Inttrroduccttiion
The deference and esteem with which Muslims hold Jesus and
his mother, peace be upon them, is readily manifest on reading
the Quran.1 Suμrah (Chapter) nineteenth of the Quran is named
after Maryam, the Arabic name for Mary. The third suμrah of the Quran
is titled Al Imraμn meaning The Family of Imraμn (father of Moses). In
these two chapters of the Quran the lives of the Virgin and her child, and
before them of John the Baptist (Yah\yaμ
are presented magnanimously in
terms of compassion, grace, love, mercy and miracle.
Witness the verses that bring the good tidings of the coming birth of
John the Baptist (Yah\yaμ and the Messiah (MesÈμh\ in Arabic):
. . 0 Zakkariyya, We give thee
Good news of a son:
His name shall be Yah\yaμ (John):
On none by that name
Have we conferred distinction before.
He said, 0 my Lord!
How shall I have a son,
When my wife is barren
And I have grown quite decrepit
From old age?
He said: So (it will be):
Thy Lord saith, That is
Easy for Me: I did
Indeed create thee before,
When thou hadst been nothing! (19: 7-9)
and
She (Mary) said: How shall I
Have a son, seeing that
No man has touched me,
And I am not unchaste?
He 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. (19: 20-21)
Surah Maryam was revealed at a time when Prophet Muhammad and
the new Makkan converts to Islam were being subject to increasing
persecution for their belief in the Unity (Oneness) of God. Unable to
ward off their plight, the Prophet asked them to migrate to other lands
where they could find freedom of worship and live in peace. When asked
as to where should they go, the Prophet advised them to escape to
Abyssinia in Africa, a Christian kingdom where "a king (the Negus)
rules with justice, a land of truthfulness, until God leads us to a way out
of our difficulty." Following the Prophets advice, the first group of
eleven Muslim men and women made their escape across the Red Sea to
Abyssinia, soon to be followed by others. This migration to Abyssinia has
come to be known in the annals of Islam as the First Hijrah (migration).
At the time only forty seven Muslims remained in Makkah while those
who sought freedom of worship in Abyssinia numbered over eighty.
Enraged by the flight of Muslims to Abyssinia, the Makkans
immediately dispatched two of their distinguished emissaries, Amr ibn
al As and Abdullah ibn Abu Rabiah to the Negus carrying precious
gifts, to plead the extradition of the Muslims back to Makkah. The
delegation presented their precious gifts to the Negus and his patriarch
and made its case to have the Muslims extradited back to their homeland.
The Negus assembled his court and bishops and sent for the Muslim
exiles. When all were assembled, the Negus addressed the Muslims:
"What is this religion wherein you have become separate from your
people, though you have not entered my religion nor that of any other
folk that surround us?"
Jafar ibn Abu Talib, the spokesman of the Muslims, answered him:
"O King! We were a people steeped in ignorance, worshipping idols,
eating unsacrificed carrion, committing abomination, and the strong
among us would devour the weak. Thus, we were until God sent us a
Messenger from our midst, one whose lineage, integrity, truthfulness,
purity and veracity we knew well. He called us unto God, that we should
testify to his Oneness and worship Him alone and renounce what we and
our fathers had worshiped in the way of stones and idols; and he
commanded us to speak truly, to fulfill our promises, to respect the ties
of kinship and the rights of our neighbors, and to refrain from crimes and
bloodshed. Therefore, we worship God alone, setting none beside Him,
counting as forbidden what he has forbidden and as licit, what He has
allowed. For these reasons our people have turned against us, and
have persecuted us to make us forsake our religion and revert from the
worship of God to the worship of idols. That is why we have come,
2
seeking justice and protection, to your country, having chosen you above
all others; and we hope, O King, that we shall not suffer wrong in your
land."2
The Negus further asked the Muslims if they had with them any
Revelation that their Prophet had brought them from God. When
Jafar answered that they had, he asked him to recite it. Jafar recited
the following passage from the suμrah of Mary, which had been revealed
shortly before their flight to Abyssinia:
Relate in the Book
(The story of) Mary,
When she withdrew
From her family
To a pale in the East
She placed a screen
(To screen herself) from them;
Then We sent to her
Our Angel, and he appeared
Before her as a man
In all respects.
She said: " I seek refuge
From thee to (Allah)
Most Gracious: (come not near)
If thou dost fear Allah."
He said: "Nay, I am only
A messenger from thy Lord,
(To announce) to thee
The gift of a holy son."
She said: "How shall I
Have a son, seeing that
No man has touched me,
And I am not unchaste?"
