In Islam
The House of Imran (Arabic: آل عمران) is the 3rd chapter of the Qur'an. Imran is Arabic for the biblical figure Amram, the father of Moses, and Aaron, who is regarded by Muslims as being the ancestor of Mary and Jesus through his son Aaron. In Muslim belief, however, the Christian Joachim has been attributed the name Imran as well. Muslims distinguish between the two different individuals as:
- "Imran, ancestor of Mary", who is Amram
- "Imran, father of Mary", who is Joachim
On Qur'an 19:28, the classical Islamic scholar and commentator ibn Kathir says in his work Tafsir ibn Kathir; "(O sister of Harun!) This means, "O one resembling Harun (Aaron) in worship.... (O sister of Harun!) referring to the brother of Musa, because she was of his descendants. 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. It has also been said that she was related to a righteous man among them whose name was Harun and she was comparable to him in her abstinence and worship."
As for the figure of Joachim/Imran, he is revered by Muslims for being the father of Mary and the grandfather of Jesus and also for being one of the most saintly men present in Jerusalem at the time, along side the priest Zachariah. By tradition, Imran's wife was Hannah, the Catholic Saint Anne.
Read more about this topic: Joachim
Famous quotes containing the word islam:
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)
“Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.”
—Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)