CHAPTER II: Religious Life in Ancient Egypt:

Firstly: Ancient Egyptians knew God:

1- Within the Quranic story of Joseph, we have asserted before in this book that Egyptians of Ancient Egypt knew God, and this fact is shown clearly in the Quran within the context of the story about the Hyksos royal council investigating the unjust accusations leveled at Joseph that caused his being imprisoned for years: "He said, "What was the matter with you, women, when you tried to seduce Joseph?" They said, "God forbid! We knew of no evil committed by him." The Potiphar's wife then said, "Now the truth is out. It was I who tried to seduce him, and he is telling the truth." "This is that he may know that I did not betray him in secret, and that God does not guide the scheming of the betrayers." "Yet I do not claim to be innocent. The soul commands evil, except those on whom my Lord has mercy. Truly my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful."" (12:51-53). In these verses, the Arab word ''Allah'' is used to denote God. we can use these verses as an introduction to tackling the nature of religious life in Ancient Egypt; it is clear that those women in 12:51-53 knew God/Allah and uttered His name in times of surprise, hardship, and alarm, and even to express amazement, as those affluent women mentioned the name of God, Allah, when they saw Joseph for the first time: "…They said, "Good God, this is not a human, this must be a generous angel!" (12:31).   

2- What we read here as registered in the Quranic text 1400 years ago has been discovered by many Egyptologists. For instance, the German Egyptologist Adolf Erman in his book titled "Die aegyptische Religion"(1905), which tackles the Pharaonic religion of Ancient Egypt, asserts that (…"… it is surprising that Ancient Egyptians, despite their so many deities, talked about a general God, as we read in their literature when the Supreme Power controlling fates of people is mentioned. For example, they would say 'what is going on is the Decree of God', '…God did not grant him success', '…What you sow, plant, and harvest is the bounty of God', 'The one beloved by God must be obedient to Him', '…God knows the evil ones and will punish them', 'When you feel happy, you must thank God for it'… … We read in an ancient papyrus scroll that contain wisdom that God is Unseen and people must sanctify and glorify Him …… Indeed, if these were such sentiments of Ancient Egyptians, they were very near to the true religion, but at the same time, they had adhered as well to the traditional religious heritage that made them faithful to their ancient deities as well…"…).  

3- Indeed, we assert here that phrases mentioned by Erman are still being uttered by Egyptians until now, in Egyptian colloquial dialect of Arabic instead if hieroglyphics. Apparently, we can surmise that the Quran has preserved some Ancient Egyptian words in the Quranic Chapter 12, within the story of Joseph, words that entered Arabic language later on because of the influence of the Quran as a linguistic authority in later eras. For instance, the expression uttered by Potiphar's wife in 12:23 is in the Quranic tongue: "hait lak" , which literally translates as ''I'm yours'' or ''I'm here for you'', when she tried to seduce Joseph. Indeed, some people in Siwa oasis in Egypt whose dialect has retained some hieroglyphic words still say the term ''hait'' until now, to mean the command: ''Come!''. The expression "God forbid!" mentioned in 12:51 is in the Quranic tongue "hasha lillah", still used by Siwa oasis people as well as the other expression/term in 12:51 ''Has-Has'', which in their dialect means literally to make sure or to affirm something as true.      

4- Hence, in the Quranic Chapter 12, we see the only Quranic story that is not scattered in many chapters, but has the one and only narrative of Joseph in the Quran, continuously depicted in its events and scenes, to remain for centuries as an endless source of wisdom as well as historical, human, and linguistic wonders. We are given so many indications in the Quranic Chapter 12 that Joseph, as a prophet, had enriched the Egyptian life in terms of the moralistic, religious, spiritual, literary, and humanistic levels, not just saving Egyptians and many parts of the ancient world during the time of a general famine.     

