In several Suras the Qur'an confuses Mary the mother of Jesus [Miriam in Hebrew] with Miriam the sister of Aaron and Moses, and daughter of Amram which is about 1400 years off!
At length she brought (the baby Jesus) to her people, carrying him (in her arms), They said: "O Mary! Truly a strange thing has thou brought! "O sister of Aaron, thy father was not a man of evil, nor your mother a woman unchaste!"
-- Sura 19:27-28
And Mary, the daughter of `Imran, ...
-- Sura 66:12
Some Muslims claim there is a "solution" to this problem. Yusuf Ali for example writes in his footnote 2481 commenting on the above verse: "Aaron the brother of Moses was the first in the line of Israelite priesthood. Mary and her cousin Elisabeth (mother of Yahya) came from a priestly family, and were therefore, 'sisters of Aaron' or daughter of `Imran (who was Aaron's father)."
This is purely FAULTY reasoning. Only Aaron became a Priest of the Lord and in fact he was the first High Priest. And only Aaron's descendents became priests.
Neither Moses nor their sister Miriam are ever understood to be in the "priestly lineage." Amram was definitely not a priest. If Mary's lineage of being part of a priestly family should be stressed, then necessarily she would have to be called a daughter of Aaron, since all of Israel's priests are descendants of Aaron, while his brother and sister are not counted among the priestly line.
Even if there were no concern about the issue of the "priestly role" but only such a wider family relationship was in view, why does the Qur'an not say "daughter of Aaron" who is her most famous forefather?
Even though "sister" might be used in a wider meaning than a sister within the same immediate family, isn't it the use even in Islam that "brothers and sisters" live on roughly the same generational level - like cousins, while "father and daughter" signifies a generational difference between the two persons compared?
Why are the wives of Muhamed not called the "sisters of the believers" but "the mothers of the believers"? That is - today's believers! - Aisha certainly was not called the mother of 'Uthman, Umar, Abu Bakr and the other believers of Muhammad's life time! For what reason call her sister of the famous Aaron (being 1400 years older than Mary!) but daughter of `Imran (Bible: Amram) of whom we know nothing at all apart from the fact that his name is mentioned in the genealogical tables in Exodus 6 and 1 Chronicles 23?
Therefore, these are perfectly clear proofs that the two Miriams/Maryams were indeed conflated and confused in the Koran – in sura 19/27-28 and sura 66/12.
Originally posted by Dan Zebiri
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