Studying the Bible and the Quran : complement to each other

[John Wassov]

To understand the Quran, it is essential to study the Torah (included in the Old Testament).

On the other hand, it is essential - in order to understand the Torah (included in the Old Testament) - to study the Quran.

I say this because I have seen two versions of the well-known movie The Ten Commandments, and I found many mistakes in the story indicating a defective knowledge about this great story of Moses and his people.

The reason for such mistakes is their ignorance about the Quran.

[John Wassov]

My explanations are according to the late interpreter of the Quran and the Bible, the inspired man: Mohammed-Ali Hassan Al-Hilly.


There have been many mistakes in this movie story:

Like Pharoah the son gave Moses his well-known staff.

The staff of Moses:
It was a true serpent: God created it specially for Mose: it was a large snake;it retracted its head like the turtle, and then appeared like a staff.

God created it and put it in the way of Mose; Moses saw the staff and pickedit, while he did not know it was a serpent.

[John Wassov]

The Torah available now is not the original Torah revealed by God to His messenger Moses and the prophets followed him.It is the Torah written by Ezra son of Siraeh following their return from the captivity of Babylon

<http://quran-ayat.com/conflicts/index.htm#The_Torah_[or_Hebrew_Bible]_of_Ezra_>

[John Wassov]

The staff of Moses
It was a true serpent: a large stout thick one.
This serpent was created for Moses in particular; it was a serpent with scalesand retracted its head and stiffened inside its scales to be like a staff;Moses saw it in his way and picked it to serve many purposes. He did not knowit was a serpent; then when God spoke to him on the Mount Hor or El-Tor orHoreb as do Jews call it;
so God asked him: What is this by your right hand, Moses?
Moses answered: It is my staff; on which I lean; with it I drive along mysheep, and in it I find other uses.
God said: Cast it on the ground.
Moses cast it, and it showed its head and started to move vigorously. So atthat time, Moses discovered it was a serpent in reality and that it was not astaff; then when he picked it up, it hid her head and became like a stoutstaff.

Then when Moses went to Pharaoh, and the magicians gathered, Moses threatenedthem with God's severe punishment, so they decided to see was the staff ofMoses only a magic trick or not.
Then when they cast their sticks and ropes they deluded people eyes and people(including Moses also) imagined the sticks and ropes jerk and move like snakes.

But the staff of Moses was a real serpent, a large and terrifying one; itprotruded its head and started to blow and buff, and it attacked the ropes andsticks of the magicians , and to bite and cut them with its mouth and throwthem away.

Then the magicians submitted themselves to God and became Muslims (literally:submitting to God).

And when Pharaoh refused to admit the truth and believe, the serpent attackedPharaoh and his men, and there was mess and Pharaoh retreated to his palace; sothis is the story of the staff of Moses.

See the story of the staff of Moses in the Quran in many ayat: actually a largenumber of ayat: like the chapters 7, 10, 20, 26, 27, 28.

The KoranInterpreted A Translation by A. J. Arberry

[John Wassov]

Another mistake in The Ten Commandmentsmovie about Moses staff:

In the movie, Moses held it by his both hands above his head: no, not likethis; but the true thing is that God commanded him to strike the sea with his staff, and the sea wasparted (according to God's might), notaccording to Moses might.

In the newer edition of the movie, another actor held the staff above his headsand (as if by his influence the sea parted, and Moses kept up holding the staffin that way, and he became tired so Aaron assisted him and held the stafftogether with Moses!

Which is not correct.

[John Wassov]

Another correction:
In the wilderness, Moses struck the rock twice:

One time the rock brought about 12 springs of water.

In the second: God told him to gather the Children of Israel and speak to therock before them and then strike it with his staff; but Moses did not speak tothem; he merely struck the rock with his staff: so only one water-springissued.

The lesson from this: God wanted to show them: the stone hearken and you -according to your hard hearts - do not hearken.
This is to show them their hard hearts.

http://quran-ayat.com/conflicts/engl...Were_Hardened_

[John Wassov]

There was no pillar of fire coming fromheaven.
But it was the cloud, the rain, the lightning and thunder; all this to impedePharoah in his pursue of Moses and his people, until the two parties saw eachother near the sea, at sun-rise time.

([their likeness is] like [the folk of] a cloud, laden with heavy rain from the sky, wherein is darkness,thunder and lightning; they thrust their fingers in their ears because ofthunder-claps, for fear of death; and, surely, God ever has the infidels in His grasp.

