How to translate Jesus, Quranic Arabic Isa or Christian Arabic Yesua?
Some people have been arguing that ISA is عیسیٰ is reverse arrangement of letters یسوع for the sake of cursing Jesus. Therefore Jesus must not be translated as Isa.
To defend their choice, some translators have given an explanation that Quran actually tend to rhyme names like Idrees vs Ibless,
jooj vs majooj,
Taloot and Jaloot etc.
So in a similar fashion Quran arranged Isa to rhyme it with Musa.
I am not sure if this is true or not but
1- Quran did not explain for it's audience who ISA is. They already knew ISA.
2-. In 2019, a Semitic philologist discovered a Safaitic inscription in northern Jordan. someone's name written with letters "ain+seen+ya". This inscription belongs to 3rd century and know as Al Harr’a Inscription.
The inscription has a writing. Its a man grieving for a loved one. Its customary that at the end of grieving inscription author will say a prayer. The prayer at the end of Al Harr'a inscription reads
ھ عسی انصرو من کافرک
O ain+seen+ya, help me against those who disbelieve in you.
Those who are familiar with Quran would quickly notice the use of roots نصر and کفر in this prayer.
So far, this god ain+seen+ya is not found on any other inscription in this area.
Remember that the name found on Al Harra inscription is exactly how Quran spells name of ISA. it is similar to Arabic spelling of ISA.
This discovery is being taken as first clear Christian inscription in this area and a basis for Quranic ISA whom people already knew like they knew Musa, Harun and other prophets. Quran did not have to explain who ISA was. What do you think??
Note:[To pronounce ISA with an alif Maqsoora is actually one tradtion. Some traditions pronounce it as alif maqsoor. However there is another practice in Arabic called Imala which allows you to drop alif maqsoora pronunciation and pronounce it as ISY like long vowel in ESSAY.
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What is the evidence for this being a "Christian" inscription? How would an inscription in northern Jordan relate to Mohammed and his choice of terms in Mecca?
Etymology is a strange criterion for deciding how to translate. Shouldn't we be looking at how Isa and Yesua are used and understood today, rather than looking at an inscription from 18 centuries ago?
Donald, The question of how to translate Ἰησοῦς into a Arabic is a major (and sometimes highly emotional and polarizing) issue among today's Arab Christians. Not surprisingly, each side prefers to use their own preference in translated texts. Some are convinced that the Arabic ISA عیسیٰ is a Muslim-instigated perversion of the Arabic true name YESUA یسوع. Others counter that عیسیٰ has been used by Arab Christians for centuries, and that in fact it was used long before Islam and the Quran appeared on the world scene. For the latter argument it is quite relevant that the name ISA already appeared in pre-Islamic texts.
I know someone doing a contextual NT translation. He has shared that at least three translations of the NT into Arabic do not use Isa, but Yesu. (Not Yesus, as the Christians spell his name in this country.) It could be that Yesu would be a good defendable spelling for Jesus’ name.
Harran Inscription: A Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscription From 568 CE
Hi Ruedi, thanks for the reply. I am aware of the debate regarding the historical usage of Isa. Some may find that data relevant to translation, but in my opinion it is rather inconsequential in comparison to how the names are understood and used today, by the church and the society at large, in that language context. We don't make translation choices based on what words meant 1000+ years ago, but what they mean today.
Could you explain what you mean by "Quran did not explain for it's [sic] audience who ISA is. They already knew ISA."?
It seems to me that the Qur'an explained a lot about who Isa was: that he was the son of Mary, that he was the messiah, that he was a messenger and prophet, that he healed people, that he made a clay bird become real, and more.
In contrast, the Qur'an gives us comparatively little information about prophets like Hud, Idris, Salih, Dhul-Kifl, and Shu'ayb.
What you quoted from the Quran was description of his office.
What I said means, The Jews and Christians in Mecca never said we don't know any Isa. They knew him and they never insisted to call him YESU.😜
I hope it's clear now.
That's an interesting argument. I am unaware of any primary sources from Christians and Jews in Mecca during the time of the Quran. So how are you able to be sure that they never said, "We don't know any Isa," or that they didn't insist that he called Yesu? What is your source for that?
They did have several critics to reject the message of Quran but suppose if Isa was a new character for them, they would have argue who is this man? And the inscription I mentioned in the post, found on martyrium of the holy John in the year 463 mentions a deity ISA. So probably ISA is not invention of Quran. Seems like Jesus was known by this name.
Thanks for the reply. In my post, I asked for your source for what the Jews and Christians in Mecca did or did not say, and you did not address this directly. I take it that you are relying primarily on the Qur'an itself for what the Jews and Christians in Mecca did or did not say.
Let me suggest this may not be reliable, for the following reasons: 1) A writer's account of his own critics is often not reliable. He is liable to misrepresent them, misinterpret them, or present their weakest arguments. Treating the Quran as an historical document, and not Scripture, I don't think we can rely on the author of the Qur'an's portrayal of its critics. That's why historians rely more heavily on primary sources than secondary sources.
Along with other prophets of such as Moses, Aaron,
Quran recognized Jesus as "Isa, Son of Mary" and not YESU son of Mary.
At least for Christians in Mecca it would have been very easy to correct the record.
So most probably the Harra inscription is an evidence that Jesus was known among Arabs as ISA.
However those who believe Jesus has always been known as YESU and they think Quran and this inscription are not enough evidence to prove him as ISA, they are welcome to produce any witness before the period when Western missionary bible translators reached to Arabia.
So they removed every witness with names YESU in 630? and impose ISA?
And before they conquered in 630 were they not a persecuted minority for more than a decade?
Did the people of Mecca not boycotted Quraysh to stop supporting the prophet of Islam?
Did they not flee to Najashi, the Christian king of Habsha (Ethiopia) to ask for asylum in 615?
Did group leader of Muslim Immigrants not recite Sura e Mariam in front of the Christian king of Habsha? During his recitation of this passage from Quran, did he replace ISA to Jesus to make Christian king happy?
From so far available sources and this new archeological discovery, I can can assume as I said in my post that Jesus was known as ISA and YESU. If these source are not trustworthy (as some has claimed) , then, as I said earlier, the burden of proof is on their shoulders. We will wait.
"So they removed every witness with names YESU in 630? and impose ISA?"
Who knows? Again, there's simply not enough evidence to go around. But given that Uthman destroyed almost all alternative versions of the Qur'an, it's certainly within the realm of possibilities that documents that conflicted with the Qur'an we have today were intentionally destroyed. If there were copies of the Qur'an that used Jesu instead of Isa, they would have been destroyed. If there were Christian literature among the Meccans, they could have been destroyed too. There's a long history of burning literature by oppressors. Most of the ancient literature among the people group I work with was destroyed when they were subjugated.