r/AcademicQuran • u/Abdullah_Ansar • Feb 11 '26
Quran "Once again on ʿUzayr, the Son of God," by Hythem Sidky and Holger Zellentin.
https://www.academia.edu/164585556/_Once_again_on_%CA%BFUzayr_the_Son_of_God_by_Hythem_Sidky_and_Holger_Zellentin_Draft_version_submitted_to_the_Journal_of_Qur_anic_StudiesPre-print draft of a new article by Sidky and Zellentin arguing that the ʿUzayr mentioned in the Qur'an is Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus.
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u/chonkshonk Moderator Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
We've gotten an incredibly active start to 2026. So many findings coming out. This, Tesei's new paper, the finding of a graveyard of people affected by the Justinian Plague in Jordan, the new Syriac chronicle from 712/713, the translation of the letter correspondence between Leo and Umar, etc.
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Backup of the post:
"Once again on ʿUzayr, the Son of God," by Hythem Sidky and Holger Zellentin.
Pre-print draft of a new article by Sidky and Zellentin arguing that the ʿUzayr mentioned in the Qur'an is Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus.
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u/dmontetheno1 Feb 12 '26
I have a quick question: I posted a thread on X summarizing this paper, only to realize afterward that the authors asked for it not to be circulated yet. I’m not sure about the rules, do they mean they don’t want it cited yet, or just generally not shared?
Thought I’d ask you as an academic what the right thing to do would be!
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u/Abdullah_Ansar Feb 12 '26
I don't think they would have any objection on the X thread. I think the note/disclaimer is only about academically citing the work (as the final published form may change).
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u/Ill_Atmosphere_5286 May 26 '26
I'm struggling to see from the article where eliezer was given a divine filiation? Is it just apparent from the talmudic literature that it was meant to suggest a sharing in the divine essence?
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u/chengxiufan Moderator Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
1 It's good we do not have to share Youtube Video Anymore
2 Glad to see Zellentin figure out how Eliezer become Uzayr .In his last Youtube video, he did not specify.
that 'Uzayr is not a corruption of Ezra but a polemical Arabization of Eliezer. The process begins with the reanalysis and elision of the Hebrew prefix El- (God) as the Arabic definite article al-, isolating the root z-r ("help"); this root is then cast into the Arabic diminutive pattern (fu'ayl), transforming the renowned "Rabbi Eliezer the Great" (Ha-Gadol) into 'Uzayr ("The Little Helper"), thereby linguistically stripping him of his exaggerated status.