ABSTRACT
Pharaoh is one of the few characters who fi gures equally prominently in both the Qurʾān and the Bible; and it is reasonable – and in my view correct – to assume that there is a close relationship between the Biblical and Qurʾānic Pharaohs. After all, the term “Pharaoh,” or parʿo , means “Great Palace” in ancient Egyptian. It is an idiosyncratic Biblical usage to refer to the ruler of Egypt by this term – just as one nowadays might say that “the White House” has issued a statement when referring to the US president. 2 The fact that this quirky usage of the term “Pharaoh” recurs in the Qurʾān suggests that the Qurʾānic Pharaoh is to be interpreted with reference to an originally Biblical context rather than an ancient Egyptian one. (I leave the question as to the relationship between the Bible’s Pharaoh and ancient Egypt to the Egyptologists). And yet, it would be misguided to assume that the Qurʾānic Pharaoh is no more than an Arabic version of his Biblical namesake. In fact, we shall see that there are signifi cant differences between the two Pharaohs.
