Agron Belica's Page

Prophet Yahya
by Agron Belica©2008

The Quran mentions the prophets as having special names and qualities. For example, Prophet Muhammad is called the Seal of the Prophets (33:40) and a mercy for the worlds (21:107). Abraham is called Imam (2:124), the friend of God (4:125), a model to the to the world (16:120), one who is forbearing and repentant (11:74), a monotheist (16:123). Isaac is also given the quality of an Imam (21:73) who has power of vision (38:45). Aaron is called a minister (20:29); he is blessed with eloquence (28:34) and he is sent with signs and manifest authority (23:45). David is called a vicegerent on the earth (38:26) who has power and wisdom (2:251); a man of strength (38:17). Solomon is a king (38:35); he is taught the speech of birds and is bestowed with all things (27:16). Joseph is a ruler (12:88) and one who interprets dreams and visions (12:21), a man of truth (12:46), concealed as a treasure (12:19). Jacob is also called Imam (21:73). He is given the power of vision (38:45). Jesus is called the Messiah (3:45). He spoke in the cradle (3:46) and is a sign to humanity and a mercy from God (19:21).

These are all prophets whose lives are familiar to us. What about the Prophet Yahya? What have we been taught about this prophet who has been overlooked and misrepresented. One reason he has been overlooked is because there are five words used in the Quran to describe Prophet Yahya that have been misinterpreted in translations of the Quran.

The first is the word hasur which is usually translated “chaste.” My research shows that the Arabic word hasur does not mean "chaste" with regard to Yahya; rather , it means "a concealer of secrets." Why the mistake in translation and commentary? As there was no extensive information given in the Quran about the life of Prophet Yahya nor in the hadith, the commentators then turned to Christian tradition and simply repeated what they found there.

Nonetheless, the commentators of the Quran have placed considerable emphasis on this word. Al-Tabari interprets the word hasur to mean one who abstains from sexual intercourse with women. He then reports a hadith on the authority of Said ibn al-Musayyab which has Prophet Muhammad saying the following: “Everyone of the sons of Adam shall come on the Day of Resurrection with a sin (of sexual impropriety) except Yahya bin Zechariah.’ Then, picking up a tiny straw, he continued, ‘this is because his generative organ was no bigger then this straw (implying that he was impotent).’”

Does this mean that even the prophets outside of Yahya will be raised up with this sin of sexual impropriety? How can we accept that this was said by such a modest human being, comparing a straw to another prophet's generative organ? Was Yahya impotent? One commentator, Ibn Kathir, a renowned Islamic scholar , rejects this view and adds, “This would be a defect and a blemish unworthy of prophets.” He then mentions that it was not that he had no sexual relations with women, but that he had no illegal sexual relations with them. Indeed, the whole discussion is unseemly. It is known that prophets of God are immune from major sins, so this statement makes no sense at all when interpreting the word, hasur. In addition, I would like to mention the fact that in his commentary, ibn Kathir says he (Yahya) probably married and had children. He said this on the basis of what was related in the Quran of the prayer of Zachariah.

There are at least three reasons why interpreting hasur in this context as "chaste" is a misinterpretation: First of all, there is another word in the Quran for "chaste" and that is muhasanah. As God used a different word with hasur, it must mean something different. Secondly, God says in the Quran that Islam did not bring monasticism but that it was something that they (the Christians) invented. Therefore, God would not have sent a Prophet who was celibate. In addition, it is contrary the exhortation in the Torah to “go forth and multiply.” Thirdly, Yahya’s father, Zechariah prayed for a protector who would provide descendants (dhuriyyat) for his family. “There Zachariah called to his Lord; he said: My Lord! Bestow on me good offspring from Thy presence; truly Thou art hearing supplication.” (3:38) God gave him Yahya. God would not have sent a son to Zechariah who would not carry on the line of Jacob’s descendants because then God would not have answered the prayer of Zechariah.

