Adapted from a video presentation. Each section links to its place in the original talk. ( Watch on YouTube)
Introduction
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Can it be shown that the Quran knows Hebrew? This article walks through about thirty examples in which the Quran’s Arabic seems to reflect Hebrew, Aramaic, or Syriac. Because these are all Semitic languages, many examples overlap, since the languages share roots and vocabulary. Some examples, though, are unique to one language.
The goal is a modest but significant conclusion: the speaker of the Quran must have known at least one of these languages. That matters because the Prophet Muhammad was an Arab who spoke only Arabic, and not to have known how to speak a foreign language. If the Quran shows command of Hebrew, Aramaic, or Syriac, it points to a source beyond the Prophet, namely God, who knows all languages.
A few notes on method:
Many of the observations below have been noticed independently by non-Muslim and secular scholars of the Quran (Nicolai Sinai, Gabriel Reynolds, Angelika Neuwirth, Holger Zellentin, Uri Rubin, Reuven Firestone, Neal Robinson, and others). They are cited not as authorities on faith, but to show that the linguistic patterns are visible to critical readers.
Where the Quran’s vocabulary is unusual (a rare word, a word used only once, or a word used only in a Jewish or Christian context), the unusual choice is part of the evidence.
Bible quotations are from the RSV, with the Hebrew (or Aramaic, or Greek) where it matters. Verse numbering in the Hebrew text sometimes differs by one from English versions; notes are given where this applies.
Contents
Raʿina
Bariʾ
Samiʿna wa ʿasayna
Sina and nawm
Tamam
Millah
Aḥad
Lā khalāqa lahum
Ḥanan
Zakariyya
Ḥiṭṭah
Asfar
Yamm
Asbaṭ
Qudus
Ḥaqq
Al-Mu’tafikat
Ṭur
Ṭufan
Al-Ḥayy al-Qayyum
Ḥanif
Sakinah
Tabut
Maqalid
Psalm 84 and Bakkah
Rijz
Nuqaddisu laka
Inheriting eternal life
1. Raʿina (رَاعِنَا)
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The passage. In Surah 4:46 the Quran criticizes some of the Jews for twisting their tongues when they say rāʿinā, and says it would have been better for them to say unẓurnā instead.
Among those who are Jewish, some distort the words from their places, and say, “We hear, and we disobey,” and “Hear, may you not be heard,” and “ Raa’ina,” twisting with their tongues and slandering the religion. If they had said, “We hear and we obey,” and “Listen,” and “ Unthurna,” it would have been better for them and more upright. But GOD has cursed them for their disbelief; they do not believe, except a few.
The puzzle. In Arabic, rāʿinā means “consider us” or “give us your attention,” and unẓurnā means “wait for us” or “look upon us.” They are near synonyms. So why does the Quran object to one and recommend the other?
The answer. The Quran does not merely say they said rāʿinā. It says they said it twisting their tongues and slandering the religion. The key is that Hebrew raʿ (רַע) means “evil” or “calamity.” The Jews were saying a perfectly good Arabic word, but with a twist of the tongue, turned it into a Hebrew insult aimed at the Prophet. They assumed he wouldn’t catch it, since he didn’t know Hebrew.
The believers made the same mistake. In 2:104, the believers themselves are told to stop using the word:
O you who believe, do not say “ Raa’ina “; say “ Unthurna,” and listen. The disbelievers will incur a painful retribution.
This shows that even the believers did not realize what was wrong with the word. To them, it was fine because they did not know its Hebrew meaning. The Quran knew.
A telling detail. The very next verse mentions that the disbelievers do not wish any good to come to you from your Lord, and good is the opposite of the evil that raʿ means:
Neither those who disbelieve among the people of the scripture, nor the idolaters, wish that any good be sent down to you from your Lord. But GOD selects whomever He wills for His mercy. GOD possesses infinite grace.
Takeaway. The Quran exposes a Hebrew wordplay that neither the believers nor (it was assumed) the Prophet could have recognized.
Recall that Moses said to his people, “O my people, you have wronged yourselves by worshiping the calf. You shall repent to your Creator, and kill your egos. This is better for you with your Creator.” He then redeemed you. He is the Redeemer, Most Merciful.
The puzzle. The Quran’s usual word for Creator is khāliq. Here Moses uses bāriʾ, a word that is rare in this sense. Why?
The Hebrew background. The Hebrew verb “to create” is bārāʾ (בָּרָא), the very verb that opens the Torah, and the participle boreʾ (בֹּרֵא) is the Hebrew for “Creator.”
Genesis 1:1 (RSV)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.
Why it matters. The speaker in 2:54 is Moses, and the word he uses for “Creator” matches the Hebrew word for create. Nicolai Sinai observes that the Quranic occurrences of bar’ (to create), bāriʾ (creator), and barīya (creatures) are all Medinan and appear to reflect the influence of Hebrew bārāʾ or Aramaic barā, probably mediated by the Jewish residents of Medina. He notes that this fits well with 2:54 using bāriʾ in an address by Moses. The presenters take this further: the Quran’s use of the term only in Medina, where Jews lived, suggests it knows this is the Hebrew term for create in the Tanakh.
Recall that we made a covenant with you, and raised Mount Sinai above you: “Hold fast to what we have given you, and listen.” They said, “We hear, but we disobey.” Their hearts were filled with the love of the calf, due to their disbelief. Say, “Miserable indeed is what your faith dictates, if you are really believers.”
Among those who are Jewish, some distort the words from their places, and say, “ We hear, and we disobey,” and “Hear, may you not be heard,” and “Raa’ina,” twisting with their tongues and slandering the religion. If they had said, “We hear and we obey,” and “Listen,” and “Unthurna,” it would have been better for them and more upright. But GOD has cursed them for their disbelief; they do not believe, except a few.
The puzzle. Reading 2:93 and 4:46, one gets the impression that the Israelites did not literally say, “We hear and we disobey.” Many commentators have said as much: this is not what they spoke, but how they were. So why does the Quran quote them as saying it?
The Hebrew background. In the Torah’s account of the same event, the Israelites say something very close in sound but opposite in meaning:
Deuteronomy 5:27 (RSV)
Go near, and hear all that the LORD our God will say; then tell us all that the LORD our God will tell you, and we will hear and do it.
The Hebrew shāmaʿnu weʿāśinu (“we will hear and do”) sounds almost identical to the Arabic samiʿnā waʿaṣaynā (“we hear and we disobey”). The Quran seems to echo the literal Hebrew words the Israelites spoke, while translating what they really meant, or might as well have said.
Nicolai Sinai describes this as a punning inversion that turns a Hebrew declaration of obedience into an Arabic sentence meaning the opposite, so that a biblical affirmation is turned on its head and becomes a self-indictment.
Takeaway. The Arabic of the Quran recalls the Hebrew of Deuteronomy 5:27, which shows knowledge of the Bible in Hebrew.
GOD: there is no god except He, the Living, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs everything in the heavens and the earth. Who can intercede with Him, except in accordance with His will? He knows their past and their future. They can comprehend nothing of His knowledge, except as He wills. His dominion encompasses the heavens and the earth, and preserving them does not burden Him. He is the Most High, the Great.
The Bible.
Psalm 121:3–4 (RSV)
He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.