The Nile River in Muslim Geographical Sources

Abstract

The Arab Egyptians usually call this river Baḥr an-Nīl (The Sea of Nile). Travelers from other Islamic regions also adopted this name apparently because of its great length and width. Although the name An-Nīl does not explicitly appear in the Qur’ān, it appears as a metaphor and no doubt as a poetical allusion, in the word Yamm (Sea) in the story of Moses and the Egyptian Pharaoh. According to the anonymous author of Kitāb al-istibṣār, the Qur’ān calls it Yamm like in Hebrew while the Arabs call it Baḥr (Sea).