Aaron · Harun

Aaron in Islam

Aaron is Harun in Arabic, written هَارُون. The two names belong to the same person, and the two traditions tell his story differently enough to be worth reading side by side.

English: Aaron
Arabic: هَارُون
Read as: Harun
Status: Prophet in Islam
Where the English comes from: Hebrew Aharon, of uncertain meaning; mountain of strength is the traditional reading.
What the Arabic carries: Harun, the Quranic form of the same name.
Full name page: Harun on AsrNaam

Is Aaron the same as Harun? Yes. Aaron is the English form and Harun the Arabic form of one name. He is in the Quran because Musa asked for him, saying his brother was clearer in speech than he was.

Harun in the Quran

Harun is in the Quran because his brother asked for him. Musa, sent to Pharaoh, says that his brother is clearer in speech than he is and asks that Harun be sent with him as a helper to confirm him. God grants it, and the request itself is preserved in Surah Ta-Ha and Surah Al-Qasas.

He is left in charge while Musa goes to the mountain, and the calf is made in his absence. The Quran has him warning the people and being overpowered, and when Musa returns and seizes him by the head, Harun says only that he feared Musa would say he had divided the children of Israil. He is not blamed in the Quranic account.

Harun and Haroon are both common as given names, and the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, of the Baghdad of the Thousand and One Nights, carried it into a second kind of fame.

Using the name

The full entry for Harun carries the Arabic spelling, the Urdu, the pronunciation, the lucky number and the letter-by-letter Ilm ul Huroof reading, along with every romanisation the name is written in.

Open the full Harun page →

Questions about Aaron and Harun

Is Aaron the same name as Harun?

Aaron is the English form and Harun is the Arabic form of the same name. They refer to the same figure.

Is Harun the same as Aaron?

Yes. Harun is the Arabic form of the Hebrew Aharon, the brother of Musa.

Is Harun blamed for the golden calf in the Quran?

No. The Quranic account has him warning the people and being overruled, and Musa prays for him after.

Can a Muslim family use the name Harun?

Yes. Harun is used as a given name across the Muslim world. AsrNaam carries its full page with the Arabic spelling, the pronunciation, the lucky number and the letter-by-letter Ilm ul Huroof reading.

Other names the two traditions share

Every one of these is one figure under two names.

Jesus and Isa Moses and Musa Mary and Maryam Abraham and Ibrahim Joseph and Yusuf David and Dawud Solomon and Sulayman Noah and Nuh John and Yahya Jacob and Yaqub Jonah and Yunus Job and Ayyub Isaac and Ishaq Ishmael and Ismail

Or start from the full list of Biblical names in Islam.