The Holy Bible in many places speaks of God giving Israel the land of Canaan as their everlasting and cherished possession:
"The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." Genesis 17:8
"So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites… And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites – a land flowing with milk and honey." Exodus 3:8, 17
"I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens." Exodus 6:4
Given these clear statements from the Holy Bible, it may come as a surprise to some readers to discover that the Quran actually teaches that the Promised Land which Israel was to inherit was Egypt! Before presenting the evidence for this we need to first mention that the words Canaan, Israel (the land, not the people), Judea or Jerusalem never appear in the Quran, which is truly bewildering and astonishing to say the least.
When the Quran does speak of Israel's inheritance it simply refers to the land or city which God gave them. For instance:
And (remember) when Moses said unto his people: O my people! Remember Allah's favour unto you, how He placed among you prophets, and He made you kings, and gave you that (which) He gave not to any (other) of (His) creatures. O my people! Go into the holy land which Allah hath ordained for you. Turn not in flight, for surely ye turn back as losers: They said: O Moses! Lo! a giant people (dwell) therein and lo! we go not in till they go forth from thence. When they go forth from thence, then we will enter (not till then). Then out spake two of those who feared (their Lord, men) unto whom Allah had been gracious: Enter in upon them by the gate, for if ye enter by it, lo! ye will be victorious. So put your trust (in Allah) if ye are indeed believers. They said: O Moses! We will never enter (the land) while they are in it. So go thou and thy Lord and fight! We will sit here. He said: My Lord! I have control of none but myself and my brother, so distinguish between us and the wrong-doing folk. (Their Lord) said: For this the land will surely be forbidden them for forty years that they will wander in the earth, bewildered. So grieve not over the wrongdoing folk. S. 5:20-26 Pickthall
The text doesn't identify exactly where this holy land was situated, who these giants were, or which two men feared their Lord. The only way to know the answers is to go outside of the Quran and consult the Holy Bible:
"The LORD said to Moses, ‘Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.’ So at the LORD's command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites… When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, ‘Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.’ (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.) So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: ‘We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.’ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.’ But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.’" Numbers 13:1-3, 17-33
{As a side note, Q. 5:20 contains a gross anachronism since it has Moses speaking of Israel’s kings when in fact Israel had no kings until centuries later during the time of Samuel. See this article for more details.}
Yet if we stick strictly with the Quran itself and take into consideration all the references to the Exodus of Israel then it becomes apparent that the author(s) thought that the land given to Israel wasn't Jerusalem or Canaan but Egypt!
And WE revealed to Moses, directing him, ‘Take away MY servants by night, you will surely be pursued.’ And Pharaoh sent summoners into the cities, announcing, ‘These are a small party, Yet they have offended us; And we are a multitude fully prepared and vigilant.’ So WE turned them out of gardens and springs, And treasures and an abode of honour. Thus it was; and WE gave them as heritage to the children of Israel. S. 26:52-59 Sher Ali
The foregoing verses indicate that the Israelites were made the inheritors of Egypt right after the destruction of Pharaoh and his armies in the sea. The Egyptians were "turned out" and their gardens were given to the children of Israel. The next citations support this position:
They said: We have been persecuted before you came to us and since you have come to us. He said: It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you rulers in the land, then He will see how you act. And certainly We overtook Firon's people with droughts and diminution of fruits that they may be mindful. S. 7:129-130 Shakir
Therefore We inflicted retribution on them and drowned them in the sea because they rejected Our signs and were heedless of them. And We made the people who were deemed weak to inherit the eastern land and the western ones which We had blessed; and the good word of your Lord was fulfilled in the children of Israel because they bore up (sufferings) patiently; and We utterly destroyed what Firon and his people had wrought and what they built. S. 7:136-137
When taking these passages together as a unit (which we must seeing that they are all part of the same context) then the conclusion is that Israel was given the eastern and western parts of Egypt and became rulers of it. This next quote provides further substantiation that the Quran's author(s) erroenously assumed that Israel did take over Egypt:
We will recite to thee something of the tiding of Moses and Pharaoh truthfully, for a people who believe. Now Pharaoh had exalted himself IN THE LAND and had divided its inhabitants into sects, abasing one party of them, slaughtering their sons, and sparing their women; for he was of the workers of corruption. Yet We desired to be gracious to those that were abased IN THE LAND, and to make them LEADERS, and to make them THE INHERITORS, AND TO ESTABLISH THEM IN THE LAND, and to show Pharaoh and Haman, and their hosts, what they were dreading from them. S. 28:2-6 Arberry
Quite obviously, since the Israelites were the weak party which Pharaoh abased in the land then this means that they were the ones who inherited the land of Egypt! This passage three times uses "in the land": The Pharaoh had exalted himself "in the land" (in Egypt), the Israelites are "those that were abased in the land" (in Egypt) and Allah decided to "to make them inheritors, and to establish them in the land". The only logical interpretation is that Allah intended to establish them in the same land that was spoken about throughout these verses. There is absolutely no indication that "the land" refers to some other country. It does not say "and to establish them in another land".
