The Quranic Word mawālī in Zachariah’s story: Seeking an Ethiopian Connection

The meaning of the word mawālī used on the Quranic verse 19:5 and the thing which is inherited by John was a subject of debate in exegetic literature, without any clarification about its lexical origin. In this survey, the main question is about the lexical origin of the word, as well as the cultural roots of the position which the story is speaking of. Also, the article is seeking a proper understanding of the word and the verse being relevant to the context and make the Zachariah’s story in the Sura 19 consistent.Concerning methodology, the article uses etymology of keyword mawālī based on comparative Semitic studies from one side and clarification of the story as a whole by a comparison between the Quranic account with relevant passage in the New Testament and some connected material in Jewish literature. According to given evidence, the word mawālī in the verse 19:5 is supposed to be a term coming from the New Testament. The basis is the Geez word mawāʿǝl meaning 'daily (duties)', used in Ethiopian version of Gospel of Luke to refer to ‘priestly division’ in Jewish tradition. The secondary layer is South-Arabian and Ethiopian root meaning 'to guard' which contaminated to the previous term and relates to the Jewish Rabbinic term mišmārōt. It is a Christian-Jewish blending appeared in pre-Islamic Ethiopia. Then, the Quranic word mawālī in the verse 19:5 was not a regular Arabic word, but a Judeo-Christian arabicized term with Ethiopian origin.