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And No One Had The Name Yahya (= John?) Before: A Linguistic
& Exegetical Enquiry Into Qur'an 19:7
And No One Had The Name Yahya (= John?) Before: A Linguistic
& Exegetical Enquiry Into Qur'an 19:7
M S M Saifullah, Muhammad Ghoniem & Elias Karim
Islamic Awareness, All Rights Reserved.
First Composed: 8th July 2000
Last Updated: 18th August 2000
Assalamu-`alaikum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:
1. Introduction
In the chapter of the Qur'an that carries the name Mary (Surat
Maryam), the story of the miraculous birth of Jesus (19:16-34) is
immediately preceded by the story of the miraculous birth of the
Yahya to the aged Zechariah and his old and barren wife (19:1-15).
Yahya has been traditionally identified as being none other than
John the Baptist. The Christian missionaries have pointed to a
difficulty arising at verse 19:7 where the birth of the Yahya is
announced:
"O Zakariya! We give thee good news of a son: His name shall be
Yahya: on none by that name have
We conferred distinction before." [Qur'an 19:7]
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They claim that this verse is in error. According to their
understanding of verse 19:7, the name Yahya (John) is unique, and
no human being prior to the birth of Yahya (John) ever had such a
name, yet in the Old Testament there are more than twenty-five
references to the name John:
In fact, there are 27 instances of the name "Johanan" mentioned
in the Old Testament.
Thus the name John (Yahya) is neither unique nor exceptional and
the Qur'anic error is clearly apparent. It seems that the original
source of this controversy is Abraham Geiger who wrote a book
entitled Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?:
He [i.e., Muhammad(P)] actually asserts that before John the
Baptist no one had borne the name of John. Had he known anything of
Jewish history he would have been aware that, apart from some
historically unimportant people of the name mentioned in
Chronicles, the father and the son of the
celebrated Maccabean priest, Mattathias, were both called John.
This mistake must have been
obvious to the Arabic commentators, for they try to give another
meaning to the clear and
unmistakable words.[1]
Geiger did not cite any Muslim commentators to support his
claims, and, as will be demonstrated in the sections below, one has
to wonder whether the claim that "this mistake must have been
obvious to the Arabic commentators" is purely his own
invention.
As the missionaries are unable to shed any further light on this
issue, it is left to us to investigate and supply the essential
missing information. Are the names Yahya and John one and the same?
Does the ayah (verse) actually means what the translation says?
This paper will examine the various issues surrounding the name
Yahya:
l whether the name John is linguistically equivalent to
Yahya.
l the meaning of the name Yahya.
l its use by the Mandaeans - the "Christians of St. John" .
l and the commentaries and explanations (exegesis) of verse
19:7.
2. Is The Name John Linguistically Equivalent To Yahya?
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According to the Christian Missionaries the name Yahya is the
Arabic form of John:
John: Hebrew: Johanan, Arabic: Yahya. Greek: Ioannes
The fact is that the Arabic equivalent of John of the New
Testament is Yuhanna not Yahya. And similarly, the Arabic
equivalent of John of the Hebrew Bible is Yuhanan not Yahya. Anyone
who possesses a basic knowledge of Semitic languages will straight
away point out that the names Yahya and John (Yuhanan or Yuhanna)
are two entirely different names. One do not need to be an expert
in Semitic languages to verify this claim; a simple Arabic
translation of the Bible will suffice.
The name John of the Hebrew Bible as listed in Strong's
Concordance is Yowchanan in Hebrew:
Yowchanan {yo-khaw-nawn'} a form of 3076; n pr m
AV - Johanan 24; 24
Johanan = "Jehovah has graced"
1. A priest during the high priesthood of Joiakim who returned
with Zerubbabel 2. A Jewish captain after the fall of Jerusalem 3.
The eldest son of king Josiah 4. A post-exilic prince of the line
of David 5. Father of Azariah, priest in Solomon's time 6. A
Benjamite, one of David's mighty warriors 7. A Gadite, one of
David's mighty warriors 8. A returning exile
In Arabic Bibles this name is rendered as Yuhanan as shown in
the texts below
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I Kings 25:23
I Chronicles 3:15
I Chronicles 3:24
Ezra 8:12
Let us now take examples from the New Testament. The name John
(the Baptist) in Greek is Ioannes according to Strong's Concordance
:
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Ioannes {ee-o-an'-nace} of Hebrew origin 3110; n pr m.
AV - John (the Baptist) 92, John (the apostle) 36, John (Mark)
4, John (the chief priest) 1; 133
John = "Jehovah is a gracious giver"
1. John the Baptist was the son of Zacharias and Elisabeth, the
forerunner of Christ. By order of Herod Antipas he was cast into
prison and afterwards beheaded.
