Response to the allegation that the Qur’an borrowed Pharaoh’s claim of divinity for himself from the Midrashic texts
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful. Allah the Almighty said: ((Then he said, "I am your Lord, the Most High." (24))
Allah the Almighty said: ((And Pharaoh said, "O eminent ones, I do not know of any god for you other than me. So ignite for me, O Haman, upon the clay, and make for me a tower that I may look up to the god of Moses. And indeed, I think he is among the liars." (38)) Allah the Almighty
said: ((And Pharaoh called out among his people, saying, "O my people, do I not have a god other than me? " (51)
These verses are evidence of prophethood without a doubt, as they are historical miracles. The historical facts and evidence that were discovered by Egyptologists during the decoding of hieroglyphics and the study of Egyptian antiquities confirmed that many of the pharaohs claimed divinity and were like a divine king (God forbid) on earth for the people of Egypt. This fact was never mentioned in the Torah.
This angered some enemies of Islam, so they quoted from the book Legends of the Jews, Part Two, this text:
((Moses announced the first plague to Pharaoh one morning when the king was walking by the river's brink. This morning walk enabled him to practice a deception. He called himself a god, and pretended that he felt no human needs. To keep up the illusion, he would repair the edge of the river every morning, and ease nature there while alone and unobserved. At such a time it was that Moses appeared before him, and called out to him, “Is there a god that hath human needs?” "Verily, I am no god," replied Pharaoh, "I only pretend to be one before the Egyptians, who are such idiots, one should consider them asses rather than human beings)) https://www.originalsources.com/Docu...P5BHC6NZ3S69EP
And I claim with this that the Qur’an copied from the Haggadah stories. And to respond to this lie we say: The book Legend of the Jews was written by Dr. LOUIS GINZBERG in 1909 and he collected in it the Israelite stories outside the Old Testament, whether this was from the Midrash or the Talmud or from the writings of other rabbis. By God, it would have been more appropriate for the proponents of the claim to bring the original sources that mentioned this story, which are: 1. Midrash Tanhuma 2. Midrash Exodus Rabbah and the text is from Midrash Tanhuma, chapter 14 Vaera:
((And the Lord said unto Moses: “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he came from the water” (Exod. 8:16). Why did Pharaoh go to the waters early in the morning? Because the wicked one boasted that since he was a god, he had no need to go to the water to relieve himself. Therefore he went out early in the morning so that no one would see him performing a demeaning act. That is why the Holy One, blessed He, said to Moses: Rise up early in the morning, when he must (go out), and say to him: Thus saith the Lord, the God of the Hebrews… for I will this time send all My plagues upon thy person, etc. (Exod. 9:14 Ordinarily, when a man desires to harm his enemy, he does so unexpectedly not he be forewarned, but the Holy One, blessed be He, warns the wicked Pharaoh before each plague, as it is said: Behold, I will cause it to rain (ibid., v. 18), Behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into thy border (ibid. 10:5). And He did so in each instance)) https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash_Tanc...a.14.1?lang=bi
The claim of plagiarism is rejected for the following reason: Both Midrash Tanhuma and Midrash Exodus Rabbah were composed after Islam, so it is not correct to attribute plagiarism to Islam. Rather, the correct thing is that the writers of the Midrash copied the claim of Pharaoh’s divinity for himself from the Qur’an . 1. Midrash Tanhuma was composed after the Islamic conquest, and its composition may have been delayed until the ninth century AD . We read from the Encyclopedia Judaica: ((The Middle Period To the period from the Muslim conquest (c. 640 CE) to the end of the tenth century belong many variegated midrashic and aggadic works. In addition to the executive and homiletical types of Midrash, the above-mentioned composition by a single person belongs to this period. The most important group of Midrashim of this period – all of which are homiletical – are those of the Tanḥuma Midrash (*Tanḥuma Yelammedenu) group in which the old and the new are used indiscriminately . *Midrashim (Midreshei Zuta) to four of the five *scrolls. In all these too, marks of the old and the new, both in content and in form, appear together. Among the aggadic works the most important are: Seder Eliyahu Rabbah and Seder Eliyahu Zuta; Pirkei de-R. Eliezer (compiled apparently close to 750); Midrash Agur, also called Mishnat R. Eliezer; and a further series of smaller compositions. In most of them external influences from the Muslim (Pirkei de-R. Eliezer) or Byzantine (The Throne and Hippodrome of Solomon, etc.) eras can be seen.)) https://www.encyclopedia.com/philoso...udaism/midrash
2. Midrash Exodus Rabbah was also composed after the Muslim conquest and may have been composed as late as the tenth century CE. We read from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions, page 582:
(( TANHUMA (also known as Yelamdenu, ) a major work of that period, arranged according to portions of the Pentateuch read in the synagogue containing early material as well as later starta, maybe as late as of the ninth century ))
2. Midrash Exodus Rabbah was also composed after the Muslim conquest and may have been composed as late as the tenth century CE.
