties. As regards the mention of the Holy-

Prophet Harun is concerned the difference lies in the

fact that in the Holy Qur'an, the Holy Prophet iyioses(PbUh)

himself proposed his brother's name while in the Old

Testament, it is from the God's side. The reason for

God's anger is quite strange. It is basically against

the style of the Holy Qur'an. No such an idea can be

formed from reading of the Holy Qur'iTn. Thirdly, the

Holy Prophet Harun is quoted as a priest in the Old

Testament while he is a Messenger of Allah of the same

status and position as the Holy Prophet Moses. The

Holy Qur'an confirms that both of them were given Torah:

In the past we granted

To Moses and Aaron

The Criterion (for Judgement),

And a Light and a Message

101 For those who would do right

100. Exodus h : 10-17

101. Holy Qur'an 21:^8

34

Therefore a great in jus t i ce has been done to t h i s

Holy Prophet of Allah by lowering h i s s t a t u s to a

p r i e s t only in the saine way as done with the Holy

Prophet Shuaib (peace be on him). Thus the ve r s ion

of the Old Testament i s a c l e a r cut i n t e r p o l a t i o n

made in i t .

I t may be noted t h a t the ac t ions of the Holy

Prophets are always governed by His W i l l - they a r e

e i t h e r fo r the s p i r i t u a l upliftroent of t he Holy

Prophet himself or for c i t i n g an example for o the r s

to draw lesson out of i t . In the above quoted prayer

of the Holy Prophet, one should not doubt t h a t he was

hes i t an t i n the discharge of h is assignment but he

has opened ra ther forirulated a universa l code t h a t

being servant of Allah one should ask for His he lp

and guidance a t the tisie of taking up or before t h e

s t a r t of any Office of assignment so t h a t the siipport

of Allah i s ensured for i t s accoEplishment in t h e best

poss ib le manner. The Old Testament i s t o t a l l y void

of t h i s s p i r i t of the Holy Qur'an in the desc r ip t ion

of the Holy Prophets.

The second thing which struck the mind of the

Holy Prophet was the an t i c ipa t ion of any mischievous

a c t i v i t y i n r e t a l i a t i o n of the death of the Egyptian

which caused h i s leaving the p lace . Though i t was an

o\xt-dated a f f a i r but the Holy Prophet expressed h i s

f ee l ing :

35

Ke said '0 my Lord «

I have slain a man

Aaiong them, and I fear

102 Lest they slay me

The third one v/as the charge of falsehood:

For I fear that they may,

103 Accuse me of falsehood .

No mention of these difficulties is made in the Old

Testament. The Holy Prophet is assured of any help

needed in the discharge of his mission.

Ke said: We will certainly

strengthen thy arm through

Thy brother, and invest you both

with authority, so they

Shall not be able to

Touch you: with Our Signs

Shall ye triumph - you two

As well as those

'iiho follow you'^^

Tne vers ion of the Old Testament i n t h i s regard i s

as imder:

102. Koly Qur'an 28i33

103. Koly Qur'an 28134


36

And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the

desert to meet k)ses. And he went forth to

meet him in the movaitain of God, and kissed

him» And Moses told Aaron all the words of

the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the

signs that he had commanded. And they came

together, and they assembled all the ancients

of the ancients of the children of Israel.

And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord

had said to Moses: and he wrought the Signs

before the people. And the people believed.

And they heard that the Lord had visited

the children of Israel: and that he had

looked upon their affiliction: and falling

down they adored. ^

Nothing of this sort is found in the Holy Qur'an

that the Holy Prophet Harun went to the desert to meet

his brother on the way and when they returned in the

town (Egypt)^ assembled all the people and worked the

miracles and people believed. From reading of the

Holy Qur'an one can understand that both the Holy

Prophets, as commanded by Allah, went to the Pharaoh

and conveyed the Klessage of Allah and also worked the

miracles but in the Court of the Pharaoh though many

people might be present over there who witnessed the

105. Exodus 4 : 27-31

57

occasion and that is too with the hands of the Holy

Prophet Moses and not by the Holy Prophet Harun as

stated in the Old Testac^nt.

Therefore the above noted version of the Old

Testament that the Holy Prophets assembled the

ancients of children of Israil is an interpolation

whose record is not available in the Holy Qur'an.

38

CHAPTER-III

The Holy Prophet Moses and Pharaoh

* Pharaoh as a person;

The Holy Qur'an describes Pharaoh an ar rogant Ar\'7 "loft

r e b e l l i o u s and wicked who t r ansgressed a l l bounds exalted himself i n the land ^, worshipped himself as

110 a god , unjust for he had divided h i s people i n to 111 -

grovq^s depressing the small one (Bani I s r a i l ) , enslaved them and a lso had decreed f o r k i l l i n g of t h e i r

11? 113

male babies . He had i n s t i t u t e d hard works upon them

beyond t h e i r capaci ty and thus had made t h e i r l i v e s

vrtterly b i t t e r demanding immediate compassion.

Maulana Abdul Kajid Daryabadi i n h i s t r a n s l a t i o n

and commentary of the Holy Qur'an has s t a t e d t h a t Ramses n ,

* Pharaoh (Arabic, F i r awn) i s a dynast ic t i t l e , not the name of any p a r t i c u l a r king i n Egypt. I t has been t raced t o the ancient Hieroglyphic words, Per aa, which mean 'Great House'. The nvn i s an ' i n f i r m ' l e t t e r added in the process Arabisation(Abdullah Yusxof ' A l i , p .374 ) .

106. Holy Qur'an 28:39 107. Holy Qur'an 28:32 108. Holy Qur'an 10:83 109. Holy Qur'an 28:04 110. Holy Qur'an 79:24 111. Holy Qur'an 28;04 112. Holy Qur'an 28:04 113. Holy Qur'an 02t49

39

the generally acknov/1 edged oppressor of Israel was

inordinately vain. And his sxx:cesser Menaphthah, the

generally accepted Pharaoh of the Exodus, is represented

as sitting on the throne of Horns, where he had been

placed to give life to mankind, where he had gone as

king to watch our mortals. He is called 'the living',

•the Giver of life', and the Gracious God. Full of

vainglory and arrogance his vanity was excessive.

Pharaoh in the Old Testament:

In the Old Testament too, he is quoted as one who

had adopted high handed methods for oppressing IsraTlites

115 in all walks of their life . About his own person,

the Old Testament says that Pharaoh' s heart was hardened

and he did not let the people go.

Pharaoh in the words of his own wifet

Her traditional name is 'Asia. She was a believer

in Allah. In spite of her husband's proudy and mischi

evous nature she was able to preserve her faith and «

prayed to Allah in the following words:

0 my Lord, build

For me, in nearness

114. Abdul Majid Daryabadi, II/507. 115. Exodus i:i4

116. Exodus 4:21

40

To Thee, a mansion

In the Garden

And save me from Pharaoh

And his doings,

And save me from

117 Those that do wrong

Holy Prophet's contact with Pharaoh!

It is already mentioned as to how the Holy Prophet

k)ses was saved in his infancy from the cruel clutches

of Pharaoh and his men in spite of all checks and tricks

employed even before his birth and after that. The Holy

Prophet was broiJght iro in his palace and one day when he

was grown up had to leave Egypt all of sudden Just to

escape his mischievous plan. There are stated two

Egyptian kings with whom the Holy Prophet had dealt with.

The first is the one in whose palace he was brought

up and lived till he left for Madyan. He lived in Madyan

for about a decade or so and when came back to Egypt

after being revealed and appointed to the High Office of

Prophethood, there was another king who had dialogues

with the Holy Prophet and in whose reign exodus took

place and it was this Pharaoh who was drowned while

following the Holy Prophet. The dead body of this Pharaoh


41

has been preserved.

This i s merely a h i s t o r i c a l background. No such

t r a c e t h a t there were two Pharaohs i n the Holy Prophe t ' s

time can be drawn from reading of t h e following verses

of the Holy Qur'an:

Did we not

Cherish thee as a chi ld

Among us , and d ids t thou not

s t ay i n our midst

Many years of thy l i f e . . . .

and the Holy Prophet Moses's answer:

I did it

Then, when I was

In err.

So I f l e d from you ( a l l )

'*/hen I feared you,

But my Lord has (since)

Invested me with judgement

(And wisdom) and appointed me 118 As one of the messengers

The above verses do not give any c lue t h a t t he re were

two d i f fe ren t Pharaohs. The Holy Prophet a f t e r being

assigned the high office meets Pharaoh in h i s cour t for

the proclamation of Truth- guide him the r igh teous path

118. Holy Qur'an 26: 18-21

42

of Tawhid (oneness of Allah) and a lso to plead f o r

the redemption of Bani I s r a i l .

