Wrong about George

May 9 2008 by Our Correspondent, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

YOU state (Examiner April 24) that “George is the only Christian Saint that is mentioned in the Koran” and “has a mosque named after him in Palestine, Al-Khadr”.

This is inaccurate. Al-Khadir is in fact a Prophet, although some Muslim scholars said that he was not a Prophet but a righteous person following the rules revealed to other Prophets.

Muslims also believe that Al-Khadir was alive at the time of Prophet Moses, as is in fact mentioned in the Qur’an. However, George as mentioned in your article was an individual born in Turkey in the third century CE, which is at least 1,000 years after the Khadir mentioned in the Qur’an. I have never heard any notable Muslim scholar ever say that George is the same person that is mentioned in the Qur’an.

As to the issue of mosques being named after George, then this is also incorrect. Rather, there are several mosques that are named after Al-Khadir, but because some people referred to George as Khadir others have then mistakenly presumed that the Khadir mentioned in the Qur’an is the same as George (also known to some as Khadir) who lived in the third century CE.

Dr F Farooq

Huddersfield