the time of Moses birth, and when it presents the invented story of a second "son slaying operation" after Moses came to Pharaoh to bring him God's message several decades later.
Notice that there is a strange imbalance in Pharaoh's command to "slay their sons" and "spare their women". If the order should be executed only on infants (as is clear from the Biblical account), should it not be "slay their sons" and "spare their daughters"? What is the age limit up to which the sons should be slain? Only the newborn ones? Up to age six? Or ten? Or fourteen? Or twenty? The Qur'an does not give an answer to this question, but the use of the word "women" instead of "girls" or "daughters" seems to indicate that more than just newborn sons are supposed to be killed. A son remains a son most or even all of his life, at least as long as one of the parents lives. Does the Qur'an even claim that the Pharaoh ordered to "slay their males" (of any age) and "spare their females"?
For how long was the command to be in force? Was this a one time genocidal action of killing all males, or a sustained program of killing male infants whenever they are born? For what reason would it be one or the other? Who was supposed to do the killing? The Egyptian police or military? Or every Egyptian was supposed to go and kill his Israelite neighbour's son? The Qur'an does not make much sense here without bringing in outside information.
Did the command of the Pharaoh have the same range (regarding the age of the sons to be killed) in the second instance as in the first, or was it to be understood differently?
In the Qur'an, this command of the Pharaoh lacks a clear reason in both cases, but since the second instance stands in clear contradiction to the Bible, I want to examine this claim more closely and ask: What purpose should this order serve?
Although it is not stated in the text of the Qur'an, the classical Muslim commentators (and modern ones as well) follow the Biblical story and state or assume that the command of the Pharaoh applied only to male infants in both instances. Muslim interpreters are here clearly dependent on the Bible text.
Although evil and reprehensible, this approach makes some sense as a population control mechanism when the Egyptians were faced with a population development problem (see Exodus 1). It is a strategic approach that shows its effects in the long term.
However, killing male infants does not make much sense as an answer to the challenge of Moses. How many newborn baby boys did exist at that time? As cruel as it would be to the parents of these babies, killing 50 or 100 or even 300 babies would be totally irrelevant to the message and challenge that Moses brought to Pharaoh. There an answer was needed that would have quick results and that could counter Moses' miracles. Moses was certainly not intending to stand there and wait a generation or two until he became impressed.
Conclusion: The Qur'anic account does not only contradict the Torah, it is incoherent and does not make sense. Duplicating the command of the Pharaoh and placing it into the wrong situation is evidence of the confusion of the author of the Qur'an.
1. Maybe Muhammad simply assumed the Pharaoh would treat the Israelites in a similar way as Muhammad acted himself when he ordered the males of the Banu Qurayza to be slain and the females to be taken as slaves, see What really happened to the Banu Qurayza. Interestingly, Yusuf Ali states in his note on S. 28:4, "Pharaoh decreed that all male sons born to his Israelite subjects should be killed, and the females kept alive for the pleasure of the Egyptans." That is similar to Muhammad's mindset but finds no parallel in the Biblical account.
Contradictions in the Qur'an
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