There i s a very de t a i l ed account in the Holy

QTor'an of the conversat ion or say dialogues he ld between

the Holy Prophet and Pharaoh spread over many v e r s e s of

Surah Ta Ha, Shuara, Qasas, Araf and Yunus e t c . An

attempt i s made t o give a prec ised account of i t . As a

matter of fac t the f i r s t message t h a t a l l the Holy

Prophets gave i s the Oneness of Allah (Tawhid). This i s

the fundamental message of the doctrine of Islam i n a l l

ages fo r a l l people and in a l l circumstances. The manner

adopted by the Holy Prophet i n spreading of t h i s message

of Allah i s the gen t le saying ^^. So did the Holy Prophet

Moses. I t may a lso be not iced t h a t i t i s one of t h e

pecu l i a r s ty l e of the Holy Qur'an t h a t i t spec i f ica i l ly

emphasizes on mild speaking on a l l occasions and p a r t i

c u l a r l y while spreading the message of Allah of which

the Old Testament i s t o t a l l y void of. When he came to

Pharaoh's court the Holy Prophet addressed him:

I am a messenger from The Lord of the Worlds One for whom i t i s r i g h t To say nothing but t r u t h About Allah. Now have I Come unto you (people) from Your Lord, with a c l e a r ( s i g n )


43

So let the children of Israel

Departm along with me.

In Surah Ta Ha the address is mentioned in the following

words:

Verily we are

Messengers sent by thy Lord:

Send forth, therefore, the children

of Israel with us, and

Afflict them not:

With a sign, indeed,

Have we come from thy Lord.

And peace to all who follow guidance .

Verily it has been revealed

To us that the Penalty

(Awaits) those who reject

121

And turn away

When the message was delivered, the Pharaoh asked;

Who then,

0 Vjoses, i s the Lord of you two? "

120. Holy Qur»an 7:104,105 121. Holy Qur'an 20:47-48

122. Holy Qxor'an 20149

44

Vers ion of the Old Testament

A f t e r t hese t h i n g s Moses and Aaron

went i n , and s a i d t o Pha rao : Thus

s a i t h t h e Lord God of I s r a e l : Let my

peop le go t h a t t h e y may s a c r i f i c e t o

me i n t h e d e s e r t . But he answered:

Who i s t he Lord t h a t I should hear h i s v o i c e ,

and l e t I s r a e l Go? I know no t t h e Lord, 123 n e i t h e r w i l l I l e t I s r a e l g o .

V i r t u a l l y t h e purpose beh ind r e v e l a t i o n of t h e I to ly

Prophe t Moses was n o t t o t a k e I s r a i l i t e s o u t of Egyp t

b\rt t o l e t them f r e e from Egypt ian bondage . And a p p a r e n

t l y i t was no t p o s s i b l e w i t h o u t d e l i v e r i n g them o u t of

Egyp t . The i r s a c r i f i c e f o r god a s mentioned i n t h e Old

Testament i s q u i t e s t r a n g e . The Holy Qur ' an f u r t h e r

s a y s :

And say t o him

Wouldst t hou t h a t t hou

Shoulds t he p u r i f i e d

(From s i n ) ? -

And t h a t I guide t h e e

To thy Lord, So thou

Shoulds t f e a r Him.''^^

123 . Exodus 5:1-2 124. Holy Qur 'an 79 :18 ,19

45

Therefore i t can be sa id t h a t apar t from rescuing them

from bondage he was a l so sent to present Truth before

Pharaoh and guide him and o thers the r ighteous p a t h .

Thus the above quotat ion of the Old Testament i s too an

i n t e r p o l a t i o n . Pharaoh was himself the godking of

Egyptians and hearing the name of Allah he asked such

a ques t ion . The rep ly of the Holy Prophet was simple

and c l e a r based on f a c t s and siJ^jported by arguments !

Our Lord i s

He Who gave to each

(c rea ted) thing i t s form

And natxire, and fiarther

Gave ( i t ) guidance ?

Then the Pharaoh sa id :

vniat then 125

I s the condit ion Of previous genera t ion .

The Holy Prophet answered ?

The knowledge

Of t h a t i s with my Lord,

Duly recorded : my Lord

Never e r r s , nor forge ts -

He Who has made for you

The ea r th l i ke a ca rpe t


46

Spread out ; has enabled you

To go about the re in by roads

(And channels) i and has sent

Dovra water from the sky

With i t have We produced

Diverse p a r i s of p l a n t s

Each separate from the o t h e r s .

In surah Al Shiiara we are t o l d of an another ques t ion

pu t lip by Pharaoh *

(Pharaoh) sa id : Did we not

Cherish thee as a child

Among us, and didst thou not

stay in our midst

Many years of thy life ?

And thou didst a deed

Of thine which (thou knowest)

Thou didst, and thou art

An ungrateful (wretch)

The Holy Prophet i4oses replied*.

Said: I did it*

* Pharaoh adopted a croocked route of reminding h i s x^bringing in the pa l ace - a t h i r d grade dealing opted only when one i s f r u s t r a t e d .

+ No deviat ion from fac t - note the t ru th fu lnes s of the Holy Prophet.

126. Holy Qur'an 20:50-53.

47

Then, when I was

In error.

So I fled from you (all)

When I feared you ;

But My Lord has (since)

Invested me with judgement

(And wisdom) and appointed me

As one of the messengers

And t h i s i s the favour

With which thou dost

Reproach me - t h a t you

Hast enslaved ' the ch i ld ren

of I s r a e l . ' '^^

The Old Testament i s de f i c i en t of a l l these

d ia logues .

Version of the Old Testamenti

And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I have

appointed thee the God of Pharaoh: and Aaron

thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou

Shalt speak to him all that I command thee;

and he shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let

the children of Israel go out of his land.

But I shall harden his heart, and shall

multiply my signs and wonders in the land

127. Koly Qur'an 26:18-22

48

of Egypt. And he w i l l not hear you: and

I w i l l lay my hand upon Egypt, and w i l l

br ing for th my army and my people the

ch i ld ren of I s r a e l out of the land of

Egypt, by very g r ea t judgements . . . . And

Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded,

so did they.''^®

This p e r t a i n s to the B i b l i c a l concept of God. The

Quranic concept of Allah i s t h a t He i s Supreme and one.

One who possesses the a t t r i b u t e s Al-Hayye ( the eve i^

l i v i n g ) ; Al-Qayyum ( the s e l f - e x i s t e n t ) ; Al-Mohye ( t h e

l i f e g i v e r ) ; Al-Hakim ( the Ever Wise); Al-Bari(The Maker);

Al-Rabb ( the Evolver of a th ing from stage to s tage to

i t s goal of pe r fec t ion ) ; Al-Rahman ( the Beneficient who

a n t i c i p a t e s the progressing needs and preprovides them)

e t c . The Qur'an has more e loquent ly appealed to t he

i n t e l l i g e n c e of man for a be l i e f i n Allah. Contrast wi th

t h i s 'Moses as the god of Pharaoh and Aaron h i s p rophe t '

i s a senseless r a the r foo l i sh concept. Pure has been

the concept of Oneness of Allah in hxmdreds of ve r ses of

the Holy Qur'an.

From the speech of the Holy Prophet Moses as

recorded in the preceding verses of surah Tai ria hear ing

of One Allah enraged the Pharaoh very much for i t a f f ec t ed

128. Exodus 7:1-6

A9

his own status before his people who worshipped him.

There might be countless false gods on earth for various

people at different places but today he heard about

O JLY ONE ALLAH who is the Lord of the Worlds - the

Absolute, SiQ)reine, Nourisher and Regulator, cherlsher

of the heavens and the earth, all the between ^, The

second thing which can also be construed to have caused

his anger stirred vcp is Koses' saying 'if ye only had

seses, underlying the meaning the Truth can be understood

only by those who possess the power of ;judgement. The

Pharaoh saidt

To those around: Do ye not listen

(to what he says)

In his wrath he also uttered:

If thou

Dost put forward any god

Other than me, I will •IXp

Certainly put thee in prison-

It was because of the fact that 'the Pharaoh was looked

upon as 'a god ig on earth', 'the good god' and 'the great

god' and who inherited from his father the idea that he

was actually on a par with the greatest of the recognized

129. Holy Qiir'an 26:24 130. Holy Qxir'an 26t28 131. Holy Qur'an 26i25 132. Holy Qur'an 26:29

50

133 d i v i n i t i e s .

Now we come t o surah Al-Araf where t h e mention

of t h e two m i r a c l e s worked "by t h e Holy P rophe t Moses

i s made. The Pharaoh demanded:

I f i ndeed

Thou hast come with a Sign,

Show it forth'' ^

and when the Holy Prophet Moses threw his rod*.

And behold . it was

A serpent, plain (for all to see) .

And he drew out his hand,

And behold . it was white

To all beholders .

Then

Said t h e c h i e f s of t h e peop le

of Pha raoh : This indeed

a s o r e e r e w e l l ve r s ed

His p l a n i s to g e t you ou t

Of your l a n d : t hen

what i s i t ye Counsel ?

They s a i d : keep him

And h i s b r o t h e r i n suspense

(For a w h i l e ) and send

133 . Abdul Majid Daryabadi, V o l . 1 1 , p . 5 9 1 .

134. Holy Qvir'an 7:106

51

To t h e c i t i e s men t o c o l l e c t

And b r ing up t o t h e e 135 A l l (our ) s o r c e r e r s w e l l - v e r s e d

In Surah Yunus we a r e t o l d t h a t :

When t h e t r u t h d i d come

t o them from Us, t h e y s a i d i

Th i s i s indeed e v i d e n t s o r c e r y .

s a i d Moses: Say ye ( t h i s )

about t h e t n i t h when

i t h a t h ( a c t u a l l y ) r eached youf?

I s s o r c e r y ( l i k e ) t h i s ?