The word hasur is used only one time in the Quran and that is in regard to the Prophet Yahya. A major Arabic-English lexicon, that of Edward William Lane (Taj al-Arus) states that when hasur is used alone, it means “concealer of secrets.” In his translation, of Ibn al- Arabi's Book of the Fabulous Gryphon, Elmore also translates the Arabic hasur “as consealer of secrets.” (Gerald T. Elmore, Islamic Sainthood in the Fullness of Time, Brill 1999, P. 482)

The second word that has been misinterpreted is waliy (19:5) which in this verse and many others in the Quran means "protector" not "heir or successor." In this specific case, Zechariah prays to his Lord: “And truly I have feared my defenders after me and my wife has been a barren woman. So bestow on me from that which proceeds from Thy Presence a protector (waliy).”

The third word that is misinterpreted is that of fard in (21:89): “And mention Zechariah when he cried out to his Lord: My Lord! Forsake me not unassisted (fard) and Thou art the Best of the ones who inherit.” It is usually translated as “heir,” but the same reasoning applies as above. The word “unassisted” refers to the fact that Zechariah did not want to be left alone without any protector. He feared for those who would defend him and his honor after he died, that they would be left without a protector and thereby could not defend his honor.

The fourth misinterpreted word in relation to Prophet Yahya is sayyid. Prophet Yahya is referred to as a sayyid, chief in the Quran. The commentators have interpreted this to mean that he was a scholar of religious law, a wise man, a noble wise and pious man, and so forth. This was a prophet of God. Knowledge and wisdom were given to him by his Lord. The title given to Yahya by his Lord shows that Prophet Yahya is one who has authority over his people and not “noble” or “honorable” as this word is usually translated. Honor and nobility are good qualities but they fail to indicate that Prophet Yahya is given a role of leadership by his Lord.

The fifth word is hanan which means “mercy,” which is part of the compound name Yu'hanan (in English “John”), meaning “God is Merciful.” The word hanan is used once in the Quran and that is in reference to Prophet Yahya: “And continuous mercy from Us and purity . . . .” This is singularly appropriate to the circumstances of the Prophet Yahya.

The names Yahya and Yuhanan are not the same as many assume. They have two entirely different roots. Hanan and hanna both derive from the Semitic root h n n. While the word hanna means “mercy or tenderness,” the root word for Yahya is h y y. It means “life” or “he lives.” One does not need to be a linguist to see the obvious.

In addition, I would like also to mention that this name and attribute given to Prophet Yahya can also be found in Sabean literature. The Sabians are mentioned in the Quran in verses (2:62), (5:69) and (22:17). In their canonical prayer book we find Yahya Yuhanna. It has been known that it is the practice of the Sabians to have two names, a real name and a special name. According to the Sabians, this prophet’s real name was Yahya (he lives) and his lay name was Yuhanna (John).

Prophet Yahya is the only one given this name as the Quran clearly states: “O Zechariah! Truly We give thee the good tidings of a boy; his name will be Yahya (he who lives) and We assign it not as a namesake (samiyya) for anyone before.”

Again, another word that we need to pay attention to is samiya. It is used twice in the Quran, once in reference to Yahya (19:7) “O Zechariah! Truly We give thee the good tidings of a boy; his name will be Yahya and We assign it not as a namesake (samiya) for anyone before.” The other time it is used is in reference to God. “. . . Knowest thou any namesake (samiya) for Him [God]?” (19:65) In the famous Arabic lexicon Lisan al-arab the root word s m w means elevation or highness.

See The Sublime Quran Pocket Size translated by Laleh Bakhtiar (2009)


Perhaps the strangest person in the New Testament is John the Baptist. Agron Belica’s recent research focuses upon the Biblical and Quranic material about John and his relationship with Jesus, and then ventures new interpretations and visions of their roles and relationship in the tumultuous events of 1st century Roman Palestine. Armed with copious quotations from the Bible, the Quran, and later Muslim commentators, Belica shoots a quiver-full of provocative ideas, hitting the target or creating doubts about past conclusions enough times to provoke us into reconsidering the standard image of the Baptist that has been handed down over the centuries. Quranic references to John are put under the microscope, offering new interpretations of certain key words and phrases. Perhaps it is time to reconsider the meager evidence of the New Testament and Josephus, and to rethink John the Baptist. ....

