Surah 7. Al-A'raf

85The word Fir`aun (Pharaoh) literally means "the offspring of the sun god" . The ancient Egyptians called the sun Ra, which they worshiped as their supreme lord, and Fir`aun was named after it. According to the creed of the ancient Egyptians, every ruler based his authority on his relation to Ra `a and claimed to be its incarnation and representative on the earth. Therefore every royal dynasty that came into power in Egypt presented itself to be the descendant of the, sun-god and every ruler adopted the title of Fir`aun in order to show to the people that he was the Supreme Lord.

In this connection, it should also be noted that two different Pharaohs have been mentioned in the story of Moses as related in the Qur'an. The one was that Pharaoh who was ruling over Egypt when Moses was born, and who brought him up in his own house, and the second was the one whom Moses invited to accept the Divine Message of God and deliver the children of Israel, and who was drowned .

The research scholars of today are inclined to believe that the first of the two Pharaohs who oppressed the Israelites was Rameses II, who ruled from 1292 to 1225 B.C. And the second Pharaoh who has been mentioned in these verses was Mineptah, who assisted his father Rameses II in the affairs of the government, and succeeded as ruler after his death. But these dates appear to be doubtful because, according to the calendar of the Israelites, the year of the death of Moses was 1272 B.C. These are, however, mere historical guesses for it is difficult to reconcile the days of the Israelite, the Egyptian and the Christian calendars.

86Prophet Moses was sent to Pharaoh with two missions. First, he should invite Pharaoh to surrender to Allah by accepting Islam. Second, he should demand from him to set the Israelites free from his slavery and tyranny. The Qur'an mentions both the missions at one and the same place or separately, as required by the occasion.