450. Sister of Haroon.
In this verse (19:28) of the Quran, Maryam has been cited as the sister of Haroon.
A few Christians bent upon finding mistakes for long, in the Quran quote this as an error in it by asking ‘how can Haroon belonging to the era of Prophet Moses be a sibling of Maryam’? And propaganda the same. This question arises out of sheer ignorance.
It is usual for people of the same name to have existed at different periods of time. Though a person known as Haroon lived at the time of Prophet Musa, it is not an impossible feat for a person to exist in the same name at the time before him. Hence the existence of persons of the same name at different periods of time is not something rare, nor is it questionable.
When questioned about this occurrence Prophet Muhammad replied by saying ‘it was normal for people to name their offspring after their virtuous ancestors’. (Book Muslim:4327)
Christians strongly refute this verse adamantly by saying had there been a person in the name of Haroon at the time of Maryam, it would have been disclosed in their scripture since there is no such disclosure, this verse of the Quran is an error.
Merely for the reason it is not mentioned in any of the Christian scriptures, this verse cannot be treated as an error in the Quran.
When we call a person as a sibling of shaitan it does not necessarily mean the shaitan and this person are born of the same mother. It would be merely understood as this person has qualities of the shaitan.
The responsibility of servicing the place of worship of Jews, was handed over to Leviticus, and teaching the ways to worship, was the task of Aaron known as Haroon respectively handed over by Jesus. Hence those who worked in places of worship were known as siblings of Haroon.
This can be found in Exodus 27:21, 28:41-43, and in all chapters of Exodus from the beginning to end, and in the first chapter of Leviticus.
Mary known as Maryam was dedicated to the task of maintaining the place of worship in spite of being a woman, and those in the service of the Saviour were expected by people to be better than others in morality and discipline Those people questioned her by asking ‘In spite of being in the service of the Saviour, and being the sibling of Haroon, you present yourself along with a child’.
Hence the address ‘Oh! Sibling of Haroon’ is not an error of history in the Quran, but in fact something not mentioned even in the Bible.
This verse says people addressed as ‘Oh! Sibling of Haroon, your father was not an evil man, nor your mother an immoral person.
In this context the people addressed her need to be understood.
The meaning of this verse is ‘Your father and your mother were good people and you are involved in carrying on the task of Haroon, but you are presenting yourself with a child without a father.
Maryam was dedicated as a votive offering before she was born, after her birth she was left at the place of worship in service of the Almighty. It was apt to call her the sibling of Haroon because of the duty she was performing and according to the Bible, and a fact not divulged by the Bible.
To learn more about explanations on answers to perverse questions of christian preachers please refer to points 90, 137, 138, 147,223, 265,271, 455, 456, 457, 459, 491, 493 of his compilation.
