Double-page from the Qur'an with chapter heading and first twenty nine verses of surah Maryam. This spread marking the middle of the text also has elaborate decorative panels with Qur'anic passages at the top and bottom.Iran, 1186.Chester Beatty Library
From the perspective of Islamic tradition, (asbāb al-nuzūl,أسباب النزول), it is an earlier "Meccan Surah", believed to have been revealed sooner than the later revelations inMedina.[4] Theodor Nöldeke'schronology identifies this Surah as the 58th Surah delivered. Traditional Egyptian chronology places it as the 44th.
23-27 Mary in distress is comforted by Jesus28-29 Mary brings her child to her people, who reproach her30-34 Jesus (speaking in infancy) vindicates his mother and describes his own prophetic character35 Jesus the Word of Truth
36 God has no son37 God alone to be worshipped
38-41 The miserable fate of Jewish and Christian sectaries
The story of Abraham:
42-46He reproaches his father for idolatry
47 His father threatens to stone him
48-50 Abraham prays for his father, but separates himself from him
50-51 God gives himIsaac and Jacob, who were notableprophets
The chapter opens with theBismillah and the "mysterious letters," ormuqattaʿat:Kaf;Ha;Ya;'Ayn; andSad.[6] Muslims believe these letters to be the peculiar marks of the Quran, and to conceal several profound mysteries, the certain understanding of which has not been communicated to any mortal except for Muhammad.[7]
The remaining 97 verses may be divided many ways.[8]
And remember in the book of the Koran the story of Mary; when she retired from her family to a place towards the east,[p 1] and took a veil to conceal herself from them; and we sent our spiritGabriel unto her, and he appeared unto her in the shape of a perfect man.[q 1]
[Note 1] 20 She said, I fly for refuge unto the merciful God, that he may defend me from thee: if thou fearest him, thou wilt not approach me.
He answered, Verily I am the messenger of thy LORD, and am sent to give thee a holy son.
She said, How shall I have a son, seeing a man hath not touched me, and I am no harlot?
Gabriel replied, So shall it be: thy LORD saith, This is easy with me; and we will perform it, that we may ordain him for a sign unto men, and a mercy from us: for it is a thing which is decreed.
۞[12] Wherefore she conceived him;[r 1] and she retired aside with him in her womb to a distant place;[s 1] and the pains of child-birth came upon her near the trunk of a palm-tree.[t 1] She said, Would to GOD I had died :before this, and had become a thing forgotten, and lost in oblivion.
And he who was beneath her called to her,[u 1] saying, be not grieved; now hath GOD provided a stream under thee;[16]
and do thou shake the body of the palm-tree, and it shall let fall ripe dates upon thee ready gathered.[x 1] And eat, and drink, and calm thy mind.[y 1] Moreover, if thou see any man, and he question thee, say, Verily I have vowed a fast unto the Merciful: wherefore I will by no means speak to a man this day.[z 1]
So she brought the child to her people, carrying him in her arms. And they said unto her, O Mary, now hast thou done a strange thing: O sister of Aaron, thy father was not a bad man, neither was thy mother a harlot.
30 But she made signs unto the child to answer them; and they said, How shall we speak to him, who is an infant in the cradle?
