Page 290 - Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an
P. 290

Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an




               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. 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. 219
                   The river is blood. 220
                   Forsooth, that has perished which yesterday was seen. The land is left
                   over to its weariness like the cutting of flax. 221
                   Lower Egypt weeps... The entire palace is without its revenues. To it
                   belong (by right) wheat and barley, geese and fish. 222
                   Forsooth, grain has perished on every side. 223
                   The land-to its whole extent confusion and terrible noise… For nine days
                   there was no exit from the palace and no one could see the face of his fel-
                   low… Towns were destroyed by mighty tides… Upper Egypt suffered
                   devastation… blood everywhere… pestilence throughout the country…
                   No one really sails north to Byblos today. What shall we do for cedar for

                   our mummies?… Gold is lacking… 224
                   Men shrink from tasting-human beings, and thirst after water. 225
                   That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect
                   thereof? All is ruin! 226
                   The towns are destroyed. Upper Egypt has become dry. 227
                   The residence is overturned in a minute. 228
                   The chain of disasters which struck the people of Egypt, according
               to this document, conforms perfectly with the Qur'anic account of these
               matters. 229  This papyrus, which closely parallels the catastrophes which
               struck Egypt in the time of Pharaoh, once again demonstrates the

               Qur'an to be divine in origin.




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