CHAPTER III: Some Features of the Egyptian Ancient Civilization Mentioned in the Quran

1- Intellectual and scientific aspects: religion is the cornerstone of the Egyptian character, the ever-present factor, even when concealed, in all Egyptian activities and endeavors past and present. The Hyksos authority was not so great and powerful because the ruler was merely a king/leader, whereas any Pharaoh as a ruler was seen as a supreme power with limitless authority because of the notion of deifying pharaohs as progeny of the gods; this was an integral part of the Ancient Egyptian religion. Of course, social mores and morals as well as social life revolved at the time around the axis of religion, as Ancient Egyptians build so many houses of worship, monuments, temples, royal graves/tombs, etc. that centered on their religion. Thus, it is natural that sciences of Ancient Egyptians were derived from, and closely linked to, their inherited religion, within the most ancient civilization on earth that lasted for millennia. This is why it is expected that the Ancient Egyptians would reject the call of Moses because it opposed what they had inherited from their forefathers: "But when Moses came to them with Our signs, clear and manifest, they said, "This is nothing but fabricated magic, and We never heard of this from our ancestors of old."" (28:36). The religion of the Ancient Egyptians was behind their excellence in sorcery and magic, and this expertise was the perspective thought which they perceive the miracles performed by Moses; they thought him an expert sorcerer and did not realize that these miracles were the work of God through Moses. Hence, the Ancient Egyptians thought that they can outwit the magic of Moses if Pharaoh would gather all learned magicians from all over Egyptian cities: "They said, "Put him off, and his brother, and send heralds to the cities. And let them bring you every knowledgeable, learned magician." (7:111-112). In fact, Erman dedicates in his book a whole chapter to sorcery/witchcraft and skills of magicians in relation to the Ancient Egypt and its religion, but the few Quranic verses are concise and to-the-point, and yet more telling, when talking about magicians of Moses' Pharaoh: " He said, "You throw!" And when they threw, they beguiled the eyes of the people, and intimidated them, and produced a mighty magic." (7:116). We conclude here that the works of magicians were confined to visual effects to dazzle the eyes of spectators, while depending on the power of suggestion as every Egyptian at the time would be eagerly and readily believe what magicians would do as true. Hence, such is the context of 7:116 when the gathered people thought that ropes and sticks of magicians turned into snakes that move, while indeed they were thrown to the ground as lifeless objects. Thus, we infer from 7:116 that the skills of those magicians was to control the sensory perception of the Egyptians who believed in certain religious notions that placed magic/sorcery in high esteem and as something holy; this was the mentality that made the minds unable to see things as they were and that made charlatans as ''learned'', ''knowledgeable'' people at the time. The Quranic verses about this aspect hardly need comments after them: "They said, "O Moses, either you throw, or we will be the first to throw." He said, "You throw." And suddenly, their ropes and sticks appeared to him, because of their magic, to be crawling swiftly. So Moses felt apprehensive within himself. Now throw down what is in your right hand-it will swallow what they have crafted. What they have crafted is only a magician's trickery. But the magician will not succeed, no matter what he does."" (20:65-69). God says the following in the Quran about Moses' Pharaoh and his people: "And they rejected them, although their souls were certain of them, out of wickedness and pride...." (27:14). This means that they knew the limits of sorcery and magic and that Moses was never a magician, but a true prophet sent from God Who made these miracles, not Moses himself, but they had hidden this truth inside them to maintain their being superior on earth. As for true knowledge within Ancient Egypt, we can take the believing man among the retinue members of Pharaoh's palace court as a model of true religious knowledge, as his long speech mentioned in the Quran shows him to be knowledgeable in history of ancient nations and peoples from the era of Noah and eras after it: "The one who had believed said, "O my people, I fear for you the like of the day of the confederates. Like the fate of the people of Noah, and Aad, and Thamood, and those after them..." (40:30-31); "Joseph had come to you with clear revelations, but you continued to doubt what he came to you with. Until, when he perished, you said, "God will never send a messenger after him."