s against the sorcerers of Egypt in which the miracles of Moses are so convincing that the sorcerers afterwards believe in the God of Moses, and Pharaoh therefore punishing them for their betrayal (S. 7:113-126), we read again that Pharaoh gives the order to kill the male infants of the Israelites:
The chiefs of Fir'aun's (Pharaoh) people said: "Will you leave Musa (Moses) and his people to spread mischief in the land, and to abandon you and your gods?" He said: "We will kill their sons, and let live their women, and we have indeed irresistible power over them." S. 7:127 Al-Hilali & Khan
And indeed We sent Musa (Moses) with Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), and a manifest authority, To Fir'aun (Pharaoh), Haman and Qarun (Korah), but they called (him): "A sorcerer, a liar!" Then, when he brought them the Truth from Us, they said: "Kill the sons of those who believe with him and let their women live", but the plots of disbelievers are nothing but errors! S. 40:23-25 Al-Hilali & Khan
The Qur'an mentions the slaying of Israelite boys in these passages: al-Baqara 2:49, al-A`raf 7:127,141, Ibrahim 14:6, al-Qasas 28:4, Ghafir 40:25. Among those, S. 28:4 refers to the slaying around the time of Moses' birth, S. 7:127 and 40:23-25 speak of an alleged second slaying after Moses had come back as a prophet, while S. 2:49, 7:141, and 14:6 look back at the fact that the Israelite boys had been slain, but it is unclear whether these verses refer to the first or the second slaying period, or even both.
On the level of facts, this is in blatant contradiction to the Bible. There was no second slaying of Israelite boys several decades after the birth of Moses, after Moses had come to Pharaoh as a messenger from God. The author of the Qur'an was apparently quite confused about this matter.
The author's confusion can also be seen from the fact that the story of the Qur'an is incomplete and incoherent in both instances, when it recounts the Biblical story of the slaying of Israelite baby boys at 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 