2. John the apostle, the writer of the Fourth Gospel, son of
Zebedee and Salome, brother of James the elder. He is that disciple
who (without mention by name) is spoken of in
the Fourth Gospel as especially dear to Jesus and according to
the traditional opinion is
the author of the book of Revelation.
3. John surnamed Mark, the companion of Barnabas and Paul. Acts
12:12 4. John a certain man, a member of the Sanhedrin Acts 5:6
In Arabic Bibles the name John, as used in the Maccabees and the
New Testament, is Yuhanna:
1 Maccabees 2:2
John 1:6
Needless to say, the Gospel according to John, is also
Yuhanna:
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Gospel according to Yuhanna (John)
Thus the Arabic equivalent of John (Yowchanan) of the Hebrew
Bible is Yuhanan not Yahya, and the Arabic equivalent of John
(Ioannes) of the New Testament is Yuhanna not Yahya. By blindly
following every cheap anti-Islamic polemic, such as those of
Abraham Geiger, the Christian missionaries have been lead
astray.
3. The Meaning Of The Name Yahya
The names "Yahya" and "John" (Yuhanan or Yuhanna) are entirely
different names. The Qur'an speaks of Zechariah's son as Yahya not
John. The Qur'an does not mention the name John whether Yuhanna or
Yuhanan.
Biblical scholars stress that the names Yuhanna and Yuhanan are
one and the same. In the Hebraic translation of the Gospels they do
not make use of Yuhanna but they revert it to the original Yuhanan.
They also give both names the same meaning. Both names contain
"Yu", the short form of Jehovah, the Hebraic name of God. As for
hanan or hanna, both derive from the Aramaic root hanan (the same
as the Arabic root for hanna) which means "tenderness/indulgence of
God" exactly like the Hebraic name Hanania.
Is the name Yahya Arabic or foreign? In Arabic, the present form
Yahya is the third person of the Arabic root haya. The Arabic root
haya (which could be written with a lean alif or an upright alif in
both the present and past form) has two meanings:
l The first is derived from al-hayah, i.e., life which is the
opposite of death like when it is said: lan ansa laka hadha
as-sani`a ma hayit, i.e., "I won't forget this favour of yours as
long as I live" meaning as long as I am alive and did not die.
l The second meaning of the Arabic root haya is derived from
al-haya' ending with a hamzah meaning shyness/chastity. In this
second sense it is said: hayitu minhu meaning that one is shy or
confused from someone. The origin of al-haya' comes from al-inqibad
and al-inziwa', i.e., introversion. This is why the snake is called
hayyah since it gathers its body around itself in the shape of a
disc.
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However, there seems to be a difference of opinion among the
Muslim scholars concerning the origin of this name. Al-Suyuti
states in his Al-Itqan fi `Ulum al-Qur'an:
Yahya: The son of Zakariyya, the first one to bear that name
according to the Qur'an. He was born
six months before Jesus, and was given prophethood while young,
and was killed unjustly. God
moved Nobukhod Nosor and his armies against his murderers. Yahya
is a non-Arabic name, but it is
also said [by some] to be of Arabic origin. According to
al-Wahidi: In both cases the name does not
permit nunation.
Al-Kirmani stated: In the second case [i.e., the name is Arabic
in origin], it has been said that: he
was so-called because God made him live with faith, that the
womb of his mother became alive with
him, and that he was martyred, because martyrs are alive [bal
ahya'un `inda rabbihim yurzaqun].
It was also said that its meaning is "yamut", i.e., "he dies"
like when we use "mafazah" to mean
"mahlakah" and "salim" to mean "ladigh".[2]
The name Yahya has also perplexed many orientalists. Paul
Casanova is of the opinion that Yahya is an "error" which needs to
be "corrected":
Therefore I hesitated for a long time to suggest the corrections
that seemed more likely to me. What
decides me today to do so is, I must note, that the Western
scholars tend more and more to free
themselves of the superstitious respect they had for the
absolute integrity of the Qur'an, and that a
"semitizing" German scholar, Barth has also suggested fairly
important corrections among which one
interests me particularly, since I have been thinking about it
for a long time and I am happy to see it
presented as I have imagined it myself. It is the correction
Youhanna for Yahya, Youhanna instead of
Yahya, the name of Saint John the Baptist. I did not dare to
publish it, firstly for the general reason
stated earlier, because it leads to an odd coincidence. Indeed,
the Mandaeans or pseudo-Christians of
Saint John, identified with the Sabians of the Qur'an, have a
book where their principal Prophet is
called Yahio [sic!]. If that name was due to a misreading of the
writers of the Qur'an, the book would
necessarily be older than the diffusion of the canonical Qur'an
and all the theories built on that
identification would fall apart.[3]
Mingana, following the footsteps of Margoliouth[4], believed
that the pre-Islamic poetry is a post-Islamic forgery (a theory
which has now been well-refuted by Muslim and non-Muslim scholars
alike). Therefore, for Mingana, the Qur'an is the first book in
Arabic whose "author" had:
... immense difficulties. He had to adapt new words and new
expressions to fresh ideas, in a language
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that was not yet fixed by any grammar or lexicography.[5]
Mingana resorted to heavy application of Syriac in order to
understand the "origin" of word Yahya: He states:
To express "John" the Kur'an of our days has the strange form
Yahya. I believe with Margoliouth[6],
that the name is almost certainly the Syriac Yohannan.[7]
He also makes a rather strange pronouncement that in the early
and undotted Qur'anic manuscripts, the Arabic letters y-h-y of the
name Yahya could be read as:
Yohanna, Yohannan, or Yahya, and the Muslim kurra' who knew no
other language besides Arabic
adopted the erroneous form Yahya.[8]
Arthur Jeffery believes that the above suggestion[9] is worthy
of endorsement but at the same time he informs us that:
... there appears to be no trace of the name [i.e., Yahya] in
the early literature [of the Arabs].[10]
A rhetorical question should be asked: If there is no trace of
the name Yahya in the pre-Islamic Arabic literature, then why
should the undotted text be read as Yahya (y-h-y)? Why can it not
be read as something else, such as t-h-t?
