Further Exchange on ‘Scientific Information in the Qur’an’

With all due respect, your response ignores certain pertinent facts crucial to the assertion that the Quran does infact reveal scientific information verified much after its revelation. One of the most intriguing predictions made by the Quran concerns a Pharoh of Egypt, called Merneptah, who was theson of Rameses 2. According to historical records, this king was drowned in pursuit of Moses in the Red Sea. When the Quran was revealed, the only other mention of Pharoah was in the Bible, the sole reference to his drowning being in the Book of Exodus:

And the waters returned, and covered the Chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharoah that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. (Exodus, 14:28)

Amazingly, when this was all the world knew about the drowning of Pharoah, the Quran produced this astounding revelation:

We shall save you in your body this day, so that you may become a sign to all posterity. (10:92)

How extraordinary this verse must have appeared when it was revealed. At that time no one knew that the Pharoah's body was really intact, and it was nearly 1400 years before this fact came to light. It was a Professor Loret who, in 1898, was the first person to find the mummified remains of the Pharoah who lived in Moses' day. For 3000 years the corpse had remained wrapped in a sheet in the tomb of the Nercopolis at Thebes where Loret had found it, until July 8, 1907, when Elliot Smith uncovered it and subjected it to proper scientific examination. In 1912 he published a book, entitled The Royal Mummies. His research had proved that the mummy discovered by Loret was indeed that of the Pharoah who "knew Moses, resisted his pleas, pursued him as he took flight, lost his life in the process. His earthly remains were saved by the will of God from destruction to become a sign to man, as is written in the Quran." (Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, The Quran and Science, p. 241). In 1975, Dr Bucaille, made a detailed examination of the Phaoah's mummy, which by then had been taken to Cairo. His findings led him to write in astonishment and acclaim: “Those who seek among modern data for proof of the Holy Scriptures will find a magnificent illustration of the verses of the Quran dealing with the Pharoah's body by visiting the Royal Mummies Room of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.” (Ibid, p.241.)

As early as the seventh century A.D., the Quran had asserted that the Pharoah's body was preserved as a sign for man, but it was only in the 19th century that the body's discovery gave concrete proof of this prediction.

Perhaps you might change your opinion now.

Regards,

Razi.

Reply

Thank you for writing to me.

As I see it, a few points need some clarification:

Firstly, the translation of the Qur’anic verse is not very accurate. The Qur’an does not say: ‘a sign to all posterity’, but has actually used the words "" (a sign for those after you).

Secondly, I do not think it would be very accurate to say that all that the world knew about Pharaoh’s drowning was what you have cited from Exodus 14: 28. On the contrary, Exodus 14: 30 – 31 goes on to say:

Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

Thirdly, Ibn Abbas (ra) is reported to have said that in their fear for the Pharaoh (and the Egyptians), the Israelites could not believe that the great ruler was really dead. Subsequently, Moses (pbuh) took them back to the seashore, where the Egyptians lay in heaps of corpses and showed them the corpse of the Pharaoh (as reported in Ibn Kathir’s commentary) [1].

Fourthly, there is a considerable difference and debate among scholars regarding who exactly was the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

Keeping these points in perspective, I really do not think that the verse of the Qur’an is primarily referring to anything other than the fact that after being drowned, the Pharaoh’s body was thrown out on the seashore. Irrespective of whether or not Mr. Bucaille has contended correctly, it is quite clear that by the referred words (i.e. ") the Qur’an, is not referring to the discovery of the Pharaoh’s body in the late 19^th century. Had that been the case, the Pharaoh’s corpse would only be a sign for the people of the last 100 years or so (and that too a debatable one). What exactly was the sign in this for the first and the direct addressees of the Qur’an? On the other hand, if my interpretation is taken to be correct, the Pharaoh’s body would be a sign directly for the Israelites and the Egyptians of the time of Pharaoh and subsequently, through them, the people of all times. In my opinion, as I have stated earlier, the miracle in the scientific and historical references of the Qur’an is not in its unveiling the hidden but in pointing out the wisdom and the powers of that which is well known and well acknowledged.

I thank you for writing to me. Nevertheless, I really do not think that the referred verse of the Qur’an directly implies what Mr. Bucaille has interpreted it to be.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Moiz Amjad

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