The Qur’an is also remarkably accurate about historical events that would have been impossible for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to have known about. The following are some examples of the historical precision regarding ancient Egypt found in the Qur’an:

While the Bible also states that the Pharaoh of Moses drowned, the Qur’an asserts that God will make an example of him for later oppressors by saving his corpse—on that same day—from being lost at sea. Allah says, And We took the Israelites across the sea, and Pharaoh and his soldiers pursued them in tyranny and enmity until, when drowning overtook him, he said, ‘I believe that there is no deity except that in whom the Israelites believe, and I am of the Muslims.’ Now? And you had disobeyed [Him] before and were of the corrupters? So today, We will save you in [terms of] your body that you may be to those after you a sign. And indeed, many among humanity are heedless of Our signs.428

Since the preservation of mummies is quite uncommon, and the fact that Muhammad could not have known about this particular Pharaoh surviving in mummified form given the knowledge of his day, this Qur’anic assertion about the Pharoah of Moses is mindboggling. Furthermore, while the Qur’an mentions many perished nations punished by God for their rebellion, and that their accounts are a lesson for later people, Allah never stated that He would save their bodies as signs for those future generations. The sole exception in the Qur’an is that Pharaoh’s corpse which happens to remain available until today in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

For several centuries before, and nearly 1,200 years after the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, until the invasions of Napoleon Bonaparte, knowledge of ancient Egypt was scarce at best. It was only after the discovery of a tablet called the Rosetta Stone, in 1799, that the discipline of Egyptology was born, the hieroglyphics were deciphered, and reliable source material about this perished civilization became available. Among the team of researchers sent from France to explore these newfound tombs was Dr. Maurice Bucaille, who published on this project his great work, Mummies of the Pharaoh: Modern Medical Investigations.

Bucaille presented his findings in 1976 to the French Institute for Forensic Medicine and received multiple national awards in France for this groundbreaking work.

After describing their demise, the Qur’an then says about Pharaoh and his troops, “And the heaven and earth wept not for them, nor were they reprieved.”429 A recently unearthed pyramid text has granted new depths to the meaning of this verse. In it, Pharaoh is described as ascending at death to claim supremacy of the heavens. The ancient hieroglyphics read, “The sky weeps for thee; the earth trembles for thee… when thou ascendest to heaven as a star, as the morning star.”430 In other words, the Qur’an was issuing a direct response to these specific mythological adulations, over 1,000 years before the vaults hiding them were unlocked.

The Qur’an identifies the ruler of Egypt as “Pharaoh” sixty-five times, but only in the story of Moses . Not a single time is Egypt’s earlier king during the time of Joseph  called a “Pharaoh” in the Qur’an. This differs from the Old Testament which uses the title for both rulers, and even for the ruler of Egypt during the earlier time of Prophet Abraham .431 However, it has since been established that the term “Pharaoh” was first coined during the reign of Thutmose III (d. 1436 BC), the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt.432 Historians have further discovered that during the era of Joseph, the 15th to 17th dynasties of Egypt were an invading force from Palestine, and hence they were called the Hyksos (literally: foreign kings). Since “Pharaoh” meant “great house” or “elite bloodline,” and since the Hyksos were occupiers and not indigenous rulers, they were naturally ineligible for the honorific title—had it even existed.433

Dr. Bucaille writes, I must confess that when the Qur’an was first being conveyed to people, the ancient Egyptian language had vanished from the collective memory of humanity for over two centuries and remained that way until the nineteenth century. Therefore, it was impossible for us to know that the king of Egypt should be called anything other than the title mentioned in the Holy Bible.

The subtle word choice of the Qur’an on this matter is thought-provoking.434

The historical accuracy of the Qur’an is not just confirmed by recent archeological excavation. It astonished many early Jews and Christians as well. The fact that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم could simply speak of personalities across different cultures like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jesus, Dhū al-Qarnayn, and others with such detail was inexplicable. So was the fact that he صلى الله عليه وسلم could extensively illustrate scenes from the hereafter just as their earlier scriptures did, as Allah said, Over it (the Hellfire) are nineteen. And We have not made the keepers of the Hellfire but angels, and We have not made their number except as a trial for those who disbelieve, and so that those who were given the Scripture [prior] would be certain...435Some Jews in Madinah conceded that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was in fact a true prophet, then resisted his message under the indefensible claim that it only applied to the Arabs. This was due to their inability to contest its divine origin, for they knew there was no access to any semblance of this history in the Arabic language whatsoever. As Allah says, “That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you, [O Muhammad]. You knew it not, neither you nor your people, before this.”436

Some detractors of Islam argue that none of this history is remarkable, let alone miraculous. They claim Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم either learned these accounts directly from the mouths of his contemporaries or that he plagiarized them from manuscripts of the Bible that have since been lost. The accusation of being spoon-fed by others existed during the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم life, but it quickly disappeared, and until today most serious Qur’an critics avoid citing such a ludicrous proposition because it appears desperate. First, this would be contrary to the historically indisputable integrity of Muhammad’s character.

Second, the suggestions that Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم knowledge of previous prophets and nations came from a Roman blacksmith in Mecca (a layman), or from an unverifiable, passing midday encounter with Baḥīrah the Monk, or to a single conversation with a dying Waraqah ibn Nawfal , are simply implausible.

Sensible people realize that the bulk and veracity of what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم brought could only be attained with decades of apprenticeship that would be impossible for him to hide. Allah says in the Qur’an, “Say, ‘If Allah had willed, I would not have recited it to you, nor would He have made it known to you, for I had remained among you a lifetime before it. Then will you not reason?’”440 As for the second accusation, that of plagiarism from the texts of Judeo-Christian scholars, only someone with a strong confirmation bias would consider this possibility, for two major reasons:

Firstly, as established earlier, the Qur’an does not contain the many historical inaccuracies found in the Bible. Therefore, for the unique Qur’anic narrative to have been plagiarized from an earlier scripture, this would necessitate that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم somehow had access to the accurate version from the thousands of variant manuscripts. Moreover, this version would have existed only in seventh-century Arabia of all places, in a foreign language Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم secretly learned, then vanished without a trace, never to be recovered again.

Secondly, even if this bizarre hypothetical were true, it only accounts for the source of this incredible precision and ignores the miraculous nature of the end-product. The Qur’an responds to this notion, asserting, “And We certainly know that they say, ‘It is only a human being who teaches him [the Prophet].’ The tongue of the one they refer to is foreign, and this Qur’an is [in] a clear Arabic language.”441