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| {{main|Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance}} | | {{main|Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance}} |
| The Quranic story of Dhu'l Qarnayn is narrated in {{Quran-range|18|83|101}}, and is perhaps the most famous example of an intertextual relationship between the Quran and a non-biblical legend. Academic scholars consider the Quranic pericope to be closely connected to the ''Syriac Alexander Legend'', which has Alexander the Great voyaging to the ends of the earth to see where the sun sets and also describes its rising place, before he secures the Huns (including Gog and Magog) behind an iron wall. The academic consensus today is that the story was composed in the sixth century CE, with a small interpolation around 629-30 CE to make it relevant to a later context (previously, a prominent view had been that the whole legend was composed at that later date, but this is now rejected). The legend of Alexander enclosing Gog and Magog behind a iron barrier is first found several centuries earlier in the works of the Jewish historian Josephus. For a detailed discussion, see the main article. | | The Quranic story of Dhu'l Qarnayn is narrated in {{Quran-range|18|83|101}}, and is perhaps the most famous example of an intertextual relationship between the Quran and a non-biblical legend. Academic scholars consider the Quranic pericope to be closely connected to the ''Syriac Alexander Legend'', which has Alexander the Great voyaging to the ends of the earth to see where the sun sets and also describes its rising place, before he secures the Huns (including Gog and Magog) behind an iron wall. The academic consensus today is that the story was composed in the sixth century CE, with a small interpolation around 629-30 CE to make it relevant to a later context (previously, a prominent view had been that the whole legend was composed at that later date, but this is now rejected). The legend of Alexander enclosing Gog and Magog behind a iron barrier is first found several centuries earlier in the works of the Jewish historian Josephus. For a detailed discussion, see the main article. |
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| ==Mary and Zechariah==
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| ===Qur'anic Account===
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| The Bible, unlike the Qur'an, is silent on Mary’s birth, upbringing and relationship with Zachariah. The following is what one finds in the Qur'an:
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| {{Quote| {{Quran-range|3|35|44}}| [Mention, O Muhammad], when the wife of 'Imran said, "My Lord, indeed I have pledged to You what is in my womb, consecrated [for Your service], so accept this from me. Indeed, You are the Hearing, the Knowing."
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| But when she delivered her, she said, "My Lord, I have delivered a female." And Allah was most knowing of what she delivered, "And the male is not like the female. And I have named her Mary, and I seek refuge for her in You and [for] her descendants from Satan, the expelled [from the mercy of Allah]."
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| So her Lord accepted her with good acceptance and caused her to grow in a good manner and put her in the care of Zechariah. Every time Zechariah entered upon her in the prayer chamber, he found with her provision. He said, "O Mary, from where is this [coming] to you?" She said, "It is from Allah. Indeed, Allah provides for whom He wills without account."
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| At that, Zechariah called upon his Lord, saying, "My Lord, grant me from Yourself a good offspring. Indeed, You are the Hearer of supplication."
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| So the angels called him while he was standing in prayer in the chamber, "Indeed, Allah gives you good tidings of John, confirming a word from Allah and [who will be] honorable, abstaining [from women], and a prophet from among the righteous."
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| He said, "My Lord, how will I have a boy when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?" The angel said, "Such is Allah; He does what He wills."
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| He said, "My Lord, make for me a sign." He Said, "Your sign is that you will not [be able to] speak to the people for three days except by gesture. And remember your Lord much and exalt [Him with praise] in the evening and the morning."
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| And [mention] when the angels said, "O Mary, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds.
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| O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord and prostrate and bow with those who bow [in prayer]."
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| That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you, [O Muhammad]. And you were not with them when they cast their pens as to which of them should be responsible for Mary. Nor were you with them when they disputed.}}
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| '''The salient points are:'''
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| *The child Mary was given into Zachariah’s care by her mother, and kept in a sanctuary (possibly in dedication to God).
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| *Zachariah was astonished that she did not need human help in feeding herself. Some supernatural occurrence explained her daily sustenance.
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| *Zachariah speaks to God who told him of John. Zachariah is incredulous due to the physical condition of him and his wife.
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| *Mary’s husband was decided by the drawing of lots.
