هامان
Hāmān
Person
Pharaoh’s minister in the Quran, whom Pharaoh tells to build a tower (28:38).
What it means
The Quran names Haman as one of Pharaoh’s men (28:6, 28:8, 28:38, 29:39, 40:24, 40:36). Pharaoh says: “Haman, light a fire for me upon the clay and build me a lofty tower, that I may look up to the God of Moses” (28:38).
Often misunderstood as
That the Quran confuses the Persian Haman of the Book of Esther with an official of Egypt.
What the sources say
The Quran says only that he was an official in Pharaoh’s court, and does not connect him with Esther’s story, in which he is a Persian vizier a thousand years later. The name Hmn is found in Egyptian: the falcon god Hemen was worshipped in Egypt, and compound names were formed with it. Muslim writers have argued from this, and scholars still debate it. The two figures share a name and little else.