But s o r c e r e r s w i l l n o t p r o s p e r

They s a i d : Hast t h o u

come t o us to t u r n us

away from t h e ways

We found our f a t h e r s fo l lowing

I n o r d e r t h a t thou and t h y b r o t h e r

may have g r e a t n e s s i n t h e l a n d ?

But n o t we s h a l l b e l i e v e i n you .

s a i d Pharaoh ; Bring me 1 fi

every s o r c e r e r w e l l - v e r s e d .

This t a c t i c e i s common w i t h a l l t h e u n b e l i e v e r s

t h a t t hey p r e f e r t h e s u p e r s i t i o n and f i c t i t i o u s

p r a c t i c e s of t h e i r f a t h e r s and f o r e f a t h e r s and do n o t

give any importance e i t h e r t o t h e message of A l l a h o r

135. Holy Qur 'an 7:106-112

136. Holy Qur 'an 10:76-79

52

His signs but ridicule it, charge with falsehood and

then reject it simply because they do not try to

understand truth in the face of their ovm arrogance

and blasphemies, so did the Pharaoh and his chie-s.

In sura Ta Ha

And We showed Pharaoh

All Our Signs, but he

Did reject and refxise

He said*. Hast thou come

to drive us out of our

land with thy magic

0 k>ses ?

B\it we can sure ly produce

Magic to match t h i n e .

So make a t r y s t

Between us and thee,

Which we shall not fail

To keep - neither we nor thou

In a place where both

shall have even chances.

I'bses said I Your tryst

Is the day of the Festival

And let the people be assembled

When the sxm is well up

So Pharaoh withdrew

He concerted his plan.

And then came (back) '

137. Holy Qur'an 20:56-60.

53

CHAPTER-IV

Holy Prophet Moses and the Magicians

The magicians had enjoyed g r e a t honour and

p r e s t i g e in those days . Magic was a p a r t of Egyptian

r e l i g i o n . They wielded g r ea t inf luence by t h e i r

t r i c k s over the people . Abdullah Yusuf *Ali i n h i s

t r a n s l a t i o n and conanentary of the Holy Qur'an s t a t e s

t h a t 'magic, mummery and deceptions which pe r t a ined

to Egyptian pagan r e l i g i o n became a creed, a S t a t e

a r t i c l e of fa t ih , t o which a l l c i t i z e n s were conrpelled

to bow, and to vriiich i t s p r i e s t s were con5)elled a c t i v e l y

to p r a c t i s e . And Pharaoh was a t the head of the whole

system - the high p r i e s t or the si^reme god. So the

Pharaoh, on the advice of h i s ch ie fs r equ i s i t i oned the

se rv ices of a l l the adept magicians j u s t to d ismiss

the claims of the Holy Prophet Moses.

I n order t h a t the Truth i s displayed and brought

to the not ice of a l l , t he Holy Prx>phet proposed a day " ^

fo r the contes t when a l l people are free from t h e i r 140 ^

works so t h a t they could assemble as large/number

138. Abdullah Yusuf *Ali, p .778 . 139. Day of Fes t iva l may be e i t h e r 20 days in March,

or 27 days in Augiist or yet g r e a t e r Fes t iva l named a f t e r Sed.(Abdul Majid Daryabadi ,Vol.II , p . 5 1 1 ) .

140. Holy Qur'an 26 : 39-40

54

as possible and eye witness the exactness of the

miracles and thus distinguish between Truth and False.

So the people were asked to assemble on an appointed

day.

And the people were told I

Are ye (now) assembled ?

That we may follow

The sorcerer (in religion)

141 If they win? ' '

Hither, the magicians desired of suitable reward in

case they win over.

So when the sorcerers arrived

They said to Pharaoh

Of coxarse - shall we have

A (suitable) inward 142

If we win' "

Undoubtedly the most p r o f i c i e n t and noted s o r c e r e r s

woiild have been c a l l e d . Their a r t was b u i l t up on

t r i c k e r y and imposture, and the f i r s t thing they covild

th ink of was to make a s e l f i s h barga in . The Pharaoh

and h i s council would, i n t h e i r p resen t s t a t e of pan ic ,

agree to anything they could o f f e r . The Pharaoh n o t

only promised them any rewards they desired i f t hey

fo i l ed the strange power of these men, but he a l so

promised them the h ighes t d i g n i t i e s round h i s own person.

141. Holy Qxor'an 26; 39-40 142. Holy Cur'an 26: 41

55

Pharaoh r ep l i ed ^

He sa id : Yea, (and more)-

For ye s h a l l in t h a t case

Be ( r a i s e d to posts)

Nearest ( t o my person)

Notice the embarrassment of the Pharaoh who boasted

and posed himself as god and worshipped by Egyptians

and now discomflt ted so much weakened to accept demands

of the sorcere rs to save h i s own s t a t u s before the Holy

Prophets of Allsii . I t i s a p i t y t h a t he was qu i t e

incapable to acknowledge T ru th . . Then the c o n t e s t

began. The sorcerers asked 5

0 Moses .

Wilt thou throw (first),

or shall we have

the (first throw 7^^^

The Holy Prophet Moses said:

Nay, throw ye

F i r s t , Then behold 145 Their ropes and t h e i r rods

143. Holy Qur'an 26:42 144. Holy Cur'an 7:115 145. They provided themselves with a great number of

thick ropes and long pieces of wood, which they contrived, by some means, to move, and make them twist themselves one over the other, and so imposed on the beholders, who at a distance took them to be true serpents. (George Sale, his English Translation of the Holy Qur'an, Frederick Wame and Co .Ltd., London, p.154.

56

So it seemed to him

on account of their magic -

Began to be in lively motion

They bewitched the eyes

Of the people, and struck

Terror into them: for they

showed a great (feat) of magic

So Moses conceived •1 A D

in his mind a (sort of) fear.

The concerted attack of evil is sometimes so well-

contrived from all points that falsehood appears and

is acclaimed as the truth. The believer of truth is

isolated, and a sort of moral dizziness crreps over

his mind. But by Allah's grace Faith asserts itself,

gives him confidence, and points out the specific

truths which will dissipate and destroy the teeming

brood of falsehood.''^

We said. Fear not •

For thou hast indeed

The i5)per hand.

Throw that which is

in thy right hand *.

146. Holy Qur'an 20:65-66

147. Koly Qur'an 71116


149. Abdullah Yusuf Ali p.777

57

Quickly w i l l i t swallow \jp

That which they have faked \

ViTiat they have faked

I s but a magician 's t r i c k

And the magician t h r i v e s not ,

(No matter) where he goes.

Magicians profess f a i t h ;

Thus Truth was confirmed

And a l l t h a t they did

Was made of no e f f ec t .

So the (g rea t ones) were vanquished

There and then, and were

made to look smal l .

But the so rce re r s f e l l down

P ros t r a t e in adorat ion,

Saying 5 We bel ieve

In the Lord of the Worlds. 151 The Lord of Moses and Aaron.

In t h i s way

Allah by His words

Doth prove and establish

His Truth, however miach

152 the sinners may hate it •


151. Holy Qur'an 7.118-122


58

The t r i c k s of the magicians through which they used to

av/e the ordinary people could no longer stand before

Truth and t h e i r a r t proved to be nothing but simply

enchantment and d e c e i t . The assxirance of Allah ' f e a r

not for thou has indeed the v^jper hand' f u l f i l l e d and

the magicians famous fo r t h e i r a r t , covild not b u t how

t h e i r heads before the Svgjreme and the ONLY a u t h o r i t y

of the world.

Now we come to the most g l a r ing i n t e r p o l a t i o n

t raced out in the Old Testament t h a t i s about t h e working

of the miracles with the hands of the Holy Prophet Harun

and not by the Holy Prophet Moses who was in f a c t

invested these mi rac les . The compilers of the Old

Testament has made every e f fo r t to give a decept ive

appearance of t h e i r Holy Book contrary to the Truth

mentioned in the Holy G u r ' ^ . They have i n s e r t e d t h e i r

own fabr ica ted s t o r i e s even without going in to t h e j u s t i

f i ca t ion of t h e i r own s ta tement . At the same t ime they

have not even t r i e d to understand Truth perhaps i n the

manner of Pharaoh knowingly. And i f they think over a

l i t t l e , they would r e a l i z e t h a t Pharaoh who so much

opposed to the concept of Allah a lso convinced and 15'5 accepted and professed f a i t h but a t a very l a t e r s tage

when i t had no appeal and thus the profess ion was r e j e c t e d .

153. Holy Qur'an 100:90

59

Vers ion of the Old Tes tament :

And t h e Lord s a i d t o Moses and Aaron:

When Pharao s h a l l say t o you, shew s i g n s !

t hou S h a l t say t o Aaron: Take t h y road ,

and c a s t i t down b e f o r e Pharao , and i t

s h a l l be t u r n e d i n t o a s e r p e n t . So Moses

and Aaron went i n t o Pha rao , and d id a s

t h e Lord had commanded. And Aaron took

t h e rod be fore Pharo , and h i s s e r v a n t s 154 and i t was t u r n e d i n t o a s e r p e n t . "^

As a m a t t e r of f a c t i t was t h e Holy Prophe t Moses who

was g iven the m i r a c l e s and who worked them w i t h A l l a h ' s

a u t h o r i t y . Secondly, t h e y ( c o m p i l e r s of t h e Old Tes tament )

have missed the second s i g n (becoming of h i s hand w h i t e

when taken ou t of h i s bosom) which was a l s o worked a f t e r

t h e f i r s t one a s i s e v i d e n t from t h e Holy Qur ' an a s c i t e d

above . However, the Holy P rophe t Harun was v e r y much

p r e s e n t t h e r e . Pei i iaps , t h e y have drawn an undue advan

t a g e of the impediment of t h e tongue of t h e Holy P r o p h e t

htoses when i t was cxored and he became p e r f e c t a f t e r h i s

pi?ayer was g r a n t e d .

