14 May 2008

Firaun in the Cairo Museum

Last year i went to Egypt and visited the Cairo Museum. It has the greatest collection of Egyptian antiquities. One whole day will not be enough to visit all the antiquities there. Personally i would rate the Cairo Museum better than the British Museum in London.

However, the negative side is that the environmental and display conditions leave a great deal to be desired. Labels on some exhibits date from early in the century and many items have no labels at all. Guidebooks are available at the museum, although they are limited to some of the major items. For a small fee, the best part of the visit is seeing the embalmed body of Firaun (believed to be Ramses 2), i.e the Firaun that is mention numerous times in the Quran.

The Firaun's embalmed body features a hooked nose and strong jaw, and is below average height for an ancient Egyptian, standing some five feet, seven inches. He has an average body frame with strands of hair still remaining and he, may have been a redhead. There lies a man, who claimed to be God and during his reign prophet Moses led his Jewish people to rebel against him. As told in the Quran, he was drowned in the Red Sea while pursuing prophet Moses towards the Senai desert. A closer look, revealed a face that died in shock, probably due to the trauma seeing the parting sea engulfing and drowning him!

Allah says "This day shall We save you in your body, that you may be a Sign to those who come after you! But verily, many among mankind are neglectful of Our Signs
(10:92)

Professor Maurice Bucaille who did a thorough forensic investigation on the mummy, concluded that the body has a high salt content akin to someone drowned. The salt in his body is peculiar to the salt of the Red Sea. A medical examination of this mummy, has shown that the body could not have stayed in the water for long, because it does not shows signs of deterioration due to prolonged submersion and immediate after that the body was embalmed and mummified.

Professor Maurice Bucaille was the French medical Doctor who led a team of Scientists and Doctors ordered by France's President to preserve the mummy. In 1974, Egyptologists visiting his tomb noticed that the mummy's condition was rapidly deteriorating. They decided to fly Ramesses II's mummy to Paris for examination. Ramesses II was issued an Egyptian passport that listed his occupation as "King (deceased)." According to a Discovery Channel documentary, the mummy was received at a Paris airport with the full military honours befitting a king!

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