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Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Sister of Aaron and Moses
Quran Contradiction
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Sister of Aaron
Sam Shamoun
The Quran confuses Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, with Miriam the sister of Moses.
The Quran identifies Mary as the sister of Aaron, the daughter of Imran, whose mother was
the wife of Imran:
When the wife of Imran said, 'Lord, I have vowed to Thee, in dedication,
what is within my womb. Receive Thou this from me; Thou hearest, and knowest.' And when
she gave birth to her she said, 'Lord, I have given birth to her, a female.' (And God knew
very well what she had given birth to; the male is not as the female.) 'And I have named
her Mary, and commend her to Thee with her seed, to protect them from the
accursed Satan.' S. 3:35-36 Arberry
Then she brought the child to her folk carrying him; and they said, 'Mary,
thou hast surely committed a monstrous thing! Sister of Aaron, thy father
was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a woman unchaste.' S. 19:27-28
And Mary, Imran's daughter, who guarded her virginity, so We breathed
into her of Our Spirit, and she confirmed the Words of her Lord and His Books, and became
one of the obedient. S. 66:12
Compare this to what the Holy Bible says:
"Then Mary (Hebrew- Mariam), the prophetess, the sister of Aaron,
took the timbrel in her hand…" Exodus 15:20
"The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who
was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister
Miriam." Numbers 26:49
"The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron:
Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar." 1 Chronicles 6:3
"For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house
of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." Micah
6:4
"Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the
Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said,
‘Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us
also?" And the LORD heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people
who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron
and Miriam, ‘Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.’ And the three
of them came out. And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of
the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward… When the cloud
removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward
Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord, do not
punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead,
whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb.’ And Moses
cried to the LORD, ‘O God, please heal her--please.’ But the LORD said to Moses,
‘If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her
be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again." So
Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march
till Miriam was brought in again." Numbers 12:1-5, 10-15
It is very hard to accept the idea that the Quran wasn’t identifying Jesus’
mother with the sister of Moses in light of the fact that both these Marys had brothers
named Aaron and fathers named Imran/Amram! It is rather obvious to any unbiased reader
that Muhammad has clearly confused the identity of Jesus’ mother with the sister of
Aaron and Moses. He mistakenly thought that the mother of the Lord Jesus was the sister
of Moses and Aaron.
Some Muslims try very hard to get around this and have sought to refute the assertion
that the Quran is mistaken:
http://bismikaallahuma.org/Quran/Contra/External/sister_of_aaron.htm
But to no avail. The Muslim responses have been thoroughly addressed and refuted
in the following papers:
http://answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/qbhc06.html
http://answering-islam.org/Silas/mary.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/davids_seed.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/badawi-jesus3.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/god.htm
What we want to do in this paper is to quote two specific narrations from two of Islam’s
premier commentators so as to see the confusion these Quranic statements caused for Muslims.
According to renowned Sunni Muslim commentator, Ibn Kathir, Aisha thought that Moses was
Jesus’ maternal uncle! Aisha was convinced that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the actual
sister of Aaron, Moses’ biological brother, making the latter Christ’s maternal uncle!
And from whom would Aisha have gained this understanding that led to her conviction,
if not from Muhammad?
Here is what Ibn Kathir narrated:
وَقَالَ اِبْن
جَرِير حَدَّثَنِي
يَعْقُوب
حَدَّثَنَا اِبْن
عُلَيَّة عَنْ
سَعِيد بْن أَبِي
صَدَقَة عَنْ
مُحَمَّد بْن
سِيرِينَ قَالَ
أُنْبِئْت أَنَّ
كَعْبًا قَالَ
إِنَّ قَوْله : " يَا
أُخْت هَارُون "
لَيْسَ بِهَارُون
أَخِي مُوسَى قَالَ
فَقَالَتْ لَهُ
عَائِشَة كَذَبْت
قَالَ يَا أُمّ
الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
إِنْ كَانَ
النَّبِيّ صَلَّى
اللَّه عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمَ قَالَهُ
فَهُوَ أَعْلَم
وَأَخْبَر وَإِلَّا
فَإِنِّي أَجِد
بَيْنهمَا
سِتّمِائَةِ سَنَة
قَالَ فَسَكَتَتْ
وَفِي هَذَا
التَّارِيخ نَظَر
It was narrated from Ibn Jarir, narrated from Yaqub, narrated from Ibn U’laya,
narrated from Sa’id Ibn Abi Sadaqa, narrated from Muhammad Ibn Sireen
who stated that he was told that Ka’b said the verse that reads, "O sister
of Harun (Aaron)!" (of Sura 19:28) does not refer to Aaron the brother
of Moses. Aisha replied to Ka’b, "YOU HAVE LIED." Ka’b
responded, "O Mother of the believers! If the prophet, may Allah’s prayers be
upon him, has said it, and he is more knowledgeable, then this is what he related.
