Problematic
Biblical Claim about Moses!
By: Shahid Bin Waheed
The obvious Qur’aanic
statement that clearly contradicts Biblical claims, the Glorious Qur’aan is
also free of any equivalents of a number of claims in the Bible. I would like
to refer to few of these exclusive Biblical claims.
We find the following
etymology for the name “Moses” in the Bible (Ex. 2:5-10):
002:005 And the daughter of
Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by
the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid
to fetch it. 002:006 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and,
behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of
the Hebrews' children. 002:007 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter;
Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the
child for thee? 002:008 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid
went and called the child's mother. 002:009 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto
her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.
And the women took the child, and nursed it. 002:010 And the child grew, and
she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called
his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
The Bible claims that the name “Moses” that Pharaoh’s daughter gave to
the baby means in Hebrew “I drew him out of the
water.” First, this claim suggests that the
Egyptian Princess knew Hebrew, which is stretching the truth. Second, the explanation given for the name
depends upon similarity in sound rather than scientific etymology, for the name
“Moses” (Hebrew: Moseh) could be an active principle of the Hebrew
verb “masah”, which means to
draw out, whereas the Biblical explanation of the name requires a passive
principle. In other words, one would expect the baby to have been called
“he who is being drawn out” rather
than “he who arises out of.” This clearly shows the misunderstanding and
confusion on the part of Biblical writers of the Egyptian root from which the
name is derived.
The
Glorious Qur’aan, on the other hand, does not contain such an erroneous
etymology of the name Musa عليه
السلام. Another Biblical claim that has no trace whatsoever in the
Qur’aan is Pharaoh’s commission of two midwives to kill the newborn males as we
find it in the Bible.
Tuesday,
December 07, 2004