5- Within the literary field, we see the influence of the life-story and experience of Joseph in the pieces of advice written in the papyrus of Ani, who was an ancient Egyptian wise scribe, addressed to his son, Khenso-Hotep, during the Pharaonic era of the 22^nd dynasty: (…do not let your heart as a toy in the hands of women by loving them too much, s this will weaken your religiousness, lower your manners, and dishonor your name … Women are very cunning and the feminine charm and influence are stronger than the evil plans of the devils …) Within the same Pharaonic era, we read the following words of another wise scribe called Ptah-Hotep, influenced by the story of Joseph as well: (… To fabricate sex slanders about anyone, to betray one's trust after being trusted by someone, to betray a friend or an ally, and to cause corruption are big crimes punished severely by God the Omnipotent…). One feels that these moralistic pieces of advice may be ascribed to any imams/preachers, without noticing any difference at all in terms of style, tone, or words. Hence, we are never surprised when the Potiphar's wife would speak in public and declare her repentance and express her remorse before the Hyksos king, his retinue, and the affluent women, using these words: "… The Potiphar's wife then said, "Now the truth is out. It was I who tried to seduce him, and he is telling the truth." "This is that he may know that I did not betray him in secret, and that God does not guide the scheming of the betrayers." "Yet I do not claim to be innocent. The soul commands evil, except those on whom my Lord has mercy. Truly my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful."" (12:51-53). This means that she knew God/Allah and His Holy Names or Epithets, and this sincere stance of her repentance is honored by God by being mentioned in the Quran, God's Word and the last divine message to humanity.   

   The question posed now is as follows: Did the knowledge of God by the Ancient Egyptians diminished during the era of self-deified Moses' Pharaoh who persecuted the innocent weak ones?

1- The Quran denies this; such knowledge of God by the Ancient Egyptians remained pretty much the same. The stubbornness of Moses' Pharaoh and his people/retinue had hidden a belief in God never shown by the because of their pride, hubris, vanity, and being keen on owning the transient world and being superior in it. God says about their reaction to miracles of God through Moses: "And they rejected them, although their souls were certain of them, out of wickedness and pride…" (27:14). When God sent them plagues as a test and a warning, they used to resort to Moses, asking him to implore God to remove the plagues, and this had shown them to know God and His Might: " Whenever a plague befell them, they would say, "O Moses, pray to your Lord for us, according to the covenant He made with you. If you lift the plague from us, we will believe with you and let the Israelites go with you."" (7:134). Another Quranic proof that Ancient Egyptian knew God is when the Quran tells us about Moses when he began his preaching them, and he reminded them of the name of God/Allah Whom they revered and honored: "Saying, "Hand over God's servants to me. I am an honest messenger to you." And, "Do not exalt yourselves above God. I come to you with clear authority." (44:18-19). In another situation, God Moses invokes God to make them never think of stoning him to death: "I have taken refuge in my Lord and your Lord, lest you stone me." (44:20); this means that they knew that God/Allah was their God and Moses' God as well.    

2- In the same vein of reminding Moses' Pharaoh and his retinue members of God/Allah, the believing man inside the palace of Pharaoh sermonize them in his long speech, using the name of God and the belief in the Last Day: "A believing man from Pharaoh's retinue, who had concealed his faith, said, "Are you going to kill a man for saying, 'My Lord is God,' and he has brought you clear proofs from your Lord? If he is a liar, his lying will rebound upon him; but if he is truthful, then some of what he promises you will befall you. God does not guide the extravagant imposter. O my people! Yours is the dominion today, supreme in the land; but who will help us against God's might, should it fall upon us?"… " (40:28-29); "The one who had believed said, "O my people, I fear for you the like of the day of the confederates. Like the fate of the people of Noah, and Aad, and Thamood, and those after them. God wants no injustice for the servants." (40:30-31). Indeed, the masses and the vast majority of Ancient Egyptians used to believe in the Last Day in a vague manner, and only few of them (like this believing man in the retinue) believed in the Last Day in true faith. "O my people, I fear for you the Day of Calling Out. The Day when you will turn and flee, having no defender against God. Whomever God misguides has no guide."" (40:32-33); ""O my people, the life of this world is nothing but fleeting enjoyment, but the Hereafter is the Home of Permanence. Whoever commits a sin will be repaid only with its like. But whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, and is a believer-these will enter Paradise, where they will be provided for without account." (40:39-40). This believing man knew the real faith devoted and dedicated entirely to God, and he knew that disbelief is to cover one's innate nature by polytheism: the worship of other deities/gods and allies/saints as partners of God, as we discern from his words to his people: "O my people, how is it that I call you to salvation, and you call me to the Fire? You call me to disbelieve in God, and to associate with Him what I have no knowledge of, while I call you to the Mighty Forgiver. Without a doubt, what you call me to has no say in this world, or in the Hereafter; and our turning back is to God; and the transgressors are the inmates of the Fire. You will remember what I am telling you, so I commit my case to God. God is Observant of the servants."" (40:41-44). Indeed, the speech delivered by this believing man indicates elevated, high degree of religious and moralistic level of sublimity, provided only for the chosen ones who are true to their Lord. Adolf Erman has expressed his surprise in his book about phrases containing the word ''God'' uttered by Ancient Egyptians; what would he have done if he read words of this believing Pharaonic man, whose memory and wise words are immortalized in the Quran? Indeed, this believing man inside the palace of Moses' Pharaoh was among the few monotheistic persons among a vast majority of polytheistic Egyptians at the time, who knew and worshipped God alongside with Pharaonic deities. This believing man refused polytheism: "You call me to disbelieve in God, and to associate with Him what I have no knowledge of, while I call you to the Mighty Forgiver" (40:42). Hence, within the vast majority of polytheists in a given society, who believes in other deities/gods and saints beside God, there is a small minority that believed in God within monotheism, and this minority in that story of Moses was represented by this believing man among the retinue of Moses' Pharaoh.          