Moreover, the Quran in Q. 7:110 and 7:123 (as well as in Q. 20:57,63) says that Pharaoh and his chiefs were dreading that the Israelites would expel the Egyptians out of the land:
Said the Council of the people of Pharaoh, 'Surely this man is a cunning sorcerer who desires to expel you from your land; what do you command?' ... Said Pharaoh, 'You have believed in Him before I gave you leave. Surely this is a device you have devised in the city that you may expel its people from it. Now you shall know!
This again implicitly supports the fact that the author(s) mistakenly thought that the land that God promised to grant the Israelites was Egypt.
In his commentary on Q. 7, Ibn Kathir ties in Q. 7:137 with Q. 28:5-6 and says:
<And the fair Word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because of their endurance.> is explained by Allah's other statement...
<And We wished to do a favor to those who were weak (and oppressed) in the land, and to make them rulers and to make them the inheritors. And to establish them in the land, and We let Fir`awn and Haman and their hosts receive from them that which they feared> [28:5-6]. (Source)
And in regard to Q. 28:2-6 Ibn Kathir writes:
<weakening a group among them.> This refers to the Children of Israel, who at that time were the best of people, even though this tyrant king overpowered them, using them to do the most menial work and forcing them to hard labor night and day for him and his people. At the same time, he was killing their sons and letting their daughters live, to humiliate them and because he feared that there might appear among them the boy who would be the cause of his destruction and the downfall of his kingdom. So Fir`awn took precautions against that happening, by ordering that all boys born to the Children of Israel should be killed, but this precaution did not protect him against the divine decree, because when the term of Allah comes, it cannot be delayed, and for each and every matter there is a decree from Allah. Allah says:
<And We wished to do a favor to those who were weak in the land,> until His saying;
<which they feared.> And Allah did indeed do this to them, as He says...
<And We made the people who were considered weak> until His saying...
<they erected> (7:137). And Allah said...
<Thus and We caused the Children of Israel to inherit them> (26: 59). Fir`awn hoped that by his strength and power he would be saved from Musa, but that did not help him in the slightest. Despite his great power as a king he could not oppose the decree of Allah, which can never be overcome. On the contrary, Allah's ruling was carried out, for it had been written and decreed from past eternity that Fir`awn would meet his doom at the hands of Musa. (Source)
In fact, Ibn Kathir identifies the people who inherited Egypt according to this next verse:
Thus it happened. And WE made another people inherit these things. S. 44:28 Sher Ali
As the Israelites:
(Thus (it was)! And We made other people inherit them.) namely the Children of Israel. (Source)
Here is the final passage which links Egypt with the Promised Land:
And when you said, 'Moses, we will not endure one sort of food; pray to thy Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of that the earth produces-green herbs, cucumbers, corn, lentils, onions.' He said, 'Would you have in exchange what is meaner for what is better? Get you down to EGYPT (misran); you shall have there that you demanded.' And abasement and poverty were pitched upon them, and they were laden with the burden of God's anger; that, because they had disbelieved the signs of God and slain the Prophets unrightfully; that, because they disobeyed, and were transgressors. S. 2:61 A.J. Arberry
Anyone can see that the problem with this passage is that Moses didn't tell the people to go to Egypt but to Canaan. Seemingly aware of this error, certain Muslims translators render the word misr as town or city, just as this Muslim did:
And remember when you said, O Moses, surely we will not remain content with one kind of food; pray, then, to thy Lord for us that HE may bring forth for us of what the earth grows - of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions.' He said, `Would you take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better? Go down to some TOWN and there is for you what you ask.' And they were smitten with abasement and destitution, and they incurred the wrath of ALLAH; that was because they rejected the Signs of ALLAH and sought to slay the Prophets unjustly; this was because they rebelled and transgressed. Sher Ali
Instead of Moses telling his people to go to Egypt, the translator has him saying go to any town.
