AL-AHRAM NEWSPAPER
Plain talk
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.
