Jesus and the Virgin Mary in Islam

3men1mission

Many people may be surprised that Muslims love Mary, the mother of Jesus. In the Quran, no woman is given more attention than Mary.
Mary receives the most attention of any woman mentioned in the Quran even though all the Prophets with the exception of Adam had mothers. Of the Quran's 114 chapters, she is among the eight people who have a chapter named after them. The nineteenth chapter of the Quran is named after her, Mariam. Mariam means Mary in Arabic. The third chapter in the Quran is named after her father, Imran.


Chapters Mariam and Al-Imran are among the most beautiful chapters in the Quran. Mary (peace be upon her) is the only woman specifically named in the Quran. An authentic Hadith states that the Prophet Muhammad said: "The superiority of 'Aisha to other ladies is like the superiority of Tharid (i.e. meat and bread dish) to other meals. Many men reached the level of perfection, but no woman reached such a level except Mary, the daughter of Imran and Asia, the wife of Pharaoh." (Al Bukhari). Indeed, both Mary and Pharaoh’s wife are an example. The Virgin Mary plays a very significant role in Islam. She is an example and a sign for all people.

In the Quran, Mary's story begins while she is still in her mother's womb. The mother of Mary said: {O my Lord! I have vowed to You what is within my womb as a consecration. Accept this from me. Lo! It is You Who are the Hearer, the Knower.} (Al-Imran 3: 35).

She wanted the baby in her womb to serve only the Creator. When Mary was delivered, she said: {O my Lord! Behold! I am delivered of a female child!} (Al-Imran 3: 36). She had expected her baby to be a male child who would grow up to be a scholar or religious leader. However, God had a better plan. God is the best of planners. The Quran continues: {…and God knew best what she brought forth- 'And no wise is the male like the female. I have named her Mariam, and I commend her and her offspring to Thy protection from Satan, the Rejected.'" Mariam literally means "maidservant of God.} (Al-Imran 3: 36)

The Quran discusses Mary's miraculous conception as well.God states that He accepted Mary as her mother had asked. He made Mary grow in purity and beauty. She was assigned to the care of a priest named Zacharias. This is interesting considering few women were given this opportunity.
{Every time that he entered (her) chamber to see her, he found her supplied with sustenance. He said: 'O Mary! Whence (comes) this to you?' She said: 'From God. for God provides sustenance to whom He pleases without measure.'} (Al-Imran 3: 37). Upon hearing Mary's answer: {Then Zachariah prayed to his Lord, saying, 'Lord, bestow upon me from You a goodly offspring, verily You are the Hearer of supplication}} (Al-Imran 3: 38).
Although his wife was barren and he was very old, God blesses Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth with John. John is known as "John the Baptist" in the Bible. Zacharias was skeptical after the angels announced John's birth. The response to his skepticism was: {Doth God accomplish what He willeth} (Al-Imran 3: 40). John would become a noble and chaste Prophet as the angels had stated.

The Quran discusses Mary's miraculous conception as well. {Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the East. She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent her Our angel, and he appeared before her as a man in all respects.} (Maryam 19: 16-7). After seeing the angel, she said: {I seek refuge from thee to (God) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear God.} (Maryam 19: 18). The angel Gabriel responded: {Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a pure son.} (Quran 19: 19). Her next response is expected. She asked: {How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?} The Angel Gabriel said: {So (it will be): thy Lord saith, 'That is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us.' It is a matter (so) decreed.} (Maryam 19: 21-2). Mary then becomes pregnant.

Jesus is a Prophet and a Messenger. A Messenger is a Prophet who is given revelation from God. The Torah was revealed to Moses, the Gospel was revealed to Jesus. Messengers are a mercy, guidance, and sign from God. "And God will teach him (Jesus) the Book and Wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel, and (appoint him) as a messenger to the Children of Israel, (with this message):
{I have come to you, with a Sign from your Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I bring the dead into life, by God's leave; and I declare to you what ye eat, and what ye store in your houses. Surely therein is a Sign for you if ye did believe. (I have come to you) to attest the Torah which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was (before) forbidden to you. I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear God, and obey me. It is God Who is my Lord and your Lord; then worship Him. This is a Way that is straight.} (Al-Imran 3: 48-51).