..." (40:34). We can deduce here that some of the Ancient Egyptians had historical periodicals or chronicles that recorded history of past nations and royal families of Egypt; even during the era of Moses, some of the Egyptians used to cast doubts on the call of Joseph and many debates revolved around it. This believing retinue member was brilliant and clever in calm logical intellectual reasoning, as we discern from his debating his people who proposed to have Moses murdered: "... Are you going to kill a man for saying, `My Lord is God,' and he has brought you clear proofs from your Lord? If he is a liar, his lying will rebound upon him; but if he is truthful, then some of what he promises you will befall you..." (40:28). This means that he used their belief in God as an evidence to support his argument against their proposal to have Moses murdered, and he urged them to fear God if they wanted really to preserve their authority and power: "O my people! Yours is the dominion today, supreme in the land; but who will help us against God's might, should it fall upon us?"..." (40:29). Indeed, his speech reflects how the Ancient Egyptians believed in the Hereafter, but this man believed in it truly based on divine revelation, not as per the Ancient Egyptian religious traditions, and he fears for his people because of his knowledge: "O my people, I fear for you the Day of Calling Out. The Day when you will turn and flee, having no defender against God. Whomever God misguides has no guide."" (40:32-33). This knowledgeable believer debated in the best, calmest, most clever manner, and he hated the worst ways of debating: "Those who argue against God's revelations, without any proof having come to them, commit a heinous sin in the sight of God, and in the sight of those who believe. Thus God seals the heart of every proud tyrant." (40:35). Indeed, every Egyptian and every believer should take pride in the stance of the believing magicians and this believing man whose culture, knowledge, and dialogue were elevated and sublime.                                        

2- Architecture and monuments aspects: we are not going to tackle here all aspects of Pharaonic monument, temples, and ruins that dazzle the whole world until now, as this aspect fills so many books, tomes, and volumes. We focus here only on indications mentioned in the Quran about them. Indeed, the Quran gives us some indications about how the Pharaonic architecture and erected buildings and monuments in Ancient Egypt were magnificent; the word ''cities'' is never used in the Quran except to describe Egyptian cities: "They said, "Put him off, and his brother, and send heralds to the cities." (7:111); "They said, "Delay him and his brother, and send recruiters to the cities." (26:36); "Pharaoh sent heralds to the cities." (26:53). Countless Egyptology books focus on temples, ruins, relics, and monuments related to religious life in Ancient Egypt, whereas the Quran focus on many advanced, huge, erected buildings in Egyptian cities, which were in fact megacities, filled with residence, magicians, soldiers, masons, workers, overseers, peasants,  etc., spread all over Egyptian soil. By the way, the singular word "city", or ''medina'' in Arabic and in the Quranic tongue, is mentioned in the Quranic text 14 times; 4 times to indicate Yathreb, 5 times to indicate five different cities, and 5 times to refer to Egyptian cities in the eras of Joseph and Moses, apart from the plural form ''cities'' pertaining only to Quranic stories about Egypt, indicating how megacities with huge magnificent buildings filled Egyptian soil at the time in the Ancient Pharaonic Era. The term ''edifice'' is mentioned only four times in the Quran, and they may have been like skyscrapers of today; a thing hardly expected to exist in ancient times. This term is mentioned twice within the Quranic story of Solomon, as Jinn at his command used to build him edifices that never any human power could perform. The word ''edifice'' is mentioned always twice within the story of Moses and Pharaoh, as the latter commanded his vizier, Haman, to build him a towering edifice that would reach the clouds in order to 'see' the God of Moses: "Pharaoh said, "O nobles, I know of no god for you other than me. So fire-up the bricks for me O Haman, and build me an edifice, that I may ascend to the God of Moses, though I think he is a liar."" (28:38); "And Pharaoh said, "O Haman, build me an edifice, that I may reach the pathways. The pathways of the heavens, so that I may glance at the God of Moses; though I think he is lying."