C. C. Torrey, like Casanova and Jeffery, also believes that the
Qur'anic Yahya is a misreading of Yuhanna,[11] but all the Qira'at
are unanimous in stating that the undotted y-h-y can only be read
as Yahya and not as Yuhanna or Yuhanan.
Furthermore, these Orientalists whose opinions are cited above
also believe Yahya to be of foreign (i.e., non-Arabic) origin, but
their suggestions that the name Yahya is an "error" is stated
without any proof what-so-ever! Although most Western scholars
(unlike Geiger or Christian missionaries) are aware that the names
Yahya and John (Yuhanan or Yuhanna) are two entirely different
names derived from two different roots, they can only conjecture at
the origin of the name.
4. The Mandaeans - "The Christians Of St. John"
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Has John the Baptist ever been known as Yahya by any group of
people?
The Mandaeans are a community that live in Iraq and Iran, and
speak a dialect of Aramaic (or Mandaic as it is usually referred to
in the literature). They claim to be the followers of John the
Baptist and are sometimes (wrongly) referred to as "Christians of
St. John" a title first used by Portuguese Christian missionaries.
They are colloquially known as Subba (singular Subbi). The
appellation Subba is accepted as referring to their principal
religious ritual - Baptism by immersion. The name used by
themselves to described their religion and race is Mandai, or
Mandaeans.[12]
Before we go further, let us deal briefly with the
identification of Sabians or Sabi'un. There has been a great deal
of speculation about the identification of Sabi'un, a religious
group, mentioned thrice in the Qur'an. The Qur'anic commentators
had theorized about the possible identity of this group. We will
only sum up the various viewpoints. Interested readers may consult
this subject that has been dealt with at length by Jane Dammen
McAuliffe.[13]
Some of the Qur'anic commentators have credited Sabi'un with
worshipping angels and some with monotheism; the Sabi'un praying
towards the qibla, and they are different from Jews, Christians and
Magians. They were usually identified with a group of people from
Iraq.
The Western scholarship on the identification of Sabi'un of the
Qur'an perhaps began with the encyclopaedic work of Daniel
Chwolson.[14] A brief summation of Chwolson's view was done by John
Pederson.[15] Chwolson postulated a two fold identification of
Sabi'un.[16] Mandaeans, who are monotheists, was one such group and
the other was thought to be the pagan star-worshippers in Harran
whom Muslim historians claimed to have adopted the name Sabi'un in
order to be included in the category of People of the Book.
Pederson, however, took an exception to Chwolson's two-fold
identification. He says that Sabi'un should be identified with the
hanifs as
They too are people who believe in God, neither Jews nor
Christians; the nearest model for the
believers, as Abraham himself was hanif.[17]
This identification by Pederson came about by equating hanif and
gnostic. The result of this is that
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he harmonizes between the common designation of Mandaeans and
Harranians as Sabi'un.
Pederson's harmonization is also supported by E. S. Drower; but
she recognizes within the latter community a division between the
the priestly class, known as Nasoraeans, and the ignorant or
semi-ignorant laity who are called Mandaeans.[18] Bayard Dodge's
position is that there is insufficient evidence for this
identification. He is quite comfortable with the correlation of
Sabi'un and the Mandaeans, but beyond that he is not willing to go
by admitting that
... we do not know how their originated or what groups might
have been Sabians.[19]
Mandaeans call their teacher John the Baptist Yahia Yuhana.[20]
In their canonical prayer book one can read:
King Yahia-Yuhana,
Healing and victory be thine;[21]
One of their holy books is called Drasha d. Yahia or The Book of
Yahia. Examples of the presence of the name Yahia can be found in
The Book of John (see chapter 3 and chapter 4).
