Does the Qur’an commit an anachronism by saying that Mary is the sister of Aaron?
by Ibn Anwar
The Qur’anic verse in question is from Surah Maryam(19), verse 28:
يٰأُخْتَ هَارُونَ مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ ٱمْرَأَ سَوْءٍ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمُّكِ بَغِيّاً
“O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a loose woman!”
The first thing that should be noted by anyone who is interested in really understanding the verse is that it does not say, “O Mary, mother of Jesus who sister of Aaron and Moses and the daughter of Amram”. If it had said that then the detractors of the Qur’an would have a good case against Islam and its primary text. But as any child can gather the verse simply says, “O sister of Aaron”. Those who charge that the Qur’an is confused between Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary the sister of Aaron and Moses are often Christians. Can a single Christian prove from their Bible beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mary the mother of Jesus certainly did not have a brother named Aaron? There is not a single verse anywhere in the Bible which says Mary was the one and only child of her parents. The relentless Christian detractor refusing to lose will then resort to Surah al-Imran, verse 35 which talks about “the wife of Imran”(the father of Moses, Aaron and Mary). In the detractor’s mind when you put 19:28 and 3:35 together you will get the result that the Qur’an is really saying that Mary, the mother of Jesus is really the literal daughter of Moses and the direct daughter of Imran(Amram in the Bible). First of all, the verse does not have to be translated as “wife of Imran” as the word in question which is imra’ah literally means “woman” which is why Muhammad asad renders the verse as “when a woman of [the House of] ’Imrān prayed: “O my Sustainer! Behold, unto Thee do I vow [the child] that is in my womb, to be devoted to Thy service. Accept it, then, from me: verily, Thou alone art all-hearing, all-knowing!”” Secondly, even if I were to agree that the verse is talking about the wife of Imran can a Christian please prove to me that the husband of Mary’s mother was absolutely not called Imran? From a purely rational perspective the Christian detractor’s position is extremely dubious without any real evidence. If the Qur’an was really confused about Mary and Moses would it not have actually said somewhere that she is “the sister of Moses”? Notice that there is no such verse anywhere despite the fact that Moses is a far more significant figure in the Qur’an than both Aaron and Imran. In fact, Moses is mentioned in the Qur’an 136 times! Had the Qur’an truly in a muddle of confusion about Mary’s relationship to Aaron and Imran it would have had Moses ascribed to her as her brother as he is a far more prominent figure in the Qur’an. This is an important point that is noted by the Christian missionary George Sale whose translation of the Qur’an into English was the first of its kind. We will be looking at his comments later in the article. The fact, that Moses isn’t ascribed to Mary as her brother anywhere in the Qur’an is sufficient grounds to dismiss the whole allegation as a farce. Let us now take into consideration some relevant commentaries in order to provide further proof and clarity on the matter. Translations of the Arabic texts are my own.
Unveiling Christianity 