3- Among this small minority of monotheistic believers was the wife of Pharaoh herself, and God in the Quran makes her a model and an excellent example of true faith to be followed by all believers of both genders: "And God illustrates an example of those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, "My Lord, build for me, with you, a house in Paradise, and save me from Pharaoh and his works, and save me from the unjust people."" (66:11). This good woman was the one to take care of Moses with motherly affection since his infancy, and she begged his husband till he agreed to make her save and rear the baby: "Pharaoh's wife said, "An eye's delight for me and for you. Do not kill him; perhaps he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son."…" (28:9).   

4- We can deduce that the presence of the baby Moses inside the palace of Pharaoh had influenced Pharaoh's wife to a great extent and she later on declared herself as a believer in God, and the existence of the believing man inside the retinue of Pharaoh later on shows that there were true believers' movement/trend in the hiding at the time of Moses' Pharaoh in Egypt, inside and outside the Pharaonic palace. We deduce then that among this trend of believers at the time that man from the outskirts of the city that came to Moses to warn him and urge him to flee Egypt to escape being murdered. This minority of real believers at the time included later the magicians who came in the first place to attempt to defeat Moses and desired to get nearer to Pharaoh in his palace-court retinue, but they were struck with awe and knew by the miracle done before them that Moses was indeed a prophet sent by God and they declared their faith before Pharaoh and all people present. Hence, they rejected their older wish to get nearer to Pharaoh and never cared about threats of Pharaoh who had them killed brutally (crucified and dismembered). In fact, they responded to the Pharaonic threats by the best possible statement uttered by true believers in times of distress and fearful ordeal: "They said, "No problem. To our Lord we will return. We are eager for our Lord to forgive us our sins, since we are the first of the believers."" (26:50-51); "They said, "It is to our Lord that we will return." "You are taking vengeance on us only because we have believed in the signs of our Lord when they have come to us." "Our Lord! Pour out patience upon us, and receive our souls in submission."" (7:125-126); "He said, "Did you believe in him before I have given you permission? He must be your chief, who has taught you magic. I will cut off your hands and your feet on alternate sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of the palm-trees. Then you will know which of us is more severe in punishment, and more lasting." They said, "We will not prefer you to the proofs that have come to us, and Him who created us. So issue whatever judgment you wish to issue. You can only rule in this lowly life. We have believed in our Lord, so that He may forgive us our sins, and the magic you have compelled us to practice. God is Better, and more Lasting." Whoever comes to his Lord guilty, for him is Hell, where he neither dies nor lives." (20:71-74).    

5- Despite the above-mentioned facts that most Ancient Egyptians knew God and that few of them were true monotheistic believers. Most of them adhered to the worship of other gods/deities beside Him as well as tombs. They liked to create names and epithets to these deities to sanctify them, and this sanctification influenced the collective memory of the Egyptian nation. Let us remember that Joseph was a prophet to all Egyptians as well; he began his call/ministry in the prison cell with both of his inmates that asked him about the interpretation of their dreams/visions. Joseph talked to them first about monotheism and refuting polytheism, as we know from the following verses of the Quranic Chapter Twelve: "Two youth entered the prison with him. One of them said, "I see myself pressing wine." The other said, "I see myself carrying bread on my head, from which the birds are eating. Tell us their interpretation-we see that you are one of the righteous." He said, "No food is served to you, but I have informed you about it before you have received it. That is some of what my Lord has taught me. I have forsaken the tradition of people who do not believe in God; and regarding the Hereafter, they are deniers." "And I have followed the faith of my forefathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. It is not for us to associate anything with God. This is by virtue of God's grace upon us and upon the people, but most people do not give thanks. "O My fellow inmates, are diverse lords better, or God, the One, the Supreme?" "You do not worship, besides Him, except names you have named, you and your ancestors, for which God has sent down no authority. Judgment belongs to none but God. He has commanded that you worship none but Him. This is the right religion, but most people do not know." (12:36-40). Joseph went on in his ministry after being appointed as a governor of Egypt with power and authority of his own, but most Egyptians at the time rejected his call and preaching and had adhered to their gods and deities. Indeed, this is deduced from the words of the believing retinue member inside Pharaoh's palace, when he reminded the rest of those present how they rejected the call of Joseph when he tried to convince them of dedicating their religion and worship to God alone: "Joseph had come to you with clear revelations, but you continued to doubt what he came to you with. Until, when he perished, you said, "God will never send a messenger after him."..." (40:34). We notice here that despite their earlier rejection of the call of joseph, they knew he was a prophet/messenger of God, and they were relieved by his death and hoped no prophet would come after him. this reminds us of the words of Erman, when he mentions in his book that though the Ancient Egyptians knew God, as the Creator of the universe, they had clung to the gods/deities and all religious traditions inherited from their forefathers.         