Whereupon the child said, Verily I am the servant of GOD.;[b 1] he hath given me the book of the gospel, and hath appointed me a prophet.[17]
The first section, verses 2–40, begins with the story of ProphetZachariah and the birth of his sonJohn, the story of Mary and the birth of her son Jesus, and a commentary on Jesus' identity according to Islam which rejects theChristian claim that he is God's son.[18]
InQ19:28, she is referred to as 'Sister ofAaron'. Several occurrences of the word "أخ" are found in the Quran when referring to kinship or sharing the same ancestor.[19] According to authentic Hadith,a Christian from Najran did inquire about the verse, to whichMuhammad replied:
"They used to name their children after the prophets and the righteous who came before them."[20][21]
"Several Christian writers think the Quran stands convicted of a manifest falsehood in this particular, but I am afraid the Muslims may avoid the charge; as they do by several answers. Some say the Virgin Mary had really a brother named Aaron, who had the same father, but a different mother; others suppose Aaron the brother of Moses is here meant, but say Mary is called his sister, either because she was of the Levitical race (as by her being related to Elizabeth, it should seem she was), or by way of comparison; others say that it was a different person of that name who was contemporary with her, and conspicuous for his good or bad qualities, and that they likened her to him either by way of commendation or of reproach."[28]
In its original Arabic, the text of chapter 19 progresses through a series of varyingrhyme structures that correspond to the content being discussed. Throughout the initial narration of the stories of Zachariah and John, Mary and Jesus, and other prophets, verses rhyme based on the syllable 'ya'. When the text moves on to a commentary on the true identity of Jesus, words rhyme due to a long 'ee' or 'oo' preceding a nasal 'm' or 'n', which is considered to give an air of settledness or finality to the subjects being discussed. The first rhyme scheme is then resumed during further accounts of earlier prophets and changes to a rhyme based on a medium 'a' following a voiced 'd' when the Surah discusses punishments for those who reject truth and the prophets. The strength of this vocalization is exchanged for the stronger still double 'd' sound when denouncing unbelievers for their criticism.[8]
Chapter 19 is the only surah in the Qur'an that is named after a woman, initially known as KA-HA. Mary, the figure from whom this Surah takes its name. Jesus is referred to by his familial connection to her inQ19:34, the identifying title 'son of Mary' places startling emphasis on Mary's motherhood in a culture in which individuals were identified by their descent from male family member. This emphasis draws attention to the unique circumstances of Jesus's birth; it was a miraculous moment that confirmed biological power of Mary only, because no male (human being) was needed. However, the narrative rejects the Christian belief that he Jesus is living and breathing God. The text describes the agony of Mary's childbirth in great detail, including her wish that she had died long ago in order to avoid such pain. Despite this great hardship, God is portrayed as compassionate and attentive to Mary's needs; He urges her not to worry and provides her with food. Feminist reading of the text points to this treatment of childbirth as verification of the process's special significance.[32]
Other scholars point to the interaction between Mary and the angel Gabriel as indicative of traditional gender roles at the time; when Mary, a solitary female, encounters the male angel, her first reaction is fear of the impropriety of the situation and uncertainty regarding the angel's intentions. She can hear the angel's message and question him only after he assures her that he has come as a messenger from God.[33]
Maryam in Syriac (ܡܪܝܡ) is a common adjective connoting blessing and perhaps the verb "[God] exalts her".
The verses from Maryam 19:35–37, which are seen by Muslims as strongly reaffirming Jesus' prophethood to God, are quoted in inscriptions in the oldest extant Islamic monument,The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.[citation needed]
The second section, verses 41–65, tells ofAbraham's departure from his family's idolatrous ways and then refers to many other prophets. The text discusses the various responses of those who heard their prophecy and the fates those hearers met; throughout these descriptions, the oneness of God is emphasized.[34]
The third section, verses 66–98, confirms the reality ofresurrection and offers depictions of theDay of Judgment alongside depictions of this life.[35]
folio 1 verso (right) and folio 2 recto (left); Q19:91–98 above triple lineComparison of a 21st-century Quran (left) and the Birmingham Quran manuscript;Q20:1–11 below triple line
