Yahya/John

In this short post we shall be taking a look at Yahya.

S 3:39 Then the angels called him while he was standing, praying in the mihrab. Allah gives you good news of Yahya, confirming a word from Allah, and a chief and a continent man and a prophet among the righteous.

Qur'an Problem: How did John confirm Jesus?

S 6:85 And Zakariyya and Yahya and Isa and Ilyas, all are of the righteous.

Are of the righteous? When someone dies, it's usual to use the past tense of 'to be' when speaking of him. Were they all resurrected?

S 19:7 Zakariyya, we give you good news of a boy whose name is Yahya. We have not made for him before samiyyan.

Pre-existent? Regarding samiyyan:

Rebuttals to Islamic Awareness: And No One Had The Name Yahyâ Before

Rebuttals to Islamic Awareness: And No One Had The Name Yahyâ Before

S 19:12 Yahya, take the book with strength. And we gave him the judgment as a boy

S 21:90 So we responded to him and gave him Yahya and mended his husband for him. They would hasten in the good deeds and invoke us in desire and fright and were anxious towards us.

Allah scared them?

Wife or Husband?

Regarding the name, did it arise from a spelling of the name Yuhanna? The Quran has يحيى and the Bible يوحنا. The Biblical spelling is with waw ('u','w') and it ends in alif ('a'). Was the nun ('n') misinterpreted as ya' ('i', 'y')? There were no diacritics in the 7th Century. Whereas the Biblical spelling ends in alif the Quranic ends in alif maqsurah, an 'a' sound.

Further reading: A Yahya/Isa Parallelism