The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 132
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH (Pharaoh) is not a personal name. It was the title held by the ancient kings of Egypt. Every Egyptian king is called in the Bible. The personal name of the Pharaoh with whom Moses came in contact was Rameses II (Enc. Bib. ). (slaying) is derived from which originally means, he slaughtered or cut open the throat of an animal, or he strangled a person to death. Here the word is used in the intensified form dhabbaḥa to signify (1) that Pharaoh and his people treated the Israelites as mere beasts, and (2) that they killed them most mercilessly. It does not mean that they actually slaughtered them like animals, for elsewhere the Quran, speaking of the same torment, uses. (17:142: يذبحون instead of يقتلون the word مر (women) is the plural of from a different (a root. woman) Though the word generally means "women" (Aqrab), it is also sometimes used about girls, as the Quran itself has used it (4:128). It is also used to signify "wives" (33:33). (trial) means, anything by means of which a person may be tried; a trial whether through a blessing or an affliction (Aqrab). Commentary: In verses 41-48 God reminded the Israelites of His blessings in general, particularly the blessing of prophethood, which He had bestowed on them. He now calls their attention to such favours as exalted the Israelites above other peoples. The first of them to which God refers here 132 PT. 1 is their deliverance from the hands of Pharaoh and his people, who inflicted on them grievous torments. Some Christian critics have objected that whereas the Bible nowhere speaks of the sons of the Israelites being slaughtered like beasts, the Quran so speaks of them. We have shown under Important Words that the word used in the verse does not signify actual slaughtering by cutting the throat. It also means strangling to death. As Pharaoh first ordered the male children of the Israelites to be strangled at birth and later changed the decree to other methods of killing, the Quran uses a word which covers all such forms of killing. As already hinted, the word in the sense of slaughtering is used figuratively to denote that Pharaoh and his people treated the Israelites most mercilessly, killing them in whatever manner they liked. Elsewhere the Quran uses the word i. e. killing in place of i. e. slaughtering (7:142). ذبح In Exod. 1:8-22, we read: "Now there arose a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply. Therefore they (the Egyptians) did set over them taskmasters to afflict them (the Israelites) with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Rameses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were