This is from the net to show how reliable Dr. Maurice Bucaille was:
Maurice Bucaille and Haman
Who Is This Haman?
Dr. Maurice Bucaille narrates an interesting discussion he had with one of the most prominent French Egyptologists:
What was the name of this "most prominent French Egyptologist"? Maurice Bucaillle did not mention!!!
"I showed him the word Haman that I had copied exactly like it is written in the Qur'an, and told him that it had been extracted from a sentence of a document dating back to the 7th century, the sentence related to somebody connected with Egyptian history.
He said to me that, in such a case, he would see in this word the transliteration of a hieroglyphic name but, for him, undoubtedly it could not be possible that a written document of the 7th century had contained a hieroglyphic name - unknown until that time - since, in that time, the hieroglyphs had been totally forgotten.
In order to confirm his deduction about the name, he advised me to consult the Dictionary of Personal Names of the New Kingdom by Ranke... I was stupefied to read the profession of Haman: "The Chief of the workers in stone-quarries," exactly what could be deduced from the Qur'an, though the words of the Pharaoh suggest a master of construction." End of Maurice Bucaille narration.
I (the one commenting on Maurice Bucaille writings) work eight blocks from the Library of Congress which contains 2 copies of every book published in the English Language. There is NO BOOK entitled Dictionary of Personal Names of the New Kingdom by Hermann Ranke in the Library of Congress! There has been great interest in the United States in recent years concerning African history in general and Egyptian history in particular, and there are on line dictionaries of ancient Egyptian names, *, * , * and Haman IS NOT present in any of them! The name Haman is a Hebrew word of foreign derivation (most likely from Avestan/Old Persian) which means "magnificent". The Hebrew meaning, however, is noise or tumult.
Maurice Bucaille narration carries on:
"I came again to the expert with a photocopy of the page of the Dictionary concerning Haman and showed him one of the pages of the Qur'an... he was speechless...
Moreover, Ranke had noted, as a reference, a book published in 1906 by the Egyptologist Walter Wreszinski: the latter had mentioned that the name of Haman had been engraved on a stela kept at the Hof-Museum of Vienna (Austria)." End of Maurice Bucaille narration.
Comment:
References please! The only book that I could find by Walter Wreszinski, was "Das Buch von Durchwandern der Ewigkeit," in "Aegyptische Zeitschrift", 45 which was published in 1908, and makes NO REFERENCE to the name Haman.
So, who was Haman? Unlike the Qur'an, the Bible does not "drop names" in order to attempt to establish legitimacy. The Bible explains everything within the framework of God's Divine plan. To understand who Haman was, we need to go back to the time of Jacob, the forefather of the Jewish people. Jacob had a twin brother named Esau, with whom he had a lifelong sibling rivalry. It became so bad that Esau wanted to kill Jacob. (see Genesis 27:41)
The Midrash tells us that when Esau was getting old, he called his grandson Amalek and said: "I tried to kill Jacob but was unable. Now I am entrusting you and your descendants with the important mission of annihilating Jacob's descendants - the Jewish People. Carry out this deed for me. Be relentless and do not show mercy."
Historically, we see Amalek and his descendants repeatedly trying to destroy the Jewish People. For example, in Exodus 17:8, they attacked the Jews even though Amalek lived in a distant land and was under no imminent threat. It was an act of pure hatred. For example :"Remember what Amalek did to you as you were leaving Egypt. He happened upon you, and struck the weakest people trailing behind, when you were exhausted. And he did not fear God." (Deut. 25:17-18); and, "God said to Moses: Write this remembrance in the book… that I will surely erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens." (Exodus 17:14)
The Talmud explains: What is the meaning of the phrase "[Amalek] happened ("karcha") upon you..." (Deut. 25:18)? The Hebrew word "karcha" literally means coincidence. Amalek's entire philosophy is that there is no divine design or providence in the world. Everything is haphazard, dictated by chance, luck and fate. That's why the verse continues: "And [Amalek] did not fear God."
On the other hand, Jacob (and subsequently the Jewish People) represents the bastion of conscience and morality. While Jacob believed that God runs the world and there is an absolute standard of morality, Esau believed that life is random and morality, therefore, is subjective.
The Scroll of Esther (3:1) identifies Haman as a descendent of Agag, the King of Amalek. Haman's desire to wipe out the Jewish People was an expression of his long-standing national tradition. Philosophically, this conflict is much deeper than "sibling rivalry." Amalek and the Jewish People stand at two opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum. Please read the Book of Esther in the entire context of God's message to the human race. You will see how God's plan manifests itself in human history as the Lord saves His people from the wrath of Amalek's descendent Haman. The story of Haman fits perfectly into human history and, more importantly, into God's plan of salvation for all of mankind. This wonderful story shows us the power of God and His divine plan over the affairs of man. In respect to God's plan Queen Esther and her brother Mordecai would be the first to tell us that God knows best!