Besides, I find the difference in time between them (Jesus and Moses) to be 600
years." He said that she remained silent.
(From the Arabic commentary of Ibn Kathir on Sura 19:28,
online
edition; bold, underline and capital emphasis ours)
Aisha, whom Muslims claim was one of the most knowledgeable persons of Islam, clearly
understood the expression, "Sister of Aaron," to refer to Moses’ brother Aaron, i.e.
understanding that Mary the mother of Jesus was the sister of Moses and Aaron, which would
make Moses Jesus’ maternal uncle! More specifically, she understood this phrase to be
literally saying that Mary was the actual, biological sister of Aaron, the brother of Moses.
Although Kab was wrong regarding the length of the time gap between Jesus and Moses, he was
correct to see the problem and dilemma that Muhammad’s words caused.
Another prominent Sunni commentator and historian named Al-Tabari narrated a hadith
which is also found in our rebuttals above:
الْقَوْل فِي
تَأْوِيل قَوْله
تَعَالَى : { يَا أُخْت
هَارُون } اِخْتَلَفَ
أَهْل التَّأْوِيل
فِي السَّبَب
الَّذِي مِنْ أَجْله
قِيلَ لَهَا : يَا
أُخْت هَارُون ,
وَمَنْ كَانَ
هَارُون هَذَا
الَّذِي ذَكَرَهُ
اللَّه , حَدَّثَنَا
اِبْن حُمَيْد ,
قَالَ : ثنا الْحَكَم
بْن بَشِير , قَالَ :
ثنا عَمْرو , عَنْ
سِمَاك بْن حَرْب ,
عَنْ عَلْقَمَة بْن
وَائِل , عَنْ
الْمُغِيرَة بْن
شُعْبَة , قَالَ :
أَرْسَلَنِي
النَّبِيّ صَلَّى
اللَّه عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمَ فِي بَعْض
حَوَائِجه إِلَى
أَهْل نَجْرَان ,
فَقَالُوا :
أَلَيْسَ نَبِيّك
يَزْعُم أَنَّ
هَارُون أَخُو
مَرْيَم هُوَ أَخُو
مُوسَى ؟ فَلَمْ
أَدْرِ مَا أَرُدّ
عَلَيْهِمْ حَتَّى
رَجَعْت إِلَى
النَّبِيّ صَلَّى
اللَّه عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمَ ,
فَذَكَرْت لَهُ
ذَلِكَ , فَقَالَ :
" إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا
يُسَمُّونَ
بِأَسْمَاءِ مَنْ
كَانَ قَبْلهمْ " .
وَقَالَ بَعْضهمْ :
عَنَى بِهِ هَارُون
أَخُو مُوسَى ,
وَنُسِبَتْ مَرْيَم
إِلَى أَنَّهَا
أُخْته لِأَنَّهَا
مِنْ وَلَده , -
حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى ,
قَالَ : ثنا عَمْرو ,
قَالَ : ثنا أَسْبَاط ,
عَنْ السُّدِّيّ
{ يَا أُخْت هَارُون }
قَالَ : كَانَتْ مِنْ
بَنِي هَارُون أَخِي
مُوسَى
The people of commentary and interpretation have differed on the
reason why it was said "O sister of Harun!" (Of Sura 19:28), and who this Harun
was that Allah mentioned…
It was narrated by Ibn Hamid, narrated by Al Hakam Ibn Bashir, narrated by Amr,
narrated by Simak Ibn Harb, narrated by Alkama Ibn Wa’il, narrated Al Mughira Ibn
Shu’ba who said, "The prophet, may Allah’s prayers be upon him, sent me to
fetch some of his needs from the people of Najran who said, ‘Doesn’t your
prophet claim that Harun the brother of Mariam (Mary) is the brother of Moses?’ I did
not know how to respond to them until I returned to the prophet, may Allah’s
prayers be upon him. I related to him all what was said and he replied, ‘They used to
name themselves after the names of those who came before them.’"
Others said the Harun referred to is the brother of Moses, and Mariam was classified as
his sister for she is a (descendent) of (his) son.