The Manuscript has beenradiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE (in the Islamic calendar, between 56BH and 25AH).[2][3] Saud al-Sarhan, Director ofCenter for Research and Islamic Studies inRiyadh, considers that the parchment might in fact have been reused as apalimpsest.[37] Saud's perspective has been backed by a number of Saudi-based experts in Quranic history who deny that the Birmingham/Paris Quran could have been written during the lifetime of Muhammad. They emphasize that while Muhammad was alive, Quranic texts were written without anychapter decoration, marked verse endings or use of colored inks, and did not follow any standard sequence of surahs. They maintain that those features were introduced into Quranic practice in the time of the Caliph Uthman, and so it would be entirely possible that the Birmingham leaves could have been written then, but not earlier.[38]
Q19:91–92 dissents from theTrinitarian Christian practice of calling upon God in the name of his ‘son’.[39]91That they attribute to the Most Merciful a son.92And it is not appropriate for the Most Merciful that He should take a son.[40]Q19:96 supports a requirement for "Faith and deeds"[41]96Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds – the Most Merciful will appoint for them affection.[42]
^p viz., To the eastern part of the temple; or to a private chamber in the house, which opened to the east: whence, saysBaidawi, the Christians pray towards that quarter. (There is a tradition, that when the virgin was grown to years of puberty, she used to leave her apartment in the temple, and retire toZacharias's house to her aunt, when her courses came upon her; and so soon as she was clean, she returned again to the temple: and that at the time of the angel's visiting her, she was at her aunt's on the like occasion, and was sitting to wash herself, in an open place, behind a veil to prevent her being seen.[9][10] But others more prudently suppose the design of her retirement was to pray.[11]
^q Like a full-grown but beardless youth. Baidawi, not contented with having given one good reason why he appeared in that form, viz., to moderate her surprise, that she might hear his message with less shyness, adds, that perhaps it might be to raise an emotion in her, and assist her conception.
^r For Gabriel blew into the bosom of her shift, which he opened with his fingers,[9] and his breath reaching her womb, caused the conception.[13][10] The age of the Virgin Mary at the time of her conception was thirteen, or, as others say, ten; and she went six, seven, eight, or nine months with him, according to different traditions; though some say the child was conceived at its full growth of nine months, and that she was delivered of him within an hour after.[10][9]
^s To conceal her delivery, she went out of the city by night, to a certain mountain.
^t The palm to which she fled, that she might lean on it in her travail, was a withered trunk, without any head or verdure, and this happened in the winter season; notwithstanding which it miraculously supplied her with fruits for her refreshment;[10][9][11] as is mentioned immediately. It has been observed, that the Mohammedan account of the delivery of the Virgin Mary very much resembles that ofLatona, as described by the poets,[14] not only in this circumstance of their laying hold on a palm-tree[15] (though some say Latona embraced an olive-tree, or an olive and a palm, or else two laurels), but also in that of their infants speaking; which Apollo is fabled to have done in the womb.9
^u This some imagine to have been the child himself; but others suppose it was Gabriel who stood somewhat lower than she did.[13][10] According to a different reading this passage may be rendered, And he called to her from beneath her, &c. And some refer the pronoun, translated her, to the palm-tree; and then it should be beneath it, &c.
^x And accordingly she had no sooner spoken it than the dry trunk revived, and shot forth green leaves, and a head loaded with ripe fruit.
^z During which she was not to speak to anybody, unless to acquaint them with the reason of her silence: and some suppose she did that by signs.
^b These were the first words which were put into the mouth of JESUS, to obviate the imagination of his partaking of the divine nature, or having a right to the worship of mankind, on account of his miraculous speaking so soon after his birth.[10]
^Wherry, Elwood Morris (1896).A Complete Index toSale's Text, Preliminary Discourse, and Notes. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
^Haleem, M. A. S. Abdel.The Qur'an: Sura 19:1. New York: Oxford University Press.
^8 Homer. Hymn. in Apoll. Callimach. Hymn. in Delum.
^Sale actually translates سريا or Sry' as rivulet (small stream of water).Christoph Luxenberg believes that the real syriac word is ܫܪܝܐ or Shrya (made legitimate) rendering the true meaning: "Do not be sad your Lord has made your delivery legitimate".
^Sadeghi & Goudarzi 2012, p. 63. The hypothetical interpolation of texts for the missing parts in this and the next row are based on Sadeghi & Goudarzi's fn. 216 and 218.
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