Short answer
The Qur'an's choice is historically right. The word "pharaoh" comes from the Egyptian per-aa, "great house". For more than a thousand years it meant the palace, not the man. It became a name for the king himself only in the New Kingdom, which began around 1550 BC. The Qur'an calls the ruler in Joseph's story "the king" and keeps "Pharaoh" for the ruler Moses faced. The Bible calls both men Pharaoh again and again, and Abraham's ruler too. The Prophet (ﷺ) called Abraham's ruler a king or a tyrant, not Pharaoh. No one could check this until the hieroglyphs (Egyptian picture writing) were read in 1822. A man copying the Bible would have written Pharaoh. So here the Qur'an did not copy the Bible, which fits Islam's answer that it comes from God (﷾).
Full explanation
Two stories, two titles
In the story of Joseph, the Qur'an calls Egypt's ruler al-malik, the king, every time. It never uses the word Fir'awn (Pharaoh) in that chapter. In the story of Moses, it calls the ruler Pharaoh from the start.
“The king (of Egypt) said: "I do see (in a vision) seven fat kine, whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn, and seven (others) withered. O ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions."”
“So the king said: "Bring ye him unto me." But when the messenger came to him, (Joseph) said: "Go thou back to thy lord, and ask him, 'What is the state of mind of the ladies who cut their hands'? For my Lord is certainly well aware of their snare."”
“Then after them We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they wrongfully rejected them: So see what was the end of those who made mischief.”
The Bible uses Pharaoh for all three
Genesis uses "Pharaoh" 94 times in the King James Version. It uses it three times in one verse for the ruler Abraham met, and all through the story of Joseph. It says "king of Egypt" only four times, in three verses, and one of those is "Pharaoh king of Egypt". Exodus then uses Pharaoh again for the ruler of Moses' day.
“The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.”
“And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.”
“And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.”
“Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.”
What the Prophet (ﷺ) said about Abraham's ruler
The Prophet (ﷺ) told the story of Abraham, Sarah and the ruler who gave her Hajar. In his words, that ruler is "a king or a tyrant". Abu Hurayra, a companion of the Prophet (ﷺ), tells the same story and says "a tyrant". Neither calls him Pharaoh.
Abu Hurayra reports the Prophet (ﷺ) telling how Abraham travelled with Sarah into a land ruled by "a king or a tyrant", who tried to take her, was struck helpless each time, and sent her back to Abraham with Hajar as a servant.
Abu Hurayra tells the same story of Abraham and Sarah: they passed through the land of a tyrant, whose attempt on Sarah failed, and who gave her Hajar as a servant.
| Story | Islamic sources call the ruler | The Bible calls the ruler |
|---|---|---|
| Abraham and Sarah in Egypt | “A king or a tyrant”, in the Prophet's (ﷺ) own words | Pharaoh |
| Joseph | The king (al-malik), every time | Pharaoh, all through the story |
| Moses | Pharaoh (Fir'awn) | Pharaoh |
The word pharaoh comes from the Egyptian per-aa, “great house”: the palace. It became a name for the king himself only in the New Kingdom, which began around 1550 BC. No one could check this until the hieroglyphs were read, starting in 1822.
What per-aa meant, and when
Egyptologists, who study ancient Egypt, read per-aa as "great house", the royal palace. Only in the New Kingdom, in the 18th dynasty (the 18th line of kings), was it used for the king himself. The earliest possible case is under King Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. The earliest certain one is under King Akhenaten, around 1350 BC. This is known only because the hieroglyphs were deciphered, starting with Champollion, a French scholar, in 1822. Before that, no one alive could read them.
The standard grammar of Middle Egyptian. Explains that pr-aa, "Great House", first named the royal palace, and only in the New Kingdom (from the 18th dynasty) came to be used for the king himself.
The letter, read to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris in September 1822, in which Champollion set out how Egyptian hieroglyphs work. It marks the start of their decipherment; before it, no one had been able to read them for well over a thousand years.
