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Isa ( ar, عِيسَى, translit=ʿĪsā) is a
classical Arabic Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...
name and a translation of Jesus. The name ''Isa'' is the name used for Jesus in the Quran. However, it is not the only translation; it is most commonly associated with Jesus as depicted in
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, and thus, commonly used by Muslims. Christians commonly refer to him by a different name ( ar, يَسُوع, translit=Yasūʿa).


Etymology

The English form of the name "Jesus" is derived from the Latin ''Iēsus'', which in turn comes from the Greek (Iēsoûs). The Greek is a Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Yēšua (), which is in turn a shortened form of Hebrew Yehōšua () or "Joshua" in English. Aramaic (Classical Syriac) and East Syriac, which are ancestral to West Syriac, render the pronunciation of the same letters as ܝܫܘܥ ishoʕ (išoʕ) /iʃoʕ/. The Aramaic Bible (c. 200 AD) or the Peshitta preserve this same spelling. The ''
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
'' by
Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...
quotes scholarship that notes that the Greek name Iesous, (Iēsoûs), also is known to have represented many different Biblical Hebrew names (which causes issues when seeking to find what Jesus' original Hebrew name would have been from the Greek) "Josephus used the Greek name lesous to denote three people mentioned in the Bible whose Hebrew names were not Yeshua', Y'hoshua' or Y'hoshua'. They were Saul's son Yishwi (Anglicized as 'Ishvi' in the RSV of I Samuel 14:49), the Levite Abishua' (mentioned in I Chronicles 6:4, etc.) and Yishwah the son of Asher (Anglicized as 'Ishva' in the RSV of Genesis 46:17). ... Josephus furnishes important evidence for the wide variety of Hebrew names represented in Greek by Iesous." Also, the classical theologians Clement of Alexandria and
Cyril of Jerusalem Cyril of Jerusalem ( el, Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων, ''Kýrillos A Ierosolýmon''; la, Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus; 313 386 AD) was a theologian of the early Church. About the end of 350 AD he succeeded Maximus as Bishop of ...
both stated that the Greek name Iesous was allegedly Jesus' original name. There is a major discrepancy between the Hebrew/Aramaic and Muslim Arabic forms of this name, since the Hebrew form of this name has the voiced pharyngeal ʿAyin or ʿAyn consonant at the end of the name (as does Christian Arabic ''yasūʿ''), while the Muslim Arabic form ''ʿīsā'' has the ʿAyn at the beginning of the name. It is also similar in the vowels to an Aramaic version of Jesus, viz. ''Eeshoʿ'' (Aramaic forms of the name, however, still have the voiced pharyngeal `Ayn consonant at the end of the name). [Other Aramaic pronunciations of the same name include yeshuuʕ (ʕ is IPA ayin). Vowels in Semitic languages are somewhat fluid between dialects while consonants are structurally more stable. The vowels in an Anglicized quote "Eesho`" by themselves are insignificant for this discussion since "i" and "e" and short "a" can interchange between dialects, and "u" and "o" can also interchange between dialects. The dominant consonantal discrepancy remains, between Aramaic yeshuuʕ [consonantal y-sh-w-ʕ] and Arabic ʕiisa [consonantal ʕ-y-s-alef].] Scholars have been puzzled by the use of ''ʿĪsā'' in the Qur'an since Christians in Arabia used ''yasūʿ'' before and after Islam, itself derived from the Syriac form ''Yēshūaʿ'' by a phonetic change. The
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
by
Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...
states this has also come about because many Western scholars have held a "conviction that Jesus' authentic Hebrew name is Yeshua'" and because of this they often "have been puzzled by the Qur'an's reference to him as 'Isa". Brill's Encyclopedia of the Qur'an further states "It is not certain that Jesus' original name was Yeshua'" However, the early Syriac/Aramaic form of the name Yeshua, the etymological link with 'salvation' (note the Hebrew consonantal root y-sh-`) in Matthew 1:21, all of the correspondences of in the Greek OT and Second Temple Jewish writings, and the common attestation of Yeshua among first century Jewish names have led to a consensus among scholars of the gospels that Yeshua was "Jesus"'s original name. "Esau" (and derivatives with `ayin as a first letter) is not a realistic possibility. With all this in mind, some scholars have proposed a number of explanations. James A. Bellamy of the University of Michigan suggested that the quranic name is a corruption of ''Masīḥ'' itself derived from ''yasūʿ'', suggesting that this resulted from a copyist error and an attempt to conceal the Arabic verb ''sāʿa''/''yasūʿu'' which has obscene connotations, though no evidence has been found to support this claim.
Josef Horovitz Josef Horovitz (26 July 1874 – 5 February 1931) was a Jewish German orientalist.A son of Markus Horovitz (1844–1910), an Orthodox rabbi, Josef Horovitz studied with Eduard Sachau at the University of Berlin and was there since 1902 as a doce ...