6- Hence, the Ancient Egyptians knew God, and they also knew about the angels; we infer this from these two verses: the affluent women had said the following on seeing Joseph: "..."Good God, this is not a human, this must be a generous angel."" (12:31). When Pharaoh ridiculed Moses, he had said the following, mentioning angels as well: "Why are bracelets of gold not dropped on him, or they angels came with him in procession?" (43:53). This shows that Ancient Egyptians knew God and the angels, but they also adhered to the worship of other deities/gods beside Him, like the vast majority of human beings in all locations and eras, who declare themselves as believers in God; God says in the Quranic Chapter Twelve: "And most of them do not believe in God unless they associate others beside Him." (12:106).    

Secondly: the Israelites were influenced by the religion of the Ancient Egyptians:

1- This talking about such an influence might seem surprising at first, because the Israelites were the descendants of great prophets: Abraham. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and the prophets/messengers of the tribes, and certainly, they have witnessed God's miracles within the lifetime of Moses, unlike any other nations at the time. Yet, their being influenced to a larger extent by the Ancient Egyptians' religion, and we infer this from many Quranic verses. But such influence never included deification of Pharaoh, and this incurred his wrath on them and was one of the causes of his severe persecution of the Israelites. Later on, history tells us a positive thing in the faith tenets of the Israelites: they never deify prophets/messengers of God, and this is a good thing, as most people still deify mortals, past and present, but some of the Jews had committed the sin of murdering some prophets/messengers of God, and they distorted the divine revelation.      

2- We know from the Quran how the Israelites felt nostalgic toward Egyptian temples and the idols inside them soon enough, once Moses passed with them the Red Sea. God says in the Quran: "And We delivered the Israelites across the sea. And when they came upon a people who were devoted to some statues of theirs, they said, "O Moses, make for us a god, as they have gods." He said, "You are truly such ignorant people." " (7:138). This means that sooner than we might expect, the Israelites forgot the miracles and the bounties of God and how they were delivered and how God took revenge from the tyrant Pharaoh and his troops, and once they saw a Pharaonic temple in Sinai, they readily asked to build them a temple containing idols/gods like the one they saw.   