A careful examination of the English versions of the Quran shows that the translators were divided over the word misr, obviously because of the problem it poses for the so called inerrancy and infallibility of the Quran. Some versions rendered it as Egypt while others translated it as city or town. Note the following translations of Q. 2:61.
Egypt
Go down to Egypt, where you can find what you asked for. Khalifa
Come down to Egypt where you will get what you asked for. Majid Fakhry
Therefore settle down in Egypt or any city, where you will get what you demand; Ahmed Raza Khan/Mohammed Aqib Qadri (*)
Go down into Egypt, there you shall find all that you have asked. Hassan Qaribullah & Ahmad Darwish (*)
Descend to Egypt, you will have in it what you have asked for. The Message: A Modern Literal Translation of the Quran by Progressive-Muslims.org (*)
Go down to Egypt,- there is what ye ask. Palmer
Get ye down in Egypt, for [there] shall ye find what ye desire: Sale
Get ye down into Egypt; - for ye shall have what ye have asked: Rodwell
Rodwell's note says:
26 This passage (comp. xxvi. 59) is one of the numerous anachronisms which abound in the Koran and prove the gross ignorance of the Arabian Prophet. (Source)
Finally,
Go back in shame to Egypt, and then you can have what you are asking for! Asad
Asad inserts the word shame in order to change Moses' statement into a rebuke over the Israelites' complaining. The Holy Bible, on the other hand, says that it was the Israelites who wanted to return to Egypt since they started doubting whether God was capable of fulfilling his promises to bring them into Canaan.
Town/City/Country
Go ye down to any town, and ye shall find what ye want! Y. Ali
Yusuf Ali clearly had a difficult time with 2:61 since he wrote in his footnote:
74. The declension of the word Misr in the Arabic text here shows that it is treated as a common noun meaning any town, BUT THIS NOT CONCLUSIVE, and the reference may be to the Egypt of Pharaoh. The Tanwin expressing indefiniteness may mean "any Egypt", i.e., any country as fertile as Egypt. There is here a subtle reminiscence as well as a severe reproach. The rebellious children of Israel murmured at the sameness of the food they got in the desert. They were evidently hankering after the delicacies of the Egypt which they had left, although they should have known that the only thing certain for them in Egypt was their bondage and harsh treatment. Moses’ reproach to them was twofold: (1) Such variety of foods you can get in any town; would you, for their sake, sell your freedom? Is not freedom better than delicate food? (2) In front is the rich Promised Land, which you are reluctant to march to; behind is Egypt, the land of bondage. Which is better? Would you exchange the better for the worse?
Go to any town and you will get what you want. Sarwar
Go you down to any town and you shall find what you want! Hilali-Khan
go down into any town and there you will find what you demand. Muhammad Zafrullah Khan
(If this is so) then go to some town and you will certainly have (there) all that you have demanded. Amatul Rahman & ‘Abdul Manan ‘Omar
Get ye down into a City, as verily therein is for you that which ye ask for. Daryabadi (*)
Get you down to a city and you shall have what you demand. Muhammad Ayub Khan (*)
If that's what you want go back to some city; there you will find what you have asked for. Malik
Go back to some city. There you will find all you have asked for. N.J. Dawood
Go then to the city, you shall have what you ask. Ahmed Ali
Settle in some city to get what you have asked for! T.B. Irving
Enter a city, so you will have what you ask for. M.M. Ali
Enter a city, so you will have what you ask for. Shakir
Go back to one of the cities. There you shall find all that you have asked for. Muhammad Wahiduddin Khan (*)
Go down to settled country, thus ye shall get that which ye demand. Pickthall
Go into [any] settlement and indeed, you will have what you have asked. Saheeh International Translation
Let the reader note that the majority of translations that render misr as city/country/town etc. are done by Muslims. It is rather evident that these Muslims were attempting to reconcile or even obscure the meaning here since they saw the historical problem of this passage.
