Page 102 - Perished Nations

ressed by the reigns of the Pharaohs. Basically, they believed in many
gods, and these gods were usually depicted as having animal heads on hu-
man bodies. But it was also possible to meet with local traditions which
differed from region to region.
Life after death made up the most important part of Egyptian belief.
They believed that the soul went on living after the body died. According
to this, the souls of the dead were brought by particular angels to the God
who was a Judge and forty-two other witness judges, a scale was set in the
middle and the heart of the soul was weighed in this scale. Those with mo-
re goodness passed on to a beautiful setting and lived in happiness; those
with more wickedness were sent to a place where they were subject to gre-
at torments. There, they were tormented throughout eternity by a strange
creature called the "The Dead Eater".
The belief of the Egyptians in the Hereafter clearly shows a parallel with
the monotheistic belief and the religion of truth. Even their belief in the
hereafter alone proves that the religion of truth and the message had reac-
hed ancient Egyptian civilisation, but that this religion was later corrupted,
and monotheism was turned into polytheism. It is already known that war-
ners calling people to the unity of Allah and summoning them to be His
slaves were sent to Egypt from time to time, as they were to all the peop-
les on earth at one time or another. One of these was the Prophet Yusuf
(as) whose life is told in detail in the Qur’an. The history of Yusuf (as) is
also extremely important because it includes the arrival of the Children of
Israel in Egypt and their settlement there.
On the other hand, in the historical resources, there are references to
some Egyptians who invited people to monotheistic religions even before
Musa. One of them is the most interesting Pharaoh in the history of Egypt,
that is, Amenhotep IV.

The Monotheistic Pharaoh, Amenhotep IV
The Egyptian Pharaohs were generally brutal, oppressive, belligerent
and ruthless people. In general, they adopted the polytheistic religion of
Egypt and deified themselves through this religion.

Harun Yahya
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