Yahya ibn Zakariyya

Yahya ibn Zakariyya ( يحيى ابن زكريا) is a Prophet of Islam also known as the Biblical figure John the Baptist. According to the Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be the word of God (Arabic: Allah), Yahya was a righteous prophet who would herald the coming of Jesus (Arabic: `Isa). ["Yahya", Encyclopedia of Islam]

According to the Qur'an

According to the Quran, Yahya or John (in Christianity, Arab Christians use the word Youhanna for John, coming directly from the Hebrew and Aramaic which was used at the time of John the Baptist) was the son of Zakariya, and his tidings were foretold to his father by the angel, Gabriel (Quran-usc-range|19|7|11, Quran-usc-range|3|39|41). Yahya was exhorted to hold fast to the Scripture and was given wisdom by God while still child (Quran-usc|19|12). He was pure and devout, and walked in the Presence of God. He was dutiful towards his parents and he was not arrogant or rebellious (Quran-usc-range|19|13|14). Yahya has been praised in the Quran and God has sent peace on the day he was born. He, along with all the Prophets, will be resurrected one day (Quran-usc|19|15).

Yahya is called a righteous, honorable and chaste person, as well as a Prophet of the Righteous (Quran-usc|6|85, Quran-usc|3|39). He came to confirm the Word of God (Quran-usc|3|39).

His story was retold by Jafar to the Abyssinian King during the Migration to Abyssinia The Sealed Nectar [http://www.sunnipath.com/Resources/PrintMedia/Books/B0033P0017.aspx The Second ‘Aqabah Pledge] on sunnipath.com] .

hrine

The veneration of Yahya prevailed amongst some Muslim groups who were partly influenced by Byzantine Christian practices. This veneration, according to Muslim scholar al-Bīrūnī, included a feast commemorating Yahya's beheading on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Av. A shrine existing through to modern times is the oratory ("maqām") of Yahya, located in the congregational mosque of Damascus. Some early reports mention that Umayyad caliph al-Walid I unearthed the head of Yahya and placed it in a pillar in Damascus, which had an architectural capital shaped like a basket of palm leaves.

Other sources, such as the Iraqi scholar al-Harawī, mention that the head had been transferred to the city of Aleppo by Mu'izz al-Daula Thimal bin Salih of the Mirdasid dynasty in 1043. Historians Zayd b. al-Hasan al-Kindī and Ibn al-Adīm note that the head was then stored in the upper oratory of the Aleppo citadel within a basin made of marble. The head was later evacuated to the Aleppo congregational mosque due to invading Mongol forces who had burned down the Aleppo citadel and upper oratory. There, according to Ibn Shaddad, it was buried west of the "minbar" (pulpit), with another oratory built for it. It thus became another spot of veneration for Yahya, and a place where some Syrians believed extra blessings ("barakah") existed.

ee also

*Prophets of Islam

Notes

References

*cite book | last=Meri | first=J. W. | year=2002 |title= The Cult of Saints Among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria | publisher = Oxford University Press | id= ISBN 0199250782
*cite encyclopedia |article = Yahya b. Zakariya| author= Rippin, A.| editor=P.J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers | id=ISSN 1573-3912

External links

* [http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Articles/Prophet/yahya.htm Prophet Yahya (John)] in the light of Islamic tradition. The same content is also available at [http://anwary-islam.com/prophet-story/zak.htm]
* [http://www.islam101.com/history/people/prophets/john.htm Prophet John (Yahya)]
* [http://www.raw.com.pk/gallery/v/Islam/yahya2.gif.html Shrine of Prophet Yahya inside Jaami al-Amawi 2]

References to John (Yahya) in the Qur'an

*Appraisals for Yahya: Quran-usc|6|85, Quran-usc|19|7, Quran-usc|19|12, Quran-usc|19|13, Quran-usc|19|14, Quran-usc|19|15
*Yahya's prophecy: Quran-usc|3|39, Quran-usc|6|85, Quran-usc|19|12