But there are several problems with rendering the word misr as city, town or country. First, the internal evidence points to Egypt as the proper translation. In fact, it just so happens that the Quranic term for Egypt is misr:
And We revealed to Musa and his brother, saying: Take for your people houses to abide in Egypt (misra) and make your houses places of worship and keep up prayer and give good news to the believers. S. 10:87 Shakir
The man in Egypt (misra) who bought him, said to his wife: "Make his stay (among us) honourable: may be he will bring us much good, or we shall adopt him as a son." Thus did We establish Joseph in the land, that We might teach him the interpretation of stories (and events). And God hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not. S. 12:21 Y. Ali
And when they came to Joseph, he put up his parents with himself and said, `Enter Egypt (misra) in peace, if it please ALLAH.' S. 12:99 Sher Ali
And Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying: "O my people! Does not the dominion of Egypt (misra) belong to me, (witness) these streams flowing underneath my (palace)? What! see ye not then?" S. 43:51 Y. Ali
In light of the foregoing there must be good contextual reasons for not applying the normal usage of the word here, which in the case of misr would be Egypt. Yet there is nothing within the immediate context to suggest that misr is to be translated in a manner contrary from its normal meaning.
Second, even the Muslim exegetes held conflicting views over the precise meaning of the word misr, apparently because they were confused since they seemingly knew this word meant Egypt. Note for instance the comments of Mahmoud M. Ayoub:
(61) Commentators have differed as to whether the word misr refers in this verse to any settled country or specifically to Egypt. Tabari argues at length for both views. He cites in favor of the view that it was Egypt the readings of Ubayy and Ibn Mas‘ud, where the word misr is read without the indefinite article, as in the reading in use today. Tabari concludes, "There is no indication in the Book of God as to which of these interpretations is the true one, nor is there a hadith from the Apostle which would provide the decisive word… We therefore think that Moses asked his Lord to give his people what they asked… and God answered his prayers and commanded Moses to dwell in a land which would bring forth the foods they asked." Tabari prefers the generally accepted reading in opposition to that of Ubayy and Ibn Mas‘ud… Tabarsi relates on the authority of Hasan al-Basri, al-Rabi‘, and Qatadah that it was Egypt, "the misr of Pharaoh," out of which they made the exodus. Abu Muslim said, "God meant the holy city [Jerusalem]"; the same was related on the authority of Ibn Zayd. Al-Suddi, Qatadah, and Mujahid said, "He meant any city [misr] of the lands, that is to say, what you ask for can be found in towns and not desert places"… (Ayoub, The Qur’an and Its Interpreters, Volume 1, p. 108 [State University of New York Press, Albany, 1984]; underline emphasis ours)
We have addressed al-Tabari’s comments above and shown that, contrary to his claim, the internal evidence leads to Egypt being the proper meaning of the term. What we want to emphasize at this point is that the two greatest Quranic compilers and reciters, Ubayy and Ibn Masud, both agreed that the word meant Egypt! In addition to this, Ayoub’s comments show that there were variant readings of this verse (cf. Q. 2:61), demonstrating that there was not one uniform text of the Quran by any means.
The Quran could have avoided all this confusion by simply using a different word than the one commonly used for Egypt, just as it did several verses earlier:
And when We said: Go into this township (alqaryata) and eat freely of that which is therein, and enter the gate prostrate, and say: "Repentance." We will forgive you your sins and will increase (reward) for the right-doers. S. 2:58 Pickthall; cf. 2:259
The Quran could have also used the word balad as in Q. 2:126:
And when Ibrahim said: My Lord, make it a secure town (baladan) and provide its people with fruits, such of them as believe in Allah and the last day. He said: And whoever disbelieves, I will grant him enjoyment for a short while, then I will drive him to the chastisement of the fire; and it is an evil destination. Shakir
Another word which would have avoided all this confusion is madina:
And he entered the city (almadeenata) at a time when its people were not watching: and he found there two men fighting,- one of his own religion, and the other, of his foes. Now the man of his own religion appealed to him against his foe, and Moses struck him with his fist and made an end of him. He said: "This is a work of Evil (Satan): for he is an enemy that manifestly misleads!" S. 28:15 Y. Ali; cf. 28:18, 20
Instead, the Quran uses a word which in every other instance means Egypt.
