Maryam and Birth of Isa (Jesus): A Divine Miracles in Islamic Tradition
In the Islamic tradition, the story of Maryam (Mary) and her miraculous delivery of Isa (Jesus) is a tale of divine intervention, faith, and purity, deeply revered in the Quran. Maryam, held in high esteem as the epitome of virtue and devotion among women, is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran, which underscores her significance in Islamic theology.
According to Islamic scripture, Maryam was dedicated to the service of God from a young age, secluding herself in prayer. When the angel Jibreel (Gabriel) appeared to her with the news that she would bear a son, she was initially astonished, questioning how she could have a child when no man had touched her. The angel replied that for God, this was a simple matter, and thus Jesus would be a sign for humanity and a mercy from God. This conception was miraculous, emphasizing God's power over creation.
The Holy Quran narrates that when the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree, she wished she had died before this moment and been forgotten. However, a voice comforted her, instructing her to shake the trunk of the palm tree so that fresh, ripe dates would fall for her to eat, and to drink from a nearby stream. This provision was a mercy from God, easing her labor and sustaining her. After the birth of Isa, she faced her community, who accused her of impropriety. In response, she pointed to the infant Isa, who, by the will of God, spoke in her defense, proclaiming his prophethood and servitude to God even from the cradle.
This story in the Quran highlights themes of divine provision, the miracle of life, and the importance of faith and patience in the face of adversity. Maryam's story is celebrated as an example of unwavering devotion to God and is a testament to the miraculous in the everyday, serving as a source of inspiration and guidance for believers. In this chapter we will shade light on the issue of Mariam delivery and return to her people (in the book The Lamp in a Glass) – see Amazon and Lulu books.
Maryam is mentioned 27 times in the Holy Quran, and her mention is associated with Christ Jesus (peace be upon him), as she is his mother who conceived him by a direct order from God, as he created him from a mother without a father, just as he created Adam without having parents.
The process of creating a human being according to the law enacted by God for humans is summarized by the occurrence of a reductive division in the number of chromosomes inside the sperm to become half the number of chromosomes, i.e. 23, and the same thing happens inside the egg to be 23 chromosomes as well, so that a full number of chromosomes, 46, is born from fertilization, half from the mother and the other half from the father.
Modern science was able to clone an organism from a mother only, without performing meiosis, so the number of chromosomes remained the same in the mother's cell without fertilization.
Parthenogenesis is surprisingly common throughout the tree of life and is found in a variety of organisms, including plants, insects, fish, reptiles and even birds.
There are some organisms that reproduce sexually, but their females sometimes produce eggs that do not need to be fertilized and are able to divide and form a new organism from an unfertilized egg without the need for a male. Or, more likely, meiosis takes place and then the egg is fertilized by the Polar Body that results from the meiosis of the egg itself (in other words, the egg fertilizes itself), and these polar bodies can carry the Y element needed to determine the male's sex.
The process of oogenesis by meiosis results in a mature egg with half of the chromosomes and 3 polar bodies
In some creatures, the egg is fertilized by a virgin mating in which one of the polar bodies fertilizes the egg, so there is no need for a male
Science does not yet understand exactly how parthenogenesis occurs and how the offspring of the fetus is determined, but it is in fact very present and clear and may be done by polar bodies according to the opinion of specialists.
In any case, God Almighty is able to do everything (by be and it is).
“The parable of Jesus in the sight of Allah is like the parable of Adam, whom He created from dust and then said to him, ‘Be and it will be,’” (59 Al-Imran).
Hannah, the wife of Imran, a descendant of the Prophet David and Solomon (peace be upon them and upon Muhammad), was the mother of Maryam.
Hannah remained barren and did not conceive from Imran until she was sixty years old. One day she saw a bird feeding its chicks, and she wished to have a son so that she could love him like that bird, so she prayed to Allah to give her a son.
And she said: O Allah, if you give me a son, I will donate him to the service of the Holy House.
When the woman of Imran said, “Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb freely, so accept from me, for You are the All-Hearing and All-Knowing (35 Al-Imran).” (Holy Quran)
God answered her prayer and she became pregnant, and when she gave birth, the newborn was a female, not a male.
When she gave birth, she said, “Lord, I have given birth to a girl, and God knows what she has given birth to, and there is no male like a female, and I have named her Mary, and I will protect her and her offspring from the evil devil.” (36 Al-Imran, Al-Imran)
In this verse, the Qur'an has favored the female over the male, as the tool of similitude has entered the similitude (the female). Originally, it should have entered the similitude, but it entered here on the similitude because of the clarity of the situation, as the original is (not the female like the male), but it was changed from this original; because the meaning: the male who asked is not like the female who was given; because this female is better than him.
Hannah took Maryam to the temple and placed her with the pontiffs, the sons of Aaron (peace be upon him), and said to them, “Don't forget this prophetess.
Imran was a virtuous man and one of the great scholars of his time among the Israelites, and he died before the birth of Mary, so she was born an orphan, so the pontiffs competed as to who would sponsor Mary, and Zacharias asked to sponsor her and said: I am more entitled to her because I have her aunt (Elisha) my wife so he is her uncle. Imran, Maryam's father, was their teacher and the one who taught them their religion and favored them.
