The Quranic Depiction of Pharaoh the Sinner: Textual Analysis

Many scholars briefly analyzed some Quranic figures and focused primarily on particular Major Prophets, legendary figures and rebellious characters in their research. In this paper, the Quranic figure to be discussed is Pharaoh the notorious sinner. Interestingly, this study will illustrate how the Quran demonstrated the character of Pharaoh and his transgression from linguistic approach. However, it is not a purely linguistic study. The methodology of the study is to conduct a lexicographical method including semantic signals, describing it from narrative approach as well as it is blended exegetically. Therefore, some major Quranic exegetes such as tafsir al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī and al-Zamaksharī are being quoted. The samples are collected from fifteen different Quranic surahs connected to Pharaoh by using selected Quranic indexes and Quranic translation. As one of the Quranic depiction, the study will also imply the textual analysis; Problem-Solution Patterns introduced by Michael Hoey the linguist. The finding of the result is the Quran communicates its readers, admonishes them towards the transgression of Pharaoh as the main character, and the flow of the stories lies beautifully with the assistance of the supporting characters around Pharaoh throughout the Holy Quran, which is explicitly and implicitly portrayed.


Introduction
It is noticeable that there are loads of interest in various researches describing person and other humans around them, from such as the story of the companions of the cave, Mary's story during the birth of Jesus, the difference between the character of Moses and Abraham, Joseph's patience towards Zulaykha's tricks and womens' plotting (Quṭb, S., 1983), Adam, Eve and Satan's rebellious character, major Prophets like Shu c ayb, David and Solomon, legendary figures like Dhul Qarnayn, Luqmān and Korah, (Sherif, 1985), the development of Moses's character and his relationship with Pharaoh, the Israelites, Jacob and Dhul Qarnayn (Wheeler, 2006), Moses and his connection with Aaron, and the Samaritan (Albayrak, 2001), and the manifestation of Jesus in the Quran (Parrinder, 1965). However, this study attempts to explore the character of Pharaoh from Quranic perspectives, and of course in different angles of views.
In the Quranic parables, different groups of humans who are representative samples of a specific human character are encountered. Some characters, for instance, symbolize evil such as Pharaoh, while Asiah the wife of Pharaoh symbolizes a good wife whose faith was contradicty different between her and husband. Sherif (1985) states that Pharaoh is 'an archetype for autocracy '. Firestone (2004) describes him as the 'symbol of arrogance and evil '. For Ibn Taimiyyah (1998), Pharaoh represents the haughtiest creature against God owing to his polytheism.

Methodology
Prior to identifying the Quranic text concerning Pharaoh and his charactersitics, numerous specimens of ayahs are considered. These samples are first specified at the initial phase of selection through A Guide to the Contents of the Qur'an by Faruq Sherif (1985). The samples then collected from fifteen different Quranic surahs connected to Pharaoh by using selected Quranic indexes by c Abd al-Baqi (2007) and Hanna E. Kassis (c1983). Accordingly, the study also quoted from Quranic translation based on The Quran: Saheeh International: Arabic text with Corresponding English Meanings (1997). Those samples are supported by the most established classical tradition of exegetes by al-Tabari (1960), al-Qurtubi's exegesis (2003) as a linguistic and jurisprudential exegesis and al-Zamakhshari's exegesis (1998) for the purpose of its rehetorical and grammatical aspects of the Quran. In addition to these approaches, the study attempts to analyse these samples by proposing the Problem-Solution Patterns introduced by Michael Hoey, since it rarely been implied to the Quran from the perspective of textual analysis.

Analysis Pharaoh from the perspective of first-person narrative
To demonstrate the evil side of Pharaoh, the study suggests how Quran personifies Pharaoh's character as follows: The samples for this section are derived from three Quranic surah. All are surah makkiyah.
1. In Surah al-Naziat, Pharaoh claimed himself as the most exalted lord, affirmed by the word ‫أنا‬ (I am).  2. In Surah al-Zukhruf, Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying: "O my people! does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me; then do you not see?  3. In al-Syuara', Pharaoh threaten to whoever take a god other than him, he will surely place them among those imprisoned.'  4. In al-Syuara', [Pharaoh] said, 'You believed Moses before I gave you permission. Indeed, he is your leader who has taught you magic, but you are going to know. I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will surely crucify you all.'

