Moses in the Kuran and in the Torah: A Comparison

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Many of us know Moses from The Bible, in the story of Exodus where he saved his Israelite people from enslavement in the Egyptian kingdom under the reign of a pharaoh. However, Moses appears in many other religious texts as well. For example he appears in the Islamic bible, The Quran and in the Torah. The story each book tells about Moses is fairly consistent, all books agree Moses freed the Israelites from Egypt into the promise land, thus to their freedom, however, there are few differences. Moses' significance in the Torah and the Quran may be looked at slightly different, though he is a key role in each book, he proves more influential in one than the other. With this essay I plan to compare the story of Moses in the Torah and in the Quran and decide in which book Moses' role was more significant. According to the Quran, Moses was born in Egypt to a family of Israelites. During the time of his birth Egypt was under a great divide, this divide placed the Israelites in the bottom class and they were often cast as slaves. The pharaoh at the time, had enslaved the Israelite people and used them to build up his own kingdom. It is said the pharaoh had a dream and his soothsayers interpreted Pharaoh's dream as a vision from Ra. This vision predicted the downfall of his reign. They foresaw that a Israelite boy would grow up to be the cause of Pharaoh's fall and with that Pharaoh set out to kill all newborn baby boys throughout his kingdom. Guards and spies were sent throughout the kingdom in search of all newborn baby boys. Once attained the infants were killed in hopes of preventing the soothsayer's predictions. The Quran states that God spoke to Moses' mother and told her to place her baby in a basket and send the child in the bas... ... middle of paper ... ... higher degree amongst the Jewish culture and religion because so much of the rest of Judaism relied on the fact that the Israelites escaped Egypt. Both stories are very similar however Moses' role in the Torah is much more significant. Works Cited Bucaille, Maurice. Moses and Pharaoh in the Bible, Quran and History. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, 2008. Print. This book Fleg, Edmond, and Stephen Haden Guest. The Life of Moses. New York: E.P. Dutton &, 1928. Print. Kaminsky, Joel S., and Joel N. Lohr. The Torah: A Beginner's Guide. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2011. Print. Rossel, Seymour. The Torah: Portion by Portion. Los Angeles, CA: Torah Aura Productions, 2007. Print. Shamoun, Sam, and Jochen Katz. "Qur'an Contradiction: Israel, the Quran and the Promised Land." Qur'an Contradiction: Israel, the Quran and the Promised Land. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

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