Page 115 - Perished Nations

Musa’s (as) serpent swallowed all the serpents that Fir’awns magicians had
conjured up. Now, standing at the edge of the sea, with Fir’awn and his
men in hot pursuit, Musa (as), by the command of Allah, was able to divide
the sea with this same rod. This was one of the greatest miracles given to
the Prophet Musa (as).

Did the incident take place on the Mediterranean

Coasts of Egypt, or in the Red Sea?
There is no common agreement on the place where the sea divided.
Since no detail is given on the subject in the Qur’an, we cannot be sure of
the correctness of any of the views on the subject. Some sources show the
Mediterranean shores of Egypt as the place where the sea was divided. In
the Encyclopedia Judaica, it states:
The majority opinion today identifies the Red Sea of the Exodus with one
of the lagoons on the shores of the Mediterranean. 37
David Ben Gurion said that the event could have taken place during the
reign of Ramses II, possibly after the Kadesh defeat. In the Book of Exo-
dus in the Old Testament, the event is said to have happened in Migdol
and Baal-Zephon, which are located to the north of the delta. 38
This view is based on the Old Testament. In the translations of the Bo-
ok of Exodus from the Old Testament, it is said that Fir’awn and his men
were drowned in the Red Sea. But according to those who hold this view,
the word translated as "The Red Sea" is in fact "The Sea of Reeds". The
word is identified with the "Red Sea" in many sources, and used for that
location. However, "The Sea of Reeds" is actually used to refer to the Me-
diterranean coast of Egypt. In the Old Testament, while mentioning the ro-
ute followed by Musa (as) and those following him, the words Migdol and
Baal-Zephon are mentioned, and these are located to the north in the Ni-
le Delta, on the shore of Egypt. The Sea of Reeds, by implication, supports
the possibility that the incident may have occurred on the Egyptian shores,
because in this region, as the name suggests, reeds are produced thanks to
the delta alluvions.

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