They agreed to stand on the riverbed and throw their pens (they chose the pen because Abu Maryam had taught them with the pen). The last pen that stays in the river without being washed away is the one that vouches for her. They threw their pens and their pens were washed away and Zechariah's pen stood up, meaning that it was not the last one, but it stood right in the river. They threw a second time and the same thing happened as the first time, i.e., Zechariah's pen stood in the river. They threw the third time and the pen stood in the river again, so Zakariyya sponsored her and he (her aunt's husband).
The Almighty said:
This is from the revelations of the unseen that we have revealed to you, and you were not there when they cast their pens to decide which of them would sponsor Mary, and you were not there when they were disputing (Al-Imran, 44)
Her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance and gave her a good upbringing, and Zachariah took care of her. Whenever Zachariah entered the room, he found food for her, and he said, “O Mary, where did you get this?” She said, “It is from God, for God provides for whomever He wishes without reckoning” (37 Al-Imran)
Mary grew up in the service of the temple, and throughout that time she was a devout worshipper in the sanctuary of the mosque, spending her nights in remembrance, worship, prayer, and fasting, as the angels began to speak to Mary while she was in the temple. The angels began to speak to Mary while she was in the temple, telling her that God had chosen her: “When the angels said, 'O Mary, Allah has chosen you, purified you, and set you apart from the women of the world. O Mary, obey your Lord, prostrate yourself and kneel with those who kneel.” (42 Al-Imran)
Then Gabriel (peace be upon him) descended upon her while she was in her seclusion worshiping Allah in the form of a man to announce to her the Messiah as her son;
She took a veil from them, so We sent our spirit to her, and he appeared to her as a normal human being. She said, “I seek refuge in the Merciful from you, if you are pious. He said, “I am the messenger of your Lord to give you a son. She said, “How can I have a son when no man has touched me, and I have not been a prostitute? He said, “Thus says your Lord, it is easy for me, and we will make him a sign to people and a mercy from us.” (18-21 Maryam – Holy Quran)
Maryam saw an angel in the form of a human being. He did not say a man, and the word “human being” means that he is a human being, neither female nor male, and he is straight, that is, not like other human beings, but free from evil and obscenity, so he is not human in nature, but free from evil and obscenity, human being from the Annunciation, not a man. When Mary saw this human being, she sought refuge from him by Al-Rahman, not by Allah, because she was not sure whether this human being was pious, i.e. worshipping Allah or not, so she sought refuge by Al-Rahman, who is the Lord of all things whether they accept or not (The Owner). Al-Rahman is one of 99 names of Allah.
Otherwise, if she had known that he was a believer in God, she would have said, “I seek refuge in Allah from you.” This is the name of divinity, which is believed only by those who worship God. This is the reason why the angle answered by saying, “I am the messenger of your Lord.” He did not say the messenger of your God or from God, because he used the similar term, which she used.
Then he used the word “to give” which is derived from Al-Wahab, which is the name of God, which means that this gift is free from objections and purposes, then Mary did not object but inquired how this could be, and the answer was that it is easy for God, and in the speech also used the word your Lord, which is a sign to the people and a mercy from God. In this verse, Mary was cleared of what the Jews said about her.
According to most sources, Mary was about 14 years old when she became pregnant and showed signs of pregnancy, so she went out in fear to a place where she could hide from the eyes of people so as not to attract attention. When she went into labor, she was sad and wished to die before that;
When the labor brought her to the trunk of the palm tree, she said, "O that I had died before this, and I was a forgotten person," (23 Maryam)
Maryam wished that she was dead and had been forgotten, which indicates her poor mental state. So, she needed something to reassure her, especially after returning to her people, so Isa began to speak to her, and this is what would help her among the people, Almighty God said:
And he called to her from underneath her, 'Do not grieve, your Lord has made you a sacred underneath you,'" (24 Maryam)
The sacred (in Arabic, sarya) is the honorable master, and this is the closest explanation, and it is also interpreted as a running river, but Maryam needed the child's words more because it is he who saves her from the sorrow she is in, not the running river. The one (from under her) must be the voice of the child, and this gave her relief and hope and took away her sadness.
Postpartum grief can cause death and other complications such as lactation anemia and postprandial depression;
“And shake unto thee the trunk of the palm tree, and it shall fall upon thee with fresh dates. Eat, drink, and rest your eyes, and if you see any human being, say, "I have made a vow of fasting to the Merciful (Alrahman), so I will not speak to a human being today." (25-26 Maryam)
Mary needed more reassurance, so she heard the voice (the voice of her son) telling her to shake (the trunk) of the palm tree and that if she saw a human being, she should leave the matter to him who would answer, and she would fast from speaking.
So, the newborn spoke to her before birth, during birth, and after birth, and this is what made her reassured, so she decided that she would return and the newborn would defend her with his words with the people, or she would fast from speech.
In the time of Maryam (peace be upon her), fasting from speech was a well-known practice that people resorted to in times of distress and adversity, to enhance their worship of God or to thank God, such as the fast of Prophet Zacharias.