Pharaoh from the perspective of third person narrative
The samples for this section are derived from six Quranic surah: an-Naziat, Toha, al-Dukhhan, al-Mukmin, Ibrahim & al-Baqarah. All six are surah Makkiyah except al-Baqarah. 1. Surah al-Naziat , 'Go to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed.' (Toha 20: 43) Exegetically, we have found the expression (ṭaghā -to oppress, to transgress) occurs in the first revelation of the Quran, i.e., Q96, to highlight the notion of oppression, tyranny, transgression, and feeling superior to others as a major sin in Islam. This notion is presented repeatedly in the Quranic parable of Pharaoh, as in Q79:17, Q20:24, and Q20:43. 4. From Pharaoh. Indeed, he was a haughty one among the transgressors.
Al-Zamaksharī (1998) has included Pharaoh indirectly among (al-jabābirah -the arch-tyrants). Therefore, Pharaoh is the third person meant in the dialogue.

The antoganist and the protoganist characters in one sample presentation
In this section, the study proposes how the Quran make comparison between the antoganist and the protoganist characters in one single ayah from the view of the Quranic similitude. Asiah or more familiar with the title "the wife of Pharaoh" is the example of believers. She is being compared with the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot in Quran 66:10. Consecutively, Asiah is praised obviously in Quran 66:11 [And Allah presents an example of those who believed: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, "My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the wrongdoing people."]. It was wonderfully presented in Quranic similitude as Figure 1 below:

Bani Israel
Pharaoh Pharaoh's wife God's praise and approval Figure 1: the wife of Pharaoh in Quranic similitude In the view of al-Zarkashī (1988), a person's name, i.e., identity is not mentioned 'in order to shield his/her name from being recognized to avoid humiliatiation and reference to negative feedback on/him/her. Some Quranic characters are referred to in the Quran without their names, and that their character is mirrored through other well-known proper names, such as the wife of Prophet Lūṭ and the wife of Prophet Nūḥ. Thus, we find ( ‫أة‬ ‫أمر‬ ‫لوط‬ ) meaning 'the wife of Lot'. Grammatically, however, the word ‫)لوط(‬ (Lūṭ) does not function as the adjective of the noun ‫أة(‬ ‫أمر‬ -wife) although the expression ( ‫أة‬ ‫أمر‬ ‫لوط‬ ) is a construct noun phrase (iḍāfah).
According to Bakr (1984), the function of (al-iḍāfah) is to build a link of connection (al-ittiṣāl) between (al-muḍāf) and (al-muḍāf ilayhi). Thus, I believe that this connection may express the notion of 'belonging to, or possession' by the denotative meaning of ‫-ﺍلﻼم(‬ for; belong to) between ‫أة(‬ ‫أمر‬ -wife) and ‫لوط(‬ -Lūṭ). For Khaleel Mohammed (2006), however, the reference of females to their male relationship is reflected by the role of the male as their protector. However, there are other Quranic women whose citation is not explicitly mentioned not due to being concealed for fear of shame but rather because of our familiarity with the person referred to in the context of the Quranic parable. Eve, for instance, is not explicitly highlighted in the parable since she is known as 'Adam's counterpart and complement' (Schőck, 2001 Another comparison between the antoganist and the protoganist characters in one single ayah encountered in Quranic parable, Q28:9 [And the [wife of Pharaoh said, "[He will be] a comfort of the eye for me and for you. Do not kill him; perhaps he may benefit us, or we may adopt him as a son." And they perceived not], we notice four characters introduced in one short āyah that can be explained as Q28:9 in Figure 2 below:

Quranic characters
Pharaoh's people

The transgression of Pharaoh by the manifestation of others
The Quran provides other Quranic figures related to Pharaoh, to explain his dark side of evil. In terms of the group of people encountered in Quranic parables, the group can be listed in five expressions, such as (aṣḥāb -companions), (āl -family), (ahl -family), (mala' -people) and (qawm -nation, people). However, only 3 expressions involve Pharaoh, and the other two falls out of the concern of this paper. The expression is figured out as follows: 1. (qawm -nation, people). The Quran most preferred word for people is (qawm). Normally, it is treated with Prophets' tribe like Moses, Noah, Ṣāliḥ and etc. in punishment stories. However, the noun (mala') has also occurred in other Quranic parables other than that of Pharaoh, such as Q7:88 which refer to Prophet Shu c ayb, and Q11:38 which refer to Prophet Noah.