..." (40:36-37). Apart from the disbelief of Moses' Pharaoh, but these two verses show to us how advanced the architecture was in Ancient Egypt, more than any place in the ancient world at the time, and Pharaoh would never have asked Haman in public to build him that towering edifice unless he had known that he had the means to do it. Perhaps, this power, might, authority, wealth, and means of Moses' Pharaoh were behind his disbelieving comment about the towering edifice. The term ''edifice'' is not used elsewhere in the Quran except in the story of Solomon, as the Jinn built him the edifice made of glass the dazzled the Queen of Sheba: "It was said to her, "Go inside the palace." And when she saw it, she thought it was a deep pond, and she bared her legs. He said, "It is a palace paved with glass." She said, "My Lord, I have done wrong to myself, and I have submitted with Solomon, to God, Lord of the Worlds."" (27:44). The term ''edifice'' is used again in relation to Moses' Pharaoh, indicating the advanced knowledge, power, and wealth of Ancient Egypt, but this time, the edifice is not made of glass, but red brick, and this means that brickmaking was known in Ancient Egypt, thousands of years ago: "…So fire-up the bricks for me, O Haman, and build me an edifice, that I may ascend to the God of Moses…" (28:38). Furthermore, the term "pegs" is mentioned three times in the Quran; one time to describe mountains as pegs to fixate the earth surface so as not to move: "Did We not make the earth with paved routes. And the mountains as pegs?" (78:6-7). The same term is used twice more in relation to Moses' Pharaoh: "Before them the people of Noah denied the Truth; as did Aad, and Pharaoh of the Pegs" (38:12); "And Pharaoh of the Pegs" (89:10). This means that many edifices, towers, and buildings erected by Moses' Pharaoh were like mountains in heights and widths. Elements of such locations had influenced Pharaoh's wife who believed in the message of Moses and believed in God, as she invoked the Lord by saying: "" (66:11). This invocation shows how the first thing that occurred to her mind was a house in Paradise without Pharaoh in it: this shows that building one's abodes were among the priorities of Egyptian people and that Pharaoh was as much interested in building so many architectural edifices as he eagerly loved to frighten everyone in Egypt, including his own wife. 

   Are there any remaining monuments of Moses' Pharaoh? The answer is no; as we know from the Quran as well: "...And We destroyed what Pharaoh and his people had built, and what they had harvested." (7:137). This means that all edifices, buildings, towers, etc. of Pharaoh, his family members, his retinue members, his troops, and his feudal landlords were destroyed by God, as happened to the people of Thamood: "So note the outcome of their planning; We destroyed them and their people, altogether. Here are their homes, in ruins, on account of their iniquities. Surely in this is a sign for people who know." (27:51-52). Pharaoh and his people never paid heed to the advice of the believing man among the retinue members of Pharaoh palace court, when he told them the following: "O my people, I fear for you the like of the day of the confederates. Like the fate of the people of Noah, and Aad, and Thamood, and those after them. God wants no injustice for the servants." (40:30-31). Thus, God had destroyed all things built by Moses' Pharaoh and his people, but God preserves the Nile Valley with its verdant lush gardens and fields, etc., as we infer from these Quranic verses: "How many gardens and fountains did they leave behind? And plantations, and splendid buildings. And comforts they used to enjoy." (44:25-27).

3- Economic aspects: the Quran contains scattered but rich indications of some details of the economic aspect of Ancient Egypt, as we show in the following points.  

A- Agriculture and cultivation of lands in Egypt are as old as human existence on Planet Earth; and the process of agriculture used to be influenced by the amount of water available by the Nile flood. The Hyksos king's vision was interpreted by Joseph this way: "He said, "You will farm for seven consecutive years. But whatever you harvest, leave it in its spikes, except for the little that you eat." Then after that will come seven difficult ones, which will consume what you have stored for them, except for the little that you have preserved. Then after that will come a year that brings relief to the people, and during which they will press." (12:47-49). Eventually, the Hyksos king had appointed Joseph as the governor who would supervise and control agriculture and provisions in Egypt: "He said, "Put me in charge of the storehouses of the land; I am honest and knowledgeable." And thus We established Joseph on the earth, to live therein wherever he wished..." (12:55-56). We deduce from these verses that large storehouses of all harvested crops and grains had been built to store large amounts to prepare for the years of famine to come after seven years, and this entailed strict and accurate processes of supervision, collection, preservation, distribution, marketing, selling, calculation, weighing, shipping, etc. as per what we know from Egyptologists and historians of Ancient Egypt. Joseph had to be cautious and calculate everything for the 14-year plan that the vision of the Hyksos king predicted, especially that Egypt would save other neighboring nations as well.      

