METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
Āyah Mutashābih: Pharaoh’s body
When Pharaoh was drowning, something very dramatic occurred underneath the water which remained unknown for thousands of years until it was revealed in the Qur’ān:
When We took the Children of Israel across the sea, Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in insolence and spite. But when he was drowning he (realized that he was not God and declared: “I (now) believe that there is no God except Him Whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit (to their God).”
(Qur’ān, Yūnus, 10:90)
Allah Most High, responded to that declaration of faith as follows:
“Ah now! But a little while before, you were in rebellion! – and you were engaged in acts of destructive corruption!”
“This day We (have decided to) preserve your (physical) body, so that you (i.e., your physical body, when it is discovered, or when it resurfaces in the historical process) may (function as) a Sign for a people who will come after you. But verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!”
(Qur’ān, Yūnus, 10:90-92)
The Qur’ān has repeated this information that the matter concerning Pharaoh’s end constitutes an End-time Sign for mankind:
“So, when they angered Us, We punished them and drowned them every one. And We made them a thing past, and an example for those after (them).”
(Qur’ān, Zukhruf, 43:55-56)
There is conclusive evidence that the body of the Pharaoh who died by drowning, was discovered in 1898, and this confirmed the amazing Divine declaration in the Qur’ān concerning the preservation of his body. But the Qur’ān did not simply say that his body will be preserved; rather it said that when his body is discovered it would function as a Sign for a people to come after him. It then concluded with the sad recognition that most people are negligent concerning Allah’s Signs.
The world of Islamic scholarship has responded to the discovery of the body in 1898, and to its subsequent positive identification by the most eminent of French scientists in the 1980’s, with in the precise way which `Allah Most High lamented. Their response has never ventured beyond a recognition that a Divine prophecy in the Qur’ān was fulfilled, and that this has further validated its claim to Truth. Rather, this is an Āyah Mutashābiha which requires an interpretation, and that interpretation cannot be discovered without proper methodology of studying the Qur’ān as a whole to locate the system of meaning of the subject.
I published my book entitled Jerusalem in the Qur’ān in 2002 with the following analysis and interpretation of the event of the discovery of Pharaoh’s body:
“The body of Pharaoh (of the Exodus) would be recovered and that would indicate that the Jews would now suffer the same fate that Pharaoh suffered”
The Qur’ān provided yet another sign to show that the final countdown for Banū Isrāīl in the Last Age had now arrived and that the worst possible punishment would now be unleashed upon them by Allah Most High. That divine sign was the recovery of the body of the Pharaoh who was drowned when he attempted to cross the sea in pursuit of Moses. Allah Most High had parted the sea in order to save Banū Isrāīl. And after they had crossed over to safety He brought down the waters on Pharaoh and his army and they were all destroyed. The Qur’ān refers to this:
“And remember We parted the Sea for you and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people before your very sight.”
Banū Isrāīl did not know, and still do not recognize, that they would themselves one day be destroyed (as Pharaoh was destroyed), and in the same manner as Pharaoh, if they betrayed Allah Most High and committed certain sins. How did Pharaoh die? The gentle reader would be astonished when he reads of the Qur’anic account of Pharaoh’s death:
“We took Banū Isrāīl across the sea: then Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in insolence and spite. At length, when overwhelmed with the flood, he said: I (now) believe that there is no God except Him Whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit (to the God of the Israelites). “(It was said to him: Ah now! But a little while before, you were in (a state of) rebellion! And you were inflicting oppression (and violence)! “And so this day (We have decided that) We shall save you in your body (i.e. We shall preserve your dead body), so that you (i.e., your dead body when it reappears in history) may be a Sign for those who come after you! But verily, most among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!”
“And remember We parted the Sea for you and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people before your very sight.”
(Qur’ān, alBaqarah, 2:50).
