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Titles of Egyptian Rulers in the Qur'an Moses was not the only prophet who lived in the lands of Egypt in the history of ancient Egypt. The Prophet Joseph had lived in Egypt long before the time of Moses. We encounter a certain parallel while reading about the stories of Moses and Joseph. While addressing the Egyptian ruler at the time of Joseph, the word "malik" (the King) is used in the Qur'an: "The King (malik) said, 'Bring him (Joseph)
to me straight away! so I may draw him very close to me.' When
he had spoken with him, he declared, 'Today you are trusted, established
in our sight.'" In contrast, the ruler at Moses' time is referred to as the "Pharaoh": "We gave Moses nine Clear Signs. Ask the
tribe of Israel about when he came to them and Pharaoh said to
him, 'Moses, I think you are bewitched.'"
Therefore the miraculous nature of the Qur'an is manifested here once again: Joseph lived at the time of the Old Kingdom, and hence the word "malik" was used for the Egyptian ruler rather than "pharaoh". On the contrary, since Moses lived at the time of the New Kingdom, the ruler of Egypt is addressed as "pharaoh". There is no doubt that one has to have a knowledge of the history of Egypt in order to make such a distinction. However, the history of Ancient Egypt was completely forgotten by the 4th century, as hieroglyphics could no longer be understood, and was not rediscovered until the 19th century. Therefore, there was no in-depth knowledge of Egyptian history available when the Qur'an was revealed. This fact is yet another one of countless pieces of evidence proving that the Qur'an is the word of God.
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Historical
records available today show us the reason for the different nomenclature
of these rulers. The word "pharaoh" was originally the
name given to the royal palace in ancient Egypt. The rulers of
the old dynasty did not use the title. The use of the word pharaoh
as the title of the ruler did not start until the "New Kingdom"
era of Egyptian history. This period started with the 18th dynasty
(1539-1292 BC), and by the 20th dynasty (945-730 BC) the word
"pharaoh" was adopted as title of respect.
