"And remember Mary in the Book, when she withdrew from her family to an eastern place. And she veiled herself from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit, and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. She said, 'I seek refuge from thee in the Compassionate, if you are reverent!' He said, 'I am but a messenger of thy Lord, to bestow upon thee a pure boy.' She said, 'How shall I have a boy when no man has touched me, nor have I been unchaste?' He said, 'Thus shall it be. Thy Lord says, 'It is easy for Me.'' And [it is thus] that We might make him a sign unto mankind, and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter decreed. So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a place far off. And the pants of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date palm. She said, 'Would that I had died before this and was a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten!' So he called out to her from below her, 'Grieve not! Thy Lord has placed a rivulet beneath thee. And shake toward thyself the trunk of the date palm; fresh, ripe dates shall fall upon thee. So eat and drink and cool thine eye. And if thou seest any human being say, "Verily I have vowed a vast unto the Compassionate, so I shall not speak this day to any man."' Then she came with him unto her people, carrying him. They said, 'O Mary! Thou hast brought an amazing thing!' O sister of Aaron! Thy was not not an evil man, nor was thy mother unchaste.' Then she pointed to him. They said, 'How shall we speak to one who is yet a child in the cradle?' He said, "Truly I am a servant of God. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet. He has made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I live, and [has made me] dutiful toward my mother. And He has not made me domineering, wretched. Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised alive!' That is Jesus son of Mary - a statement of the truth, which they doubt. It is not for God to take a child. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, 'Be!' and it is."
Quran 19:16-35
I thought that in honor of Christmas I'd feature the Quranic version of the story of Mary and Jesus. It is drawn, not surprisingly, from the nineteenth surah, Maryam. As we know Mary is mentioned more times in the Quran than in the Bible, and she's the only woman mentioned by name in the entire Quran. As is always the case in the Quran the stories that you're familiar with from the Old or New Testament are presented in shorter versions, meant less as a history and more as a point for reflection. So, not surprisingly, this version is brief. It is similar to the Biblical version, keeping in mind that there are differing versions in the Gospels, but in other ways different. There is no Joseph here and Mary is terribly alone, with no manger scene and no visitors. The biggest difference, obviously, is the Islamic emphasis that this happens because God wants it to happen, and should not be taken as proof that Jesus is the son of God (since in Islam, as in Judaism, no one is the son of God). The surah opens with a retelling of the story of Zachariah, which reminds the reader, and sets up the following Jesus story, that God does sometimes place babies in wombs, old or virginal, wherein it seems illogical or unbelievable.
Now, on a purely personal note, simply because I converted years ago this doesn't mean that I no longer love Christmas, because I think I love it just as much, if not more, than I ever did. I love what it represents, in much the same way that I love Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Part of it, undeniably, is history. I will sometimes tell my brothers and sisters that there is no way that I can ever love or even appreciate Ramadan as they do because I do not have memories to draw upon. Christmas has an emotional attachment which will never fade with age. I guess I'm the Muslim version of the old professor from The Bishop's Wife.
Quran 19:16-35
I thought that in honor of Christmas I'd feature the Quranic version of the story of Mary and Jesus. It is drawn, not surprisingly, from the nineteenth surah, Maryam. As we know Mary is mentioned more times in the Quran than in the Bible, and she's the only woman mentioned by name in the entire Quran. As is always the case in the Quran the stories that you're familiar with from the Old or New Testament are presented in shorter versions, meant less as a history and more as a point for reflection. So, not surprisingly, this version is brief. It is similar to the Biblical version, keeping in mind that there are differing versions in the Gospels, but in other ways different. There is no Joseph here and Mary is terribly alone, with no manger scene and no visitors. The biggest difference, obviously, is the Islamic emphasis that this happens because God wants it to happen, and should not be taken as proof that Jesus is the son of God (since in Islam, as in Judaism, no one is the son of God). The surah opens with a retelling of the story of Zachariah, which reminds the reader, and sets up the following Jesus story, that God does sometimes place babies in wombs, old or virginal, wherein it seems illogical or unbelievable.
Now, on a purely personal note, simply because I converted years ago this doesn't mean that I no longer love Christmas, because I think I love it just as much, if not more, than I ever did. I love what it represents, in much the same way that I love Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Part of it, undeniably, is history. I will sometimes tell my brothers and sisters that there is no way that I can ever love or even appreciate Ramadan as they do because I do not have memories to draw upon. Christmas has an emotional attachment which will never fade with age. I guess I'm the Muslim version of the old professor from The Bishop's Wife.
No comments:
Post a Comment