Page 82 - The Prophet Moses (pbuh)

THE PROPHET MOSES (PBUH)

THE NAME "HAMAN" IN THE QUR'AN IS
ALSO MENTIONED IN THE ANCIENT
EGYPTIAN INSCRIPTIONS

Some of the information the Qur'an provides about ancient Egypt reveals many histor-
ical facts that were not disclosed until recently. This information also indicates that every
word in the Qur'an is used in accordance with Divine reason.
"Haman" is another person, along with Pharaoh, whose name is mentioned in the
Qur'an. In six separate verses, Haman is referred to as one of the closest men to Pharaoh.
Surprisingly however, we never encounter the name of Haman in that section of the
Torah where the life of the Prophet Moses (pbuh) is related. However, there is reference to
Haman in the latter chapters of the Bible, as the counselor of a Babylonian king, who lived
approximately 1100 years after Pharaoh, and who was notorious for his cruelty against Jews.
Some non-Muslims, who claim the Qur'an to be a compilation of the Bible by the
Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and grant him peace), allege the fallacy that the
Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) incorrectly copied some of the material
from the Bible into the Qur'an.
However, this claim has been proven to be groundless, thanks to the decipherment of
the Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet approximately 200 years ago. Through this achievement,
the name "Haman" was found in the ancient Egyptian inscriptions.
Until then, the writings and scrolls in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs had remained
unread. The language of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs had remained in use for many cen-
turies, but with the spread of Christianity, and its ultimate cultural influence in the 2nd and
3rd centuries A.D, brought an end to the knowledge of it. The last example of the hiero-
glyphic writing known to us was a scroll dated 394 A.D. After this date, hieroglyphic had be-
2
come an extinct language, leaving behind no one who could speak it until the 19th century.
The mystery of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs was solved only in 1799, by the discovery
of the Rosetta Stone, which dated back to 196 B.C. The use of three different languages made
this stone decipherable: hieroglyphic, demotic (a simplified form of hieroglyphics used by the
ordinary literate class) and Greek. The ancient Egyptian writings were decoded mainly by the
help of the Greek script. The transcription was completed by a Frenchman, Jean-François
Champollion, and an extinct language, as well as the history conveyed by it, had finally been
brought to light. Thus, ancient Egyptian civilization, representing an entirely different religion
3
and social life, was resurrected.
Thanks to the decoding of hieroglyphic, we also attained an essential piece of informa-
tion related to our subject: the name of "Haman" was indeed mentioned in the Egyptian texts.
This name was inscribed on a monument displayed today in the Hof Museum of Vienna. The
4
inscription also stressed the nearness of Haman to Pharaoh. In the Dictionary of Personal
Names of the New Kingdom, a dictionary based on the information gathered from a complete
5
collection of scrolls, Haman is mentioned as "the chief of workers in the stone-quarries."
Unlike the claims of its opponents, Haman was a person that had lived in Egypt at the
time of the Prophet Moses (pbuh), just as was indicated in the Qur'an. Again, as mentioned
in the Qur'an, he was a man close to Pharaoh who was responsible for construction projects.

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