A Mandaic Dictionary throws further light on the names "iahia"
and "iuhana" as used in their holy books:[22]
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Note the absence of the emphatic "h" in Yahia Yuhana (the "h"
sound in Yahia Yuhana is soft) unlike its Arabic and Aramaic
counterparts. In the Aramaic dialect of Mandaeans, the emphatic "h"
did exist at one time; but its vocalisation now has
vanished.[23]
The name Yahia in Yahia Yuhana has puzzled many Western
scholars. According to them, Yahia is not an Aramaic name but
rather an Arabic one but as we have already discussed, there is a
difference of opinion among Arab linguists concerning the origin
and meaning of the name Yahya. The Arabic word haya, has its
counterpart in Aramaic and Hebrew, and are certainly cognates,
identical in origin.[24,25] In Syriac, the verb hy, (that's the
past tense) is "to live; recover; lighten (of pain)"; the
present/future tense third person singular being nehhe. And in many
other forms of Aramaic it is yehye or yahye;[26] the latter is
similar to the Arabic Yahya and with imalah (in Arabic) it is read
Yahyei.[27] We present the various Qiraa'aat of verse 19:7 as audio
files in the Real Audio format.
In the Qira'at of Hafs, it is read as Yahya without imalah.
In the Qira'at of Warsh, it is read as Yahyei with imalah.
In the Qira'at of Hamzah, it is read as Yahyei with imalah.
Coming back to Aramaic, adjective hayya is "alive, raw
(uncooked), pure (unmixed), flowing (water)", hayye is "life,
salvation", hayutha "life", haywtha "animal", haytha "midwife"
etc.
In order to resolve this puzzle (i.e. the presence of the name
Yahia in Yahia Yuhana) Western scholars have suggested various
explanations ranging from the name Yahia being inserted into
the
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scriptures at a later date to Muslims forcing its use upon
Mandaeans![28] None of these theories are supported by any
historical evidence.
This is perhaps the right time to discuss the significance of
name Yahia in Mandaic literature. Every Mandaean has two names, his
malwasha, or Zodaical name, and his laqab or the worldly name. E.
S. Drower explains the difference between the malwasha and laqab
names.
The latter is usually a Muhammadan name and is used for all lay
purposes, the former [i.e.,
malwasha] is his real and spiritual name and is used on all
religious and magic occasions.[29]
So, in Yahia Yuhana, Yahia is a malwasha name or the real name
and Yuhana is a laqab or a lay name as one can see from the entry
in the Mandaic dictionary. What is interesting here is that the
Qur'an uses only the real and spiritual name, i.e., Yahya; but what
about Yuhanna?
5. Wa hananan min ladunna.... : Attributes Of Yahya As Mentioned
In The Qur'an 19:13
The Mandaean use of Yahia Yuhana for John the Baptist is quite
interesting as we have seen in the earlier section. Here we will
briefly digress and discuss some of the attributes of Yahya as
mentioned in the Qur'an. The Qur'an mentions Yahya but what about
Yowchanan/Yuhanna? We know that Yowchanan/Yuhanna means tenderness
of God or Jehovah (the Hebraic name of God) is a gracious giver. It
is composed of two words "Yu", short form of Jehovah in the Hebrew
Bible and "hanna", derived from "hanan". Incidently God says in the
Qur'an:
wa hananan min ladunna wa zakatan wa kana taqiyya, i.e., "And
tenderness [hananan] from Us and
purity, he was devout." [Qur'an 19:13]
In other words, Yahya was a hananan from God; this is nothing
but a paraphrase of what Yowchanan/Yuhanna actually means, i.e.,
Jehovah [or God] is a gracious giver! What is even more interesting
is that the word "hananan" occurs only once in the Qur'an,[30]
i.e., in connexion
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with Yahya in the above verse (19:13). It is to be reminded that
the root word "hanan" has a similar meaning in Aramaic, Hebrew and
Arabic.
Attention should also drawn to the name Yuhanna. Etymologically
speaking, "Yu" in Arabic does not mean God unlike in Hebrew; hence
making the word "Yuhanna" quite meaningless. The Arabic word for
the God is "Allah". It appears that Yuhanna was borrowed into
Arabic either from Syriac or Hebrew for the sake of usage.[31]
Let us now see what the tafsirs say concerning verse 19:13.
Below is an excerpt from Tafsir of Ibn Kathir about verse
19:13.
wa hananan min ladunna wa zakatan wa kana taqiyya, i.e., "And
tenderness from Us and purity, he
was devout,"
"And tenderness from Us": `Ali Ibn Abi Talhah narrated from Ibn
`Abbas his saying wa hananan min
ladunna means "mercy [Arabic: rahmah] from Us" and similarly
spoke `Ikrimah and Qatadah and al-
Dahhak and he added "None is capable of such [mercy] except Us".