Fasting from speech has many medical and psychological benefits. Language and social communication require brain work that can be exhausting because it is about generating thoughts and converting them into understandable language, as well as converting the language of others into thoughts that the brain analyzes and responds to, a very complex process known as (Thought Processing) that involves all areas of the brain. This process is usually more stressful and can go wrong when a person is in a state of stress. Fasting from speech is a rest for the brain and brain from the fatigue caused by thinking, analyzing and speaking, and relaxation from the burden of constant speech that generates calm and comfort for the mind, the soul, and getting rid of anxiety, stress, repression, and social and psychological pressures.
Mary looked at the palm tree and found only a stump with no moisture in it, and the season was not yet for dates, but she complied with the call and began to shake the stump, which in itself helps in childbirth because it expands the pelvis, strengthens its muscles, and increases uterine contractions to expel the fetus. The verb "shake" has a root that indicates turbulence and movement, such as the shaking of the wind, meaning (its movement and sound), and this is what the woman makes when giving birth, inhaling, exhaling and pushing without disturbance. In the Arabic language, the letter "eh" is a weak letter, so it means pushing gently, which is the opposite of the verb (az), which means moving, stirring and disturbing, like the fizzing of boiling water, and then since the letter "huzai" is a letter of strength and intensity, it is a strong push, as in the words of Almighty God;
“Did you not see that We have sent the devils against the unbelievers, so that they may be augmented?" (83 Maryam)- haza in Arabic.
Because Maryam complied with the command, dates began to fall on her, and falling implies continuity, and the harvest is what is good and fit to be taken care of.
Here it must be pointed out that the trunk of the palm tree cannot be shaken easily, so how is it when she is an exhausted, weak and sad woman in labor? God was able to provide her with whatever He wanted, as it happened before in the temple when the fruit came to her out of season, but wisdom required that she help herself to give birth, and if God had shaken that trunk and Mary saw it, it may have increased her fear, but her compliance with the command helped her, and this reminds us of the compliance of (Abraham and Ismail, peace be upon them) where He said: Almighty, who said:
When he came with him, he said, "My son, I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you, so see what you see." He said, "O father, do as you are commanded, and you will find me, if Allah wills, of those who are patient" (102 al-Safat).
Dates fruits contains oxytocin in large quantities, which helps with childbirth, uterine contractions, milk production, and stopping bleeding. It is a complete food of proteins, sugar, fibers, and easily absorbed sugars that help avoid low blood sugar in the mother and the fetus, which is a dangerous condition for the baby's brain if it occurs. These are all things that God could have avoided, but He is able to make everything a cause, so He takes the causes. So, the trunk of the palm tree prepared some reasons for the birth and prepared water, the right food, and the right position.
Maryam was reassured when the newborn spoke to her, which made her not afraid when she returned to the people. She returned, and they blamed her for what she had done;
She brought him to her people carrying him
They said, "O Mary, you have brought a terrible thing.
sister of Aaron, your father was not a bad man and your mother was not a prostitute (27-28 Maryam)
Maryam pointed to the newborn, reassured that he would speak and defend his mother, and indeed this happened;
She pointed to him (because she was fasting from speaking)
They said, "How can we speak to someone who was in the cradle as a child?
He said, "I (the servant of Allah) have given me the Scripture (and made me a prophet)
He made me blessed wherever I was, and commanded me to pray and give zakat (charity) as long as I live.
Peace be upon me on the day I am born, on the day I die, and on the day I am resurrected (30-33 Maryam)
It is surprising that we refer to the verse:
Therefore, if you see any of the humans, say, "I have made a vow of fasting to Al-Rahman, so I will not speak to any human being today" (26:maryam)
This is because Al-Rahman is the name of the Lord, who is the owner of everything sane and non-sane, and who acts without speech, i.e., he does not need to say "Be" to be, so he acts without movement or speech, as he is the Lord of the heavens and the earth;
The Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between them is the Merciful One (Al-Rahman), from whom they have no speech (37 Al-Naba')
Mary was speechless at the time, and the one who uttered Isa was the Rahman, so he made Mary's innocence through the utterance of the infant. This is a miracle aimed at obtaining merciful innocence. It is also the innocence of polytheism and the trinity that will occur later, because the first word that Isa said was "He is the servant of Allah and made him a prophet" and this is important for what he will become in the future. The Almighty said;
And He speaks to people in the crib and as an infant, and among the righteous (46 Al-Imran)
And the Almighty said:
I supported you with the Holy Spirit, and you spoke to people in the crib and as a child, and I taught you the Scripture and wisdom (110 al-Ma'idah)
Despite its high importance, the issue of Jesus (peace be upon him) being spoken to in the cradle by his followers was not mentioned in the Bible. It was of paramount importance to his mother's innocence of obscenity in a merciful innocence. The reason why it was not mentioned by his followers throughout the ages is because Isa's first words were "I am a servant of God, then he said that he is a prophet." If they had mentioned that he spoke in the cradle, they would have had to mention what he said, as this is his first speech, which undermines the entire Christian doctrine that considers Isa to be the son of God or even God.
