'Answering Islam' alleges that the Quran has made a mistake by calling the friend of Pharoah (spelling) *Haman* while Haman was the name of another person who lived many centuries after the advent of Moses and Pharoah (spelling).

The verse of the Holy Quran:

"And to establish them in the earth, and to show Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts that which they feared from them" (Chapter 28 verse 7)

Exploitation and tyranny produce their own nemisis (spelling) and the exploiters and the opressors never feel secure from the standard of revolt being raised agaisnt (spelling, Oh I give up!) them by those whom they exploit, supress and oppress. The greater the opression of the tyrant, the greater his fear of revolt by the tyrannized. Pharaoh, too, was seized with this fear and, therefore, he employed all means and machinations to keep the Isrealites under permanent subjection. But the time had come that he should be punished and those held in bondage should be emancipated.

Perhaps, but this has nothing to do with the existence of an Egyptian Haman.

Haman as the tilte of the High Preist of the God of Amon, ham in the egyptian meaning high preist , and Amon was the God who dominated all other Egyptian gods.

References please! There has been great interest in the United States in recent years concerning African history in general and Egyptian history in particular, and there are on line dictionaries of ancient Egyptian names, *, * , * and Haman IS NOT present in any of them! The name Haman is a Hebrew word of foreign derivation (most likely from Avestan/Old Persian) which means "magnificent". The Hebrew meaning, however, is noise or tumult.

"Haman was the director of the double treasury and granary and director of the soilders and all the craftsmen of Thebes. His name was *Nebunef* and he was high preist under Ramesus II and his son Merneptah. Being the head of the extremely rich sacerdotal orginization embracing all preisthoods of the country his power and prestige had increased so much that he controlled a most influential political faction and even kept his own private army" (A story of Egypt by James Henry Breasted,Ph.D)

All right, we now have a reference. Unfortunately, a book by this title DOES NOT exist!

Haman is also said to be the name of a minister of Ahaserus, a king of Persia who loved many ages after Moses. There is nothing strange or objectionable in two persons living in two diffrent periods bearing the same name.

Perhaps, but unlike the Qur'an, the Bible does not "drop names" in order to attempt to establish legitimacy. The Bible explains everything within the framework of God's Divine plan. To understand who Haman was, we need to go back to the time of Jacob, the forefather of the Jewish people. Jacob had a twin brother named Esau, with whom he had a lifelong sibling rivalry. It became so bad that Esau wanted to kill Jacob. (see Genesis 27:41)

The Midrash tells us that when Esau was getting old, he called his grandson Amalek and said: "I tried to kill Jacob but was unable. Now I am entrusting you and your descendants with the important mission of annihilating Jacob's descendants - the Jewish People. Carry out this deed for me. Be relentless and do not show mercy."

Historically, we see Amalek and his descendants repeatedly trying to destroy the Jewish People. For example, in Exodus 17:8, they attacked the Jews even though Amalek lived in a distant land and was under no imminent threat. It was an act of pure hatred. For example :"Remember what Amalek did to you as you were leaving Egypt. He happened upon you, and struck the weakest people trailing behind, when you were exhausted. And he did not fear God." (Deut. 25:17-18); and, "God said to Moses: Write this remembrance in the book… that I will surely erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens." (Exodus 17:14)

The Talmud explains: What is the meaning of the phrase "[Amalek] happened ("karcha") upon you..." (Deut. 25:18)? The Hebrew word "karcha" literally means coincidence. Amalek's entire philosophy is that there is no divine design or providence in the world. Everything is haphazard, dictated by chance, luck and fate. That's why the verse continues: "And [Amalek] did not fear God."

On the other hand, Jacob (and subsequently the Jewish People) represents the bastion of conscience and morality. While Jacob believed that God runs the world and there is an absolute standard of morality, Esau believed that life is random and morality, therefore, is subjective.

The Book of Esther (3:1) identifies Haman as a descendent of Agag, the King of Amalek. Haman's desire to wipe out the Jewish People was an expression of his long-standing national tradition. Philosophically, this conflict is much deeper than "sibling rivalry." Amalek and the Jewish People stand at two opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum. Please read the Book of Esther in the entire context of God's message to the human race. You will see how God's plan manifests itself in human history as the Lord saves His people from the wrath of Amalek's descendent Haman. The story of Haman fits perfectly into human history and, more importantly, into God's plan of salvation for all of mankind. This wonderful story shows us the power of God and His divine plan over the petty affairs of petty men.

But some commentators on the Quran such as *Mr. Wherry* who only prove their own crass ignorance, have pretended to discover a serious acronysm in the Quran having called a Minister of Pharoah by the name of Haman , which accidentally was also the name of a minister of the King of Persia. (Wherry's Commentary)

In fact, anachronism lies in the brians (or perhaps in the brains) of such commentators and opponents of the Quran and not in the Quran.

I believe that Mr. Wherry was probably being kind. Queen Esther and her brother Mordecai would be the first to tell us that God knows best, but you guys really need to use a spell checker!

Andrew Vargo

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