Qatadah added "a mercy from
God to Zakariyya". Mujahid said wa hananan min ladunna means "a
pity from his Lord towards
[English??] him". `Ikrimah said wa hananan min ladunna means
"love upon him". Ibn Zayd said: As
for "hanan" it means love. `Ata' Ibn Abi Rabah said: wa hananan
min ladunna means "exaltation/
elevation from Us" [Arabic: ta`dhim]. Ibn Jurayj told us, `Amr
Ibn Dinar told me that he heard
`Ikrimah narrate from Ibn `Abbas his saying: "Nay, by Allah, I
don't know what hanan means". Ibn
Jarir said: Ibn Humayd told us, Jarir narrated to us from
Mansur: I asked Sa`id Ibn Jubayr about wa
hananan min ladunna, he said: I asked Ibn `Abbas about it and he
did not know much about it. [...]
[32]
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Many Islamic references like Tafsir of al-Qurtubi and Al-Itqan
by al-Suyuti and others narrated similar reports from Ibn `Abbas
concerning "hanan".
6. Exegesis Of Verse 19:7
... lam naj`al lahu min qablu samiyya.
... on none by that name have We conferred distinction
before.
[Qur'an 19:7]
Ibn Kathir said in his tafsir concerning this verse:
The translation of which is:
And Mujahid said:
lam naj`al lahu min qablu samiyya,
[samiyya means] shabihan - someone like him.
He drove this meaning from God's speech [verse 19:65]
... fa`budhu wastabir li`ibadatihi hal ta`lamu lahu samiyya,
...so worship Him, and be constant and patient in His worship:
knowest thou of any
who [qualifies to be] His samiyya?
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Meaning [of samiyya is] shabihan - someone like him.
`Ali Ibn Abi Talhah narrated from Ibn `Abbas that it means: No
barren woman gave birth to someone
like him before.
This also proves that Zakariyya was sterile[33] as was his wife
[who was sterile from the beginning of
her life] unlike Abraham and Sarah. The reason for their
[Abraham and Sarah's] amazement at the
glad tidings of Isaac was due to their old age and not to
infertility. This is why Abraham said [in
amazement]:
abashshartumuni `ala an massaniya al-kibaru fabima
tubashshirun,
i.e., Do ye give me glad tidings even though old age has seized
me? Of what, then, is
your good news? [verse 15:54]
even though had Isma`il 13 years earlier.
Likewise, his wife said:
ya waylata a'alidu wa ana `ajuzun wa hadha ba`li shaykhan inna
hadha lashay'un
`ajib. Qalu ata`jabina min amrillahi rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu
`alaykum ahla al-
bayti innahu hamidun majid,
i.e., She said: "Alas for me! shall I bear a child, seeing I am
an old woman, and my
husband here is an old man? That would indeed be a wonderful
thing!". They said:
"Dost thou wonder at Allah's decree? The grace of Allah and His
blessings on you, o
ye people of the house! For He is indeed worthy of all praise,
full of all glory! [verses
11:72-73].[34]
The key word here is samiyya and a detailed analysis of this
word is given in the Appendix A. The word samiyya occurs only twice
in the Qur'an:[35] at verse 19:7 in connection with Yahya and in
19:65 in reference to Allah.
Using the method of using the Qur'an to explain the Qur'an, Ibn
Kathir drives home the point that the birth of Yahya was unlike the
birth of any other. This explanation is also supported by the
hadith from Ibn `Abbas. Ibn `Abbas said that what is meant here is
that there had never been a boy similar to Yahya in the sense of
being born to an aged father and a barren mother. Although Isaac
was born to parents who were also old, neither of them were
infertile. It is for this reason that Isaac was unlike Yahya in his
birth.
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And al-Suyuti says the following in his tafsir:
The translation of which is:
Narrated al-Faryabi and Ibn Abi Shaybah and `Abd Ibn Humayd and
Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi
Hatim and al-Hakim who declared it Sahih that Ibn `Abbas said:
lam naj`al lahu min qablu samiyya.
Narrated `Abd ar-Razzaq and Ahmad in Al-Zuhd and `Abd Ibn Humayd
that Qatadah said concerning
lam naj`al lahu min qablu samiyya.
Ahmad narrated the same report in Al-Zuhd from the way of
`Ikrimah. Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi
Hatim narrated that Ibn `Abbas said concerning lam naj`al lahu
min qablu samiyya: "No barren
woman gave birth to child like him".
Narrated Ahmad in Al-Zuhd and `Abd Ibn Humayd and Ibn al-Mundhir
and Ibn Abi Hatim that Sa`id
Ibn Jubayr said concerning lam naj`al lahu min qablu samiyya: He
said: [samiyya means] shabihan -
someone like him.
`Abd Ibn Humayd narrated a similar report from the way of `Ata'.
