b) City of Iram Another example of historical record can be...

b) City of Iram Another example of historical record can be found in chapter 89 of the Qur’an which mentions an ancient city called Iram: * * “Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the Aad (people), of the (city of) Iram, with lofty pillars, the like of which were not produced in (all) the land?”. (89:6-7). Apart from its being mentioned in the Qur’an, there were no historical record about this city - Iram.

The name itself was obscure even during the time of the Prophet himself, which led to a number of speculations about its possible geographical location. Some commentators of the Qur’an went to the extent of suggesting that probably Iram was the name of a hero of the Aad. The research findings of published by the official journal of the American National Geographic society in December 1978 have conclusively shown that Iram was a city. In 1975, Dr.

Paolo Mathias of the University of Rome, director of the Italian Archeological Mission in Syria ‘hit an archeological jackpot’. In the ruins of a palace apparently destroyed in the 23rd century B.C., he came upon the greatest third millennium archive ever unearthed. More than 15,000 ‘cunei form tablets’ were discovered. Among the rich details revealed by these tablets is the fact that Ebla used to have trading links with Iram....

It is inconceivable how Muhammad could describe accurately in the Qur’an the physical features and the level of architecture of a people who lived in an ancient city which was destroyed 3000 years before he was born. c) The body of Fir’aun The Qur’an has explicitly recorded about what has become of the body of Fir’aun. “This day We save therein your body so that you become a sign for those who come after you. But verily, many among mankind are heedless of our signs......” (10:92).

In this verse, the God's intention of bringing the body of Pharaoh out of water rather than leaving it decaying or being eaten by the sea animals is to give a lesson to future generations. What is amazing that when the Qur’an was transmitted to man by the Prophet, the bodies of all the Pharaohs were in their tombs in the Necropolis of Thebes, on the opposite side of the Nile from Luxor.

At the time however, absolutely nothing was known of this fact, and it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that they were discovered there. As the Qur’an states, the body of the Pharaoh (Fir’aun) of the Exodus was in fact rescued: visitors may see him in the Royal Mummies Room of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.