B- There are other Quranic indications about trade mentioned in the Quranic Chapter Twelve that narrates the story of Joseph; namely, selling and buying were via the coin/currency of dirham and within bartering system (i.e., exchange of goods, without involving monetary currency). Thus, Joseph himself when thrown into the bottom of the well, a caravan of traders took him and sold him into slavery in return for few dirhams to a man of Egypt, the Potiphar: And they sold him for a cheap price-a few dirham coins-they considered him to be of little value." (12:20). This shows that there was no fixed prices at the time for enslaved boys; a pretty young lad like Joseph was sold for so little as the traders of the caravan wanted to get rid of him at any cost. as for bartering, the brothers of Joseph during the time of the famine used to come to Egypt with their merchandise that they exchanged in return for food/grains. Let us remember that the word ''merchandise''  is never mentioned in the Quran except in the Quranic Chapter Twelve that contain the story of Joseph. Joseph was himself ''merchandise'' for the caravan traders: " A caravan passed by, and they sent their water-carrier. He lowered his bucket, and said, "Good news. Here is a boy." And they hid him as merchandise. But God was aware of what they did." (12:19). Joseph wanted his brothers to return to him so often to get grains/food, and he commanded his men under him to return the merchandise of bartering to his brothers; he gave them the grains/food for free: " He said to his servants, "Put their merchandise in their saddlebags; perhaps they will recognize it when they return to their families, and maybe they will come back."" (12:62); "And when they opened their baggage, they found that their goods were returned to them. They said, "Father, what more do we want? Here are our merchandise, returned to us..." (12:65). From within the same story of Joseph, we know that grains were weighed by certain units of measure; see 12: 70-72 and 12:88, within the events when Joseph planned to keep his younger brother with him upon false accusation of theft. We infer also that the unit of bartering was the load of one camel, as the measure unit to those who wish to get grains in return for merchandise to offer. This was very similar to any other modern rationing systems in times of crises. We have surmised this from this Quranic verse: "And when they opened their baggage, they found that their goods were returned to them. They said, "Father, what more do we want? Here are our merchandise, returned to us. We will provide for our family, and protect our brother, and have an additional camel-load. This is easy load." (12:65). Hence, the recurrent coming of the brothers of Joseph to him in Egypt to get grains/food indicates that the famine was not suffered in Egypt alone, but also in all the neighboring countries that used to engage with Egyptians in trade exchange; within the Eastern borders of Egypt in Sinai, rest-houses, inns, and taverns were established to serve merchants, traders, and buyers who came from other regions. Of course, all things in Egypt at the time were under direct control of Joseph, including the luxurious inns/villages, like the one in which Joseph had installed his brothers, as we infer from this verse in which he coaxed them to bring him a brother of theirs: "When he provided them with their provisions, he said, "Bring me a brother of yours from your father. Do you not see that I fill up the measure, and I am the best of hosts?"" (12:59).  Of course, inns/villages at the borders of Egypt would be filled with guests and they would exchange news and made acquaintance, and sons of Jacob/Israel told him to go to that inn/village to ascertain their true news about the arrest of their younger brother who was accused of theft: ""Go back to your father, and say, 'Our father, your son has stolen. We testify only to what we know, and we could not have prevented the unforeseen." "Ask the village where we were, and the caravan in which we came. We are being truthful."" (12:81-82).