Al-Bukhari narrated in his Tarikh
from Yahya Ibn Khallad al-Zarqi that when he [Yahya] was born,
he was brought to the Prophet(P)
who fed him a chewed date and said: "I shall give him a name
that was never given [to anyone]
before: Yahya Ibn Zakariyya" and so he called him Yahya.[36]
From the above discussion, we see that scholars hold two
opinions concerning the verse lam naj`al lahu min qablu
samiyya:
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1. Samiyy, means shabihan or mithlan, i.e., someone like him.
The verse is interpreted to mean that the birth of Yahya was unlike
the birth of others, as he was born to an aged father and a barren
mother.
2. No one prior to the birth of Yahya was ever given that name
by God.
Al-Tabari provides reports for both interpretations, but opines
that the latter seems to be more correct. Al-Qurtubi mentions both
opinions but did not express a preference. And Ibn Kathir, who
cites al-Tabari's opinion (see above), also does not express any
preference.
7. Conclusions
Geiger and the Christian missionaries have pointed to a
difficulty arising at verse 19:7 where the birth of the Yahya is
announced. According to their understanding, the name Yahya is the
Arabic equivalent of the name John. They also understand that the
name Yahya is unique, and no human being prior to the birth of
Yahya ever possessed such a name. However, in the Old Testament
there are more than twenty-five references to the name John, and it
is for this reason that the Qur'an is in error.
This study has shown conclusively that the names Yahya and John
(Yuhanan or Yuhanna) are two entirely different names derived from
two different roots. Geiger and the missionaries have failed to
investigate the linguistic origins of the two names, and have
wrongly concluded that the Qur'an is in error.
The verse at 19:7 which reads lam naj`al lahu min qablu samiyya
may be interpreted in two ways:
1. Samiyy, means shabihan or mithlan, i.e., someone like him.
The verse is interpreted to mean that the birth of Yahya was unlike
the birth of others, as he was born to an aged father and a barren
mother.
2. The name Yahya is unique, and no one prior to the birth of
Yahya was ever given such a name by God, a point conveniently
overlooked by the missionaries.
Was Yahya also called Yowchanan [or Yuhanna]? It appears to be
so, and God knows best. It is
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through the Mandaeans we get the dual name Yahia Yuhana.
According to Mandaic literature Yahia is a malwasha name or the
real name and Yuhana is a laqab or a lay name. The Qur'an uses only
the real and spiritual name, i.e., Yahya; Yuhanna is expressed as a
paraphrase in the verse 19:13 perhaps due to the fact that "Yu" in
Arabic does not mean God, hence making the word "Yuhanna"
etymologically meaningless. Presumably, "Yuhanna" was borrowed into
Arabic through Hebrew or Syriac sources.
Interestingly, the Encyclopaedia Judaica under the entry 'John
the Baptist'[37] mentions only the Arabic name: Yahya ibn
Zakariyya. There follows no discussion concerning the name, unlike
the entries for Moses, Jesus etc.
The use of the name Yahia Yuhana among the Mandaeans is
certainly interesting. It should also be noted that much of their
surviving literature is relatively late. There do exist Mandaean
incantation bowls that are dated from pre-Islamic period.[38]
Further research and discoveries would throw more light on the
origins of Mandaic literature, insha'allah.
Once again the Christian missionaries have failed to show a
"historical" contradiction in the Qur'an. Had they bothered to
probe this controversy, even slightly, they would never have made
such blunders. But as it stands, there is a preference among
Christian missionaries to blindly follow each and every cheap
polemic, and had this "contradiction" not been so widely
circulated, we would not have bothered with its response.
And as always Allah knows best!
Acknowledgements
One of the authors (MSMS) would like to thank Professor Robert
Hoberman, Dr. Geoffery Khan and Mr. Shibli Zaman for stimulating
discussions on comparative linguistics.
Professor Robert Hoberman and Dr. Geoffery Khan are not
associated with Islamic Awareness.
Appendix A
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The note made by al-Tabari in his tafsir regarding the pattern
of samiyy being fa`il pushed us to look up its root in an Arabic
lexicon. Below are some interesting excerpts from the famous Arabic
lexicon Lisan al-`Arab. We do not quote it in its entirety, due to
unnecessary length:[39]
The translation of which is:
Sama: "as-sumuww" means elevation and highness.
You say: "samawtu" and "samaytu" [i.e., I rose] in the same
pattern of "`alawtu" and "`alaytu" and
"salawtu" and "salaytu", according to Tha`lab.
And "sama ash-shay'u" [i.e., something rose] "yasmu" [i.e., it
rises] "sumuwwan" [i.e., raising]
fahuwa "samin" [i.e., it is elevated]. And [you say] "sama bihi"
and "asmahu" meaning: made
someone or something high. And you say to the noble: "qad
sama".
And when you raise your eyes to something, you say: "sama ilayhi
basari" [i.e., my eyes rose to it].
And when a remote thing is elevated for you so that you see it
distinctly, you say: "sama li shay'un".