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| ===Apocryphal Accounts===
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| Reynolds observes, "The Qurʾān follows closely here the ''Protoevangelium of James'', a Greek Christian work written in the late second century and translated into Syriac in the fifth century". He further notes, "The manner in which the Qurʾān has Mary's mother commend Mary and her 'descendents' (i.e. Jesus) to God's protection from the devil may allude to the Christian doctrine that Mary and Jesus were free from sin."<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, ''The Qurʾān and Bible'' p. 115</ref> Regarding verse 37 in which Mary has a miraculous source of food, Reynolds notes that the Qurʾān also here follows a tradition found in the ''Protoevangelium of James'' 7:2 to 8:1.<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds (2018) ''The Qurʾān and Bible: Text and Commentary'' p. 116</ref>.
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| Regarding verse 44 in which things were cast to determine who would look after Mary, Reynolds notes that Islamic tradition related this as casting pens (Quills). However, citing the Protoevangelium 9:1, Reynolds remarks, "In fact the Qurʾān is following the chronology of Mary's life as found in the ''Protoevangelium''. The contest is over who will marry Mary, and it involves not pens but rods, or reeds. The Arabic ''aqlām'' comes from the Greek ''kalamos'' (and it is a ''kalamos'', "reed," that soldiers put in the right hand of Christ in Mat 27:29"<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds (2018) ''The Qurʾān and Bible: Text and Commentary'' p. 119</ref>
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| Various later apocrypha partly based on the ''Protoevangelium'' also contain the relevant story elements.<ref>These include ''The History of Joseph the Carpenter'' (probably composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late sixth or early seventh centuries), and ''The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew'' (its date is uncertain, as discussed elsewhere in this article).</ref>
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| ===Excerpts from the Protevangelium of James===
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| {{Quote|Hock, R. F. (1995). "The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas: With Introduction, Notes, and Original Text Featuring the New Scholars Version Translation." Polebridge Press. pp. 44-49.|(1) Many months passed, but when the child reached two years of age, Joachim said, “Let's take her up to the temple of the Lord, so that we can keep the promise we made, or else the Lord will be angry with us and our gift will be unacceptable”. (2) Anna said, “Let's wait until she is three, so she won't miss her father or mother”. (3) And Joachim agreed: “Let us wait.”
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| (1) Her parents left for home marveling and praising and glorifying the Lord God because the child did not look back at them. (2) And Mary lived in the temple of the Lord. She was fed there like a dove, receiving her food from the hand of heavenly messenger. (3) When she turned twelve, however, there was a meeting of priests. “Look,” they said, “Mary has turned twelve in the temple of the Lord. (4) What should we do with her so she won't pollute the sanctuary of the Lord our God?” (5) And they said to the high priest, “You stand at the altar of the Lord. Enter and pray about her, and we'll do whatever the Lord God discloses to you. (6) And so the high priest took the vestment with the twelve bells, entered the Holy of Holies, and began to pray about her. (7) And suddenly a messenger of the Lord appeared: “Zechariah, Zechariah, go out and assemble the widowers of the people and have each them bring a staff. (8) She will become the wife of the one to whom the Lord shows a sign. (9) And so heralds covered the surrounding territory of Judea. The trumpet of the Lord sounded and all the widowers came running.
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| (1) And Joseph, too, threw down his carpenter's axe and left for the meeting. (2) When they had all gathered, they went to the highpriest with their staff. (3) After the highpriest had collected everyone's staff, he entered the temple and began to pray. (4) When he had finished his prayer, he took the staffs and went out and began to give them back to each man. (5) But there was no sign on any of them. Joseph got the last staff. (6) Suddenly a dove came out of this staff and perched on Joseph's head. (7) “Joseph, Joseph,” the highpriest said, “you've been chosen by lot to take the virgin of the Lord into your care and protection.
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| }}
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| The story of Mary’s upbringing in the Temple under the supervision of the High Priest Zachariah, and the choice of Joseph as Mary’s husband by the drawing of lots, is not told in the Bible but in various apocrypha. The Qur'an’s parallelism of this story casts suspicion as to its provenance. These apocrypha are clearly later Christian writings pre-dating Islam, and the oldest, the pseudepigraphal Protevangelium, dates to the second century CE. On stylistic and theological grounds, the Protevangelium has long been considered apocrypha. Thus, these details of the Qur'anic story should not be taken as historical detail but rather as Christian legend which, by merit of its wide circulation, entered into the Qur'an.
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| ==Jesus speaking from the cradle== | | ==Jesus speaking from the cradle== |