P r o f e s s i o n of f a i t h by t h e magic ians who were

p a t r o n i z e d and summoned as an a i d to t h e Pharaoh gave a

g r e a t se tback and an unenduring I n s u l t to him t h a t he

15A. Exodus 7:10-12

DU

could not hesitate in uttering J

Said Pharaoh : Believe ye

in Him before I give

you permission ? Surely

This is a trick which ye

have planned in the city

to drive out its people

"but soon-sshall ye know

(the consequences)

Be sure Iwwill cut off

your hands and your feet

on opposite sides, and I

will cause you all

to die on the cross.

In surah Ta Ha

and I will have you crucified

on trunks of palm trees :

So shall ye know for certain

which of us can give the more severe •leg

and the more l a s t i n g punishment.

Magicians Consistency;

As the Truth had "been revealed to the magicians

they maintained i t undiminishing. They were p e r f e c t l y

155. Holy Qur'an 7 t 123 156. Holy Qiir 'in 20 : 71

61

staunched not to be deceived by Pharaoh t h a t i s why

when he threatened them of d i re punishment t h e i r

answer was i

They said : Never sha l l we

regard thee as more than

the c l ea r signs t h a t have

come to us or than

Him Vfho created us .

So decree whatever thou

Des i res t to decree S

cans t only decree (touching)

the l i f e of t h i s world

fo r us, we have believed

i n our Lord : may He

Forgive us ovir f a u l t s ,

and the magic to which

thou d ids t compel us :

fo r Allah i s Best

and Most Abiding.''^'^

Besides these magicians some ch i ld ren of I s r a l l a l so

converted to the Fai th in one Al lah .

But none believed i n Moses

Except some children of h i s people,

because of the fear of Pharaoh

smd h i s chiefs , l e s t they

457. Holy Qur'an 7 : 72-73

62

should persecute them t and

certainly Pharaoh was mighty

on the earth and one who transgressed

all bounds.

No such a detailed and esdiaustive account of the contest

and the dialogues followed is available in the Old

Testament except that ' and Pharao called the wise men

and the magicians \ and they also by Egyptian enchant

ments and certain secrets did in like manner, and they

every one cast down their rods, and they were turned into

serpents » but Aaron's rod devoured their rods.

(vi) Pharaoh* s reactions

After having achieved an overwhelming victory

over the fauLse vanity of the Pharaoh, the Holy Prophet

Koses became a triumphant in Egypt. The Pharaoh who was

already stubborn and obstinate now became more furious

than before. The Holy Prophets engaged themselves in the

spread of Truth. But how the Pharaoh and his chiefs could

tolerate the openly spread of truth. They were now more

mischievous than ever. Theyaddressed their godking^

Wilt thou leave

Moses and his people,

to spread mischief in the land,


159. Exodus 7:11-12

63

And to abandon thee

and thy gods ?"^^

The Pharaoh was already vindictive irresistibly to

avenge having a strong inducement to inflict drastic

punishment particiilarly upon those who were converted

to true fatih, the divergence of his attention by the

chiefs drove him increasingly mad, ordered for restoring

his earlier resolution •.

Slay the sons

of those who believe

with him, and keep alive

their females

Being coward, Bani Israil were now dishearted and

depressed. Pharaoh revived the decree only because

they were now believers and custodian of the true faith.

The Holy Prophet stimulated their temper towards a

definite goal and urged'

Said >5oses to his people

" Pray for help from Allah

And (wait) is patience and constancy!

For the earth is Allah's,

To give as a heritage

To such of His servants

160. Holy Qur'an 7.127 161. Holy Qur'an 4 0 J 2 5


64

As He pleaseth; and the end

Is (best)for the righteous.

The Holy Qur'an says :

Now, when he came to them

In Truth, from Us,

They said, " Slay the sons

Of those who believe

With him, and keep alive

Their females, " but the plots

Of Unbelievers (end) in nothing

But errors (and delusions)

The Pharaoh, in his madness also uttered:

Leave me to slay Moses and let him

call on his Lord What I fear is lest

he should change your religion, or lest

should cause mischief to appear in the land. "

The Holy Prophet ffoses answered *

I have indeed called ipon my Lord and

your Lord (for protection) from

every arrogant one who believes not

16o in the Day of Account.

163. Holy Qur'an 7:128 164. Holy Qur'an 40:25 165. Holy Qur'an 40:26 166. Holy Qur'an 40:27

65

A Be l i eve r ' s speech :

Then a marvellous speech was de l ivered by a

person who had t i l l then did not d isc lose h i s f a i t h ,

in Allah, back championed Truth backing the Holy Prophet

and sT^porting h i s cause vehemently. He s a id 1

Will ye s lay a man because he

says 'My Lord i s Allah? when he

has indeed come to you with c l ea r (sings)

From yoiu:' Lord ? And i f he be a l i a r ,

on him i s ( the s in of) h i s l i e ;

But if he is telling the truth

then will fall on you something of

the (calamity) of which he warns youl

Truly Allah guides not one 167

who t ransgress and l i e s .

The speech i s lengthy and c a r r i e s a universa l t r u t h

conveying i n t e l l i g e n c e and concrete lessons t h a t serve

for the cause of mandkind seeking r ighteous pa th i n the

l i g h t of the message of Allah del ivered by the Holy

Prophets . From the above quoted p a r t of h i s speech, one

can draw the idea of natiJiral calamity iminent t o t h a t

be f a l l i5)on the Pharaoh and h i s people, for not only they

had opposed the Truth but re jec ted i t and a l so d id not

de s i s t from the d r a s t i c measures adopted a g a i n s t the Holy


66

Prophets and the believers. The Holy Prophet exhorted

168 his people for patience and constancy , firm in their

faith for these would save them from the arrogance of

the transgressors. He said :

0 my people .

I f ye do ( r ea l ly ) be l ieve in Allah,

then in Him put your t r u s t i f ye

submit (yoxir wi l l to His)

They saidt In Allah do we put

our trxast

Our Lord . make us not a trial for

169 those who practise oppression ^

Version of the Old Testament :

Therefore he commanded the same day the

overseers of the works, and the taskmasters

of the people, saying: neither shall

you diminish any thing thereof: for they are

idle and therefore they are crying let us go

and sacrifice to our God. Let them be

oppressed, with works and let them fulfil 170

them: that they may not regard lying works.

168. Holy Cur'an 7:128-129 169. Holy Qvir'an 10:84-85

170. Exodus 5:6-9

67

(vii) Natiiral calamities I

From the foregoing pages one can understand

that the Pharaoh had then decided to destroy the

children of Israil by imposing tipon them heavier

burdens even beyong their tolerance so much that it

appealed the Divine Authority and the wrath of Allah

befell upon them and they were entrapped into cala

mities of various types vhich they could never thought

of. The Pharaoh became quite helpless before the

calamities, unable to do anything to escape but to

approach the Holy Prophet for the removal of them so

that his people may breath a sigh of relief. The Holy

Qur'an says that :

We punished the people of Pharaoh with

years (of drought) and shortness of crops?

that they might receive admonition so we

sent (plagues) on them: wholesale Death,

Locusts, Lice, Frogs and Blood: Signs opently

self-explainedt but they were stepped

171 i n arrogance, a people given to s in

In the Old Testament the ca lami t i e s are termed as Plagues

whose de ta i l ed descr ip t ion i s spread over in many verses

of Exodus:

171 . Holy Qur'an 7 : i30 , 133

68

Exodiis 7 : 14 - 25 -

8 ;

8 !

8 !

9 1

9 .

10

1 - 15

: 16 - 19

: 20 - 32

1 - 7

5 8-12

r 13 - 35 1 - 20

» 21 - 29

11 1 -- 10 -

F i r s t Plague - tu rn ing of water

to b lood.

Second Plague of Frogs .

Third Plague of Mosqxiitoes

Fourth Plague of F l i e s

F i f th Plague of Murrain

Sixth Plague of Boi l s Seventh Plague of Hail Eighth Plague of Locusts Ninth Plague of Darkness

Tenth Plague of the death of the F i r s tborn

while in the Holy Qur'an they are ca l l ed Clear Signs,

say miracles because when the Holy Prophet prayed for

t h e i r removal people were r e l i eved of. In t he Holy

Qur'an these c l ea r s igns a re numbered as Nine •

1. The Staff (rod) 3 . Dro\Jght 5. Epidemic 7. Lice 9 . Blood

2. Hand (white)

4. Shortening of crops

6. Frogs

8. Locusts

Among these the first two are foremost generally known

miracles and the remaining seven are the natural calamities

removed by Allah when the Holy Prophet interceded and

prayed for their removal. Whenever the calamities befell

people suffered greatly. First of all, as in the Old

Testament, the river water turned into blood - people

could not drink of it' and there was blood in all the

land of Egjrpt' it was over after seven day. Secondly,

the frogs entered the hoi:ises - upon the beds, into the

69

ovens, in to the remains of the meats e t c . Thirdly ,

Dosqiutoes, four thly s ^ r m s of f l i e s a l l over Egypt

making t h e i r l i ve s hard to l i v e . Even t h e i r animals

could not be escaped from in fec t ious d isease , ' a very

gr ievous murrain vroon thy horses , and asses and camels,

and oxen, and sheep' • 'And the Lord w i l l make a wonder~

ful difference between the possess ions of I s r a e l and the

possess ions of the Egyptians, t h a t nothing a t a l l s h a l l

die of those things t h a t belonged to the chi ldren of

I s r a e l : This was the f i f t h p lague . Then came of b o i l s -

with the spr inkle of handfuls of ashes in the a i r brought

' b o i l s and swelling b l a i n s both in men and b e a s t s ' .

