Al Imran

Al Imran (Arabic: آل عِمْرَانَ, āl ʿimrān; meaning: The Family of Imran) is the third chapter (sūrah) of the Quran with two hundred verses (āyāt).

This chapter is named after the family of Imran (Joachim), which includes Imran, Saint Anne (wife of Imran), Mary, and Jesus.^{[citation needed]}

Regarding the timing and contextual background of the asbāb al-nuzūl or circumstances of revelation, the chapter is believed to have been either the second or third of the Medinan surahs, as it references both the events of the battles of Badr and Uhud. Almost all of it also belongs to the third Hijri year, though a minority of its verses might have been revealed during the visit of the deputation of the Christian community of Najran at the event of the mubahala, which occurred around the 10th year of the Hijrah.

The chapter takes its name from the family of Imran mentioned in verse 3:33.

According to Christian tradition, Joachim is the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, mother of Jesus. As there is sparse evidence for Joachim being the name for the father of Mary, the Quranic account possibly alludes to the pun of Miriam, the daughter of Amram and sister of Aaron, for whom Muslim tradition believes Mary is named after. It also serves as a common focal point for Jewish and Christian audiences.

According to Iraqi Jewish translator, N.J. Dawood, the Quran confuses Mary the mother of Jesus with Mary the sister of Moses by referring to the former's father as Imran, which is the Arabic version of Amram, who, in Exodus 6:20, is shown to be the father of Moses. Dawood, in a note to Surah 19:28, where Mary the mother of Jesus is referred to as the "Sister of Aaron" (Aaron was the brother of Mary sister of Moses) states: "It appears that Miriam, Aaron's sister, and Maryam (Mary), mother of Jesus, were according to the Quran, the same person." Although Islamic studies of the beginning of the 20th century tended to note genealogical discrepancies, in more recent Islamic studies of the 21st century the general consensus is, according to Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai and Michael Marx, that the Quran does not make a genealogical error but instead makes use of typology. This is, following Wensinck's conclusion, supported by the figurative speech of the Quran and the Islamic tradition:

Maryam is called a sister of Hārūn, and the use of these three names ‘Imrān, Hārūn, and Maryam has led to the supposition that the Qur'ān does not clearly distinguish between the two Maryams, of the Old and the New Testaments. ... It is not necessary to assume that these kinship links are to be interpreted in modern terms. The words "sister" and "daughter", like their male counterparts, in Arabic usage, can indicate extended kinship, descendance or spiritual affinity. ... Muslim tradition is clear that there are eighteen centuries between the Biblical ‘Amram and the father of Maryam.

Similarly, Stowasser concludes that "to confuse Mary the mother of Jesus with Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron in Torah is completely wrong and in contradiction to the sound Hadith and the Qur'anic text as we have established". Rather it serves as a pun for the name Miriam, daughter of Amram and the sister of Aaron, venerated for helping to save her brother Moses as an infant. According to Muslim tradition, she serves as the forebearer of that name for Mary, mother of Jesus.