The Role Of Pharaoh In Kemet

From Moustafa Gadalla's website http://www.egypt-tehuti.org/faq-ancient-egypt.html

How did they choose the Pharaoh? - 6th Grade Student, Natrona, PA, USA

The function of the pharaoh was fundamentally religious. He was a priest-king. The pharaoh was a representative of the people in a far more profound sense than that implied by the modern use of the phrase. He was very much like a popular Catholic Pope.

Despite the repeated charges of vanity against the Pharaohs, it is worth remembering that their abodes while on earth were never made of stone, but of mud-brick, the same material used by the humblest peasants. These absolute monarchs could have built stone palaces for themselves. But the impermanent body, formed of clay, called for an equally impermanent abode on this earth. The palaces of the kings have long since returned to the earth from which they were raised.

The line of royal descent in Egypt was through the eldest daughter. Whoever married her became the pharaoh. It was not mere influence that the eldest daughter possessed, it was a right acknowledged by law, both in private and public life.

Here Gadalla compares the Pharaoh with the Catholic Pope, but a better comparison would be to an Islamic Caliph (not in election, but in his religious duty). Pharaoh was the leader of the people of Kemet, but that did not make him higher in a divine sense than his people. Today, you will find no evidence of Pharaohs living in huge marble, gold palaces like they depict on TV. The material used to make his shelter, mud brick, was the same as his peoples.

Interesting enough, one specific Pharaoh in the Qur'an is charged with the following by Allah:

"And Fir'aun (Pharaoh) led his people astray, and he did not guide them." - Surah 20:79

This specific Pharaoh (the Pharaoh of the Exodus) was charged with not guiding his people. This suggest that a Pharaoh's role is to guide his people as a spiritual leader, as Gadalla has previously mentioned, not rule over them like a tyrant, which Allah ridiculed this specific Pharaoh for by saying:

"Go to Fir'aun (Pharaoh)! Verily, he has transgressed (all bounds in disbelief and disobedience, and has behaved as an arrogant, and as a tyrant)." - Surah 20:24

This specific Pharaoh mentioned in the Qur'an failed to guide his people and led them astray.

Akhenaten Monotheism Myth Debunked

Akhenaten was the only Pharaoh to deviate away from the spiritual system in Kemet to Atenism. As mentioned before, the understanding already established in Kemet was that there was One God, and the Neteru were His attributes/functions. What Akhenaten did was disband all the priest of the Neteru and outlawed the worship of the Neteru (the One God) and put in a system for the worship of Aten, which isn't a Neter or attribute of God at all, but the sun. Akhenaten instituted sun worship. To add to that, the people of Kemet were to worship Akhenaten while only Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti could worship Aten. In a nutshell, the people were to worship Akhenaten as a god while Akhenaten worshiped the sun as a god. This is in no way monotheism, rather it is Akhenaten bringing divinity onto himself, and associating himself, and Aten (the sun) as partners with God. This was the true paganism and idolatry in Kemet, and even fits the description of the Pharaoh in the Qur'an.

Fir'aun (Pharaoh) said: "O chiefs! I know not that you have an ilah (a god) other than me, so kindle for me (a fire), O Haman, to bake (bricks out of) clay, and set up for me a Sarhan (a lofty tower, or palace, etc.) in order that I may look at (or look for) the Ilah (God) of Musa (Moses); and verily, I think that he [Musa (Moses)] is one of the liars." - Surah 28:38

The Pharaoh of the Qur'an had established himself as a god while mocking Musa(pbuh) for his message of monotheism, much like how Akhenaten established himself as a god while disbanding the priest of Neteru and outlawing the worship of God and His attributes, the Neteru (which was already a monotheistic, spiritual system).

But none believed in Musa (Moses) except the offspring of his people, because of the fear of Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and his chiefs, lest they should persecute them; and verily, Fir'aun (Pharaoh) was arrogant tyrant on the earth, he was indeed one of the Musrifun (polytheists, sinners and transgressors, those who give up the truth and follow the evil, and commit all kinds of great sins). - Surah 10:83

You can see here that Pharaoh in the Qur'an prevented the worship of the One True God and instead established himself to be worshiped, just like Akhenaten prevented the worship of the One True God and His attributes (the Neteru) and established himself to be worshiped. Notice that not in one of these verses is any of the Neteru mentioned (Ra, Horus, Ausar, etc) and they wouldn't had been mentioned, because they are concepts/attributes of the One True God, the Creator that Musa(pbuh) being an Egyptian would have been preaching about. What made the Pharaoh of the Qur'an one of the Musrifun is him establishing himself up as a partner to God to be worshiped.

With that said, you can come to the conclusion that Akhenaten was not a patron of monotheism, but one of the Musrifun, and you also realize the major possibility that Akhenaten was the Pharaoh of the Qur'an that "led his people astray, and he did not guide them".