6وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُم فِي الأَرضِ وَنُرِيَ فِرعَونَ وَهامانَ وَجُنودَهُما مِنهُم ما كانوا يَحذَرونَMuhammad Asadand to establish them securely on earth, and to let Pharaoh and Haman1 and their hosts experience through those [children of Israel] the very thing against which they sought to protect themselves.2This Haman, who is mentioned several times in the Qur'an as Pharaoh's chief adviser, is not to be confused with the Persian Haman of the Old Testament (The Book of Esther iii ff.). Most probably, the word "Haman" as used in the Qur'an is not a proper name at all but the Arabicized echo of the compound designation Ha-Amen given to every high priest of the Egyptian god Amon. Since at the time in question the cult of Amon was paramount in Egypt, his high priest held a rank second only to that of the reigning Pharaoh. The assumption that the person spoken of in the Qur'an as Haman was indeed the high priest of the cult of Amon is strengthened by Pharaoh's demand (mentioned in verse 38 of this surah as well as in 40:36-37) that Haman erect for him "a lofty tower" from which he could "have a look at [or "ascend to"] the god of Moses": which may be, among other things, an allusion to the hieratic purpose of the great pyramids of Egypt and to the function of the high priest as their chief architect. (But see also note 37.)The Egyptians - obviously remembering the earlier, alien Hyksos dynasty that had invaded Egypt and subsequently allied itself with the Hebrews (see surah 12, note 44) - feared that the latter might in the future, too, make common cause with foreign invaders (cf. Exodus i, 10): and to protect themselves against this danger, they decided - as mentioned in several places in the Qur'an as well as in the Bible - to have every male Hebrew child killed.