Muhammad and the Marian Anachronism

Muslims hold the Qur'an to be the revealed word of Allah given through Muhammad, the alleged seal of the prophets. For a Muslim, the Qur'an by definition cannot contain any errors.

Unfortunately for the Muslim, the Qur'an contains a number of errors. Perhaps one of the most obvious relates to Muhammad's confusion of two people who lived hundreds (perhaps as much as 14 centuries) of years apart, Mary (in Arabic, Maryam [مريم]) the mother of Jesus, and Miriam (in Arabic, Maryam) the sister of Aaron (in Arabic, Harun [هارون‎] and Moses (In Arabic, Musa [موسىٰ]) and daughter of Amram (in Arabic 'Imran [عمران]).

Unquestionably, Miriam is identified as the daughter of Amram and the sister of Moses and Aaron in the Jewish scriptures. For example, 1 Chronicles 6:3 states that the children of Amram were Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. In Numbers 26:49, we learn that Amram's wife was called Jochebed, and that she bore Aaron, Moses, and Miriam to Amram. Cf. Exodus 15:20; Numbers 12:1-5; 10-15; Micah 6:4.

"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron,

took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her

with timbrels and with dances." (Exodus 15:20).

Unquestionably, the Qur'an 19:27-28 refers to Maryam the mother of Jesus as the "sister of Aaron (Harun)" and the "daughter of Amram ('Imran)"

Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, "O Mary [Maryam], you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron [Harun], your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste."

Cf. Qur'an 3:35-36; 66:12 (which identify Mary as the daughter of 'Imran).

The error was apparent to the Christians of Muhammad's day. A hadith (Sahih Muslim, 25:5326) relates a situation where the Christians of Najran were aware of the error and challenged a Muslim follower of Muhammad, Mughira bin Shu'ba, as well as the authenticity of the Qur'an. According to the hadith, bin Shu'ba asks Muhammad to explain the apparent error:

Mughira b. Shu'ba reported: When I came to Najran, they (the Christians of Najran) asked me: You read "O sister of Harun" (i. e. Hadrat Maryam) in the Qur'an, whereas Moses was born much before Jesus. When I came back to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) I asked him about that, whereupon he said: The (people of the old age) used to give names (to their persons) after the names of Apostles and pious persons who had gone before them.

Confronted with the error, Muhammad comes up with a frivolous defense. Instead of owning up to the error, Muhammad's excuse is based on the alleged practice where persons were given honorific names of the prophets, similar in the sense to how Jesus was called the "son of David." The reference is to be understood metaphorically based upon an ancient custom.

There are problems with Muhammad's excuse.

First, there is no evidence contemporaneous to the time of Mary that would suggest that women were called "sister of Aaron" or "daughter of Amram" as a sort of honorific title. There is no such record of such a practice. Mary had never been known by Christians as "sister of Aaron" or "daughter of Amram" like Jesus was known as the "son of David."

Mary, daughter of Sts. Joachim and Anna

There is an instance of Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, who is called one of the "daughters of Aaron." (Luke 1:5) But being called a "daughter of Aaron," is a reference to Elizabeth being a part of the priestly (Aaronic) caste, i.e., a Levite. Elizabeth was not called "daughter of Amram" (who was not a priest) or "sister of Aaron." Moreover, Mary was not part of the priestly caste, as she was part of the kingly caste, a member of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David.

Interestingly, the hadith is inconsistent with commentary that indicates that Muslims believed, based upon the Qur'an, that Maryam the mother of Jesus and Maryam the sister of Aaron were the same historical person. Ibn Kathir, for example, relates in his commentary on 19:28 that Aisha, Muhammad's favorite wife, grew angry and accused a certain man named Ka'b of lying when he suggested that Maryam the mother of Jesus was not the same person as Mary the sister of Aaron and the daughter of Amram.

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.

There are efforts by Muslims to evade or avoid this embarrassing anachronism. But the excuses--which seek to identify Mary with the Levitical priestly tribe or which seek to argue that in fact there was a practice to call women "sister of" and "daughter of" important figures and that Mary was customarily called "sister of Aaron" and "daughter of Amram"--are simply untenable. The Qur'an understands the word "sister" literally, not figuratively. The Muslims and Christians both understood the Qur'an to mean this, hence the hadiths. Nowhere in Christian tradition is Mary referred to as "sister of Aaron" or "daughter of Amram."

The conclusion is that Muhammad, the illiterate and unschooled prophet, got it wrong. And the Allah, who supposedly revealed truths to him, seems to be equally illiterate and unschooled as his alleged prophet.