on the other hand holds that the quranic form is meant to parallel ''Mūsā'' (Moses). Similar pairs are also frequently found in the Quran as well which supports this theory. For example, compare Ismā‘īl and Ibrāhīm (Ishmael and Abraham) or Jālūt and Tālūt (Goliath and Saul). It is thus possible that the Arabs referred to him as Yasaʿ, but the Quran reversed the letters so as to parallel Mūsā. Another explanation given is that in ancient Mesopotamia divine names were written in one way and pronounced in another. Thus it is possible for borrowed words to have their consonants reversed. Another explanation is that Muhammad adopted ''Isa'' from the polemical Jewish form ''Esau''. However, there is no evidence that the Jews have ever used ''Esau'' to refer to Jesus, and if Muhammad had unwittingly adopted a pejorative form his many Christian acquaintances would have corrected him. A fourth explanation is that prior to the rise of Islam, Christian Arabs had already adopted this form from Syriac. According to the '' Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān'', "Arabic often employs an initial 'ayn in words borrowed from Aramaic or Syriac and the dropping of the final Hebrew 'ayin is evidenced in the form Yisho of the 'koktiirkish' Manichaean fragments from Turfan."''Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān'' Volume 3 General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Georgetown University, Washington DC). Brill Academic, 2003, pp. 8-10 This is supported by Macúch with an example in
classical Mandaic Mandaic is a southeastern Aramaic variety in use by the Mandaean community, traditionally based in southern parts of Iraq and southwest Iran, for their religious books. Classical Mandaic is still employed by Mandaean priests in liturgical rites. ...
, a variety of Eastern Aramaic (hence closely related to Syriac) used as liturgical language by the Mandaean community of southern Mesopotamia, where the name for Jesus is rendered ''ʿ-š-u''
ࡏࡔࡅ
, though the pharyngeal ('ayin) is pronounced like a regular
long i Long i ( la, i longum or '' itterai longa''), written , is a variant of the letter i found in ancient and early medieval forms of the Latin script. History In inscriptions dating to the early Roman Empire, it is used frequently but inconsisten ...
("Īshu"). Also the name Yeshu (ישו in Hebrew and Aramaic) lacking the final 'ayin is also used to refer to Jesus in the Jewish work the
Toledot Yeshu (, ''The Book of the Generations/History/Life of Jesus''), often abbreviated as ''Toledot Yeshu'', is an early Jewish text taken to be an alternative biography of Jesus of Nazareth. It exists in a number of different versions, none of which is c ...
, and scholar David Flusser presents evidence Yeshu was also a name itself rather than claims it was meant to supposedly be an acronym to insult Jesus. The Brill Encyclopedia of the Qur'an notes scholar Anis al-Assiouty as noting the fact that "In the Talmud, however, he (Jesus) is called Yeshu." Scholar David Flusser and other scholars like Adolf Neubauer,
Hugh J. Schonfield Hugh Joseph Schonfield (London, 17 May 1901 – 24 January 1988, London) was a British Bible scholar specialising in the New Testament and the early development of the Christian religion and church. He was born in London, and educated there at ...
, and Joachim Jeremias also further argued that the name or pronunciation Yeshu (ישו in Hebrew and Aramaic) could also be "the Galilean pronunciation" of Yeshua' that came about because of an inability to pronounce the 'ayin in the
Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...
region where Jesus came from. Scholar
Alphonse Mingana Alphonse Mingana (born as Hurmiz Mingana; syr, ܗܪܡܙ ܡܢܓܢܐ, in 1878 at Sharanesh, a village near Zakho (present day Iraq) - died 5 December 1937 Birmingham, England) was an Assyrian theologian, historian, Syriacist, orientalist and a ...
writes there may have been a monastery named ''ʿĪsāniyya'' in the territory of the Christian Ghassanid Arabs in southern Syria as early as 571 CE.
Christoph Luxenberg ''The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran'' is an English-language edition (2007) of ''Die syro-aramäische Lesart des Koran: Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Koransprache'' (2000) b ...
's ''
The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran ''The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran'' is an English-language edition (2007) of ''Die syro-aramäische Lesart des Koran: Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Koransprache'' (2000) b ...
'' equates the quranic name with Hebrew '' Jesse''. However, neither ''Yeshu'' nor ''Jesse'' begins with a pharyngeal consonant in their original Hebrew forms. The earliest archaeological evidence of an Arabic name for Jesus is a Jordanian inscription. Enno Littman (1950) states: "Mr. G. Lankaster Harding, Chief Curator of Antiquities Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan, kindly sent me copies of a little more than five hundred Thamudic inscriptions. ..It is the inscription arding No. 476that interests us here. ..Below the circle there are four letters: a y, a sh, a ʿ, and again a y." He also states: "These letters are so placed that they can be read from right to left or from left to right y-sh-ʿ, probably pronounced Yashaʿ, and this name is the same as Yashuaʿ, the Hebrew form of the name of Christ." An archaic Arabic root for 'Salvation' exists in Yatha, which may have later formed this name: y-sh-ʿ. The lack of a ''Waw'' is still unexplained. Also, the closer correspondence with another name 'sha'yá, "Isaiah" in Englishneeds explanation or discussion before this inscription can be entertained as an Arabic "Jesus".


