Mary, Sister of Aaron: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=3|References=4}}'''Mary (Miriam) the sister of Aaron''' (and of Moses), is mentioned in the [[Quran]], in passing, in reference to Mary (Mariam) the mother of [[Jesus]].<ref>{{Quran-range|19|27|34}}</ref> Many [[Critics of Islam|critics]] of the Quran as far back as [[Muhammad ibn Abdullah|Muhammad]]'s time regard this as a simple but revealing error.<ref name=":02">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 (ﷺ) 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. {{Muslim|28|13}}</ref> In [[Arabic]] both Marys are called by the same name مريم (''Maryam''). Skeptical Jewish and Christian scholars at the time believed Muhammad had mistook Jesus' mother for Moses' sister.<ref name=":02" /> While they share a common name, they lived more than a thousand years apart. When confronted, in the [[hadith]] Muhammad explains that their perception is a misunderstanding, however, many remained unconvinced.<ref name=":02" /> Ultimately, it seems, Muhammad came to assert that Aaron and Moses had a sister whose name was Kulthum rather than Miriam, though this too seemed to many a poor cover-up.<ref>{{Quran-range|19|27|28}}.</ref><ref>{{Muslim|25|5326}}.</ref><ref>[http://www.al-islam.org/hayat-al-qulub-vol2-allamah-muhammad-baqir-al-majlisi/ Majlisi, ''Hayat al-Qulub'' 2:26].</ref>