Although God can do all things, He only does things that are consistent with His fundamental nature.God appointed messengers to help us answer questions such as: What happens after I die? What's right and wrong? Does a supernatural world exist? What's the purpose of my creation?
Jesus was calling people to the worship of only God. Only by God's leave was Jesus able to perform miracles.
{When Jesus found unbelief on their (the disciples) part he said: 'Who will be my helpers to (the work of) God?" Said the disciples: "We are God's helpers: We believe in God, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims.} (Al-Imran 3: 52)
After conceiving Jesus, Mary went away with the baby to a distant place: {And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree. She cried (in her anguish): 'Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten!} (Maryam 19: 23). {But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the (palm-tree): 'Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee. So eat and drink and cool (thine) eye. And if thou dost see any man, say, 'I have vowed a fast to (God) Most Gracious, and this day will I enter into no talk with any human being.} (Maryam 19: 24-26)
Joseph, the magi, and manger are not mentioned in the Quran. God was Mary's only Provider. Muslims do not accept the virgin birth of Jesus as evidence of Jesus' divinity: {The similitude of Jesus before God is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: 'Be.' And he was.} (Al-Imran 3: 59). Adam's creation was even more miraculous because he was born without father and mother.

When she brings the baby to her people, they said: {O Mary! truly a strange thing has thou brought! O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!} (Maryam 19: 27-8). Mary then points to the baby. They said: {How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?} (Maryam 19: 29). Then a miracle occurs that is not mentioned in the Bible. In defense of his mother, Jesus said: {I am indeed a servant of God. He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet; And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; (He hath made me) kind to my mother, and not overbearing or unblest; So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)!} (Maryam 19: 30-3).
The virgin birth of Jesus was a sign. {And (remember) her who guarded her chastity: We breathed into her of Our spirit, and We made her and her son a sign for all peoples.} (Al-Anbiya’ 21: 91)

All previous Prophets confirmed the oneness of God, Tawheed. Whereas the Holy Trinity is the fundamental concept of God in Christianity, Tawheed is the fundamental concept of God in Islam. God exists independent of religion. Muslims do not believe in the concept of Holy Trinity. God is not Jesus. On the Day of Judgment, when Jesus is asked if he had called people to worship him and his mother as two gods, Jesus will say: {And when God says, 'O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to mankind, "Take me and my mother as gods, besides God?" ' He says, 'Glory be to You! It is not mine to say what I have no right to. If I indeed had said it, You would have known it. You know what is in my self, but I do not know what is within Your Self: You are the Knower of things unseen.} (Al-Ma’dah 5: 116)

When people hear the term “Islam”, they naturally tend to think of the organized religion of Islam which started in the 7th century CE with Prophet Muhammad.People should not worship any of God's creation, including Jesus and Mary. We must not assign any of God's creation His divine attributes and characteristics. {He is God the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belongs the names Most Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him; He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.} (Al-Hashr 59: 24)

Although God can do all things, He only does things that are consistent with His fundamental nature. Begetting a son is not consistent with God's magnificent nature. Consistent with His fundamental nature is forgiveness. Although Adam and Eve could no longer live in Paradise, God forgave Adam and Eve for their sin after they sincerely repented. We are responsible for our own deeds and will not be punished for the deeds of another person. Therefore, Muslims reject the doctrine of original sin. Although Adam and Eve were punished, God would still be merciful by sending guidance to mankind. {We said: 'Get down all of you from this place (the Paradise), then whenever there comes to you Guidance from Me, and whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve.} (Al-Baqarah 2: 38)
When people hear the term “Islam”, they naturally tend to think of the organized religion of Islam which started in the 7th century CE with Prophet Muhammad. However, in Arabic the word Islam comes from the root "salema" which means peace, purity, submission, and obedience.

In the religious sense, Islam means peace and purity achieved by submitting to the will of God and obedience to His law. Muslims are those who submit. Muslims believe that all those who submitted to the will of God in line with divine revelation received before the advent of formal Islam with Prophet Muhammad, were themselves also Muslim. So coming from this understanding, Muslims believe that we are part of one continuing faith community with Jesus and Mary. Mary, Jesus, and the disciples were all "Muslims" because they submitted to God.

{And when the angels said, 'O Mary, God has preferred you, and made you pure; He has preferred you above all women of the worlds. O Mary, be obedient to your Lord, prostrating and bowing with those who bow'.} (Al-Imran 3: 42-3)
Another Prophet with a message similar to Jesus' would later be born in Arabia in the sixth century. He also called people to the worship of only God. Although unable to read and write, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would recite verses of the Quran as they were revealed to him. The Quran is a miracle, a sign, a mercy, a warner and guidance for all people. Prophet Muhammad is the last Prophet from a line of Prophets that included Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (peace be upon them all). All Prophets were models for righteous living. Muhammad's sunnah, his sayings, example, and traditions, is also considered revelation. His sunnah is expressed in various books of Hadith.
{Indeed in the Messenger of God you have a good example to follow for him who hopes for (the Meeting with) God and the Last Day, and remembers God much.} (Al-Ahzab 33: 21)


