“Then Pharaoh’s household picked him up (from the river) that he may be their adversary and be a cause of sorrow to them. Surely Pharaoh and Hāmānand their hosts erred (in their scheming). The wife of Pharaoh said: ‘Here is a delight of the eye to me and to you. Do not kill him. Maybe he will prove useful for us, or we may adopt him as a son.’ They were unaware of the end of it all.”
(Al-Qur’ān – 28:8-9)
These ayaat make it clear that the wooden chest (in which the baby Moses was kept) was carried by the river to the area where Pharaoh’s palaces were located. Pharaoh’s servants picked up the chest and took it to Pharaoh and his wife.
As the child in the chest was an Israelite, whose male infants were then being put to the sword,some of Pharaoh’s slaves asked Pharaoh to kill the baby in order that he might not prove to be the young of a serpent who, after growing up, would bite the very hand that had fed it. But to Pharaoh’s wife who probably had no children of her own, the baby was extraordinarily attractive. She could not resist asking the king that he adopt him.
According to the Bible and the Talmud, the woman who said this was Pharaoh’s daughter. The Qur’ān, however, calls her Imra’atuFir‘awn (Pharaoh’s wife) in unambiguous terms. It is obvious that God’s own words are far more authentic than the traditions which were recorded hundreds of years after the event.