Mourning of Pharaoh · Quranic Numerics

Quran 44:29 · Surah Ad-Dukhan

فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاءُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَا كَانُوا مُنْظَرِينَ

"Neither heaven nor earth wept over them, nor were they reprieved."

The Impossible Reference

The Quran says the sky did not weep for Pharaoh. Skeptics objected: nobody in history ever claimed the sky wept for pharaohs so the Quran was responding to a belief that didn't exist.

Then hieroglyphs were deciphered. Egyptian pyramid texts sealed for over a thousand years described the mourning of dead pharaohs: "The sky weeps, the stars shake, the keepers of the gods tremble." The Quran was negating a very specific claim, written in a script nobody could read for 1,400 years.

Egyptian hieroglyphic writing fell out of use in the 5th century CE. When were hieroglyphs finally deciphered?

A

During the Islamic Golden Age (8th–13th century) Arab scholars translated the ancient scripts

B

During the Crusades (11th–13th century) European knights brought back knowledge of Egyptian writing

C

In 1822 by Jean-François Champollion, using the Rosetta Stone more than 1,200 years after the Quran

Wikipedia · Egyptian Hieroglyphs · 2020

"Although attempts were made, the script remained undeciphered throughout the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The decipherment was finally accomplished in the 1820s."

What did pyramid texts say about the mourning of a dead Pharaoh?

A

That the Nile flooded in mourning and the sun god Ra darkened the sky with sand

B

"The sky weeps, the stars shake, the keepers of the gods tremble" a specific belief that the heavens mourned for the dead Pharaoh as a god

C.G. Jung · Symbols of Transformation · Vol. 5 · p. 1757

C

That the earth cracked open to receive the Pharaoh's body, but the sky remained silent

The Quran says "Neither heaven nor earth wept over them." Why is this specific negation remarkable?

A

Because it is a common poetic expression many cultures said the sky wept for great rulers, so this was a general denial

B

Because the verse is about rain the Quran is denying that rain fell in Egypt after Pharaoh drowned

C

Because it directly negates a belief found only in Egyptian pyramid texts that "the sky weeps" for dead pharaohs texts sealed in undecipherable hieroglyphs until 1822. Nobody in 7th-century Arabia could have known about this specific Egyptian religious claim.

فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاءُ وَالْأَرْضُ

44:29 · Surah Ad-Dukhan

Lesson complete · +30 XP

0

Years the Quran referenced sealed hieroglyphic texts

0

Year Champollion deciphered hieroglyphs

610

CE Quran 44:29 revealed

C.G. Jung · Symbols of Transformation · Volume 5, p. 1757

"A pyramid text describing the dead Pharaoh's fight for supremacy in heaven, says: The sky weeps, the stars shake, the keepers of the gods tremble and their servants flee when they behold the King rising up as spirit, as a god who lives on his fathers and possesses his mothers."

Wikipedia · Egyptian Hieroglyphs · 2020

"With the final closing of pagan temples in the 5th century, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost. Although attempts were made, the script remained undeciphered throughout the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The decipherment of hieroglyphic writing was finally accomplished in the 1820s by Jean-François Champollion, with the help of the Rosetta Stone."

Summary and recap. Egyptian pyramid texts declared that when a Pharaoh died, "the sky weeps, the stars shake." This was a core religious belief about the divine status of pharaohs their death caused the heavens themselves to mourn.

The Quran 44:29 states: "Neither heaven nor earth wept over them." This is a direct negation of a very specific Egyptian religious claim. But here is the problem: hieroglyphs were completely undecipherable from the 5th century until 1822. No one in 7th-century Arabia could read pyramid texts. The claim that "the sky weeps for pharaohs" was sealed inside stone walls in an unreadable script.

The Quran not only knew about this Egyptian belief it specifically addressed and negated it. 1,200 years before any human could verify the belief existed.

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