S t re tching for th the hand towards heaven brought ' t hunde r

and h a i l and l ightn ing running along the ground' , ' s o

g r e a t bigness as never before was seen in the whole land

of Egypt s ince tha t na t ion was founded' . In the same

manner came the plagues of Locusts and darkness bu t the

t e n t h one paved way for t h e i r depar ture .

The Holy Qur'an says t h a t every time when people

siiffered they approached the Holy Prophet with the

promise t ha t i f the calamity i s repeiired they would

bel ieve in One Allah but each time they went back of

t h e i r words. The comparative accoiait of t h i s i s a s

under:

70


Every time the Penalty

fell on them, they said

0 Moses . on our behalf

call on :thy Lord in

virtue of His promise to

thee: If thou wilt remove

the Penalty from us, We

shall truly believe in

thee, and we shall send

away the children of

Israel with thee. But

every time we removed

the penalty from them

according to a fixed

term which they had to

fulfil - behold they

broke their words.

Al Araf (7:13^-135)

But Fharao ca l l ed Moses

and Aaron and sa id to

them: Pray ye to t he Lord

to take away the f rogs

from me and from my people J

and I w i l l l e t the people

go to s a c r i f i c e to the

Lord. (Exd.8:8) And Pharao

sent and c a l l e d Moses and

Aaron, saying to them:

I have sinned t h i s time

a l s o : The Lord i s j u s t :

I and my people a re wicked

(Exd.9:27)

I have sinned a g a i n s t the

Lord yoior God, and aga ins t

you. But forgive me my s in

t h i s time a l so and pray to

the Lord your God t h a t he

may take away from me t h i s

death. (Exodios 10:17)

The Emigration (Hi. ira):

Now we come to the next phase of h i s l i f e . When

a l l poss ib le remedisil measiares to co r r ec t the f a i t h of

Pharao and h i s people and bring about a change fo r the

71

better exhausted even after the completion of the dose

of the catastrophes mentioned above or say their trial

through the nine clear signs was over and in the meantime

the message of Allah was also duly brought home to all

the people and they did not reclaim, the time was ripe

to deliver Bani Israil out of Egypt so that they are

resciied from bondage and lead their way towards the

Promised Land. And the Pharaoh still would not let

Israilities go but the Holy Prophet Moses wasasked to

go out of Egypt alongwith his people.

We sent an inspiration

To hfoses: Travel by night

With My servants, and strike

a dry path for them

Through the sea, without fear

Of being overtaken (by Pharaoh)

And without (any other) fear

They were assured against any fear or overtaking by

their enemy. In surah Al Shuara :

for surely

Ye shall be pursued '^

Version of the Old Testament:

Which being expired, the same day all the army

of the Lord went forth out of the land of Egypt.

This is the observable night of the Lord, when

172. Koly Qtir'an 20:77 173. Holy Qur'an 26:52

72

he brought them for th ou t of the Land of Egypt:

This night a l l the ch i ld ren of I s r a e l must 174 observe in t h e i r gene ra t ions .

There i s another version of the Old Testament t h a t

before leaving the land the ch i ld ren of I s r a i l l e n t

from Egyptians th ings l i k e , v e s s e l s of s i l v e r and gold

and thus they befooled the Egypt ians .

175

Holy Qur*an Old Testament

Then Pharaoh sent hera lds to ( a l l the C i t i e s , (saying) T h e s e ( I s r a i l i t e s ) Are but a small band. And they a re raging Fur iously aga ins t us. But we are a multitude Amply forewarned

Al Shuara (26:53-56)

So he made ready his

chariot, and took all

his people with him ..•

and he pursued the

children of Israel but

they were gone forth in

a mighty hand.

(Exodus 14:6-9)

Again,

And when the two bodies

Saw each other, the

people of Moses saidi

We are sure to be over

taken

Al Shuara (26:61)

And when Pharao drew

near, the children of

Israel, lifting up their

eyes, saw the Egyptians

behind them; and they

feared exceedingly, and

cried to the Lord

(Exodus 14 t i c )

174. Exodus 12:42 175. Exodus 12:35,36

73

Notice the irresistible tinperament of the children of

Israil. They were already assured against all types

of dangers because they were in the lead of the Koly

Prophet of Allah but for their cowardice nature when

they saw Pharaoh and his people advancing finding no

way to flee as the sea was ahead of them and Pharaoh

behind they feared and cried out :

We are

Sure to be overtaken

In the Holy Qur'an they said to the Holy Prophet while

in the Old Testament they cried to the Lord''^ In

response to their cry the Holy Prophet Moses said 'By

no means My Lord is with me soon will He guide me .

In the Old Testament they said to Moses :

Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt,

therefore thou hast brought us to die, in

the wilderness; why wouldst thou do this,

to lead us out of Egypt and Moses said to

the people: fear not: stsnd and see the

great wonders of the Lord, which he will

do this day: for the Egyptians, whom you

see now, you shall see no more for ever.

The Lord will fight for you, and you shall

17Q hold your peace.

176. Holy Qur'an 26t61 177. Exodus 14 : 10 178. Holy Qur'an 26:62 179. Exodus 14 : 10-14

74

Naturally, the Koly Prophet was duly content with the

promise of Allah against any threat or risk from the

enemy. Ahead of then was sea and behind the Pharaoh

and Egyptians.


Then We t o l d Koses By in sp i r a t i on , s t r i k e the sea with thy rod, so i t divided, and each separate p a r t became l i k e the huge, firm mass of a mountain.

Al Shuara (26:63)

And the Lord said to 5oses:

... but lift hou up thy rod,

and stretch forth thy hand

over the sea, and divide it:

that the children of Israel

may go through the midst of

the sea on dry ground.

(Exodus 14:15,16)

Again there is an addition of stretching of hand over

the sea in the Old Testament. The next event is recorded

as?

We took the children of

Israel (with safety)

across the sea.

Al araf (7n38)

And the children of Israel

went in through the midst of

the sea dried vtp: for the

water was as a wall on their

right hand and on their left.

(Exodus 14:22)

Then Pharaoh pursued them with h i s fo rces , but the waters complet e l y overwhelmed them and covered them 15).

And the Egyptians pursuing went in a f t e r them . , , and as the Egyptians were f l ee ing away, the waters came vtpon them, and the Lord shirt them \jp i n the middle of t he waves

Ta Ha (20:78) (Exodus 14:23-27)

75

So We seized him and And they saw the Egyptians

his hosts, and We dead xjjon the sea shore, and

Flung them into the the mighty hand that the Lord

sea» Now behold what had used against them: and

was the end of those the people feared the Lord,

who did wrong. and they believed the Lord,

and Moses his servant.

Ta Ha (20:40) (Exd. 14:31)

And thus the Pharaoh and Egyptians were drowned.

Upt i l now in the whole event beside o ther important

occasions, one thing i s remarkable in the end of

emigration s tory t h a t the Phraoh who s t rongly r e j e c t e d

the message of Allah and opposed the Holy Prophets ,

while drowning and finding no escape acknowledged Truth

but a t t h i s statue i t did not ava i l him anything as he

had already come i n the g r ip of death :

Of no effect i s the repentance

Of those who continue

To do ev i l un t i l death faces

One of them, ' ' ^

but h i s dead body was saved from destroying. From

archaeological sources i t i s probable t ha t the preserved

dead body i s of the same Pharaoh who was drowned while

pursvdng the Holy Prophet looses.

This day sha l l We save thee In thy body, t h a t thou Mayest be a Sign to those

181 '<fho come a f te r t h e e .

180. Holy Qur'an 10:90 181. Holy Qur'an 10:92

YD

as a memorial for a l l times to come t h a t ev i l u l t i m a t e l y

meets i t s t r a g i c end. Other examples of Ad and Thamud

are c i t ed in the Holy Qur'an how mighty were they,

destroyed when they did not adhered to the law of Allah,

r e j ec ted Truth and opposed His Holy Prophets . And a t

l a s t Truth and righteoiisness p reva i l ed .

77

CHAPTER

The Holy Prophet and Bani Israil " '

In the previoiis chapters we have seen that after

so much struggle the Holy Prophet Moses was able to

deliver the Israilites out of Egypt. It was, as a

matter of fact, with the grace of Allah that they crossed

the sea miraculoxisly. The Pharaoh and Egyptians who had

entrapped them mercilessly, were destroyed by meeting a

very tragic and exemplary death punishment leaving behind

a lesson for future generations.