Jay R. Crook Ph.D, Rethinking John the Baptist p. 24





There are two methods of gaining knowledge in the great religious traditions of the world in general, and Islam, in particular. One method is knowledge that is imitated (taqlid) or transmitted by hearsay from generation to generation like the sciences of language, history and law. With this method, a person never asks "Why?" but accepts what is taught by an authority. In the Islamic tradition this leads to ijtihad, ijtihad specifically referring to developing expertise in jurisprudence (fiqh) to the level of being able to use independent judgment in understanding Islamic law (Shariah). Such a person is known as a mujtahid. Whoever is not a mujtahid, whoever has not reached that level, must "imitate" or "follow" a person who has, whether that person is dead (Sunni Muslims) or alive (Shia Muslims).

The second method of gaining knowledge is what is of most interest to us in this book review, that of tahqiq or intellectual knowledge where one may have a teacher for guidance but it is knowledge that cannot be passed from one generation to another. Each person has to discover it for himself or herself by "polishing the heart," by becoming a person who sees with the eye of Oneness or tawhid, a person who deeply senses his responsibility to God, His creation and His humanity. The person who gains knowledge with this method is called "a seeker of truth" (muhaqqiq).

Intellectual knowledge (tahqiq) builds on transmitted knowledge but goes deeper. Transmitted knowledge includes memorizers of the Quran and the Hadith but only with intellectual knowledge can one understand what God and the Prophet are saying. Those who lack this intellectual endeavor have, one might say, not sought the means to see with the eye of "Oneness."

Questions like "why" are not the only ones that the intellect of the seeker of truth asks because the underlying distinction is to think, "to think for oneself," and not to stop at "imitation alone."

Not everyone has been burdened with this capacity as the Quran says in 2:286, but one person who has is Agron Belica, the author of Deliver a Messiah. He is a seeker of truth, seeker of the Reality (haqq), a person who has verified knowledge, not on the basis of imitating the opinion of others, but on the basis of having realized the truth for himself as well as being one who acts in accord with haqq, all the time realizing his belief in the One God, the one creation and the one humanity.

A faith tradition may survive without a living mujtahid, but it rapidly disappears without a living muhaqqiq. Without a living seeker of truth, a seeker of reality, the faith tradition cannot remain faithful to its principles because it cannot understand those principles.

Agron Belica’s basic premise is to follow the Quran and the Hadith and the New Testament which all assert that Jesus is the Messiah. However according to the Quran and the Hadith, it only appeared to the people who bore witness to the Messiah that he had been crucified. In reality, according to the intellectual endeavor of the author, it was "he who lives" (Yahya), the Concealer of Secrets (hasura), as the Quran refers to him who was placed on the cross and lived, a view held by early Christian gnostics as well, but later declared to be a heresy. The Concealer of Secrets concealed the secret of his identity and that of the Messiah in order to save the Messiah. The Messiah was then allowed to carry on his prophetic mission (perhaps traveling even as far as Kashmir where many believe that he is buried).

At the same time that Mary retired to a sanctuary, Zechariah becoming her protector, Zechariah prayed for an heir. The son of Mary, was close in age to the son of man (the Concealer of Secrets fathered by Zechariah). They may have even been cousins who resembled one another. They both began their prophetic mission around the same time yet neither revealed themselves as to who they actually were.

The author traces these and other parallels in the lives of the son of Mary and the son of man for a fascinating read. In the great tradition of seekers of truth in the past, Agron Belica brings harmony to ancient mysteries. He shows the possibility of how thing may be in the Presence of the Oneness of God and he does so through scriptures – the Quran, Hadith and the New Testament.

This is a book that should be read by everyone who wants to discern the Reality of the story of the Messiah.

Laleh Bakhtiar, Ph. D.
Chicago, October 21, 2008


Deliver A Messiah Mistaken Identity, Liberation Day By Agron Belica
Agron Belica is a first generation American of Albanian descent. He is devoted to a few things. One is his family, another is his religion, and yet a third is intellectual and spiritual religious inquiry. His book, Deliver A Messiah Mistaken Identity is a tribute to this devotion and inquiry. It is a brilliant and original look at the Gospels and the Quran, as well as the earlier Mosaic texts. In this book, the self-taught Belica, with no formal education, points out linguistic and spiritual parallels between generations of key characters in three religious histories. A devout and inquiring Muslim, using the close reading of the Quran as his guide, Belica, is able to look back at the central story of the crucifixion through a new lens, the Muslim lens, using key passages from a number of religious scriptures to build a fascinating new argument. His thoughts, insights and interpretations are remarkable, profound, and leaves the reader in awe.

