Maryam 19:27
The verses
Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing. — Marmaduke Pickthall
O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. — Marmaduke Pickthall
The issue
The name Mary in English is actually Miriam in Hebrew. Thus, the Hebrew name for the mother of Jesus is Miriam.
The Arabic form of Miriam is Maryam. The name Maryam is used in the Qur’ān to identify both Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses. However, the Qur’ān blends these two characters together and presents them as the same person. This verse, Q 19.28, addresses Mary (Maryam), the mother of Jesus, as “‘O sister of Aaron!’”
According to the Qur’ān, Mary is the mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses and Aaron. The brothers’ relationship is mentioned in the Qur’ān, Q 25.35: “And we did give to Moses the Book, and place with him his brother Aaron as a minister.”
In Q 66.12 and Q 21.91, respectively, the Qur’ān alludes to the Virgin Mary: “And Mary, daughter of Imran, who guarded her private parts [a virgin], and we breathed therein of our spirit…” and “she who guarded her private parts, and we breathed into her of our Spirit, and we made her and her son [Jesus] a sign unto the worlds.”
Mary, daughter of Imran (Amram), is mentioned in the Old Testament (Num. 26.59): “the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, who was born to the Levites in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses and their sister Miriam [Hebrew form of Mary].” Describing Miriam as the sister of Aaron is also mentioned in Exodus 15.20: “Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister….”
Obviously, the Qur’ān confuses the sister of Aaron and daughter of Imran (Amram) with the Virgin Mary. The time difference between the two Miriams is more than fifteen hundred years.
Noticing this problem, al-Ţabarī tried to find a solution by stating that the Virgin Mary belongs to the family of Imran, but he supports this claim by mistakenly using a genealogy list similar to the one mentioned in the New Testament. (See Matt. 1.6-11.) This list in the New Testament refers not to the Virgin Mary, but to her fiancé Joseph.
Arabic text of this item
تُخاطب الآية مريم، أم المسيح في القرآن بصيغة: <يَا مَرْيَمُ!...يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ>.
حسب القرآن، فإن مريم هي أمُّ المسيح وأختُ هارون؛ وهارون في القرآن هو أخو موسى: <وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلْنَا مَعَهُ أَخَاهُ هَارُونَ وَزِيراً> (سورة الفرقان 25: 35). وفي موضع آخر يقول القرآن إنّ: <وَمَرْيَمَ ابْنَتَ عِمْرَانَ الَّتِي أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهِ مِنْ رُوحِنَا...> (سورة التحريم 66: 12)، وأيضًا <وَالَّتِي أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ رُوحِنَا وَجَعَلْنَاهَا وَابْنَهَا آيَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ> (الأنبياء ٢١: ٩١).
لكن عبارة <مَرْيَمَ ابْنَتَ عِمْرَانَ> تكرار لما ورد في سِفْرِ العَدَدِ: «وَاسْمُ امْرَأَةِ عَمْرَامَ يُوكَابَدُ بِنْتُ لاوِي، التِي وُلِدَتْ لِلاوِي فِي مِصْرَ. فَوَلدَتْ لِعَمْرَامَ هَارُونَ وَمُوسَى وَمَرْيَمَ أُخْتَهُمَا». ووصفُ مَرْيَم بأنها <أُخْتَ هَارُونَ> ورد أيضاً في سِفْر الْخُرُوجِ والمقصود: «مَرْيَمُ النَّبِيَّةُ أُخْتُ هَارُونَ». ولكن القرآن يخلط بين مريمَ أُخْتِ هَارُونَ، ابنةِ عَمْرَامَ (عِمْرَانَ) وبين مريم العذراء. مع أن الفارق الزمني بينهما يزيد عن 1500 سنة. وقد انتبه الطبري إلى هذه المعضلة فسعى إلى إيجاد حل لها، فقال إن مريم العذراء تنتمي إلى نفس عائلة آل عمران، وذكر سلسلة نسب اعتقد إنها لمريم العذراء، إلا أنه نقل سلسلة نسب يوسف النجار خطيب مريم العذراء الواردة في إنجيل متى 1: 6-11 .
Sources cited
- Book of Exodus 15:20
- al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 5: 331.
- سِفْر الْخُرُوجِ 15: 20.
- الطبري، تفسير 5: 331.
This item merges 2 entries of the original site that carried the same text across the passage (old ids 164, 165; the old ids redirect here).