After they crossed the sea and marched towards the

Sinai Peninsula they happened to pass by a people who

were worshipping idols. For their long association with

the Egyptians (four hundred and thirty years) - and deeply

infected with their superstitious habits, Bani Israil could

not control themselves from saying :

0 Moses .

Fashion for us

A god like unto the gods

They have ^

182. Exodus 12:/+0

183. Holy Gur'an 7:138

78

I t was an a c t i v i t y which shocked t h e Holy P rophe t ve ry

much. He had from the very b e g i n n i n g , i n t h e f a i t h f u l

d i schargement of h i s duty, as h a s been t h e method adopted

by a l l the Holy P rophe t s of A l l a h , endeavoiired t o c o r r e c t

t h e i r a g e - l o n g i n f e c t e d b e l i e f s . I t t r a n s p i r e s t h a t Bani

I s r a i l were n o t capable to l e a r n any th ing from t h e t r a g i c

d e a t h punishment of t h e Pharaoh and h i s p e o p l e . Though

t h e event c i t e d an example f o r o t h e r s b u t t h e y had them

s e l v e s w i t n e s s e d t h e d e s t r u c t i o n of t h o s e who were ungodly

and opposed the Holy Prophet and r e j e c t e d t h e message of

A l l a h . I t was on ly due t o t h e i r deep i n c l i n a t i o n t o

s u p e r s t i t i o u s images t h a t t hey e x p r e s s e d such a f o o l i s h

i d e a . The Holy Prophe t s a i d :

S u r e l y ye a r e a people 184 w i t h o u t knowledge

S h a l l I seek fo r you

A god o t h e r than t h e (tr iae)

God, when i t i s Al lah

Who h a t h endowed you

With g i f t s above the n a t i o n ^

As x*egards t h e i r r e l i g i o n , t he I s r a e l i t e t r i b e s were

h e i r s to a r e l i g i o u s t r a d i t i o n vrfiich can o n l y have been iftfi

P o l y t h e i s t i c . Among the Jews, Yahweh was o r i g i n a l l y

184. Holy Qur ' an 7:138

185. Holy Qur ' an 7:140

185. Yehezkel Kaufmann, The R e l i g i o n of I s r a e l , New York, 1961, p . 7 , 8 .

79

a pastoral god who protected and fertilized their animals.

•1R7 The belief in siipernaturalism was highly developed.

The people of ancient Israel and their ancestors

before I'bses did not regulate their conduct in accordance

188 with a ooral code revealed by God . Social relations,

personal conducts, religious worship were all under the

18Q rule of customs. Many obsolute beliefs, undoubtedly

were in existence. Mklevolent demons were supposed to

play a significant role in all matters of their life on

all occasions. Allah pitied on them and raised the two

Holy Prophets at a time to show them the true path. But

they wei^ the people ungracious, arrogant, vexing and

rebellious; lacking temperamental decency altogether.

Always complaining and blaming the Holy Prophet of Allah.

Equally they were also discontent over the varied farteenes

of Allah bestowed onthem in various forms before exodus

and a f t e r t h a t .

(1) Favours of Allah on Ban! I s raTl

The foremost of a l l the favours conferred on them

was subs t an t i a l number of Holy Prophets - the Holy Prophets

IbrahiiL (Abraham), I s haq ( I s a a c ) , Yaqub(Jacob) , AyyTab(Job),

Yusuf (Joseph) e t c . may peace and b le s s ings of Al lah be on

187. Kerry Elmer Barnes, An I n t e l l e c t u a l and Cul tu ra l 139 History of Western World, 1965, p . 4 4 .

188. Robert H. Pfe i f fe r , o p . c i t . , p .43

189. i b id p.44

CXJ

a l l of them, and then two Holy Prophets a t the same time

for guiding them the righteous path of Truth.

Next i s t h e i r rescxje from bondage.

We del ivered you

From the people of Pharaoh;

they s e t you hard t a sks and

punishments, s laughtered

Your sons and l e t your womenfolk

live-ISO

Now they were no more labourers ; e n t i r e l y f ree from any

personal o r s t a t e subjugation; saved from imposed s e r v i

tudes and chains of slavery; as free as a human be ing

sought to be .

Secured them from any foreign a t t ack from behind:

And We ra i sed above you

( the towering height of Mount (Sinai) ' '^ ' '

Protected them from the scorching sunrayss

And We gave you the

shade of c l o u d s ^

Provided them with food:

190. Holy Cur*an 2%49 191. Holy Qiar'an 2:63 192. Holy Qur'an 2:57

81

And sent down to you

i-lanna and Qiiails, saying *.

Sat of the good things

195 We have provided for you

Gushed out springs to satisfy their thirst :

We said strike the rock

with thy staff. Then gushed

1Q4 forth therefrom twelve springs.

And besides these, also preferred them above all

other nations of that age J

0 children of Israel

Call to mind,

The (special) favours

which I bestowed V5)on you,

and that I preferred you

to all others (for my Messages)

In the Old Testament too their preference over others

is quoted in the following words J

For you are a holy people to the

Lord your God and the Lord your God


193. ibid 194. Holy Qur'an 2:60


82

has chosen you to be for himself, a

people pr ized more h ighly than a l l

o ther peoples who are on the face of

the ear th . ' ' ^^

Their preference above a l l o the r na t ions of t h a t age

does not mean t h a t they had some q u a l i t i e s for which

Allah ra i sed them high but i t was only His own Will

which He bestowed \ipon them e s p e c i a l l y and t h a t i s too

for t h e i r own benef i t s and i5)l if tment. Professor P .C.

Craigie i n h i s commentary on the book of Deuteronomy

has s t a t ed in the following wordst

l l i e i r holy charac te r does not ind ica te

inherent meri t , but r a t h e r divine choice;

God had chosen I s r a e l to be a people p r i zed

more highly than a l l the peoples who are on

the face of the earth. ' '^ '^

I t must be borne in mind t h a t t h i s preference was i n a

r e s t r i c t e d sense. I t was sub jec t to the condit ion of

obeyance to His commandments :

The Lord wi l l r a i s e you vip to be a

holy people for himself j u s t as he

promised you by oath , i f you keep the

commandments of the Lord your God and

walk in h i s way. ^

196. Deuteronomy 7l5 a lso 14:2 197. Craigie, P.O., The New I n t e r n a t i o n a l Commentary

on the Old Testament, The book of Deuteronomy, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1976, p .179.

198. Deuteronomy 28:9

83

( I I ) Their im^ratefulnesst

The Old Testament maintains t h a t :

And a l l the congregation of the chi ldren

of the children of I s r a e l murmiired aga ins t

Moses and Aaron in the wi lde rness . And

the chi ldren of I s r a e l s a id to them: Would

to God we had died by the hand of the Lord

in the land of Egypt, when we s a t over the

f lesh po ts , and a t e bread to the f u l l ^^.

and again.

And they chode with Moses, and sa id : Give

us water, t h a t we may d r ink . And Moses

answered them: why chide you with me ?

Wherefore do you tempt the Lord ?

The Holy Qur'an confirms the p rov is ion of divine food

to them. They complained of the sameness of food and

a lso demanded for ce r t a in vege tab les , In s p i t e of

t h e i r in possession of the divine food they des i red

for ea r th ly food.

( I l l ) Disobedience :

Their long time oppression of Egyptians rendered

Bani I s r a i l with major l o s s of t h e i r s p i r i t u a l , moral

199. Exodus 16:2-3 200. Exodus 17:2 201. Holy Qur'an 2t6l

B4

and intellectual qualities so much so that they became

incapable to make a distinction between Truth and False.

That was the most sordid period of their life. The

condition in which they lived, as already stated, mark

so low as to be out of keeping with human dignity or

gene'rally acceptable standard of human character -

ignoble in ideas and obtuse in manners.

Before going v^ to the moimt of Tur, the second

time, the Holy Prophet Moses asked his brother Harun

(PBOH) to :

Act for me amongst my people :

Do right and follow not

The way of those

who do mischief.

But Bani Israil did not resist from their age-old habit

of deity worship in spite of the best efforts made in

this regard by the Holy Prophet Harun. ^ Samiri, who

was an artist, became instrxmental. On his instigation,

people collected their ornaments and he modelled for

them a calf by employing some deceptive trick that some

sound like lowing of a bull emanated out of it. Bani

Israil were greatly ten?)ted to this calf. The Holy

ProDhet Harun said to them i


203. Holy Qur'an 20:90-91


85

0 my people .

Ye are being t e s t e d i n t h i s :

For v e r i l y your Lord i s (Allah)

hiost Gracious: So follow me

and Obey my command.

Tney had sa id : We w i l l not

Abandon t h i s c u l t , bu t we

w i l l devote ou tse lves to i t 205 Unti l Moses r e tu rns to u s . ^

The coii5)arative accoiait of the Holy Prophet pa s s ing

ho days on the mountain i s given below »


We appointed for Moses

Thir ty n ights , and

con^ileted ( the period)

with ten(iaore): Thus

was completed the term

(of commianion) with

h i s Lord, Forty n l ^ t s .

Al araf (7;1A2)

(lY) Making of the ca l f :

And Moses entered i n t o the

midst of the clouds, went

up in to the mountain, and

he was there for ty days,

and fo r ty n igh t s .

(Exodus 24:18)

The people of Moses made. And the people seeing t h a t

in h i s absence, ou t of Moses delayed to come down

t h e i r omasents , the image from the mount, ga the r ing

205. Holy Gur'an 20:90-91

86

of a calf (for worship)I

it seemed to low: did

they not see that it

could neither speak to

them, nor show them the

way? They took it for

worship and they did

wrong.

