1. Historical and Geographical Dislocation:
The text commands Haman to bake clay bricks to build a tower reaching heaven. This specific concept is a direct lift from the biblical Tower of Babel in Babylonia (Genesis 11). Shifting this Mesopotamian brick-firing motif to Bronze Age Egypt creates a severe historical and geographical dislocation.
2. Literary Remixing:
Rather than recording authentic history, the author has created a composite narrative. By blending the architectural hubris of Shinar (Babel) with the figures of the Egyptian Pharaoh (Exodus) and the Persian Haman (Esther), the text reveals itself to be a stylized literary remix of independent Judeo-Christian themes.
The Quran Verse
Surah 28:38:
And Pharaoh said, 'O eminent ones, I have not known you to have a god other than me. Then ignite for me, O Haman, [a fire] upon the clay and make for me a tower that I may look at the God of Moses...'
The Relevant Source Text (The Bible)
Genesis 11:3–4:
"They said to each other, 'Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' ... Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens...'"
The imagery of building a tower of baked bricks to reach God is the central motif of the Tower of Babel in Genesis. In the Bible, this happens in Shinar (Babylonia) shortly after the Flood.
The Quran shifts this "hubris" onto Pharaoh and Haman. Critics argue the Quranic author repurposed the Babel story—complete with the specific detail of "fired clay/bricks"—and assigned it to the Egyptian setting to emphasize Pharaoh’s arrogance. This is seen as a literary "remixing" of Judeo-Christian themes rather than a historical account of Egyptian construction.