God created all people to worship Him and to live life based on His teachings and guidance: {And hold fast to God's bond, together, and do not scatter; remember God's grace upon you when you were enemies, and He brought your hearts together so that by His grace you became brothers; and you were upon the brink of a pit of fire; but He delivered you from it. So God makes clear to you His signs that you might be guided.} (Al-Imran 3: 103)
{If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to God), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost.} (Al-Imran 3: 85)

We accomplish this by bearing witness to God's oneness and accepting His final revelation in our daily lives. {O ye who believe! Fear God as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam.} (A-Imran 3: 102)
There is none worthy of worship but God, and Muhammad and Jesus are His messengers.

hivizman

Thank you for this post. However, please note that the forum charter states that simply pasting text from another website (this material is widely available on the web, for example, here) is not really acceptable - we want to hear YOUR views, not just those of the original author of the web material.

3men1mission

Thanks for reminding me ,it was my first post and quick one as a try.but definitely next time will be my personnel point of view,and as Muslim I will take the opportunity from my heart to thank this fabulous forum from administrator to moderator, by giving a chance to the Muslim in Ireland expressing them self's,in a way to build bridges and comprehensive and positive dialogue with other faiths,Thanks again.

Northclare

3men1mission wrote: »

Thanks for reminding me ,it was my first post and quick one as a try.but definitely next time will be my personnel point of view,and as Muslim I will take the opportunity from my heart to thank this fabulous forum from administrator to moderator, by giving a chance to the Muslim in Ireland expressing them self's,in a way to build bridges and comprehensive and positive dialogue with other faiths,Thanks again.

There some v wise Sufi stories in Islam and quotes which we in the west don't hear v often like the splinter in the eye or the way a hawk watches his prey from above just like death isn't far from us its always watching and sometimes we have to search for what were looking for in the dark rather than the light.

I'm a Christian but would be more of the esotheric type I don't read the holy book literally but can read the depth of it and what it symbolizes.....

Peace be apon you

hivizman

I've mentioned this book before on various threads, but this thread provides an opportunity to refer again to the book edited by Tarif Khalidi The Muslim Jesus (Harvard University Press, 2001).

The book summarises the references to Jesus in the Qur'an, and examines how various traditions about Jesus were passed down and collected. Earlier sayings emphasise Jesus as an ascetic holy man, while later sayings tend to stress his miracles and moral examples.

The book then sets out translations of over 300 of these traditions, the earliest ones dating from the second century AH (eighth century CE), the latest ones from the 12th/18th century.

Tarif Khalidi is a scholar of Palestinian origin, now professor at the American University in Beirut and previously a professor at Cambridge University. He was responsible for the translation of the Qur'an published a few years ago by Penguin.

Run_to_da_hills

3men1mission wrote: »

Many people may be surprised that Muslims love Mary, the mother of Jesus.

I don't think Muslims would be as blasphemous as to refer Mary as the "mother of God" as depicted in the RC's "Hail Mary"

hivizman

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I don't think Muslims would be as blasphemous as to refer Mary as the "mother of God" as depicted in the RC's "Hail Mary"

Muslims regard Mary as the mother of Jesus, but reject the notion that Jesus is the "Son of God". This notion is seen as inconsistent with the core Islamic concept of Tawhid, the absolute uniqueness and oneness of God. As the Qur'an states (Surat al-An'aam 6:100-101, Sahih International translation):

"But they have attributed to Allah partners - the jinn, while He has created them - and have fabricated for Him sons and daughters. Exalted is He and high above what they describe. [He is] Originator of the heavens and the earth. How could He have a son when He does not have a companion and He created all things? And He is, of all things, Knowing."

The Qur'an is referring here to the way in which polytheists in Makkah had worshiped various "daughters of Allah", and is equating this with Christian worship of Jesus as "God the Son". To Muslims, Jesus is not God incarnate but a prophet, perhaps second only to Muhammad in terms of his prophethood, but no more than a man.

So it would certainly be blasphemous in Islam to describe Mary as "Mother of God".

Brown Bomber

Isn't it true that Muslim should believe - or at least it is said in the Quran - that Jesus/Isa was never actually crucified but was replaced on the cross by someone else?

I'm curious if there are different schools of thouht as to who the "someone else" is?

hivizman

Brown Bomber wrote: »

Isn't it true that Muslim should believe - or at least it is said in the Quran - that Jesus/Isa was never actually crucified but was replaced on the cross by someone else?