3- When Moses left the Israelites temporarily to receive the tablets of the Ten Commandment from God, he returned to find the Israelites worshipping a golden calf, similar to Apis, the bull-god of the Pharaonic mythology. We know from the Quran that a man called Al-Samiri urges the Israelites to gather all pieces of gold jewelry they inherited as well as the pieces they stole from the Egyptians, and he melted all this to make a statue of a golden calf, and all Israelites worshipped this statue, the way they used to do when they worshipped Ancient Egyptians' idols at the Pharaonic temples. When Aaron tried to stop such polytheism, they threatened to kill him. upon the return of Moses, he knew of all that occurred and became so furious that he threw the tablets containing the Torah (the Ten Commandments), and he was about to quarrel with Aaron, who excused himself and explained what really happened during the absence of Moses. In his turn, Moses destroyed the golden calf and threw it into the sea, while expelling Al-Samiri from the group; yet, God's wrath upon them was so enormous: "In his absence, the people of Moses adopted a calf made from their ornaments-a body which bellowed. Did they not see that it could not speak to them, nor guide them in any way? They took it for worship. They were in the wrong. Then, when they regretted, and realized that they had erred, they said, "Unless our Lord extends His mercy to us, and forgives us, we will be among the losers." And when Moses returned to his people, angry and disappointed, he said, "What an awful thing you did in my absence. Did you forsake the commandments of your Lord so hastily?" And he threw down the tablets; and he took hold of his brother's head, dragging him towards himself. He said, "Son of my mother, the people have overpowered me, and were about to kill me; so do not allow the enemies to gloat over me, and do not count me among the unjust people."" (7:148-150). "So Moses returned to his people, angry and disappointed. He said, "O my people, did your Lord not promise you a good promise? Was the time too long for you? Or did you want wrath from your Lord to descend upon you, so you broke your promise to me?" They said, "We did not break our promise to you by our choice, but we were made to carry loads of the people's ornaments, and we cast them in. That was what Al-Samiri suggested." So he produced for them a calf-a mere body which bellowed. And they said, "This is your god, and the god of Moses, but he has forgotten." Did they not see that it cannot return a word to them, and has no power to harm them or benefit them? Aaron had said to them before, "O my people, you are being tested by this. And your Lord is the Merciful, so follow me, and obey my command." They said, "We will not give up our devotion to it, until Moses returns to us." He said, "O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray. From following me? Did you disobey my command?" He said, "Son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or my head. I feared you would say, `You have caused division among the Israelites, and did not regard my word." He said, "What do you have to say, O Samiri?" He said, "I saw what they did not see, so I grasped a handful from the Messenger's traces, and I flung it away. Thus my soul prompted me." He said, "Be gone! Your lot in this life is to say, 'No contact.' And you have an appointment that you will not miss. Now look at your god that you remained devoted to-we will burn it up, and then blow it away into the sea, as powder." Surely your God is Allah, the One besides whom there is no other gods. He comprehends everything in knowledge." (20:86-98). We know from the Quran as well that worshipping the golden calf – representing the predominance of the Pharaonic religion on the Israelites – had filled their hearts, and this shows how their tenets were distorted because of this Egyptian impact on them: "And We made a covenant with you, and raised the Mount above you: "Take what We have given you firmly, and listen." They said, "We hear and disobey." And their hearts became filled with the love of the calf because of their disbelief. Say, "Wretched is what your faith commands you to do, if you are believers."" (2:93). Another example of another Ancient Egyptians' deity worshipped by the Israelites at one time is Osir/Osiris, the god of death, thought by some Jews at a certain time that he was the son of God: "The Jews said, "Osir is the son of God," and the Christians said, "The Messiah is the son of God." These are their statements, out of their mouths. They emulate the statements of those who blasphemed before. May God assail them! How deceived they are!" (9:30). This verse shows to us that the idea of Osir was taken by some Jews from other nations, and this indicates that centuries of living inside Ancient Egypt made the Israelites adopt some ideas from the Pharaonic religious tenets; hence, the phrase "...They emulate the statements of those who blasphemed before..." may refer to the Ancient Egyptians, whose faith tenets included ascribing sons and daughters to God.      

4- This Osir mentioned in 9:30 is the Osiris, the god of death in the Pharaonic religion, whom Ancient Egyptians considered to be the son of the Most High Supreme God, and Israelites adopted for a while this blasphemous, polytheistic notion. Erman says the following about Osiris: (... the god Osiris was the pivot of the Ancient Egyptian religion in the Pharaonic Era, ... It is his relation to life and death that made this god a supreme one among the other gods and goddesses, as he was the god of death controlling the dead as their master ...). By the way, Ancient Egyptians never pronounced the name of this god as in the way Europeans did: "Osiris"; rather, they pronounced it like ''Osir'', just as the way his name is written and pronounced in the Quran. Let us remember that the myth of Osiris and Isis spread all over Europe centuries before Christianity, first by the Greeks, and the names of the god Osiris and the goddess Isis are the European names spread by later on Egyptologists as well; the Pharaonic pronunciations of Isis through the centuries were Izzit, Izzah, and Uzza (this last one spread in Arabia and is mentioned in the Quranic chapter 53), while Osiris was pronounced in hieroglyphics as Osir. The Israelites for a while worshipped and deified Osir as a son of God, a blasphemous notion in monotheistic religion of Abraham, of course. Since we have proven, using the Quran, that the Ancient Egyptians knew God, this was the basis of their making Osir as a supreme deity and son of God, who takes souls of dead people on behalf of God as well and judge them in their tombs/graves as well. Of course, the Israelites had added their Hebrew linguistic features to the name Osir; they had named it as "Azrael", and the suffix –el means God or a god, and even the name Israel means originally either the servants of God or those who walk in the path of God. as for the name Azrael (which is the Hebrew variant of Osir/Osiris) in modern Egyptian Arabic tongue and culture, it is the assumed name of the angel of death in the Egyptian folklore, which has nothing to do with Islam, because the name ''Azrael'' is never mentioned in the Quran.