And [you say] "sama li shakhsu fulan" [literally: the person of
someone rose to me] meaning that he
rose until I saw him distinctly. And [you say] "sama basaruh"
[i.e., his eyes rose] meaning that they
went up.
Further we read:
The translation of which is:
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Something's "ism" [i.e., its name], and its "sam", "sim", "sum"
and "sama" is its [distinctive] sign.
In Al-Tahdhib: the alif of "ism" is classified as "alif wasl"
[i.e., it does not belong to the root] and the
proof is that its diminutive form is "sumayy".
The Arabs say "hadha-smun mawsul" and "hadha [???]".
Al-Zajjaj said: The meaning of the word "ism" [i.e., its name]
is derived from "as-sumuww" which is
highness. He said: it's origin is "simw" [i.e., the third letter
of the word is an omitted waw] like the
word "qinw" and [the plural] "aqna'".
Al-Jawhari said: "ism" [i.e., its name] is derived from
"samawtu" because it denotes highness and it's
pattern is "if`", and the omitted letter is a waw because it's
plural is "asma'" and its diminutive form
is "sumayy". There was disagreement on the pattern of its
origin. Some said: "fi`l" and others said
"fu`l" and the plural "asma'" is possible for this pattern also
illustrated in "jidh`" and "ajdha`" and
"qufl" and "aqfal" and this could not be settled except through
listening [to the native Arabs] and it
has four ways: "ism" and "usm" with an u, and "sim" and
"sum".
And going further we see:
And your "samiyy": the one who bears your name. You say: He is
the "samiyy" of someone when
their names match like when you say his "kaniyy" [to the one who
has the same nickname].
And in the Holy Scripture: lam naj`al lahu min qablu samiyya:
None before him was his 'samiyy';
Ibn `Abbas said: None before him was given the name Yahya. It
was also said: It means none before
him was equivalent to him or like him. It was also said: He was
called Yahya because he "haya" lived
with knowledge and wisdom. With regard to Almighty's speech: hal
ta`lamu lahu samiyya, i.e.,
"knowest thou of any who [qualifies to be] His samiyy?" meaning
"nadhir" [i.e., equivalent] who
deserves the same name.
From the above quotations, we learn that samiyy is derived from
the root "sin+mim+waw" which
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refers to highness and elevation. Besides all the linguistic
details, when we get to the root, we learn that the word samiyy has
two meanings. It means "namesake" and it can also refers to a like
or someone equivalent. Both these meanings are discussed in tafsir
literature.
References
[1] A. Geiger, Judaism And Islam (English Translation Of Was hat
Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?), 1970, Ktav Publishing
House Inc.: New York, pp. 19.
[2] Jalaluddin `Abd ar-Rahman al-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fi `Ulum
al-Qur'an, 1987, Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyyah: Beirut, First Edition,
Volume 2, Section 69: "The Names, Surnames and Titles that Occur in
the Qur'an", pp. 304-305.
[3] P. Casanova, "Idris et Ouzar", Journal Asiatique, 1924,
Volume CCV, p. 357. Since ours in not the official translation, we
publish the original.
Aussi ai-je hsit longtemps proposer les corrections qui me
paraissaient vraisemblables. Ce qui me
dcide aujourd'hui, c'est que, je dois le constater, les rudits
occidentaux tendent de plus en plus
s'affranchir du respect superstitieux qu'ils avaient jusqu'alors
pour l'intgrit absolue du Coran, et
qu'un savant smitisant allemand, feu Barth a propos son tour des
corrections assez importantes,
entre autres une qui m'intresse particulirement, car il y a
longtemps que j'y avais pens et je suis
heureux de la voir prsente, tells que je l'avais imagine
moi-mme. C'est la correction Youhanna
pour Yahya Youhanna au lieu de Yahya, nom de saint
Jean-Baptiste. Je n'osais pas la publier, d'abord
pour la raison gnrale nonce plus haut, ensuite parce qu'elle
entraine une curieuse consquence.
En effet, les Mandates ou pseudo-Chrtiens de saint Jean, qu'on
identifie aux Sabiens du Coran, ont
un livre o leur principal prophte est appel Yahio. Si ce nom est
du une erreur de lecture des
rdacteurs du Coran, le livre est ncessairement postrieur la
diffusion du Coran canonique et
toutes les thories difies sur cette identification
s'croulent.
[4] D. Margoliouth, "The Origins Of Arabic Poetry", Journal Of
The Royal Asiatic Society, 1925, pp. 417-449.
[5] A. Mingana, "Syriac Influences On The Style Of The Kur'an",
Bulletin Of The John Rylands Library Manchester, 1927, Volume II,
p. 78.
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[6] D. Margoliouth, "Textual Variations Of The Koran", The
Moslem World, 1925, Volume XV, p. 343.
