Mary in the Quran

No woman was honored in the Quran than Mary. In fact, no woman was mentioned in the Quran by name except Mary. Second, A whole chapter in the Quran was dedicated to her and her family. Her story in the Quran is so beautiful and inspiring that I would like to share some of its highlights with the readers.

Let us begin by talking about her family and her upbringing. The wife of Imran, a family highly honored in the Quran:

“ God has bestowed His favor upon Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of Imran upon all other people.” Quran, 3:33

The wife of Imran made a vow to God to dedicate her baby, not yet born to the service of God and His house of worship. But when she delivered the baby, it turned out to be a girl and not a boy as she was hoping or expecting, because boys only serve in the House of the Lord.

The story in the Quran continues to say that God has accepted the gift kindly and put the newborn baby who was named Mary in the care of Zacharia. Something must have happened in the life of the family of Imran that made Mary available for adoption. A fierce competition took place as to who would have the honor of adopting her, but Zacharia won.

The Quran does not mention who are Mary’s parents even though the apocryphal gospel of James identifies them as St. Joachim and St. Anne. This is doubtful, from an Islamic perspective because the Quran tells us that the adoption could be the result of either one or both parents passing away or that they were not able to provide for the newborn baby. In either case that excludes the possibility of St. Joachim and St. Anne being the parents because they lived long and comfortable lives.

The Quran does mention however, that whenever Zacharia would enter Mary’s sanctuary he would find her with ample provisions which prompted him to ask her how she was getting those provisions and she answered that they are from God for God provides for whomever He wills. Thereupon Zacharia himself is encouraged to ask for God’s favor to grand him a child despite his old age. God grants him his wish and his wife becomes pregnant with John, later to be the Baptist. John will be the subject of another lecture. Now let us review the Quranic verses that summarize the events.

“God has favored Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of Imran above all other creation. Offspring one of the other, And God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

The wife of Imran said, ‘My Lord, I have consecrated fully to You What is in my womb So, accept it from me for You are the All-hearing, all-knowing.’ But when she gave birth, she said ‘My Lord: I gave birth to a baby girl. ‘And God is aware of what she delivered and a boy is not the same as a girl and I named her Mary, and I beseech You to protect her and her prodigy from Satan, the accursed.’

Her Lord accepted her graciously and raised her beautifully and entrusted her into the care of Zechariah And whenever Zechariah happened to enter her sanctuary, He found her with provisions. He said: where have you gotten this from? She said: it is from God; God provides whatever He wills without measure.”

Quran, 3:33–37

“Upon which Zacharia prayed while standing in the sanctuary saying: My Lord grant me from Your bounty a virtuous offspring for You are truly the Hearer of prayers.” Quran, 38

God answered his prayers and granted him John, later to become the Baptist which will be the subject of a future article.