I'm curious if there are different schools of thouht as to who the "someone else" is?

This is indeed one of the interpretations of the key verse in the Qur'an, which is Surat an-Nisaa 4:157. In Pickthall's translation, this reads:

"And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain."

This verse appears in a passage where Allah is setting out the various transgressions of the Jews (worship of the golden calf, speaking out against Mary (that is, accusing her of fornication), and taking usury). The words that Pickthall translated as "it appeared so unto them" are, in the original Arabic: "shubbiha lahum". The first of these words should perhaps be better translated as "it was made to appear so", and translators and commentators have puzzled about who or what was doing the "making", what was being made to appear, and to whom the appearance was being presented. The Arabic root for the first word carries with it an idea of making something seem to be like something else, and some commentators interpret the verse as implying that someone (often taken to be Judas Iscariot) was given the appearance of Jesus and crucified in his place. This interpretation has been taken up by Mohsin Khan in his translation of the Qur'an. He renders the verse as follows:

"And because of their saying (in boast), "We killed Messiah 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah," - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not [i.e. 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary) ]"

Among the interpretations of the verse are the following:

1. Jesus was indeed crucified, but it was the Romans who crucified Jesus, and the Jews are wrong in claiming that it was the Jews who were responsible for the deed.

2. Jesus was not crucified, but someone looking like Jesus was arrested in his place and it was the substitute who was crucified.

3. No-one was crucified, but an illusion of the crucifixion was presented to the Jews, who subsequently claimed that Jesus had been crucified.

These and other interpretations are discussed at length by Todd Lawson in his book The Crucifixion and the Qur'an: A Study in the History of Muslim Thought (Oxford: OneWorld, 2009). In the book, Lawson looks at how interpretations of this verse, together with the next verse (Surat an-Nisaa 4:158, translated by Pickthall as "But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise" and by Mohsin Khan, more expansively, as "But Allah raised him up (with his body and soul) unto Himself (and he is in the heavens). And Allah is Ever All­Powerful, All­Wise"), have developed, from earlier commentators and exegetes through to more modern writers.

philologos

I think despite what similarities exist between Islam and Christianity. Concerning the identity of Jesus, fundamental and significant differences exist.

Jesus as Messiah - is the prophesied son of God, divine who came into the world to rescue mankind from their sin. I was discussing with a Muslim at a dawah stand who was trying to convince me that Jesus did not come to die for mankinds sins by selecting isolated passages, but ultimately there are scores of passages that say that Jesus was to die as a ransom for man (Mark 10:45) for example. Jesus was the suffering servant who was to die for the transgressions of mankind (Isaiah 53). Insofar as Islam waters down the position both of the Jewish Messiah and what He came to do, and the person of Jesus Christ as is revealed in the earliest accounts, and even the crucifixion that is historically attested to, I would have to concede that there are fundamental differences.

Christianity believes that sin is costly and separates us from God, a just God as a result determines that punishment is necessary for sin. Jesus, insofar as He was blameless took the penalty for sin upon Himself, as a result satisfying God's justice, and mercy at the same time.

Even if one is guilty of one sin, and then resolves to live in a blameless manner, one is still guilty of that sin. For example, if a man murders someone, and then lives blamelessly for the rest of ones life. One is still guilty of murder. Either Allah is not just, or Allah cannot be merciful. If there is no punishment for sin, one is not just. Christianity in a sense provides a means by which God remains just, and by which God is merciful, and a means by which one can understand in full the burden of sin.

The logical consequences of rejecting Jesus, as the one who came into this world to rescue us from the penalty of our sin is severe.

Another point about Jesus from a more historical view, would be what warrants me to accept an account that came 600 years after Jesus over an array of history that accepts that Jesus was crucified, or over the New Testament accounts which correspond to this external history? Even if Judas was on the cross (and we have nothing to suggest this), why would I trust the Qur'an as being correct coming 600 years later.

If a modern history book of WW2 came out, and was completely contradictory to anything that was contemporary to the period of 1939 - 1945 then one would rightfully ask questions about whether or not that source was legitimate. I think it's fair that we can question the Qur'anic account the same manner.

The only way that one can say that there were three men, one mission would be either to water down Jesus' mission, which was to usher in the New Covenant of forgiveness through Jesus Christ's death on the cross. Or to change Muhammad's legacy in order to match with Christianity.

The former has happened. Islam has compromised Christianity to suit Muhammad and his legacy.

I hope to have an interesting discussion. This topic is hugely important also.

whydoc

hivizman wrote: »

Among the interpretations of the verse are the following:

1. Jesus was indeed crucified, but it was the Romans who crucified Jesus, and the Jews are wrong in claiming that it was the Jews who were responsible for the deed.