We read from the Encyclopedia Judaica:
(( The Middle Period
To the period from the Muslim conquest (c. 640 CE) to the end of the tenth century belong many variegated midrashic and aggadic works. In addition to the exegetical and homiletical types of Midrash, the above-mentioned composition by a single person belongs to this period. The most important group of Midrashim of this period – all of which are homiletical – are those of the Tanḥuma Midrash (*Tanḥuma Yelammedenu) group in which the old and the new are used indiscriminately . Of the exegetical Midrashim, particular mention may be made of Ecclesiastes Rabbah, Midrash Samuel, Midrash Proverbs (greatly influenced by the apocalyptic and Heikhalot literatures), Midrash Tehillim i, Exodus Rabbah i, and the series of smaller *Midrashim (Midreshei Zuta) to four of the five *scrolls. In all these too, marks of the old and the new, both in content and in form, appear together. Among the aggadic works the most important are: Seder Eliyahu Rabbah and Seder Eliyahu Zuta; Pirkei de-R. Eliezer (compiled apparently close to 750); Midrash Agur, also called Mishnat R. Eliezer; and a further series of smaller compositions. In most of them external influences from the Muslim (Pirkei de-R. Eliezer) or Byzantine (The Throne and Hippodrome of Solomon, etc.) eras can be seen.))
https://www.encyclopedia.com/philoso...udaism/midrash
And we read from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions, page 582:
(( Exodus Rabbah: A work that addresses the book of Exodus.... It has been dated to the tenth century, but its place has remained obscure ))
And we read from the Encyclopedia Judaica:
((In style and content Exodus Rabbah i often resembles later medieval Midrashim and aggadot, such as Sefer ha-Yashar. The redactor of Exodus Rabbah drew upon tannaitic literature, the Jerusalem Talmud, *Genesis Rabbah, *Leviticus Rabbah, *Lamentations Rabbah, and other early aggadic Midrashim of the amoraic period, and he made extensive use of the Babylonian Talmud and of Midrashim of the *Yelammedenu-Tanḥuma type. Such Midrashim were the chief source of the work, and many of its homilies occur in the various editions of the Tanḥuma, mostly in the printed one The redactor of Exodus Rabbah broke the lengthy expositions of the Yelammedenu-Tanḥuma type, which included halakhic material as well, linking the shorter units to appropriate. biblical verses, at the same time incorporating additional material from numerous others sources. In using legends of the Babylonian Talmud, the redactor tried, often not very successfully, to change their language from Babylonian to Galilean Aramaic. His intention apparently was to compile a Midrash, in continuation of Genesis Rabbah, on the Book of Exodus up to the point where the *Mekhilta begins. The redaction of Exodus Rabbah i took place, it seems, not earlier than the tenth century ce ))https://www.encyclopedia.com/religio.../exodus-rabbah
There remains one point, which is that the Qur’anic stories about the Children of Israel were in the Meccan period (and there is no news about Jewish rabbis or a Jewish synagogue in Mecca), while the Jews were in Medina (and some sources mention that the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula are not recognized because they did not adhere to the teachings of the Talmud).