It was narrated by Musa, narrated by Amr, narrated by Asbat, narrated by Al Suddi who
said regarding "O sister of Harun!" (Of Sura 19:28) that (Mariam) was a
descendent of the tribe of Harun, the brother of Moses.
(From the Arabic commentary of Al-Tabari on Sura 19:28,
online
edition; bold and underline emphasis ours)
Here is another instance where Arabs, people whose mother tongue was Arabic, understood
the Quran’s statement to be saying that Jesus’ mother was the biological sister
of Moses. So, in the Islamic traditions themselves, we now have two witnesses supporting
the fact that Muhammad made a gross mistake: one witness who is viewed by Muslims as one
of the most knowledgeable persons, the other witness from native Arabic speaking Christians,
and both groups understood Muhammad to be teaching that Moses was Jesus’ uncle!
We have already addressed the responses given by Al-Tabari (see the above links for
details), so we will only briefly address them here. The Muslims are wrong on two counts.
First, Muhammad was wrong when he said that this is what people used when they wanted to
name themselves after those who came before them. The way people named themselves after
their predecessors wasn’t by calling someone a brother or a sister of so and so, but
rather a son or daughter of so and so.
The following Muslim disagrees with this position and tries to provide an example to
the contrary:
… In Semitic language the words father, mother,
brother and sister are used broadly and do not necessarily imply the very
close relations of real mother, father, brother and sister. Thus Prophet Muhammad is
reported to have said: "I am the answer of the prayer of my father
Abraham." (Bukhari)
In ancient Semitic usage, a person's name was often linked with that of a renowned
ancestor or founder of the tribal line. Thus, for instance, a man of the tribe Banu Tamim
was some times addressed as son of Tamim or brother of Tamim.
Since Mary belonged to the priestly class and hence descended from Aaron, she was called a
sister of Aaron. In the same manner her cousin Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, is spoken
of in Luke 1:5, as one of the daughters of Aaron.
Numerous are the instances in Bible where tribal names are used to mention
descendants. For example, Lot is called Abraham’s brother (Genesis
14:14), though he was in fact Abraham's nephew (Genesis 11:31). Similarly Abraham spoke to
Lot saying: "We men are brothers" (Genesis 13:8). But Abraham was actually was
the uncle of Lot! Likewise the Babylonian queen referred to Nebuchadnezzar as the father
of Belshazzar, when, Nabonidus was evidently his father and Nebuchadnezzar his grandfather
(Daniel 5:11). Thus, in New Testament Abraham is referred to as the father of us,
when actually he was a distant forefather (Acts 7:2, Romans 4:12, James 2:21). A member of
the Jewish race removed from Abraham as much by 2000 years can still refer to Abraham as
his father (Luke 16:24-25, 1:67-73; 13:16). In Numbers (20:14), the Israelites are
referred to as the brother of the king of Edom, even though Esau and Jacob were the
brothers from whom both groups descended. Similarly, Obed is referred to as Naomi's son in
Ruth 4:17, even though he was the son of her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Laban is called
Nahor’s son (Genesis 49:5) when he is actually the son of Bethuel, the son of Nahor
(Genesis 4:47). Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath healed the woman who had a spirit ofresponse to criticism of the healing, Jesus referred to her as a daughter
of Abraham (Luke 13:16). In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus placed
Lazarus on Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22). Zacchaeus, as tax collector, was
socially alienated. The crowd murmured against Jesus' voluntary visit to Zacchaeus’
house. After his declaration that he would give back to the poor half of his wealth and
restore fourfold to those he had defrauded, Jesus called him a son of Abraham (Luke 19:9).
In the longest statement recorded in the New Testament (John 8:37-59), Jesus has used Abraham’s
children thrice. St. Paul referred to Jesus as the offering [sic] of Abraham
(Galatians 3:16-18, 24:29). Persons in authority are also known as Fathers in Biblical
language: priestly officials (Judges 17:10), Prophets (2 Kings 2:12, 6:21), Persons
holding office (Genesis 45:8, Isaiah 22:21), benefactors (Job 29:16). Sometimes, families
are known after the names of their distinguished ancestors. In the Bible, the name Israel
sometimes stands for the Israelites (Deuteronomy 6:3-4) and Kedar for the Ishmaelite
(Isaiah 21:16, 42:11). Jesus was titled son of David (Matthew 9:27, 15:22,
20:30-31, Mark 10:47-48).