Plain talk
By Dr. Mursi Saad El-Din
Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo, Egypt
Ackenaton, Father of Prophets
Some time back I presented in this column a book with the intriguing title Hieroglyphics Interpret the Holy Quran by Saad Abdel-Mottaleb El-Adl. Together with a longer article I published in Arabic in Al-Ahram, the column resulted in a long debate that lasted for many months in the media: press, radio and television. The same writer has recently had another controversial book, Akhnaton: Father of the Prophets, published. In it he takes on the monumental task -- through a reading of primary and secondary historical sources -- of trying to prove that the Egyptian monotheist pharaoh was none other than Abraham. This may sound a wild theory which I, personally being neither historian nor theologian, cannot discuss. I know that I cannot, in such a limited space, do this book justice, but, in trying to present the author's argument, readers might be stimulated to pursue the issue further. The story of the early monotheists was first expounded in his Contra Apion by Josifus, a Jewish historian who lived in Alexandria in 70 AD. Josifus's source of information was Manather, a priest who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (283-245 BC) and who authored Agyptiako , a historical account of the 30 Egyptian dynasties starting with Mena and ending with Alexander, but which made no mention of Akhnaton. The reason for this omission is, probably, that after the sacking of Akhnaton's new Capital Akhet Atun (El-Amarna, near Minia) everything referring to Akhnaton was destroyed: statues were smashed, mural inscriptions effaced, and papyri burnt. The city became ruins and traces of Akhnaton were all but completely obliterated. Today we do know that Akhnaton e Aminhoteb IV was born in 1390 BC, and became king at the age of 20. Different from his predecessors, he was modest and called himself "the son of man," refusing the usual deification of pharaohs. His humanistic attitude was reflected in the arts, especially in sculpture, where, unlike other pharaohs, he was never depicted as larger than life. Akhnaton's new religion was, according to the writer, a heavenly revelation. Spurning polytheism and destroying the idols of old, he worshipped one God, as reflected in the Sun. Akhnaton could not live in Thebes where the priests of Amun took umbrage with him. So, together with his 50 to 60,000 followers, he moved and built his own capital. The Amun priests, however, did not leave him alone and formed an army and attacked his city. Eventually, they offered him amnesty provided he left Egypt. With the remnants of his followers, Akhnaton's exodus was via the Horus Route and from there to the Arabian peninsula -- an exodus which is described in a text carved on a black granite stone excavated in Sinai, and now in the Ismailia Museum. It was this very text that, the author argues, was used -- wrongly -- to explain the Israelite exodus from Egypt. Akhnaton headed for Bakhet which in the ancient Egyptian language means the land of light. Bakhet, in El-Adl's opinion, is "Bakka", the word from which, he argues, the word "Mecca" is derived. Furthermore many town names in the Arabian peninsula, including Hijaz, he tells the reader, are clearly derived from the ancient Egyptian language. The author devotes part of a chapter to explain the real origin of the Arabian Jews -- and from there goes on to prove that Abraham was the name acquired by Akhnaton, and that the story of Abraham's sacrifice of his son is remarkably similar to an incident in Akhnaton's life when, at Qalet El-Kabash (the Citadel of the Ram), Abraham/Akhnaton had a ram slaughtered as a sacrificial offering. This book tells a fascinating story which, as the author himself says, required knowledge in 20 disciplines to be written -- as surely it must require to be fully understood by the reader. Since I cannot claim such an encyclopedic kind of knowledge, I leave it to the experts to argue about.
Some time back I presented in this column a book with the intriguing title Hieroglyphics Interpret the Holy Quran by Saad Abdel-Mottaleb El-Adl. Together with a longer article I published in Arabic in Al-Ahram, the column resulted in a long debate that lasted for many months in the media: press, radio and television. The same writer has recently had another controversial book, Akhnaton: Father of the Prophets, published. In it he takes on the monumental task -- through a reading of primary and secondary historical sources -- of trying to prove that the Egyptian monotheist pharaoh was none other than Abraham. This may sound a wild theory which I, personally being neither historian nor theologian, cannot discuss. I know that I cannot, in such a limited space, do this book justice, but, in trying to present the author's argument, readers might be stimulated to pursue the issue further. The story of the early monotheists was first expounded in his Contra Apion by Josifus, a Jewish historian who lived in Alexandria in 70 AD. Josifus's source of information was Manather, a priest who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (283-245 BC) and who authored Agyptiako , a historical account of the 30 Egyptian dynasties starting with Mena and ending with Alexander, but which made no mention of Akhnaton. The reason for this omission is, probably, that after the sacking of Akhnaton's new Capital Akhet Atun (El-Amarna, near Minia) everything referring to Akhnaton was destroyed: statues were smashed, mural inscriptions effaced, and papyri burnt. The city became ruins and traces of Akhnaton were all but completely obliterated. Today we do know that Akhnaton e Aminhoteb IV was born in 1390 BC, and became king at the age of 20. Different from his predecessors, he was modest and called himself "the son of man," refusing the usual deification of pharaohs. His humanistic attitude was reflected in the arts, especially in sculpture, where, unlike other pharaohs, he was never depicted as larger than life. Akhnaton's new religion was, according to the writer, a heavenly revelation. Spurning polytheism and destroying the idols of old, he worshipped one God, as reflected in the Sun. Akhnaton could not live in Thebes where the priests of Amun took umbrage with him. So, together with his 50 to 60,000 followers, he moved and built his own capital. The Amun priests, however, did not leave him alone and formed an army and attacked his city. Eventually, they offered him amnesty provided he left Egypt. With the remnants of his followers, Akhnaton's exodus was via the Horus Route and from there to the Arabian peninsula -- an exodus which is described in a text carved on a black granite stone excavated in Sinai, and now in the Ismailia Museum. It was this very text that, the author argues, was used -- wrongly -- to explain the Israelite exodus from Egypt. Akhnaton headed for Bakhet which in the ancient Egyptian language means the land of light. Bakhet, in El-Adl's opinion, is "Bakka", the word from which, he argues, the word "Mecca" is derived. Furthermore many town names in the Arabian peninsula, including Hijaz, he tells the reader, are clearly derived from the ancient Egyptian language. The author devotes part of a chapter to explain the real origin of the Arabian Jews -- and from there goes on to prove that Abraham was the name acquired by Akhnaton, and that the story of Abraham's sacrifice of his son is remarkably similar to an incident in Akhnaton's life when, at Qalet El-Kabash (the Citadel of the Ram), Abraham/Akhnaton had a ram slaughtered as a sacrificial offering. This book tells a fascinating story which, as the author himself says, required knowledge in 20 disciplines to be written -- as surely it must require to be fully understood by the reader. Since I cannot claim such an encyclopedic kind of knowledge, I leave it to the experts to argue about.
هناك تعليقان (2):
جهد مشكور عسى الله أن ينفع به المسلمين وفقكم الله الى ما يحبه ويرضاه
محمد حسن أحمد الشهير بأبو زيادة
جهد مشكور عسى الله أن ينفع به المسلمين وفقكم الله الى ما يحبه ويرضاه
محمد حسن أحمد الشهير بأبو زيادة
إرسال تعليق