He said: "So (it will be):
Thy Lord saith `That is
Easy for Me: and (We
Wish) to appoint him
3
As a Sign unto men
And a Mercy from Us':
It is a matter
(So) decreed." (19: 16-21)
On hearing the recitation, the Negus and his bishops openly wept.
He said: "This has truly come from the same source as that which Jesus
brought." Addressing the two envoys of Quraysh he said: "You may
leave, for by God I will not hand them over to you; they shall not be
betrayed."
But the Quraysh delegation was not the one to give up that easily. They
decided to use yet another ploy. They approached the Negus a second
time claiming that Muslims aver that Jesus, the son of Mary is a slave.
They told the Negus, "O King, they utter an enormous lie about Jesus
the son of Mary. Do but send for them, and ask them what they say about
Jesus." The Negus resummoned the Muslims to his court and inquired
of them: "What do you say of Jesus, the son of Mary?" Jafar answered
with due reverence: "We say of him what our Prophet brought to us from
Allah that he is the servant of God and His Messenger and His Spirit and
His Word which He cast unto Mary the blessed virgin." The Negus
picked up a piece of wood and said to those gathered: "Jesus the son of
Mary exceeds not what you have said by the length of this stick." He then
turned to the Muslims and said: "Go your ways, for you are safe in my
land. Not for mountains of gold would I harm any one of you." Pointing
to the envoys of Quraysh, he demanded his attendant to "return unto these
two men their gifts, for I have no use for them." Thus, the envoys of
Quraysh returned to Makkah empty-handed, their mission having failed
while the Muslims stayed in peace in Abyssinia.
1. The sacred text of the Muslims, the Quran, has 114 suμrahs (chapters) of
varying length, providing guidance to humankind on all aspects of life in
this world and in the next. The Arabic text of the Quran comprises only the
inscribed form of the revelation brought by the angel Gabriel (Jibril in Arabic)
to Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, during the twenty three years
of his mission. The chapters in this volume are extracted from Abdullah Yusuf
Alis English translation of the Quran entitled The Meaning of the Holy Quran
published by Amana Publications, Beltsville, Maryland, 1989. The reader may
like to refer to that translation in order to follow up on information given in the
footnotes by the translator.
2. Martin Lings, Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources, Inner
Traditions International, Rochester, Vermont, 1983, pp. 83-84.
The deference and esteem with which Muslims hold Jesus and
his mother, peace be upon them, is readily manifest on reading
the Quran.1 Suμrah (Chapter) nineteenth of the Quran is named
after Maryam, the Arabic name for Mary. The third suμrah of the Quran
is titled Al Imraμn meaning The Family of Imraμn (father of Moses). In
these two chapters of the Quran the lives of the Virgin and her child, and
before them of John the Baptist (Yah\yaμ
are presented magnanimously interms of compassion, grace, love, mercy and miracle.
Witness the verses that bring the good tidings of the coming birth of
John the Baptist (Yah\yaμ
and the Messiah (MesÈμh\ in Arabic):. . 0 Zakkariyya, We give thee
Good news of a son:
His name shall be Yah\yaμ (John):
On none by that name
Have we conferred distinction before.
He said, 0 my Lord!
How shall I have a son,
When my wife is barren
And I have grown quite decrepit
From old age?
He said: So (it will be):
Thy Lord saith, That is
Easy for Me: I did
Indeed create thee before,
When thou hadst been nothing! (19: 7-9)
and
She (Mary) said: How shall I
Have a son, seeing that
No man has touched me,
And I am not unchaste?
He 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. (19: 20-21)
Surah Maryam was revealed at a time when Prophet Muhammad and
the new Makkan converts to Islam were being subject to increasing
persecution for their belief in the Unity (Oneness) of God. Unable to
ward off their plight, the Prophet asked them to migrate to other lands
where they could find freedom of worship and live in peace. When asked
as to where should they go, the Prophet advised them to escape to
Abyssinia in Africa, a Christian kingdom where "a king (the Negus)
rules with justice, a land of truthfulness, until God leads us to a way out
of our difficulty." Following the Prophets advice, the first group of
eleven Muslim men and women made their escape across the Red Sea to
Abyssinia, soon to be followed by others. This migration to Abyssinia has
come to be known in the annals of Islam as the First Hijrah (migration).
At the time only forty seven Muslims remained in Makkah while those
who sought freedom of worship in Abyssinia numbered over eighty.