Now a Muslim may argue (much like Asad tries to do in his commentary) that in Q. 2:61 Moses was angry and was therefore speaking sarcastically when he said to go back to Egypt. In other words, a Muslim may seek to read it sarcastically, not as expressing an actual command of God to return to Egypt. The problem with this proposal is that it takes for granted that the Quran knows that the Promised Land is Canaan, not Egypt. But where does the Quran say this exactly? As we already said, the Quran doesn’t mention either Jerusalem or Canaan, so how does a Muslim know for sure that Q. 2:61 is not speaking of a literal return to Egypt? The Muslim doesn’t know this for certain, which again demonstrates just how incoherent and incomplete the Muslim scripture truly is.
If the Muslim tries to appeal to the Holy Bible then s/he only compounds the problem due to the fact that the two books contradict each other. Besides, if the Muslims need to appeal to the Bible in order to explain the Quran then they are only acknowledging that the Holy Bible functions as a criterion to test the Muslim scripture. This is precisely what the Quran says persons should do:
But if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed to you, ask those who read the Book before you; certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord, therefore you should not be of the disputers. S. 10:94 Shakir
Hence, either the Muslims stick to the Quran alone and try to figure this mess out. Or they appeal to the Holy Bible and thereby acknowledge that the Muslim scripture is in subjection to the Holy Bible, which further implies that when the Quran disagrees with the Holy Bible then it is the Muslim scripture that is in error. Unfortunately for the Muslims, they can’t have it both ways; they can’t have their cake and eat it too.
To give a summary of the problem with what the Quran says concerning the land that the Israelites inherited, the Muslim scripture seems to assume that Israel left Egypt and then returned to take over the land. Moses first comes to Pharaoh and requested the permission to leave the land with his people (Q. 7:105), but already five verses later, the fear is expressed that the Israelites actually want to expel the Egyptians (Q. 7:110 and again 123, as well as in Q. 20:57,63). In many passages Allah promises the Israelites that they will inherit the gardens, the riches, and the land of the Egyptians. Moreover, in Q. 28:6, Allah says that he will let Pharaoh and his hosts see what they were dreading, which seems to refer to the fear they expressed, i.e. that the Israelites will drive them out of the land.
Thus, we can safely conclude that, in light of the foregoing factors, the author of the Quran erroneously assumed that the Promised Land that God gave Israel was none other than Egypt itself!
Additional Observations: There is another confusing element to the Quran's version of the Exodus account. In Q. 5:26 we are specifically told that Allah did not allow Israel to enter into the holy land for forty years because of their fear of the giants or the mighty people who lived there:
(Allah) said: "Therefore it (this holy land) is forbidden to them for forty years; in distraction they will wander through the land. So be not sorrowful over the people who are the Fasiqun (rebellious and disobedient to Allah)." Hilali-Khan
However, as we saw from the rest of the texts, the Muslim scripture implies that the Israelites actually took over Egypt right after Allah destroyed Pharaoh and his people in the flood. See our earlier discussions for the details.
There is not a hint of a hiatus of 40 years in which the land was in limbo and did not belong to anyone.
In fact, the Quran even implies that the Israelites took possession of the eastern and western parts of Egypt while they were still sojourning in the desert, before the golden calf was fashioned!
