Maryam Surah

Lee Magee

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Maryam 19:7 يَـٰزَكَرِيَّآ إِنَّا نُبَشِّرُكَ بِغُلَـٰمٍ ٱسْمُهُۥ يَحْيَىٰ لَمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُۥ مِن قَبْلُ سَمِيًّۭا
O Zechariah, indeed We give you good tidings of a boy whose name will be John. We have not assigned to any before [this] name

This Arabic verse contains ancient Greek vocabulary.

ἁνήρ-Διός زكريا - man of Zeus, זכריה Ζαχαρίας
ἀγγέλλομεν نُبَشِّرُكَ - "we bring news of"
πῶλον بِغُلَـٰمٍ - boy, same as עלם in 1 Samuel 20:22
Διογενής يَحْيَىٰ - sprung from Zeus, יוחנן Ἰωάννης,
ποιέομεν نَجْعَل - "we assigned"
πρό قبل - before

Why do Muslims reject the name that compounds Zechariah and John?

Luke 1:61
And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
Luke 1:13
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John

Maryam 19:28 يَـٰٓأُخْتَ هَـٰرُونَ
O sister of Aaron

Does the Surah confuse the sister of Moses with the mother of Jesus?

Josephus - Antiquities of the Jews 4.78
Then it was that Miriam, the sister of Moses (Τότε δὴ καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ Μαριάμην)

Josephus - Antiquities of the Jews 3.53
his brother Aaron, and Hur their sister Miriam's husband ( ἀδελφῆς Μαριάμης τὸν ἄνδρα Οὖρον )

Maryam 19:8 قَالَ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى غُلَـٰمٌۭ وَكَانَتِ ٱمْرَأَتِى عَاقِرًۭا وَقَدْ بَلَغْتُ مِنَ ٱلْكِبَرِ عِتِيًّۭا
He said, “My Lord, how will I have a boy when my wife has been barren and I have reached extreme old age?”

πρόμος رَبِّ - foremost-man, chief, lord
πελάζω بَلَغْتُ - I reached
ἄκουρος عَاقِرً - without child , עקרה
μέγᾶ كِبَرِ - of age as shown by stature

Luke 1:7

And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

Genesis 11:30
But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
 
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There is little etymological information for the vocabulary of Arabic , rather words are categorised into roots, which tells you nothing.
*example : حَمِدَ • (ḥamida) from the root ح م د (ḥ-m-d)

αἰνίζω (ainízō) → حَمِدَ (ḥamida)
αἴνεσις (ainesis) → تحميد (taḥmīd)
ἐπαινετός (epainetós) → مُحَمَّد (muḥammad)

Homer Odysseus 8.469
verily above all mortal men do I praise (αἰνίζομ) thee

Ancient Greek did colonise the ancient near east, so its expected.
 
Maryam 19:16 - وَٱذْكُرْ فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ مَرْيَمَ إِذِ ٱنتَبَذَتْ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا مَكَانًۭا شَرْقِيًّۭا
and i remember in the book of Miriam, the time she went up from her family to an eastern place

Wa zkur fi l Kitaabi Maryma izin tabazat min ahlihaa makaanan sharqiyyaa

καί σώζομαι ἐπὶ τῇ γραφῇ Μαριάμης εἶτεν ἀναβαίνουσα ἄπο φυλᾶς οἴκημα ἀνατολικὰ

Quran (قرآن χρῶν) as lots of Ancient Greek vocabulary because pre-Islamic Arabia was colonised by Greeks, Mecca (مكة μαντεῖον) was one colony.
 
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1. The name Zechariah has nothing to do with Zeus. Also "Zakariya" is the Arabized version of "Zechariah".
2. The mother of Jesus is metaphorically addressed as the "sister of Aaron". It's like how Jesus is metaphorically called the "son of David".
 
The wife of Zechariah was Elizabeth and the only instance of that name in the Old Testament is in Exodus 6:24, the wife of Aaron. Perhaps Jesus was the nephew of Moses?

Zechariah?

Zechariah 1:7 - Zechariah the son of Berechiah the son of Iddo
Ezra 5:1 - Zechariah the son of Iddo
 
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1. The name Zechariah has nothing to do with Zeus. Also "Zakariya" is the Arabized version of "Zechariah".
2. The mother of Jesus is metaphorically addressed as the "sister of Aaron". It's like how Jesus is metaphorically called the "son of David".

Scythopolis (Beth-Shean) in Palestine was dedicated to Zeus Akraios, the god of the mountaintop and of fortresses, so ancient Palestinians did in fact worship Zeus and also Athena. cf. בית שאן οἰκός Ζανός "Temple of Zeus". Hence the presence of Zeus in compound names.

Have you seen the Greek architecture at Petra, Jordan?
 
"Zeus Akraios" might vaguely sound like "Zechariah" but the two names are unrelated to each other. They have different origins and meanings.

It's like how "Amalek" vaguely sounds like "America" but there's really no connection between the two names.

Zakariya in Islam means the same thing as Zechariah in Judaism and Christianity.
 
The initial component of Zechariah is זכר, cognate of ذَكَر (ḏakar) "male" and the homologue of ἀνήρ (spīritus lēnis, ذَ, ז)

̓ -ν-ρ = ذَكَر

Amalek coincidentally comes from ἀνήρ.

عِمْلَاق (ʿimlāq) huge, giant - ἀνήρ γίγᾶς big-man i.e. ἁνδρόγίγας

عَذْرَاء (ʿaḏrāʾ) - ἄνανδρος without a man
مُخَنَّث (muḵannaṯ) - ἀνδρόγυνος man-woman
اِسْتَرَقَّ (istaraqqa) - ἀνδραποδίζω enslave
 
Notice, that in Arabic, عِمْلَاق (ʿimlāq) mean giant, but this definition is absent in Strong's H6002, since it never takes Arabic into account, but other people mentioned are called as such.

εὐτραφής - fat, huge
εὔογκος - bulky
ὑπέρογκος - excessive bulk
ὑπερφυής - overgrown

Joshua 14:15
Hebron (חברון, ὑπέρογκος) before was Kirjatharba which Arba (ארבע, εὐτραφής) was a great man (ἁνήρ-γίγᾶς, אדם גדול) among the Anakims (ענקים, εὐόγκων)

Deu 2:11
Which were accounted giants (רפאים, ὑπερφυῶν), as the Anakims (ענקים, εὐόγκων) but the Moabites call them Emims (אמים, ἡγεμών)
 
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