Israel Wolfenson's book
Professor Abraham Ofir Shemesh, head of the Israeli Heritage Department at Ariel University in Samaria, Israel, says about this dialogue between Pharaoh and Moses when he was going to the river to relieve himself and his claim to divinity, that it was new material that was added in the tenth century to the story of Moses’ meeting with Pharaoh at the river in (Exodus 7:15):
The text of the dialogue included in this suspicion was addressed by Professor Abraham Ofir Shemesh in his article, and that it is found in the Midrash Exodus Rabbah and that this Midrash was composed in the tenth century AD (i.e. centuries after the revelation of the Holy Qur’an) and he commented on it that this Pharaoh’s claim to divinity was new material.
So we read what he says: -
2 Interpretations in medieval and pre-modern manuscripts
In Exodus Rabba 1 (chs. 1-10), which according to Shinan was compiled in the 10th century, the exegete offered a polemical interpretation of the encounter at the Nile: “Why did he go out to the river? Because that evil one would praise himself and say that he is a God who does not need to relieve himself, for this reason he would go out in the morning and secretly tend to his bodily needs.”6
The executive retells the biblical story in an expanded form, with the new material expressing a new idea through an epic story. 7 Pharaoh pretended to be a God, of which one manifestation was that he did not have to relieve himself, a physical act that indicates the inferiority of human beings. In order to conceal his human nature from his servants in the royal palace and from his people, he would get up early and relieve himself secretly in the Nile or among the vegetation by the riverside.
Translation:-
In the Exodus Rabba (Midrash of Exodus Rabba), written according to Shenan in the 10th century CE, the commentator offers a dialectical interpretation of the encounter at the Nile: Why does he (Pharaoh) go to the river? Because this evil person glorifies himself and says that he is a god who does not need to defecate (defecate and relieve himself), and for this reason he goes out in the morning secretly to attend to his bodily needs.
The biblical commentator retells the story in a broader way with new material that expresses a new idea through an epic story . Pharaoh pretended to be a god, one of the manifestations of which was that he did not have to defecate (relieve himself), a physical act that indicates his inferiority to humans. In order to hide his human nature from his servants in the royal palace and from his people, he would wake up early and secretly go to the Nile or among the vegetation on the banks of the river.
The text of the dialogue included in this suspicion was addressed by Professor Abraham Ofir Shemesh in his article, and that it is found in the Midrash Exodus Rabbah and that this Midrash was composed in the tenth century AD (i.e. centuries after the revelation of the Holy Qur’an) and he commented on it that this Pharaoh’s claim to divinity was new material.
(This means that the idea of the contemporary Pharaoh claiming divinity for our master Moses, peace be upon him, did not exist among the Jews, whether in their holy book or in the Jewish tradition before the tenth century AD)
So we read what he says: -
2 Interpretations in medieval and pre-modern manuscripts
In Exodus Rabba 1 (chs. 1-10), which according to Shinan was compiled in the 10th century, the exegete offered a polemical interpretation of the encounter at the Nile: “Why did he go out to the river? Because that evil one would praise himself and say that he is a God who does not need to relieve himself, for this reason he would go out in the morning and secretly tend to his bodily needs.”6
The executive retells the biblical story in an expanded form, with the new material expressing a new idea through an epic story. 7 Pharaoh pretended to be a God, of which one manifestation was that he did not have to relieve himself, a physical act that indicates the inferiority of human beings. In order to conceal his human nature from his servants in the royal palace and from his people, he would get up early and relieve himself secretly in the Nile or among the vegetation by the riverside.