[7] A. Mingana, "Syriac Influences On The Style Of The Kur'an",
Bulletin Of The John Rylands Library Manchester, 1927, op. cit., p.
84.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary Of The Qur'an, 1938,
Oriental Institute: Baroda, p. 290.
[10] Ibid., p. 291.
[11] C. C. Torrey, The Jewish Foundation Of Islam, 1967, Ktav
Publishing House, Inc.: New York, pp. 50-51.
[12] Further details concerning this community can be found in
Encyclopaedia Britannica under Mandaeanism. And information
concerning their beliefs can be found here.
[13] J. D. McAuliffe, "Exegetical Identification Of The
Sabi'un", The Muslim World, 1982, Volume LXXII, pp. 95-106.
[14] D. A. Chwolson, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus (In two
volumes), 1856, St. Petersburg.
[15] J. Pedersen, "The Sabians" in T. W. Arnold & R. A
Nicholson (editors), A Volume Of Oriental Studies Presented To
Edward G. Browne On His 60th Birthday, 1922, Cambridge At The
University Press, pp. 383-391.
[16] See also Vaux's article for some support to this
hypothesis. B. Carra De Vaux, "Al-Sabi'a", Encyclopaedia Of Islam
(Old Edition), 1934, E. J. Brill Publishers: Leyden & Luzac
& Co.: London, p. 387.
[17] J. Pedersen, "The Sabians", in T. W. Arnold & R. A
Nicholson (editors), A Volume Of Oriental Studies Presented To
Edward G. Browne On His 60th Birthday, 1922, op. cit., p. 387.
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[18] E. S. Drower, The Secret Adam: A Study Of Nasoraean Gnosis,
1960, Oxford At The Clarendon Press, p. ix.
[19] B. Dodge, "The Sabians Of Harran" in Fu'ad Sarruf &
Suha Tamim (Eds.), American University Of Beirut Festival Books,
1967, p. 63.
[20] E. S. Drower, The Mandaeans Of Iraq And Iran, 1962, E. J.
Brill: Leiden, pp. 2-3.
[21] E. S. Drower, The Canonical Prayer Book Of The Mandaeans,
1959, E. J. Brill: Leiden, p. 106. See also p. 152.
[22] E. S. Drower & R. Macuch, A Mandaic Dictionary, 1963,
Oxford At The Clarendon Press, see p. 185 for 'iahia' and p. 190
for 'iuhana'.
[23] ibid., p. 171.
[24] C. Brockelmann, Lexicon Syriacum, 1928, Halix Saxonum,
Sumptibus Max Niemeyer, pp. 228-229. See also p. 220.
[25] J. Payne Smith (ed.), A Compendious Syriac Dictionary,
1967, Oxford At The Clarendon Press, pp. 138-139.
[26] We are grateful to Professor Robert Hoberman for pointing
this out.
[27] `Alawi Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Bilfaqih, Al-Qira'at al-`Ashr
al-Mutawatir, 1994, Dar al-Muhajir, p. 305. In the Qiraa'aat, for
example, of Hamzah, al-Kisa'i, Warsh and Khalaf, with imalah it is
read Yahyei. In the Hafs Qiraa'aat, it is read as Yahya without
imalah.
[28] E. M. Yamauchi, Gnostic Ethics And Mandaean Origins, 1970,
Harvard University Press: Cambridge (MA), p. 5.
[29] E. S. Drower, The Mandaeans Of Iraq And Iran, 1962, op.
cit., p. 81.
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[30] Muhammad Fu'ad `Abd al-Baqi, Al-Mu`ahjam al-Mufahris li
al-Fadh al-Qur'an al-Karim, 1997, Dar al-Fikr: Beirut (Lebanon), p.
279.
[31] We are grateful to Professor Hoberman and Dr. Geoffery Khan
for a detailed discussion on the etymological issues surrounding
the word "Yuhanna" in both Hebrew and Arabic.
[32] Tafsir Ibn Kathir, available online.
[33] This is a rather strange assertion by Ibn Kathir
unsupported by any evidence.
[34] Tafsir Ibn Kathir, available online.
[35] Muhammad Fu'ad `Abd al-Baqi, Al-Mu`ahjam al-Mufahris li
al-Fadh al-Qur'an al-Karim, 1997, op. cit., p. 451.
[36] Jalaluddin `Abd ar-Rahman al-Suyuti, Al-Durr al-Manthur,
downloadable from al-Muhaddith website.
[37] Under "John the Baptist", Encyclopaedia Judaica (CD-ROM
Edition), 1997, Judaica Multimedia (Israel) Limited.
[38] W. S. McCullough, Jewish And Mandaean Incantation Bowls In
The Royal Ontario Museum, 1967, University Of Toronto Press. Five
terracotta bowls are discussed in this book.
[39] Ibn Mandhur, Lisan al-`Arab, downloadable from al-Muhaddith
website.
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