Crucifiction in Egypt?
by M S M Saifullah & Abdul Rahman
Robert Squires
Assalamu-alaikum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:
The Qur'an talks about crucifixion as punishment in Egypt. Below are the relevent verses.
"Be sure I will cut off your hands and your feet on apposite sides, and I will cause you all to die on the cross."[Qur'an 7:124]
(Pharaoh) said: Ye put your faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he doubtless is your chief who taught you magic! But verily ye shall come to know. Verily I will cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and verily I will crucify you every one. [Qur'an 26:49]
(Pharaoh) said: "Believe ye in Him before I give you permission? Surely this must be your leader, who has taught you magic! be sure I will cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides, and I will have you crucified on trunks of palm-trees: so shall ye know for certain, which of us can give the more severe and the more lasting punishment!" [Qur'an 20:71]
The Qur'an is saying that crucifixion was a punishment during Pharaoh's time. The specifics of the punishment was cutting hands and feet on opposite sites and crucify on the trunk of the trees.
The Oxford Companion To The Bible defines Crucifixion as:
The act of nailing or binding a person to a cross or tree, whether for executing or for exposing the corpse.[1]
It has been claimed by Christian missionaries that:
We have no record that Egyptians used crucifixion as punishment. This only becomes a punishment much later in history and then in another culture. Such a threat is historically inaccurate.
This can be seen at:
As usual, no references are quoted and hence it is hard to verify the information. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see if there are no records of Egyptians using crucifixion as a punishment why does the on-line Smith's Bible Dictionary say under Crucifixion:
Crucifixion was in used among the Egyptians, Ge 40:19; the Carthaginians, the Persians, Es 7:10; the Assyrians, Scythains, Indians, Germans, and from the earliest times among the Greeks and Romans. Whether this mode of execution was known to the ancient Jews is a matter of dispute. Probably the Jews borrowed it from the Romans. It was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death.
As noted in the above quote, in Genesis 40:18-19 we read the interepretation of the dream by Joseph(P). It is talking about the 'Pharaoh' in Joseph's(P) time will hang the person on a tree.
"This is what it means," Joseph said. "The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat away your flesh." [Genesis 40:18-19]
Similar story is also mentioned in the Qur'an in the story of Joseph(P):
"O my two companions of the prison! As to one of you, he will pour out the wine for his lord to drink: as for the other, he will hang from the cross, and the birds will eat from off his head. (so) hath been decreed that matter whereof ye twain do enquire"... [12:41]
So, the crucifixion was practiced by the 'Pharaohs' (as well as Kings) in Egypt during the time of Joseph(P) much before the time of Moses(P). Hence it would be appropriate to refer of crucifixion without labeling it as an anachronism in the time of Moses(P) in Egypt.
Crucifixion amongst the Jews was rare and except for a few instances, the subject was stoned to death first and then hung on a tree in accordance with the Biblical passage in Deuteronomy.
If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. [Deuteronomy 21:22-23]
It is not that there are no more references of hanging on the tree type crucifixion in the Bible.
He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day. [Joshua 8:29]
With strong connotations of crucifixion, in Galatians, Paul says that Jesus(P) redeemed people from curse of the law by becoming a curse for them.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." [Galatians 3:13]
Or in Acts, concerning Jesus(P), we read:
We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, [Act 10:39]
Further The New International Dictionary Of The Bible confirms that (Under 'Cross'):
Crucifixion was one of the most cruel and barbarous forms of death known to man. It was practiced, especially in the times of war, by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Egyptians, and later by the Romans. So dreaded was it that even in the pre-Christian era, the cares and troubles of the life were often compared to a cross.[2]
Now the most primitive form of crucifixion was on the trees as the on-line The Catholic Encylopedia states under Archæology of the Cross and Crucifix:
The penalty of the cross goes back probably to the arbor infelix, or unhappy tree, spoken of by Cicero (Pro, Rabir., iii sqq.) and by Livy, apropos of the condemnation of Horatius after the murder of his sister. According to Hüschke (Die Multa, 190) the magistrates known as duoviri perduellion is pronounced this penalty (cf. Liv., I, 266), styled also infelix lignem (Senec., Ep. ci; Plin., XVI, xxvi; XXIV, ix; Macrob., II, xvi). This primitive form of crucifixion on trees was long in use, as Justus Lipsius notes ("De cruce", I, ii, 5; Tert., "Apol.", VIII, xvi; and "Martyrol. Paphnut." 25 Sept.). Such a tree was known as a cross (crux).
It is clear that we do not know the various forms of crucifixion that existed in antiquity, particularly in Egypt. More research needs to be conducted on various forms of crucifixion in antiquity, inshallah.
Of course, the last thing the Christian Missionaries would like to do is to read their own books properly!
And Allah knows best!
References
[1] Oxford Companion To The Bible, Bruce M Metzger & Michael D Coogan (Ed.), 1993, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, pp. 141.
[2] The New International Dictionary Of The Bible: Pictorial Edition, J D Douglas, Merrill C Tenny, 1987, Regency Reference Library (USA) & Marshall Pickering (UK), pp. 242.