Name of Moses in the Quran Non-Miracle

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Moses in the Quran is called موسى (Musa). And there's nothing miraculous about it.

Supposed "miracle"

The Bible claims that "Moses" is a Hebrew name, however those who named him weren't Hebrew. Pharaoh and his family were Egyptians. Today Egyptologists discovered the Egyptian meaning of the word "Moses".

The name Moses is Musa in Arabic and Moshe in Hebrew. So how was it actually pronounced in his time? And what does this name really mean? We asked the British Egyptologist, currently a professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College London, Stephen Quirke, to find out more.

"Ms was used as a name or as part of a name for very many people in the New Kingdom period of ancient Egyptian history" says Quirke. Ms means 'to give birth', so for example Rames means Ra (the sun God) is the one who gave birth (to me). To understand this better look at the breakdown in image 2 of the two names Ramse and Ramessu (often shortened to Ramses).

Moses is another name where ms is used but this time without other consonants. Used alone, this could mean 'the one who has been born' or more specifically 'newborn'. The American Egyptologist James Hoffmeier wrote a book in 1996 titled 'Israel in Egypt: the evidence for the authenticity of the Exodus tradition' in which he provides a useful summary of the main debates, and he seems to support these two meanings 'the one who has been born' and '(newborn) child."
TreeSparks, What Does The Name Moses (Musa or Moshe) Actually Mean?, 2017

In ancient Egyptian Moses means "newborn". This was only known recently, however this was portrayed in the Quran 1400 years before it was discovered.

[Quran 26.18] He said, "Did we not raise you among us as a newborn? and you stayed among us for many of your years?

"Waleed وليد" means newborn; and is a popular name among Arabs. This turned out to be Moses' name in ancient Egyptian.

How could an illiterate man who lived 1400 years ago have known the meaning of "Moses" in ancient Egyptian?


Ancient Egyptians didn't know their own language?

Apologists claim:

In ancient Egyptian Moses means "newborn". This was only known recently

If it means "newborn" in ancient Egyptian language, then it means that it was known in ancient times. So the information was not new.

The verse

The verse talks about raising a child. It doesn't seem to use "Child" (وليد) as a proper noun:

[Pharaoh] said, "Did we not raise you among us as a child, and you remained among us for years of your life?


Quran 26:18, translation Sahih International

ِAlso in another verse, where the pharaoh actually does address Moses with his name, he calls him Musa (موسى). This verse actually uses the vocative particle يا (ya) so this verse is the one that mentions the name of Moses:

[Pharaoh] said, "So who is the Lord of you two, O Moses (يا موسى, ya Musa)?"


Quran 20:49, translation Sahih International

See also