The lightning almost snatched away their sight from them. As often as itflashed forth for them they walked therein, and when it darkened against themthey stood still.

If God willed, He could take away their hearing and their sight.

Surely, God is Able to do all things.)

The above between brackets is the explanation of the Quran 2: 19-20

The story:
God ordered Moses to take his people and migrate with them by night; then whenMoses went to some distance, Pharaoh decided to pursue them.

Therefore, God sent the wind and it surged the two seas: the salty sea: the RedSea and the sweat sea: the Nile river --> so clouds formed and thelightning, thunder and profuse rain came down to hinder Pharaoh and his hostfrom approaching Moses and his people, until the sun-rise time when the twoparties saw each other.

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There are manymistakes, actually a large number of mistakes, although the general outline ofthe story in this movie may be correct.

In the first part of this movie, it is full of indecency scenes which pictureMoses - salam be to him - like an indecent sexual lover. Moses certainly wasabove such behavior and conduct.

The two editions of this story movie have different details about his earlychildhood and early adulthood; I prefer the new edition where Moses knew he wasHebrew at some early time. His mother completed his breast feeding, thenreturned him to Pharaoh's house, but then she certainly came many times later;at least as foster mother, and certainly his brethren should have told himabout his true origin.

Another point: Moses took a wife, out of the Arab people in Sinai, and she toldhim she descends from Ismail, the son of Abraham.

In the story, the old man had 7 daughters; in the Quran, they were two women: oneof them became the wife of Moses.

In the movie, the seven or six daughters danced before the other strange men:in order that they might take them for wives --- which is never any custom ofthe Bedwin Arab; it is a shame to do such a thing.

The Arab in the pre-Islam period, even killed their daughters for the fear ofshame; which is very bad and condemned in the Quran.

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Further more mistakesin The Ten Commandments movie:

The mountain of the Lord: El-Tor or Hor or Horeb: in the movie it is full oflight all the time or at many occasions.

While in the Quran, the light was to attract Moses in his way of journey: afterhe went a considerable distance in the middle of the wilderness.

It was dark and cold at winter night, and Moses after the elapsing of the eightyears in Midean, went to Egypt, after he heard that Pharaoh the father died andPharaoh the son reigned in his place. So Moses set on with his wife and his twosons, then he saw a fire from the side of Mount Hor looming from faraway. So hetold his family: Stay here, I have perceived some fire afaraway, it may bethere are some people there so I shall go to bring a torch of fire from them orthey guide me to the correct way (he lost his way at that time.)

Then when he came to it, he astonished to find an olive tree givinglight and yet did not burn.
It was not any bush; it was the blessed olive tree: thebush is the hide of the hog and swine; while the olive tree gives the oil forlight.

God was not in that tree; God sent the voice, from above His Glorious Throne,over the aether waves to the tree, and Moses heard the voice from the tree asdo we hear the man speaks from the radio set, while the man is not in the radioset; he is in Cairo or London or elsewhere.

God spoke to Moses, not directly face to face; God does not speak with peopleor any creature face to face; God cannot be seen by the eyesight.

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The drowning ofPharaoh:

In the movie, Pharaoh remained alive, and returned to Egypt, and then admitted"the god of Moses is God."

In the Quran, Pharaoh was drowned together with his host, then when he wasabout to die, he then said: "I have now believed that no god other thanthe God in Whom the Children of Israel believe."

But God refused to accept that of him: telling him: "Is it only now youbelieve, while before you disobeyed and you were a disbeliever?"

Then God saved his dead fat body to the shore of the sea, and the Egyptianstook his body and made embalmment or mummification for his body.

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An obvious mistake in the moviedepending on the Torah of Ezra

In The Ten Commandments movie, it was Aaron who madefor them the gold statue of the calf.
While in the Quran it was the Samaritan who made for them the gold statue ofthe calf.

This Samaritan was one of the magicians who believedin Moses; he was an artist and a goldsmith.

http://quran-ayat.com/conflicts/index.htm#first_lie

[aurora]

Truly, this movie (The Ten Commandments) is full of mistakes, like :
Moses threw the tablets on the gold calf statue, which caused the idol to be exploded.
This is wrong, Moses in fact threw the tablets violently on the ground because he was so angry when he saw his people worshipping the idol of the gold calf.