By whom was this one ?

hivizman

whydoc wrote: »

By whom was this one ?

The "blame the Romans not the Jews" interpretation is a stock approach of Christian writers who are attempting to reconcile the accounts of the New Testament and the Qur'an. Todd Lawson gives two references in particular:

E.E. Elder "The Crucifixion in the Koran", The Muslim World, Vol. 13, No. 3 (July 1923), pp. 242-258.

G. Parrinder Jesus in the Qur'an. London: Faber & Faber, 1963.

As Lawson summarises Elder's paper, the main argument is not so much a "positive" one (which would be something like: the "Romans" interpretation is the only one that makes sense of the key verse) as a "negative" one (which would be something like: the "substitution" interpretation is exactly that - an interpretation developed by subsequent exegetes that goes beyond the strict wording of the Qur'an).

Lawson, in his extensive survey of Muslim tafsir and other exegetical writings, finds only one commentator who provides limited support for the "Romans" interpretation. This is Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i (or Tabatabaei), a 20th Century (CE) Iranian scholar, whose Tafsir al-Mizan is a significant modern Shia commentary.

However, this Tafsir is available in English translation on the internet, and the commentary for the key passage in Surat an-Nisaa seems to endorse the "substitution" interpretation fairly clearly. Tabataba'i suggests: "They caught another person in place of the Messiah and killed him or crucified him. This could have happened easily in those circumstances; in such riotous and barbaric mobs often the actual target slips away and some other person is held and beaten up. He was arrested by the Roman soldiers who had no full prior knowledge of his features and conditions; it was possible for them to catch someone else in his place. Moreover, there are traditions saying that Allah had put his likeness on another person who was caught and killed in his place." Tabataba'i thus tries to propose a "rational" explanation - that the Romans simply captured and crucified the wrong person - while acknowledging that previous commentaries had claimed a miraculous intervention whereby someone else had been made to look like Jesus.

As Philologus suggests, the core issue here is the Christian doctrine of the Atonement (Jesus's death on the cross is a sacrifice made in propitiation for our sins). It is possible to accept the crucifixion while denying the Atonement, but it's much easier to deny the Atonement by denying that Jesus actually died at all (which Surat an-Nisaa 4:158 can be read as suggesting).

Of the three interpretations I suggested based on Todd Lawson's book, interpretation 1 (the "Romans" interpretation) is almost entirely proposed by Christian "reconcilers" and interpretation 3 is a minority one. The dominant Muslim interpretation is the "substitute" interpretation.

Brown Bomber

hivizman,

Thank you so much for your indepth answer. It really far exceeded my greatest expectations. Very interesting indeed. I think the Islamic version of the execution of Jesus encapsulates at the same time what I respect about Islam and how at the same time it is hoisted from it's own petard. I believe I am correct in saying that the Quran puts the blame on Jesus' death squarely on the Jews? And as this is written in the Quran therefore is considered an eternal truism by Muslims from Muhammed until now? From the Catholic perspective it is written in the gospels that the Jews killed Jesus, (I believe it is even written in The Talmud).

However, the current Pope, Benedict has denied the Gospels (making him a heretic) that the Jews killed Jesus. I would assume that it is due to external pressures, PR purposes and the inclination towards political correctness and modernism. Islam, from what I can gather has never succumbed to outside pressures to make itself more palatable to outsiders at the expense of the faith. This is something that I admire but is also Islam as whole creating it's own bat to be beaten with in today's world.

Brown Bomber

Just to correct myself: From the Muslim perpective it should be attempted to kill Jesus rather than actually killing him.

Abu Yusuf

Salam

There is another interpretation to this verse and it is one which is more so based on the Arabic of the verse;

wa ma khataluhu he was not killed

wa ma salabuhu he was not crucified *Actually the word "salabuhu" comes from the word "salab" which means "killed in a well known manner". This means that what is being denied here is not the act of being put upon the cross but rather that he died upon the cross.

wa lakeen shubehalahu but he appeared as though *this word " has the meaning that HE JESUS appeared as though. The "bi" in "shubiha" means that Jesus appeared as though. If it were "ba" as in "shubaha" then it would mean that someone else looked like him. So it is saying that Jesus appeared as though.....what? Shubiha is a pronoun so to know what he appeared as we have to read what came before so it reads that HE (Jesus) was not killed nor did he die on the cross but he looked like he had died (on the cross).

So we can say that perhaps Jesus was put on the cross but he was taken down alive and survived crucifixion.