Belica notices that a son is born to the prophet Zachariah at about the same time as a son is born to Mary. He systematically and spell-bindingly leads us through the parallels between these two prophets, the second of whom we have come to know as Jesus. Both are raised in secrecy, and bring prophesy and healing. Both are spared somehow the decree of Herod at birth, only to befall religious ostracism and apparent physical mutilation beheading/crucifixion at the time of apparent earthly death. Belica takes us through the similarities in these prophet’s lives, their coming into the lives of their parents, as the sons had done, in response to prayer, or in the unlikely moment, for Mary, of her chastity. The coming together of Zachariah and Mary is cemented with the former shielding Mary from harm as her foster-father. Belica brings us back further in scriptural history to draw other such parallels when it comes to prophets, and he draws upon the Arabic roots of the names of these figures, from Adam to Zachariah’s son, to convince the reader of his novel contribution to scriptural reading. But I’m not going to give that away! For that, you must read the book yourself!

This book is slim, but both erudite and yet easy to follow, in its step by step progression through the many scriptures, seemingly so familiar is Agron Belica with every passage, the apt ones come easily to mind for him, and strike an immediate cord in us, no matter how familiar or unfamiliar we are with the text and story. And yet, this book is no recipe for persuasion. It is much more sophisticated than that. Written in a devout and true Muslim spirit, it is also—as mentioned at the beginning of this review—an inquiry and a wholly new contribution to that body of sculptural scholarship. In Deliver a Messiah…., Agron Belica advances a theory which sheds an entirely novel light on the views that are commonplace today, and, through an examination of linguistics, passages, intent, and meaning, causes us to re-examine, in an exciting, clue-ridden way, what we have assumed to be true about the three major religions for centuries, concentrating on his own Muslim faith.

By Dr. Harte Weiner, Ph.D



DELIVER A MESSIAH MISTAKEN IDENTITY, LIBERATION DAY BY AGRON BEICA

As an avid reader of the Holy Bible, how many countless times have you
drawn your own interpretations, and conclusions? How many versions
of the Bible have you read, comparing ancient manuscripts to modern
day Scripture? As an open minded reader in faith, and Christianity, has
your bias lead you directly to extensive research on the words, and
works of Christ? Is is possible that Jesus did not die on the cross?
Is the accepted view of the life of Christ incomplete? Are we thirsty
for the mysterious, thus craving for more information on what we
doubt, or believe is missing? Are we comfortable, and completely
satisfied in what we've learned in a lifetime about the son of Mary,
and the crucifixion? These are only a few questions that the curious
reader is left to ponder, after reading the cleverly written book,
"DELIVER A MESSIAH MISTAKEN IDENTITY." As an educated scholar
on Christian history, Agron Belica fills the pages with contradictions
and controversy on the life of Mary,Jesus, and the crucifixion. The
author presents persuasive arguments on theory which surrounds
the events, and circumstances which took place during that era,
obtained from years of elaborate examination. The reader is left with
yet another crucial question, has prevailing powers camouflaged
the truth? The author's comparisons are undeniable plausible, while
he sites religious documents to support his arguments, leaving the
reader amazingly surprised. I would recommend this book to all reader's
who wish to explore facts, and seek additional knowledge obtained
through research about faith, and Christianity. In comparison to the
book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" Agron Belica enlightens his open minded
readers to other possibilities as they absorb each bit of information
with a grain of salt. The author does not shoot the facts into the reader's
face. Instead, he gently challenges the senses while using theory as the
key to open the door to other possibilities as we draw our own opinions,
and conclusions. "DELIVER A MESSIAH MISTAKEN IDENTITY" is
precise, and interesting. Regardless of which road the reader takes
on the teachings of the life of Christ, Agron Belica provides us with the
ultimate message that remains the same, eternal Blessings in the light
of Christ. Combined with that message and the author's presentation
of research, if just one reader is left with any doubts, then the author's
mission has been accomplished. This novel is an impressive, passionate
read, and is as Powerfully Moving as "THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST"
with Mel Gibson!


Geraldine Ahearn, A.I.O.M.
author of 6 books, CCRN
Author Geri Ahearn, INC.
Lifetime Member ABI Women's Review Board