Joseph came long before Moses
The Bible puts 430 years of Israel in Egypt before the Exodus, the Israelites' departure from Egypt (Exodus 12:40). Egypt's own Merneptah Stele, a stone monument of King Merneptah, names Israel in Canaan by about 1208 BC. On that figure, Joseph arrived before the New Kingdom began, around 1550 BC. Some Christians use a shorter count. Even on that count, he arrived long before the earliest certain use of per-aa for the king, under Akhenaten around 1350 BC. On the Bible's own figures, the title the Qur'an withholds was one that did not yet fit.
“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.”
A victory inscription from the fifth year of Merneptah, about 1208 BC. Among the peoples he claims to have defeated in Canaan it names Israel, the earliest mention of Israel outside the Bible.
Would a copyist write "king"?
The charge that the Prophet (ﷺ) took his stories from the Bible fails here. No written Arabic Bible from before Islam is known, and he could not read. The source the critics name is Genesis, and Genesis calls Joseph's ruler Pharaoh again and again. Genesis says "king of Egypt" only four times, one of them "Pharaoh king of Egypt", against 94 uses of Pharaoh. So a copyist following it would have written Pharaoh. A copyist writes what his source says, but the Qur'an never once calls Joseph's ruler Pharaoh.
Finds no evidence of a written Arabic translation of the Bible before Islam; the earliest Arabic versions that survive were made by Christians and Jews living under Muslim rule.
“And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.”
“The king (of Egypt) said: "I do see (in a vision) seven fat kine, whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn, and seven (others) withered. O ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions."”
Verse by verse
Genesis 41:1 — Torah, Bereshit, chapter 41, verse 1
“And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.”
Cited for
Calling Joseph's ruler Pharaoh is not an error; the writer used the title his readers knew.
The response
Then the Bible used a later title for an earlier age. The Qur'an, which critics say came later still and copied the Bible, did not. It used the title that fitted each age. No one could check this for twelve hundred years.
Where it lands — Either way, the Qur'an is right where its supposed source is not, which is not what a copyist does.
Perspectives
Christian
Genesis was written or edited after "pharaoh" had become a royal title. So the writer used the word his readers knew.
Genesis calls the ruler in Joseph's day Pharaoh throughout. Christians read this as the narrator using the title of his own time.
Rebuttal
Grant that a narrator may use the title of his own day. Then Genesis uses a later title for an earlier age, while the Qur'an keeps "the king", the title that fitted. A copyist following Genesis would have written Pharaoh.
Jewish: the Torah calls him Pharaoh
The Torah calls the ruler of Joseph's day Pharaoh throughout. Jewish tradition holds that the Torah was given to Moses, so its word for the king is right.
Genesis calls Joseph's ruler Pharaoh: "at the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed".
Rebuttal
Egyptian records show that per-aa, "Great House", first named the palace, and came to be used for the king himself only in the New Kingdom. On the Bible's own figures Joseph lived before that. The Qur'an calls Joseph's ruler "the king" and Moses' ruler "Pharaoh", each in its place, though no one could read the hieroglyphs until 1822.
The Islamic perspective
The Qur'an uses each title where it belongs and the Bible does not. The Prophet (ﷺ) could not read. He had no written Arabic Bible. He lived twelve centuries before anyone could read the hieroglyphs. The distinction is a sign that the Qur'an is not his.
The Qur'an calls Joseph's ruler "the king" and Moses' ruler "Pharaoh".
Genesis calls the rulers of Abraham's and Joseph's day Pharaoh.
The Prophet (ﷺ) called Abraham's ruler "a king or a tyrant", not Pharaoh.
Per-aa meant the palace and became a title of the king only in the New Kingdom.
The use of per-aa could be known only after the hieroglyphs were deciphered from 1822.
The Bible gives 430 years in Egypt. Counted back from Israel's presence in Canaan by about 1208 BC, they put Joseph before the New Kingdom.
No written Arabic translation of the Bible from before Islam is known.