They said, 'We have been hurt before thou camest to us, and after thou camest to us.' He said, 'Perchance your Lord will destroy your enemy, and will make you successors in the land, so that He may behold how you shall do.' .... And when the wrath fell upon them, they said, 'Moses, pray to thy Lord for us by the covenant He has made with thee. If thou removest from us the wrath, surely we will believe thee, and send forth with thee the Children of Israel.' But when We removed from them the wrath unto a term that they should come to, lo, they broke their troth. So We took vengeance on them, and drowned them in the sea, for that they cried lies to Our signs and heeded them not. And We bequeathed upon the people that were abased all the east and the west of the land We had blessed; and perfectly was fulfilled the most fair word of thy Lord upon the Children of Israel, for that they endured patiently; and We destroyed utterly the works of Pharaoh and his people, and what they had been building. And We brought the Children of Israel over the sea, and they came upon a people cleaving to idols they had. They said, 'Moses, make for us a god, as they have gods.' Said he, 'You are surely a people who are ignorant. Surely this they are engaged upon shall be shattered, and void is what they have been doing.' He said, 'What, shall I seek a god for you other than God, who has preferred you above all beings?' And when We delivered you from the folk of Pharaoh who were visiting you with evil chastisement, slaying your sons, and sparing your women -- and in that was a grievous trial from your Lord. And We appointed with Moses thirty nights and We completed them with ten, so the appointed time of his Lord was forty nights; and Moses said to his brother Aaron, 'Be my successor among my people, and put things right, and do not follow the way of the workers of corruption.' ... And the people of Moses took to them, after him, of their ornaments a Calf -- a mere body that lowed. Did they not see it spoke not to them, neither guided them upon any way? Yet they took it to them, and were evildoers... And when Moses returned to his people, angry and sorrowful, he said, 'Evilly have you done in my place, after me; what, have you outstripped your Lord's commandment?' And he cast down the Tablets, and laid hold of his brother's head, dragging him to him. He said, 'Son of my mother, surely the people have abased me, and well nigh slain me. Make not my enemies to gloat over me, and put me not among the people of the evildoers.' S. 7:129, 134-142, 148, 150 Arberry
There are additional problems to contend with, specifically with the giants mentioned in Q. 5:22. Where did they come from? Either these unnamed giants entered into the land of Egypt shortly after Allah disposed of the Egyptians, and right before Israel had the chance of taking control of it. Or they were already living in Egypt and remained behind while the rest of the Egyptians pursued the Israelites to their subsequent destruction into the sea.
And could it be that these giants were the people referred to in Q. 7:138, the ones whom the Israelites saw clinging to their idols that resulted in their wanting idols of their own?
The major errors and contradictions — historical, logical, and theological
The promise: In the Bible God promised Abraham that his descendants will become a nation and that God will give them the land of Canaan as their possession (Genesis 12:7, 13:14-17, 15:7-21, 17:7-8). This promise is repeated to Isaac (Genesis 26:3), and to Jacob (Genesis 28:13, 35:12), and again confirmed by God through Moses (Exodus 3:8, 16-17, 13:5, 23:23, 33:2, 34:11, Deuteronomy 7:1, etc.), who also led Israel out of Egypt up to the borders of Canaan. The Quran contradicts this consistent and oft-repeated promise in the Torah by making Egypt the land promised to the Children of Israel. The Quran contradicts the Bible by making the wrong promise.
The historical facts: All evidence of history and archeology shows that the Children of Israel / the Jews lived in the land of Israel (former Canaan). The Quran contradicts historical fact in claiming that God gave Israel the land of Egypt.
The logical contradiction: The Quran contradicts itself when it claims in some passages that Israel took over the land of the Egyptians immediately after the Egyptians were defeated and drowned, but in Q. 5:26 it says that the Israelites had to wander about in the wilderness for 40 years before they could enter the promised land.
The theological problem: If Allah promised Egypt to the Children of Israel (as the Quran claims), but in the end they got Canaan instead (which is historical fact), this means that Allah wasn't able to fulfill his promise.
It is apparent from all of these gross errors and major difficulties that the Quran is a book that contains so many problems and no adequate answers.
Asking the "Why?" question
False statements can occur for different reasons: Ignorance or Intention. The Quran's claim that the land promised to Israel was Egypt is without doubt a monumental error. However, we need to ask: Was it simply the ignorance of Muhammad which led to this error, or was this false claim introduced intentionally? This question is pondered in the article I am ALL the Prophets.
Further reading
Contradictions in the Qur'an
Answering Islam Home Page