Translation:-
In the Exodus Rabba (Midrash of Exodus Rabba), written according to Shenan in the 10th century CE, the commentator offers a dialectical interpretation of the encounter at the Nile: Why does he (Pharaoh) go to the river? Because this evil person glorifies himself and says that he is a god who does not need to defecate (defecate and relieve himself), and for this reason he goes out in the morning secretly to attend to his bodily needs.
The biblical commentator retells the story in a broader way with new material that expresses a new idea through an epic story . Pharaoh pretended to be a god, one of the manifestations of which was that he did not have to defecate (relieve himself), a physical act that indicates his inferiority to humans. In order to hide his human nature from his servants in the royal palace and from his people, he would wake up early and secretly go to the Nile or among the vegetation on the banks of the river.
The reference in the Book of Exodus is that our master Moses, peace be upon him, met Pharaoh at the river only and did not tell us why that meeting took place at the river.
We read in the Book of Exodus:
7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, and he will come out to the water. Stand to meet him at the river’s edge. Take in your hand the rod that has become a snake.
Therefore, an interpreter in the tenth century added new material to that meeting and put it in this Midrash. That new material was Pharaoh’s claim to divinity, which made him unable to defecate in front of people. Therefore, he went to the river alone in the morning to relieve himself.
This is what Dr. Abraham says, which is that Pharaoh’s claim to divinity and then his description of the Egyptians as stupid was new material in the tenth century AD. That is, new material to the Jews,
but Pharaoh’s claim to divinity was not new to Muslims because they knew it from the seventh century AD.
The truth is that it existed among the Jews in ancient times, but it was deleted from their books in the Hellenistic period until the Jews forgot it and did not remember it.
Then Christ, peace be upon him, came to remind them of the truth, so they rejected him, and it was lost. They are also from his followers because their books were burned by the Romans until our master Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, came and reminded them of it. He was the other comforter who reminded them of what they had forgotten.
We read from the Gospel of John:
14:26 But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have said to you.
As for the rest of the midrash that dealt with the text of the meeting of our master Moses, peace and blessings be upon him, with Pharaoh at the river in (Exodus 7:15), they did not include his description of the Egyptians as donkeys, and this is evidence that it was not from the legacies of Jewish tradition, but was actually new material. If it was from the legacies of Jewish tradition, the claim of divinity would have been mentioned in all the midrash that dealt with these situations, but this did not happen. Rather, it was never mentioned in any book specific to Jewish tradition that was written before Islam, despite their dealing with the story of our master Moses, peace and blessings be upon him. We will find in the Mishnah and the Talmud, specifically in Mo'ed Katan, its dealing with Pharaoh’s contemporary going to the Nile in the morning, but He justifies this by doing magic and never mentions his claim to divinity.
- The books of Jewish tradition that were written before the revelation of the Holy Qur’an and dealt with the dialogues of Pharaoh with our master Moses did not include Pharaoh’s claim to divinity:
- A- We find in Mo'ed Katan:
The Mishnah and the Talmud, specifically in chapter (18a:13), state
that Pharaoh used to go to the river to practice magic because he was a magician, meaning that the Talmud did not mention his claim to divinity and the creation of people,
so we read the text:
Avitul the scribe also said in the name of Rav Pappa: The Pharaoh who lived in the days of Moses was a sorcerer [amgushi], as it is stated: “Behold, he goes out to the water” (Exodus 7:15). Pharaoh would regularly go out to the water in order to engage in witchcraft.) End of the
link to the text in Hebrew and English translation:
- B- In Shabbat 75a (which is part of the Babylonian Talmud), it speaks about the punishment of those who practice magic, and it does not mention anything about Pharaoh or his claim to divinity:
See the text in this link: -
That is, the Jewish tradition before the revelation of the Holy Qur’an, when it dealt with those texts, did not mention that Pharaoh, who was a contemporary of our Master Moses, peace and blessings be upon him, claimed divinity. But suddenly, after the revelation of the Holy Qur’an, the Jews wrote some books in which they mentioned his claim to divinity
.png)
Comments
Post a Comment