C- As for the story of Moses and Moses' Pharaoh, we can deduce from it some features of economic life in Ancient Egypt during the Ramses dynasty era; the chief feature is economic welfare, described in the best way possible by the Quran after the drowning of Pharaoh and his troops and men: "So We drove them out of gardens and springs. And treasures and noble dwellings." (26:57-58); "How many gardens and fountains did they leave behind? And plantations, and splendid buildings. And comforts they used to enjoy." (44:25-27). We read here how the Quran describes Egyptian cultivated fields and the plentiful water that used to cover them like fountains, yielding rich harvests like treasures, which were comforts of life enjoyed by Egyptians at the time. Moses' Pharaoh, instead of being thankful to God for such bounties, tyrannized, made himself superior on earth, deified himself, and committed crimes of persecution and terror. God had sent him and his people many plagues as ordeals to make them repent, but they never did that: "And We afflicted the people of Pharaoh with barren years, and with shortage of crops, that they may take heed." (7:130). We infer from this verse that ''the people of Pharaoh'' or his family members, retinue members, troops, and cronies etc. used to own power, authority, lands, wealth, harvests, cattle, peasants, etc. and when any shortage had occurred, they had suffered it and felt it keenly. This shows that Egyptian workers and peasants did not own anything at all; they were mere tools owned by Pharaoh and his people.         

D- At the same time when these Egyptian peasants (as per written by Erman) were flogged and punished if discovered to hide part of the harvest, owned along with the lands and people on it by Pharaoh, Moses' Pharaoh and his people used to wear the precious stones and ornaments and they would take them along in their tombs. Historians of the Ramses dynasty era assert that Ramses III had a special official bearer of victuals in a three-liter golden container. Hence, it is no longer surprising that Moses' Pharaoh had mocked Moses by saying: "Why are bracelets of gold not dropped on him..." (43:53); as Pharaoh used to deem wearing gold as a sign of high stature and rank, and all his people and retinue members used to think in the same way. We surmise here that Pharaoh and his people, retinue members, landlords, viziers, soldiers, and troops chased Moses and the Israelites while wearing all their rich, precious jewels and ornaments made of gold, as if they were going on a journey of pleasure or a reception party! We surmise further that when the waves had thrown their drowned bodies, some of the Israelites had stolen that gold, and Al-Samiri coaxed them to gather all such ornaments of gold to help him fabricate the golden calf for them to worship as their god, similar to the Pharaonic god Apis. God says in the Quran: "In his absence, the people of Moses adopted a calf made from their ornaments..." (7:148). The Israelites said this when they tried to apologize to Moses: "They said, "We did not break our promise to you by our choice, but we were made to carry loads of the people's ornaments, and we cast them in. That was what Al-Samiri suggested."" (20:87). Since the wealthy Pharaoh and his affluent retinue members ornamented themselves with gold and jewel's, very clever craftsmen used to make such ornaments in the best possible artistic ways, as we see from the samples found in museums that bear witness to that type of art. Hence, we discern here that the Egyptian society at the time – that seemed inactive overtly as far as influence is concerned – had left its imprint on the Israelites by influencing them in terms of social, economic, and religious aspect. When the Israelites left the Egyptian society for good, they carried inside their hearts the deepest feelings of nostalgia (the calf-god, Osir, their passage at a temple in Sinai, their carrying gold ornaments of the Egyptians) as well as the acquired behavior of most Egyptians of relying entirely on governments and rulers to get everything. Hence, the Israelites in the exodus used to ask Moses to provide everything for them and demanded from him to invoke God to provide all their needs, and when God had granted them manna and quail, they got bored soon enough and longed much for Egyptian food and crops, to which they got used to eat for years: "..."O Moses, we cannot endure one kind of food, so call to your Lord to produce for us of what the earth grows: of its herbs, and its cucumbers, and its garlic, and its lentils, and its onions." He said, "Would you substitute worse for better? ..." (2:61). In fact, they remained very dependent on Moses and his God, and they adamantly refused to enter into the Levant by fighting their way in it: "They said, "O Moses, there are tyrannical people in it; we will not enter it until they leave it. If they leave it, we will be entering."" (5:22). Hence, the Egyptian influence was too much on that generation of the Israelites, who forgot the miracles they had witnessed. Their only remedy was to wander the desert for forty years until this generation would perish and another generation would be fit to enter into the Levant, a generation born in the years of wandering which was never influenced by the Egyptian mentality of dependence. One might wonder about the following: how many years would it take Egyptians of our modern times to get rid of the dependence, postponement, accepting failure as fate, and other negative social qualities, norms, and traits that cause our backwardness and never help in bringing about renaissance?!