Al araf(7:l^)

together against Aaron, said

Arise, make us gods, that

may go before us ... and

Aaron said to them: Take the

golden earring from the ears

of your wives, and .. . when

he received them, he fashioned

them... and made of them a

molten calf.

(Exodus 32:1-4)

The Old Testament further says that Prophet Aaron said

to them that this is the god that have brought you out

.206 He was also blamed to have of the land of Egypt

built an altar before it and announced that tomorix>w is ?07

the solemnity of the Lord.

These are all misgivings and interpolations made

and actual events deleted from the Holy Book. How can a

Holy Prophet of Allah can incite people to worship other

than Allah. They have blamed the Holy Prophet Harun for

making the golden calf when it was modelled by Samiri. 208

It is also against their own writings.

206. Exodus 32*.4

207. ibid

208. The Unity of God was a revealed t r u t h for the Jews, there was no need of proofs to e s t a b l i s h i t ; i t was a leading t ene t of the f a i t h (Jewdish Encyclopaedia Vol.VIII p .661, with reference to AbdtO. I^^jid Daryabadi Vol.1 p .14 .

87

The Holy P rophe t Harun had, a s a m a t t e r of f a c t ,

o b j e c t e d t o t h i s a c t i v i t y and had s a i d :

0 my people ye are be ing t e s t e d i n t h i s

For v e r i l y your Lord i s ( A l l a h )

I'jost Grac ious : so fo l low me And obey 209 my command But t h e y d i d n o t r e s i s t

and s a i d ?

We w i l l no t

Abandon t h i s c u l t , b u t we

w i l l devote o u r s e l v e s t o i t 210 U n t i l hfoses r e t u r n s t o us

V/hen the Holy Prophe t Moses descended from the

a o i m t a i n a f t e r r e c e i v i n g t h e d i s p e n s a t i o n say t h e

r e l i g i o u s code and when he j o i n e d h i s p e o p l e , he was

v e r y much g r i e v e d see ing them l e d a s t r a y . He a sked

h i s b r o t h e r , a temporary misunde r s t and ing was developed

and then removed, he then t u r n e d towards Samir i who

p r e t e n d e d as i f he was mot iva ted by something s u p e r n a t u r a l .

The golden c a l f was des t royed i n t h e f i r e . The d e s c r i p

t i o n i s a v a i l a b l e both i n t h e Holy Qur ' an and t h e Old

Tes tament . The comparative acco imt i s g iven be low:

2 0 9 . Holy Qur 'an 20:90

210 . Holy Qur 'an 20:91

88


Now look a t thy god, of

•whom thou has t become

a devoted worshipper;

We w i l l c e r t a i n l y (melt)

i t i n a blazing f i r e and

s c a t t e r i t broadcast i n

the s ea .

Ta Ha (20s97)

And laying hold of the calf

which they had made he burnt

it, and beat it to power,

which he strowed into water,

and gave thereof to the

children of Israel to drink.

(Exodus 32:20)

Notice the con t r a s t . The Holy Qur'an says t h a t the remains

of the ido l weire thrown in to the sea so t h a t Bani I s r a i l

could be sure tha t the ca l f had nothing in i t even to

secure i t s own existence and burnt l i k e anything and

thrown in to the sea . While the Old Testament maintain

t h a t when the calf was burnt , they bea t i t to power, strowed

in to the water and then drank i t . I t shows a p o l y t e h i s t i c

way qui te opposite to Truth. Again there l i e s d i f ference

i n breaking of the Table ts :

When the anger of Moses

was appeased, he took

vp the Table ts : i n the

wr i t ing thereon was

guidance and mercy for

such as fear t h e i r Lord.

And when he came to high to

the canrp, he saw the ca l f ,

and the dances; and being

very angry, he threw the

Tablets out of h i s hand and

broke them a t the foot of

Al Araf (7%154) the mount.

(Exodus 32:19)

89

So from the Holy Qur'an we come to know that the Tablets

were whole and not broken. There is no evidence that

the Holy Prophet Joined the broken Tablets and then

informed Bani Israil of the contents of the tablets. The

Holy Prophet pursuaded them:

0 my people

Ye have indeed wronged

yovLTselves by yoxir worship of the ca l f :

So turn ( i n repentance) to your Maker,

And slay yourselves

( the wrongdoers)

That wi l l be b e t t e r f o r you

In the s ight of your Maker.

Then He turned towards you

( i n fo rg iveness ) :

For He i s Oft-Ret\iming Most Merciful^' ' ' ' . But Bani I s r a i l

were arrogant and ins tead of submitting themselves to the

command of the Holy Prophet they sa id !

0 Moses

We shall never believe in thee

Until we see Allah manifestly.

Their demand was quite impertinent exceeding the bounds

of their propriety quite impossible for any human being

211. Holy Qiu:-'an 2:54 212. Holy Qxir'an 2:55

90

21 '5 -in this world. Allah is infinite. No concept can

comprehend His self, His attributes, His wisdom or Will

except that has been revealed to His Holy Prophets.

Anyway, seventy people vent up to the mountain with the

Holy Prophet. Reaching there they hesitated and did not

go further and left the company at some distance and the

Holy Prophet had to advance alone. They were siezed

with earthquack and would have destroyed if the Holy

Prophet had not interceded and asked for Allah's mercy.

The comparative account is given below:

And Moses chose And he said to f'bses: come

seventy of his people i5)to the Lord, thouse, and

for Our place of meeting: Aaron, Nadab and Abui, and

seventy of the ancients of

Israel, and you shall adore

afar off.

Al Araf (7»155) (Exodus 24:1 )

Then there followed the prayer of the Holy Prophet

seeking Allah's mercy and His boundless grace for forgive

ness of the errors committed by Bani Israil;

0 my Lord

I f i t had been They Will

213. Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani i n M s no tes on Urdu the Transla t ion of the Holy Qur'an by Maulana Kaiiaoodul Hasan, Taj Co., Delhi, p .216.

214. Holy Qxir'an 7:155 and Exodus 24:1

91

Thou couldst have destroyed,

Long before, both them

And me: would Thou

Destroy us for the deeds pic;

Of the fool ish ones among us -'^....

And thus they were saved from destroying from the ea i ' th-

quake.

(V) Their cowardice!

Again, when the Holy Prophet asked them to go

fur ther and en t e r in to the Promised Land fo r which they

were actueilly taken out of Egypt they refused and turned

t h e i r faces from obeying h i s command. He s a i d :

0 my people en te r

The holy land which

Allah hath assigned unto you,

and t i im not back

ignominioxAsly, for then

Will ye be overthrown.

To your own ru in .

They sa id : 0 Moses .

In t h i s land are a people of exceeding

s t r en th never s h a l l

we en ter i t u n t i l they

leave i t : I f (once) they


92

leave then shall we enter %

Version of the Old Testament:

ComTnand the children of Isrel, and say

to them: when you shall have passed

over the Jorden, entering into the land

of Chanaan, destroey all the inhabitants

that land: beat down their pillars, and

break in pieces their statues, and waste

all their high places, cleaning the land

and dwelling in it. For I have given it

217 you for a possession.

The Old Testament further says that persons were sent

to view the land in question. On their return they

reported :

¥e caml into the land to which thou sentest

us, which in very deed ^oweth with milk

and honey, as may be known by these fruits;

But it hath very strong inhabitants, and

218 the cities are great and walled.

And when Moses said :

Let us go igj and possess the land, for

21Q we shall be able to conquer it.

216. Holy Qur'an 5:21-22 217. Numbers 33:51-53 218. Numbers 13J28-29 219. Numbers 13:31

93

They said :

No, were are no t able to go up to t h i s people

because they are s t ronger than we . . . the

people t h a t we beheld, are of a t a l l s ta txi re .

There we saw c e r t a i n monsters of the sons of

Enac, of the g i an t kind: i n comparison of v*iom,

we seened l i k e loc i i s t s .

From the above i t can be seen t h a t they were very much

fear fu l to en te r i n t o the promised land. They s a id to

the Holy Prophet ;

Go thou and thy Lord

And f igh t ye two

while we s i t here

(And watch)^^'^

The Old Testament fu r the r says t h a t :

And a l l the ch i ld ren of I s r a e l murmured a g a i n s t

htoses and Aaron, saying ; Would God t h a t we

had died i n Egypt: and would God we may d ie i n

t h i s vast wi lderness , and t h a t the Lord may not

bring us i n to t h i s land, l e s t we f a l l by the

sword, and our wives and chi ldren be led away

capt ives . 222 I t i s not b e t t e r to re tu rn in to Egypt?

220. Numbers 32:32-34 2 2 1 . Holy Qur'an 5t24 222. Numbers 14-.2-3

The answer of the I s r a i l i t e s (Go thou and thy Lord)

has a t inge of Polytehism about, for among the Poly-

t e h t i s t i c people gods a lso were sipposed to p a r t i c i p a t e 223 m war.

In shor t the Holy Prophet Moses (PbUh) made a l l 224 poss ib le e f fo r t s to pursuade them to en te r in to the

promised land but they did not l i s t e n to him and proited

themselves to be disobedient to the command of Al lah .

