So much of Judaism and Islam hinge on the story of Moses, and in Islam, Moses is mentioned more than any other prophet. Recent run-ins with Muslim proselytizers on WP have forced me to take a little look at the history and the doctrine of the Muslim faith. I have stuck to positive web sites and the Quran. Here’s a small bit of what I know.
Muslims hold Moses in very high regard. They have many stories of Moses’ life outside of the Old Testament and in the Quran he is mentioned a mere 115 times. I realize these stories are translations, but in general they read like Aesop’s Fables. Here is one;
According to Isra’iliyat hadith, during his childhood when Moses was playing on Pharaoh’s lap. He grabbed the Pharaoh’s beard, and also slapped him in his face. This action prompted the Pharaoh, to consider Moses as the Israelite who would overthrow him. In turn the Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses. The Pharaoh’s wife persuaded him not to, because he was an infant. Instead he decided to test Moses. Two plates were set before young Moses, one contained rubies and the other held glowing coals. Moses reached out for the rubies, but the angel Gabriel directed his hand to the coals. Moses grabbed a glowing coal and put it in his mouth, burning his tongue. After the incident Moses suffered from a speech defect, but was spared by the Pharaoh. (1)Go to historical narrative-
With so much riding on the story of Moses, I don’t think they got the memo that there is zero evidence that one word of it is true. They also teach the exodus (which didn’t happen) and the splitting of the sea. But from what they tell me, the Quran is infallible and ahead of its time. Here is a rebuttal persuasion from a Muslim on Mel’s site.
This is proof Muhammad was a prophet; 1- Creation of the universe: “Do the disbelievers not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, then I split them apart?” (Quran 21:30) (is this allegorical, physical, or humanity?)
2- Mountains: “have we not made the earth an expanse and the mountains stakes” (Quran 78:6-7) (pure ambiguous evidence)
3- Aquatic origin: “And I created every living thing out of water” (Quran 21:30) (we are mostly water. Is this prophetic?)
Evidently number 1 is the Big Bang, 2 is geologic formation presented ahead of scientific knowledge of such things, and 3 is evolution. All based on the vision of a sheepherder according to the caller. But I suspect he was duped into believing the revelation about Moses and revelation didn’t cue him in that the story would be debunked. Also, as a casual observation it appears much of The Ten Commandments movie script is borrowed from the Quran more than the Bible.
One last note; The Quran is supposed to be read with the help of commentary and experts—sound familiar? It requires a lot of explaining.
Archeological studies have shifted from where and if, to when it happened. And the size and scope might just be a tad off. The best and closest event may be that Moses was an Egyptian priest that led a leper colony out of Egypt during the time of Akhenaten.
Why Islam? Is an Islamic site with Moses stories from the Quran if your curious.
