Surah Al A’araf (7:130,134) – Destruction at Pharaoh’s time

 

وَلَقَدْ أَخَذْنَا آلَ فِرْعَونَ بِالسِّنِينَ وَنَقْصٍ مِّن الثَّمَرَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ

And certainly We overtook Firon's people with droughts and diminution of fruits that they may be mindful.

فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الطُّوفَانَ وَالْجَرَادَ وَالْقُمَّلَ وَالضَّفَادِعَ وَالدَّمَ آيَاتٍ مُّفَصَّلاَتٍ فَاسْتَكْبَرُواْ وَكَانُواْ قَوْمًا مُّجْرِمِينَ

Therefore We sent upon them widespread death, and the locusts and the lice and the frog and the blood, clear signs; but they behaved haughtily and they were a guilty people. [7-133]

Destruction at Pharaoh's time

Pharaoh (Firaun) and his followers were caught in the afflictions sent down by Allah at the time of Prophet Musa. Allah calls those afflictions as 'clear signs'. Allah tested them with droughts, diminution of fruits, widespread death, locusts, lice, frog and blood.

Ancient Egyptian literature is characterized by a wide diversity of types and subject matter. It dates from the Old Kingdom (about 2575-2134 bc) into the Greco-Roman period (after 332 bc), and the works employ such literary devices as simile, metaphor, alliteration, and punning. The individual authors of several compositions dating from the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 bc) were revered in later periods. They came from the educated class of priests and upper-level government officials, and their audience was largely educated people like themselves.

This Islamic account of this period of this human history has been confirmed by the discovery in Egypt, in the early 19th century, of the Ipuwer papyruses dating back to the Middle Kingdom. After the discovery of this papyrus, it was sent to the Leiden Dutch Museum in 1909 and translated by A. H. Gardiner, a prominent scholar of ancient Egypt (See Allah's Miracles in the Quran by Harun Yahya Pg 288). In the papyrus were described such disasters in Egypt as famine, drought and the fleeing of the slaves from Egypt. Moreover, it appears that the writer of the papyrus, one Ipuwer, had actually witnessed these events. This is how the Ipuwer papyrus refers to these catastrophes described in the Qur'an:

Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere.
(Admonitions of Ipuwer 2:5-6)

The river is blood. (Admonitions of Ipuwer 2:10)

Forsooth, that has perished which yesterday was seen. The land is left over to its weariness like the cutting of flax. (Admonitions of Ipuwer 5:12)

Lower Egypt weeps... The entire palace is without its revenues. To it belong (by right) wheat and barley, geese and fish.
(Admonitions of Ipuwer 10:3-6)

Forsooth, grain has perished on every side.
(Admonitions of Ipuwer 6:3)

Men shrink from tasting-human beings, and thirst after water.
(Admonitions of Ipuwer 2:10)

That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin!
(Admonitions of Ipuwer 3:10-13)

The towns are destroyed. Upper Egypt has become dry. (Admonitions of Ipuwer 2:11)

The residence is overturned in a minute. (Admonitions of Ipuwer 7:4)

We see that the description given in the Quran is in perfect conciliation with what is mentioned in the 'authentic' historical documents. It is not possible that the Prophet Muhammad SAW could have read those documents. He never travelled to Egypt and he was an illiterate. Who was telling the Prophet Muhammad incidents which took centuries before him: Allah.

These are announcements relating to the unseen which We reveal to you, you did not know them-- (neither) you nor your people-- before this. (Surah Hood 12:49)

 

 

See the complete list of Scientific Miracles in Surah Al Aa'raf here

 

Comments, Queries and Suggestion at

Muhammad.Awais.Tahir@gmail.com

Surah Al A’araf (7:74) – People of Thamud

 

 

وَاذْكُرُواْ إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفَاء مِن بَعْدِ عَادٍ وَبَوَّأَكُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِن سُهُولِهَا قُصُورًا وَتَنْحِتُونَ الْجِبَالَ بُيُوتًا فَاذْكُرُواْ آلاء اللّهِ وَلاَ تَعْثَوْا فِي الأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ

And remember when He made you successors after Ad and settled you in the land-- you make mansions on its plains and hew out houses in the mountains-- remember therefore Allah's benefits and do not act corruptly in the land, making mischief.

M Shakir's Quran Translation

People of Thamud

In this Ayat the incident of People of Thamud or People of Al Hijr is mentioned. Both these terms are used in the Holy Quran referring to the same nation (SEE Tafsir Ibn e Kathir Explanation of surah Al-Raad 15:80 3/139). Historical sources confirm that a people known as the Thamud existed many years ago. That being the case, the word "Thamud" may be the name of a people and al-Hijr one of the cities they founded. In fact, this is exactly what is suggested by the descriptions of the Greek geographer Pliny, who wrote that Thamud lived in places called Domotha and Hegra, the present-day city of Hijr. ((Encyclopedia of Islam: Dictionary of Islamic World, History, Geography, Ethnography, and Bibliography) Vol. 5/1, 475.)

 

The oldest known historical source to refer to Thamud is the Babylonian state records. They relate the details of the victory of King Sargon II of Babylon over that people in the 8th century B.C. Sargon defeated them in a war in Northern Arabia. The Greeks also mention this people and Aristotle, Ptolemy and Pliny refer to them as the Thamudaei" i.e. "Thamud (Phillip Hitti, A History of the Arabs). All trace of them vanished before the time of our Prophet Muhammad in around 400-600 but the Quran mentions them accurately. Today, one can see the finest examples of these peoples' stonework in the ancient city of Petra, in southwest Jordan. (For details see
'Perished Nations' by Harun Yahya)

 

 

See the complete list of Scientific Miracles in Surah Al Aa'raf here

 

Comments, Queries and Suggestion at

Muhammad.Awais.Tahir@gmail.com