In the Old Testament too t h e i r re fusa l to en te r i n t o the

promised land i s mentioned:

" No we are not able to goup to

t h i s people because they are 225

stronger than we"

Now the Holy Prophet Moses (PbUh) prayed to Allah ;

0 my Lord

1 have power only

Over myself and my b ro the r :

So separate us from t h i s

Rebellious people

Allah said Therefore

Will the Land be out of t h e i r reach for fo r ty years

In d i s t r a c t i o n wi l l they

Wonder through the Land:

223 . Abdul Majid Daryabadi Vol.1 p.204 224. Holy Qur'an 5:20 225- Numbers 13:32

95

But sorrow thou not pof.

Over these rebellious people.

The Old Testament says :

And forty years you shall receive your

iniquities, and shall know my revenge;

For as I have spoken, so will I do to

all this wicked,multitude, that hath

risen up together against me: in this

227 wilderness shall it faint away and die.

It was all due to their disobedience to the command

of Allah. The Old Testament says that the Holy Prophet

JOses (PbUh) went to the mountain and from there he saw

the land for which God swore to Ibrahim, Isaac (Ishaq)

and Jacob (Yaqub) peace and blessings of Allah be i;5)on

228 all of them, and then be died there. It further

says that he was buried in the valley of land of Moab

22Q

over against Phogor. His age at the time of his

death is stated as 120 years. While no such descrip

tion is available in the Holy Qur'an. The^^fore the

version of the Old 'Testament can neither be accepted nor

rejected.

226. Holy Qur'an 5*.25-26 227. Numbers 14*34-35. 228. Deuteronomy 34*4 229* Deuteronomy 34;6 230. Deuteronomy 34:7

96

Appendix^I

SuiBinarv of some of the e v e n t s

mentioned i n t h e Holy Qur ' an

1. I n s p i r a t i o n t o h i s mother t o c a s t him i n t o t h e

r i v e r , r e s t o r a t i o n and making him Messenger of

A l l a h 20.•38,39 & 2 8 : 7 . 8 ;

2 . Endowment of Wisdom and Knowledge 28:14

3 . His p e n i t e n c e over t h e dea th of Egyp t i an 2 8 ! 16 ,17 ;

4 . His l e a v i n g of Egypt on t h e adv ice o f a w e l l w i s h e r 2 8 : 2 0 ;

5 . His p r a y e r f o r guidance vdiile l e a v i n g Egypt 2 8 ; 2 1 ;

6 . Again h i s p r a y e r a t t h e Madyan Well 2 8 : 2 4 ;

7« FJodesty of t h e woman who c a l l e d him home 2 8 : 2 5 ;

8 . N a r r a t i o n of h i s s t o r y to t h e Holy P r o p h e t Shuaib

(PbUh) and h i s c o n s o l a t i o n 2 8 : 2 5 ;

9« P r o p o s a l f o r marr iage and consen t 2 8 : 2 6 - 2 8 ;

10. F u l f i l m e n t of t h e convenant 28129;

1 1 . Magicians 'demand before c o n t e s t 2 6 : 4 1 - 4 2 ;

12. Conversion of magicians t o f a i t h 7 ; 120-122;

13 . P h a r a o h ' s r e a c t i o n to magic ians 7 ;123 & 2 0 : 7 1 ;

14. P h a r a o h ' s r e a c t i o n to t h e Holy P r o p h e t 4 0 : 2 6 ;

15 . P h a r a o h ' s pro-fession of f a t i h vAiile drowning 10 ;90 .

97

Appendly-II

Some of the s i m i l a r i t i e s in the events of the Holy Qur'an and the Old Testament

Holy_ Qur'an

Old Testament

1. Persecut ion of Bani I s r a i l

2 . His cas t ing in to the r i v e r

3. His s i s t e r pursued the box

4 . His s i s t e r ' s ro le i n ca l l i ng the mother

5. His upbringing i n Pharaoh's palace

6 . Egyptian died of h i s f i s t

7. His leaving Egypt

8. His reaching a t the Kadyan well

9. He a s s i s t ed the vromen a t the well

10. He was ca l led by t h e i r f a the r

11. Perception of f i r e

12. His pu t t ing off shoes

13. Endowment of miracles

14. Request for the ass i s t ance of h i s bro ther

15. His dialogues with Pharaoh

2:49

20:38,39 & 28.7

28:11

28; 12

Exd. 1:9-22

Exd.2;3

Exd.2»4

Exd. 2 :7-8

26; 18 Exd.2:9

28; 15

28; 22

28:23

28:24

28:25

28:29

20:12

20:17-21

20:25-36

7:104-106, 20^47-60, 26:18-22, 10'.76-79

Exd.2;11-12

Exd. 2'.15

Exd.2:15

Exd. 2:17

Exd.2'.20

Exd. 3» 2-3

Exd. 3:5

Exd. 4: 2-8

Exd. 4:10-17

Exd.5:1-2

98

16.

17.

18.

19 .

2 0 .

2 1 .

Contes t w i th Magicians

Emigra t ion (Exodus)

P h a r a o h ' s pursuance

S t r i k i n g t h e s ea w i th rod

Crying of Bani I s r a i l a f t e r s e e i n g Pharaoh

Drowning of Pharaoh and

Holy_ Qur ' an

7;115-122 20:65-69

20 :77 , 26*51-52

26t53-61

26 :63

20: AO

Old Tes tament

Exd .7 :10-12

Exd. 12:35,36, 42

Exd.14*6-10

Exd .14 :15 -16

Exd.

Exd .14 :31 Egyp t i ans

99

Appendlx-III

Some of the D i s s i m i l a r i t i e s in the events mentioned in the Holy Qur'an & the Old Testament

Holy_ Old Qur'an Testament

1. I t was Pharaoh 's wife who saved the Holy Prophet while i n the Old Testament i t was the daughter of Pharaoh who adopted him and ca l l ed Moses.

2 . I n the second day ' s f i g h t one was Egyptian and the o ther I s r a i l i t e while i n the Old Testament both were Egyptians.

3 . Number of women a t the Madyan well were two while in the Old Testament t h e i r niimber i s quoted as Nine.

4. The Holy Prophet perceived f i r e while re turn ing with h i s family from Madyan to Egypt while in the Old Testament i t happened when he was tending flock of h i s fa ther in law.

5 . Endowment of mi rac les - h i s rod in to serpent and hand when taken out of h i s bosom became white while in the Old Testament three miracles are given one more in add i t ion to the above mentioned,

5. The miracles were worked by the Holy Prophet Moses while in the Old Testament these are shown worked with the hand of the Holy Prophet Harun.

7. Nine c l e a r s igns are mentioned i n the Holy Qur'an v*iile in the Old Testament the number of plagues i s t en .

28:9 Exd.2«.5-10

28*.18-19 Exd.2:13-14

28:23 Exd.2: l6

28:29 Exd.3;2-3

20:17-21 Exd.4*2-8

7*. 115-122 Exd.7:10-13

7:130-133 Exd.7t l4 to 11:10

100

Holy__ Old Qur ' an Testament

8 . The golden c a l f was made by Samiri whi le i n t h e Old Testament i t i s mentioned t h a t i t was made by the Holy Prophe t Harun. 7 :148 Exd .32 :1 -4

101

Appendiy-IV

Some of the events in the Old Testament only not t r aced out in the Holy Qur'an

1. His mother h id him for three months before c a s t i n g in to the r i v e r (Exodus 2 : 2 ) ;

2 . Ke was named Moses being taken out-of water (Exodus 2;10) ;

3 . His w i f e ' s name Sephora (Exodus 2:21) ;

4 . His sons name a s Geram and E l i eze r (Exodus 2t22) ;

5. While re tu rn ing from Madyan to Egypt h i s wife saved h i s l i f e (Exodus 4:24-26) ;

6. Take ch i ldren of I s r a i l out of Egypt to o f f e r s a c r i f i c e to God (Exodus 3:12) ;

7. I t i s quoted as three days' Journey (Exd.3*18) ;

8. Geonology of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 6*. 14-27) ;

9 . The ch i ld ren of I s r a i l co l lec ted v e s s e l s of s i l v e r and gold from Egyptlains on the eve of t h e i r depar ture from Egypt (Exodus 12t35-36) ;

10. No.of ch i ld ren of I s r a i l who l e f t Egypt i s about s ix thousand men on foot beside chi ldren and a mixed multi tude without nxamber with sheep and herds and beas ts of d ive rs kinds exceeding many (Exodus 12:37-39);

11. The Passover r i t u a l - s ac r i f i c e of an unblemished one year lamb, ea t i t roasted, spr inkle i t s blood on the upper door p o s t s of the houses and remainders to be burnt a l l t i l l morning (Exodus 12:1-11) ;

12. They l i ved i n Egypt for four hundred and t h i r t y years (Exodus 12:40) ;

13. They sang song a f t e r they had crossed the sea . (Exodus 15^1-21) ;

14. They would ga ther food for s i x days they would not get i t on the seventh day (Exodus 16:25-27) ;

15. The Holy Prophet Shuaib (PbUh) met them in the dese r t of Sinai (Exodus 18:5-6) .

16. The Holy Prophet HarOn was asked by God to go and meet I'bses(PbUh) i n the deser t and he went v© to the mountain to see him. (Exodus 4:27-31)

102

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moses as described in holy qur'an and old testament a ... · iii- pharaoh in the words of his...

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