(āl -family)
According to al-Ṭabarī (1992), the word (āl) in the Quran is derived from (ahl) where the second letter (hā') is assimilated into the initial letter (hamzah). The employment of (āl) in the Quran is primarily concerned with (family), as in Q3:33 ‫﴿و‬ [the family of Abraham and the family of c Imrān] (1992:98-99). In the case of Pharaoh, it means (followers), as in Q54: And there certainly came to the people of Pharaoh warning]. Moreover, Aisha Bewley when translating al-Qurṭubī's idea claims that the people (āl) of Pharaoh refers to anybody 'who follow his din in his time and at all times, whether related to him or not' (al-Qurṭubī, 2003).
The translation: 'Remember the favor of Allah upon you when He saved you from the people of Pharaoh, who were afflicting you with the worst torment and were slaughtering your [newborn] sons and keeping your females alive. (Ibrahim 14: 6) Example 2: The translation: And [recall] when We saved your forefathers from the people of Pharaoh, who afflicted you with the worst torment, slaughtering your [newborn] sons and keeping your females alive]. (Al-Baqarah 2: 49) The tyranny of Pharaoh is described by the sequence of three present tense verbs (al-fi c l al-muḍāri c -the present tense verb): ﴾ ‫يسومونكم‬ ﴿, ‫أبناءكم﴾‬ ‫حون‬ ّ ‫يذب‬ ﴿ and ﴾ ‫نساءكم‬ ‫ويستحيون‬ ﴿. Stylistically, the function of repeating the present tense verb in one sentence is to signify the fact that a given action has become a routine practiced repeatedly. Also, it is a reminder to the People of Isrā'īl (the Israelites) of how God saved them from the tyranny and oppression of Pharaoh (Hindāwī, 2008). The relationship to the past time (al-māḍī) is demonstrated by using the word ‫)إذ(‬ initially (al- Shādhilī, 1990). Moreover, the stylistic choice of the word ﴾ ‫نساء‬ ﴿ in Q2:49 ﴾ ‫كم‬ ‫نساء‬ ‫يستحيون‬ ﴿ is to confirm and highlight Pharaoh's transgression, because ‫)ﺍلنساء(‬ is the plural of ‫;)ﺍلنسوة(‬ it also connotes the female gender, wives and even daughters ( c Umar, 2001).

Problem-Solution Pattern
The beauty of Quranic communication lies on how the story should end as presented in the parable of Moses in Q26:10-15. The sample is elaborated according to Problem Solution Pattern by Michael Hoey (1983; will be applied in this analysis. Hoey gives four points in the problem solving pattern: (i) situation, which interprets the participants of such circumstances bounded by specific time frame and location, (ii) problem, which spell out the complication and obstacles arisen between participants, (iii) solution, where such suggestion is provided to resolve the remarkable problem, and (iv) evaluation, where an assessment of the solution is put forward as a post -mortem of the issue.
There is a form of structure called 'multi-layering', or in Hoey's recent work (1983) (2001) To demonstrate the Problem-Solution pattern by Hoey, we chose the parable of Moses and his confrontation against Pharaoh in Q26, which can be delivered as following table: Question arisen: Who are the wrongdoing people? The Quran responds: The Problem-Solution pattern

Conclusion
To sum up, blended in linguistic, lexical and exegetical approach, Pharaoh was textually and semantically depicted by the Holy Quran through the assistance of the supporting characters around him, whom were explicitly and implicitly portrayed. Obviously, the Holy Quran communicates its readers and admonishes them towards the transgression of Pharaoh, the notorious sinner ever lived.