Editing Samaritans (section)

==Quranic Reference: anachronism alleged controversy==
[[Qur'an]] chapter 20, ''Sura [[Ta-Ha]]'' allegedly contains anachronistic references to "the Samaritan" (Arabic ٱلسَّامِرِيُّ,"al-Samari"), a villain who in opposition to [[Moses]], led the children of Israel astray by orchestrating the famous incident of the [[Golden Calf]].(Q20:85-97)

The website, ''answering-Islam.org'' describes the alleged anachronism controversy as follows: "The Qur'an says that the calf worshipped by the Israelites at mount Horeb was molded by a Samaritan (Sura 20:85-87, 95-97). Yet the term `Samaritan' was not coined until 722 B.C., which is several hundred years after the events recorded in Exodus. Thus, the Samaritan people could not have existed during the life of Moses, and therefore, could not have been responsible for molding the calf." (''Contradictions in the Qur'an...External Contradictions:...History:...21.Moses and the Samaritan?''){{Self-published inline|date=May 2025}}<ref>https://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/h002.html</ref>

On the other hand, Muslim apologists and commentators, go to great lengths, and offer various explanations to explain this apparent anachronism. For example:''Islamic Awareness: The “Samaritan” Error In The Qur'an?''<ref>https://www.islamic-awareness.org/quran/contrad/external/samaritan#:~:text=The%20Qur'an%20says%20that%20the%20calf%20worshipped%20by%20the, the%20events%20recorded%20in%20Exodus.</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=May 2025}}, or the tasfir (commentary) of [[Abul A'la Maududi]].<ref>Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - ''Tafhim al-Qur'an'' (Q:20:84-85)</ref>

One common view is "al-Samari" is merely the name, or nickname of a single individual. Renowned Quran scholar and translator, [[Abdullah Yusuf Ali]], commented: " Who was this Samiri? If it was his personal name, it was sufficiently near the meaning of the original root-word to have the definite article attached to it: ...What was the root for “Saimiri”? If we look to old Egyptian, we have ''Shemer''=A stranger, foreigner..."<ref>The Holy Quran - Text, Translation and Commentary, by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938 note #2605, (Q20:85)</ref>

However, [[Abul A'la Maududi]] acknowledges: "It is obvious from the last letter `ya' that Samiri was not the proper name of the person, for this Arabic letter is always added to show a person's connection with his race or clan or place. Moreover, the prefix `al' (definite article 'the') in the original Arabic text clearly denotes that the Samiri was a particular man from among many other persons of the same race or clan or place, who had propagated the worship of the golden calf..."and Maududi then offers this alternative explanation, suggesting an earlier ancient ethnic group, with a similar sounding name to Samaritans..."...a famous people known as the Sumerians inhabited 'Iraq and the neighbouring regions, and it is just possible that during the time of Prophet Moses there were some people known as the Samiris who might have migrated to Egypt from 'Iraq. ..."<ref>Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - ''Tafhim al-Qur'an'' Q20:84-85</ref>

Although most English Translators of the Qur'an have merely transliterated the Arabic ٱلسَّامِرِيُّ, in (Q20:85) as some variant of "the Samari"<ref>''The Holy Quran - Text, Translation and Commentary'', by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938</ref> or "As-Samiri",<ref>''The Meaning of the Glorious Koran'', M. M. Pickthall, 1930</ref> many modern translators have chose to fully translate ٱلسَّامِرِيُّ as its accurate English equivalent, "The Samaritan"; or a variation of transliteration, with the addition of "(The Samaritan)" in parenthesis; among these: [[Muhammad Asad]]; [[Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali]]; [[Safi Kaskas]]; [[Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar]]; [[T.B.Irving]]; [[The Study Quran]]; M. Farook Malik; Hasan Al-Fatih Qaribullah; [[Arthur John Arberry]]; Munir Mezyed; and Irving & Mohamed Hegab.<ref>https://islamawakened.com/quran/20/85/default.htm#gsc.tab=0</ref>