Editing Al Imran (section)

==3:33  The family of Imran==
The chapter takes its name from the family of Imran mentioned in verse {{qref|3|33|pl=y}}.<ref>{{cite book|author=M.A.S. Abdel Haleem|title=The Qur'an|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/book/islam-9780192831934/islam-9780192831934-chapter-3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824214212/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/book/islam-9780192831934/islam-9780192831934-chapter-3|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 24, 2018|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-157407-8|pages=34|via=Oxford Islamic Studies Online}}</ref>

According to [[Christian tradition]], [[Joachim]] is the husband of [[Saint Anne]] and the father of [[Mary, mother of Jesus]]. As there is sparse evidence for Joachim being the name for the father of Mary, the Quranic account possibly alludes to the pun of [[Miriam]], the daughter of [[Amram]] and sister of [[Aaron]], for whom Muslim tradition believes Mary is named after. It also serves as a common focal point for Jewish and Christian audiences.

According to Iraqi Jewish translator, [[N.J. Dawood]], the Quran confuses [[Mary mother of Jesus]] with [[Miriam|Mary the sister of Moses]], by referring to Mary, the mother of Jesus' father as Imran, which is the [[Amram#Arabic|Arabic version of Amram]], who in [[Va'eira#Second reading — Exodus 6:14–28|Exodus 6:20]], is shown to be the father of Moses.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Koran|last=Dawood|first=N J|date=1956|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=9780141393841|location=London|pages=53}}</ref> Dawood, in a note to Surah 19:28, where Mary the Mother of Jesus is referred to as the "Sister of Aaron", and [[Aaron]] was the brother of Mary sister of Moses, states: "It Appears that Miriam, Aaron's sister, and Maryam (Mary), mother of Jesus, were according to the Quran, the same person."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Koran|last=Dawood|first=N J|date=1956|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=9780141393841|location=London|pages=306}}</ref>  Although [[Islamic studies]] of the beginning of the 20th century tended to note genealogical discrepancies, in more recent Islamic Studies of the 21st century the general consensus is, according to [[Angelika Neuwirth]], Nicolai Sinai and Michael Marx, that the [[Quran]] does not make a genealogical error but instead makes use of [[Typology (theology)|typology]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Michael Marx: Glimpses of a Mariology in the Qur'an; in: A. Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai, Michael Marx (Hrsg.): The Qur'ān in Context. Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qur'ānic Milieu. Leiden 2011. pp. 533–563.|pages=533–563}}</ref> This is, following Wensinck's conclusion, supported by the figurative speech of the Quran and the Islamic tradition:

{{blockquote|Maryam is called a sister of Hārūn, and the use of these three names ‘Imrān, Hārūn, and Maryam has led to the supposition that the Qur'ān does not clearly distinguish between the two Maryams, of the Old and the New Testaments. ... It is not necessary to assume that these kinship links are to be interpreted in modern terms. The words "sister" and "daughter", like their male counterparts, in Arabic usage, can indicate extended kinship, descendance or spiritual affinity. ... Muslim tradition is clear that there are eighteen centuries between the Biblical ‘Amram and the father of Maryam.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Arent Jan Wensinck: Maryam. In: A. J. Wensinck, J. H. Kramers (Hrsg.): Handwörterbuch des Islam. pp. 421–423.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=J. Wensinck (Penelope Johnstone), "Maryam" in C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs & Ch. Pellat (Eds.), The Encyclopaedia Of Islam (New Edition), 1991, Volume VI, p. 630.}}</ref>}}

Similarly, Stowasser concludes that "to confuse Mary the mother of Jesus with Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron in Torah is completely wrong and in contradiction to the sound Hadith and the Qur'anic text as we have established".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women In The Qur'an, Traditions, And Interpretation|last=Stowasser|first=B. F.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1994|location=New York|pages=393–394}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Mary The Blessed Virgin Of Islam, op. cit.|last=Schleifer|first=Aliah|year=1998|page=36}}</ref> Rather it serves as a pun for the name [[Miriam]], daughter of [[Amram]] and the sister of [[Aaron]], venerated for helping to save her brother [[Moses]] as an infant. According to Muslim tradition, she serves as the forebearer of that name for [[Mary in Islam|Mary]], mother of Jesus.

This matter has been explained in the following [[Hadith]]:

{{Blockquote|Mughira ibn 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, peace and blessings 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.|{{Href|muslim|2135|b=yl}}}}

[[Ibn Kathir]] (d.1373) also commented on this in his  Quranic exegesis (''[[tafsir]]''), recalling the Arab tradition of addressing a person as the brother or sister of their notable ancestor:

{{Blockquote|"This is similar to the saying, `O brother of Tamim,' to one who is from the Tamimi tribe, and `O brother of Mudar,' to one who is from the Mudari tribe."|{{Qtaf|en:ibk|19|28}}}}