Enraged by the flight of Muslims to Abyssinia, the Makkans
immediately dispatched two of their distinguished emissaries, Amr ibn
al As and Abdullah ibn Abu Rabiah to the Negus carrying precious
gifts, to plead the extradition of the Muslims back to Makkah. The
delegation presented their precious gifts to the Negus and his patriarch
and made its case to have the Muslims extradited back to their homeland.
The Negus assembled his court and bishops and sent for the Muslim
exiles. When all were assembled, the Negus addressed the Muslims:
"What is this religion wherein you have become separate from your
people, though you have not entered my religion nor that of any other
folk that surround us?"
Jafar ibn Abu Talib, the spokesman of the Muslims, answered him:
"O King! We were a people steeped in ignorance, worshipping idols,
eating unsacrificed carrion, committing abomination, and the strong
among us would devour the weak. Thus, we were until God sent us a
Messenger from our midst, one whose lineage, integrity, truthfulness,
purity and veracity we knew well. He called us unto God, that we should
testify to his Oneness and worship Him alone and renounce what we and
our fathers had worshiped in the way of stones and idols; and he
commanded us to speak truly, to fulfill our promises, to respect the ties
of kinship and the rights of our neighbors, and to refrain from crimes and
bloodshed. Therefore, we worship God alone, setting none beside Him,
counting as forbidden what he has forbidden and as licit, what He has
allowed. For these reasons our people have turned against us, and
have persecuted us to make us forsake our religion and revert from the
worship of God to the worship of idols. That is why we have come,
2
seeking justice and protection, to your country, having chosen you above
all others; and we hope, O King, that we shall not suffer wrong in your
land."2
The Negus further asked the Muslims if they had with them any
Revelation that their Prophet had brought them from God. When
Jafar answered that they had, he asked him to recite it. Jafar recited
the following passage from the suμrah of Mary, which had been revealed
shortly before their flight to Abyssinia:
Relate in the Book
(The story of) Mary,
When she withdrew
From her family
To a pale in the East
She placed a screen
(To screen herself) from them;
Then We sent to her
Our Angel, and he appeared
Before her as a man
In all respects.
She said: " I seek refuge
From thee to (Allah)
Most Gracious: (come not near)
If thou dost fear Allah."
He said: "Nay, I am only
A messenger from thy Lord,
(To announce) to thee
The gift of a holy son."
She said: "How shall I
Have a son, seeing that
No man has touched me,
And I am not unchaste?"
He said: "So (it will be):
Thy Lord saith `That is
Easy for Me: and (We
Wish) to appoint him
3
As a Sign unto men
And a Mercy from Us':
It is a matter
(So) decreed." (19: 16-21)
On hearing the recitation, the Negus and his bishops openly wept.
He said: "This has truly come from the same source as that which Jesus
brought." Addressing the two envoys of Quraysh he said: "You may
leave, for by God I will not hand them over to you; they shall not be
betrayed."
But the Quraysh delegation was not the one to give up that easily. They
decided to use yet another ploy. They approached the Negus a second
time claiming that Muslims aver that Jesus, the son of Mary is a slave.
They told the Negus, "O King, they utter an enormous lie about Jesus
the son of Mary. Do but send for them, and ask them what they say about
Jesus." The Negus resummoned the Muslims to his court and inquired
of them: "What do you say of Jesus, the son of Mary?" Jafar answered
with due reverence: "We say of him what our Prophet brought to us from
Allah that he is the servant of God and His Messenger and His Spirit and
His Word which He cast unto Mary the blessed virgin." The Negus
picked up a piece of wood and said to those gathered: "Jesus the son of
Mary exceeds not what you have said by the length of this stick." He then
turned to the Muslims and said: "Go your ways, for you are safe in my
land. Not for mountains of gold would I harm any one of you." Pointing
to the envoys of Quraysh, he demanded his attendant to "return unto these
two men their gifts, for I have no use for them." Thus, the envoys of
Quraysh returned to Makkah empty-handed, their mission having failed
while the Muslims stayed in peace in Abyssinia.
1. The sacred text of the Muslims, the Quran, has 114 suμrahs (chapters) of
varying length, providing guidance to humankind on all aspects of life in
this world and in the next. The Arabic text of the Quran comprises only the
inscribed form of the revelation brought by the angel Gabriel (Jibril in Arabic)
to Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, during the twenty three years
of his mission. The chapters in this volume are extracted from Abdullah Yusuf
Alis English translation of the Quran entitled The Meaning of the Holy Quran
published by Amana Publications, Beltsville, Maryland, 1989. The reader may
like to refer to that translation in order to follow up on information given in the
footnotes by the translator.
2. Martin Lings, Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources, Inner
Traditions International, Rochester, Vermont, 1983, pp. 83-84.