Banū Isrāīl did not know, and still do not recognize, that they would themselves one day be destroyed (as Pharaoh was destroyed), and in the same manner as Pharaoh, if they betrayed Allah Most High and committed certain sins. How did Pharaoh die? The gentle reader would be astonished when he reads of the Qur’anic account of Pharaoh’s death:
“We took Banū Isrāīl across the sea: then Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in insolence and spite. At length, when overwhelmed with the flood, he said: I (now) believe that there is no God except Him Whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit (to the God of the Israelites). “(It was said to him: Ah now! But a little while before, you were in (a state of) rebellion! And you were inflicting oppression (and violence)! “And so this day (We have decided that) We shall save you in your body (i.e. We shall preserve your dead body), so that you (i.e., your dead body when it reappears in history) may be a Sign for those who come after you! But verily, most among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!”
(Qur’ān, Yūnus, 10:90-92)
“But when they continued to challenge Us We inflicted Our retribution on them and drowned them all. And We made them a thing of the past and an (ominous) example for those to come after them. ”
And so the Qur’ān made the amazing prophecy that the dead body of the Pharaoh of the exodus would one day be discovered, and that when it was discovered that would constitute a most ominous divine sign. Amazingly the body of that Pharaoh was discovered close to the end of the last century. It was an even more ominous sign for the Jews that the Zionist Movement was also established at just about the same time that the body of Pharaoh was discovered. It is clear that Dajjāl, the False Messiah, was the mastermind behind the creation of the Zionist Movement. And so the age of Gog and Magog was also the age of Dajjāl. The implication of the above is that the Jews were now being led by Dajjāl, the False Messiah, and by Gog and Magog, on a path which would witness the worst possible punishment being unleashed against them and which would culminate with divinely ordained destruction. But the end would come upon them in the same way that the end came to Pharaoh. What would be that end? The discovery of the body of Pharaoh was a momentous Sign from Allah Most High that the world would now witness the greatest drama ever enacted in human history. Time was now up for the Jews in particular, and for all of mankind in general. Those who lived like Pharaoh did, would now die the way Pharaoh died.”
(Qur’ān, al-Zukhruf, 43:55-6)
And so the Qur’ān made the amazing prophecy that the dead body of the Pharaoh of the exodus would one day be discovered, and that when it was discovered that would constitute a most ominous divine sign. Amazingly the body of that Pharaoh was discovered close to the end of the last century. It was an even more ominous sign for the Jews that the Zionist Movement was also established at just about the same time that the body of Pharaoh was discovered. It is clear that Dajjāl, the False Messiah, was the mastermind behind the creation of the Zionist Movement. And so the age of Gog and Magog was also the age of Dajjāl. The implication of the above is that the Jews were now being led by Dajjāl, the False Messiah, and by Gog and Magog, on a path which would witness the worst possible punishment being unleashed against them and which would culminate with divinely ordained destruction. But the end would come upon them in the same way that the end came to Pharaoh. What would be that end? The discovery of the body of Pharaoh was a momentous Sign from Allah Most High that the world would now witness the greatest drama ever enacted in human history. Time was now up for the Jews in particular, and for all of mankind in general. Those who lived like Pharaoh did, would now die the way Pharaoh died.”
(Jerusalem in the Qur’ān, 2nd. Edition. pp. 164-167)
More than 13 years have passed since this best-selling book was published, and despite the fact that it has been read by very large numbers of people, reprinted more than a dozen times, and translated into many different languages, yet no prominent scholar of Islam in the modern age has as yet come forth to even comment on the above interpretation of the verse of the Qur’ān; nor is it likely that they will ever do so, since so many of them appear to be imprisoned by the false punctuation of the verse concerning the interpretation of an Āyah Mutashābiha of the Qur’ān.
This writer urges a research student to take up the subject of an Islamic eschatological analysis of events, including most of all, World Wars, which have occurred since the body of Pharaoh was discovered in 1898. Such a research work would certainly confirm that the world is now experiencing the last count-down to the end of history. History, in turn, will end with the Jews who support Israel, experiencing exactly the same fate which Pharaoh experienced while drowning.
to be continued .....
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