Non-Islamic uses

ʿĪsā is used as well by several
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
groups in Muslim countries. A 14th-century Persian translation of
Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
, one of the earliest surviving Persian manuscripts of the scripture, uses ''ʿĪsā''. Ahmad Al-Jallad has argued that a precedent of the quranic name ''ʿsy'' was already used in a Christian Safaitic inscription from the fourth century CE. Later translations in other languages also follow suit. Some modern Evangelical translations also use Isa, such as David Owen's ''Life of Christ'' (Arabic 1987). Nicolas Notovitch's 1894 book '' Life of Saint Issa'' claims that during his unknown years, Jesus (''īśa'' meaning 'the Lord' in Sanskrit) left Galilee for India and studied with Buddhists and
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
s there before returning to Judea.


Given name


Literature

* Isa Hasan al-Yasiri, (1942) Iraqi-Canadian poet


Religious people

* Isa ibn Maryam, penultimate prophet of Islam *
Isa ibn Aban Abu Musa ʿĪsā b. Abān was an early Sunni Islamic scholar who followed the Hanafi madhhab. Although none of his own works have survived to today, he was quoted extensively by early Hanafi scholars such as Al-Jassas in regards to his views on ...
(died 836), early Muslim scholar of Second Islamic century during the early Abbasid era. *
Isa Qassim Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim (Arabic: آية الله الشيخ عيسى أحمد قاسم) is Bahrain's leading Shia cleric and a politician. He is the spiritual leader of Al Wefaq, Bahrain's biggest opposition society. He is the fou ...
(born 1937), Bahraini Shia cleric


Politics and military

* Isa ibn Musa, (d. 783) was the Arab statesman, nephew of Abbasid caliph
Al-Saffah Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Saffāḥ ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن محمد السفّاح‎; 721/722 – 8 June 754, al-Anbar) usually known as Abūʾl-ʿAbbās as-Saffāḥ or simply by his laqab As-S ...
(r. 750–754) and Al-Mansur ( r. 754–775). * ''Isa ibn Abdallah al-Mansur'' (b.
760s The 760s decade ran from January 1, 760, to December 31, 769. References {{Short pages monitor