Академия Корана:Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān/Egypt

Isaac Hasson, "Egypt" in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: J. D. McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Country in the north-east corner of Africa. Egypt or its capital, Miṣr, occurs by name five times in the Qurʾān, once in oblique form according to most readings (qirāʾāt, see readings of the qurʾān). The word Miṣr is mentioned in q 2:61, 10:87, 12:21, 12:99 and 43:51. Egypt also appears in the Qurʾān as the kingdom of Pharaohs (q 43:51; see pharaoh); the country where Joseph (q.v.; Yūsuf) became viceroy, like his patron (al- ʿazīz, q 12:78, 88), after having been a slave and then coming to prominence through his patron’s wife (q 12); the arena of the struggle of Moses (q.v.; Mūsā) and Aaron (q.v.; Hārūn) for their people, the Children of Israel (q.v.; Banū Isrāʾīl, especially sūras 2, 4, 7, 10, 20, 26, 27 and 28); and the refuge given to Jesus (q.v.) and his mother (q 23:50; see mary). There is a controversy about the reading of the word Miṣr (q 2:61), and its significance. Most of the sources prefer the reading miṣran, «some country», whereas the rest read Miṣra, the surname of Egypt (al-Sijistānī, Maṣāḥif, 57; al-Farrāʾ, Maʿānī, i, 42-3).

It seems that, originally, Miṣr referred to the main city (q.v., al- madīna) of Egypt or a particular city(madīna bi-ʿaynihā) in that country (Lisān al-ʿArab, v, 176). Exegetes confirm this identification on the basis of some references in the Qurʾān (q 7:123; 12:30; 28:15, 18, 20; Nasafī, Tafsīr, ii, 70, 219; iii, 229).

The origin of the name Miṣr is also dealt with by exegetes who generally attribute the name to its builder, Miṣr the son of Nūḥ (Lisān al-ʿArab, v, 176; see noah) or the grandson of Ḥām b. Nūḥ (Ibn al-Faqīh, Buldān, 115). His father’s name is given in some sources as Miṣrayim, like the name of one of Ḥām’s sons in Genesis 8:6, which is the Hebrew form of the word for Egypt. It is a dual form and therein is most likely a hint to the fact that ancient Egypt was regarded as two lands: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The form Miṣr as used in Arabic after its conquest by the Muslims in 18-20/639-41 represents perhaps Lower Egypt only but was later applied to the entire country.

Egypt in qurʾānic exegesis and in sīra and ḥadīth literature

Even though Egypt is only cited by name five times, it is nonetheless the most frequently mentioned city or country in the Qurʾān (as is the case in the Bible). Some claim that the Qurʾān mentions Miṣr explicitly and indirectly 28 times in all (Ibn Ẓahīra, Faḍāʾil, 71; see geography).

Exegetes suggest taking some words or expressions as allusions to Egypt or to a specific part of the country: «the land» (al-arḍ, q 7:127, 129; 12:56, 80; 28:4, 6, 19), the Nile (al-yamm, q 7:136; 20:39, 78, 97; 28:7, 40; 51:40), Alexandria (iram dhāt al-ʿimād, q 89:7; cf. Ibn Ẓahīra, Faḍāʾil, 73), «a height, where there was a hollow and a spring» (rabwatin dhāti qarārin wa-maʿīn, q 23:50; cf. Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh, i, 597; Ibn Ẓahīra, Faḍāʾil, 71; see wells and springs). Other interpretations for this last expression — Jerusalem (q.v.), al- Ramla or Damascus — are suggested as well (ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Tafsīr, ii, 45-6; Nasafī, Tafsīr, iii, 121).

The Qurʾān does not mention Hagar (Hājar) and her Egyptian origin (see abraham). It also does not mention either the relations between Muḥammad (q.v.) and al-Muqawqis, the ruler of Egypt, or with Mary the Copt (Māriya al-Qibṭiyya; see wives of the prophet), the Prophet’s concubine and mother of his son Ibrāhīm, who died in 8/630 (al-Zubayr b. Bakkār, Muntakhab, 55-62). But exegetes, ḥadīth and sīra traditionists and the so-called tales of the prophets (qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ) provide a substantial addition to fill this gap. In the subsequent literature, Egypt became «the holy, good and blessed land» (al-arḍ al-muqaddasa al-ṭayyiba al-mubāraka, cf. Ibn Ẓahīra, Faḍāʾil, 6). See also exegesis of the qurʾān; ḥadīth and the qurʾān; sīra and the qurʾān; prophets and prophethood. The wealth (q.v.) of Egypt and its economic and political importance prompted an abundance of traditions in praise of the country (see politics and the qurʾān). Most of these traditions were attributed to the Prophet, his Companions (see companions of the prophet) or the Bible (q.v.) and eventually became incorporated into the exegesis of the relevant qurʾānic verses. See also scripture and the qurʾān .

Bibliography

• ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Tafsīr, Beirut 1999
• Farrāʾ, Maʿānī, Cairo 1980
• Ibn al-Faqīh, Kitāb al-Buldān, ed. Y. al-Hādī, Beirut 1966
• Ibn Ẓahīra, Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Muḥammad Abū Ḥāmid, al-Faḍāʾil al-bāhira fī maḥāsin Miṣr wa-l-Qāhira, ed. M. al-Saqqā and K. al-Muhandis, Cairo 1969
• Lisān al-ʿArab
• Nasafī, Tafsīr, Beirut n.d.
• al-Sijistānī, Ibn Abī Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Maṣāḥif, Cairo n.d.
• Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh
• al-Zubayr b. Bakkār, Abū ʿAlī al-Qurashī, Muntakhab min Kitāb Azwāj al-nabī, ed. S. al-Shihābī, Beirut 1983