Maryam (surah)

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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
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Qur'an made for emperor Akbar with chapter heading and first thirty one verses of sura Maryam. Lahore, 1573/1574. British Library

Maryam

Christian belief. It recounts the events leading up to the birth of Jesus, subject matter covered in Luke 1 of the Christian Bible. The text of the surah refers to many known prophetic figures, including Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Ishmael, Idris, Adam, Zechariah and Noah
.

The

ah
, includes verses 2–28.

From the perspective of Islamic tradition, (

asbāb al-nuzūl), it is an earlier "Meccan Surah", believed to have been revealed sooner than the later revelations in Medina.[4] Theodor Nöldeke
's chronology identifies this Surah as the 58th Surah delivered. Traditional Egyptian chronology places it as the 44th.

Summary

Mary and Jesus in a Persian miniature
verse 58
in Q19 Maryam.

1 The "mysterious letters"

The chapter opens with the

Ya; 'Ayn; and Sad.[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]

16–30 Story of Maryam

Q19:16–30 Translator

Arabic King Faud I Edition
. He interprets al-kitab as "the book of the Koran" when he translates the Story of Mary in the Quran

And remember in the book of the Koran the story of Mary; when she retired from her family to a place towards the east,
Gabriel 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]

2–40 Jesus

See also: Jesus in Islam

The first section, verses 2–40, begins with the story of Prophet Zachariah and the birth of his son John, the story of Mary and the birth of her son Jesus, and a commentary on Jesus' identity according to Islam which rejects the Christian claim that he is God's son.[18]

28 Sister of Aaron

In Q19:28, she is referred to as 'Sister of Aaron'. 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 which Muhammad replied:

"They used to name their children after the prophets and the righteous who came before them."[20]

Being the namesake of prophetess Miriam, the verse links Mary to Aaron specifically instead of Moses, who himself is a key figure in the Quran.[21][22][23] According to Sahih International, the Arabic wording implies a descendancy of Aaron:

"O sister [i.e. descendant] of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste."[24]

While Mary's genealogy is unknown in the Bible, her relative Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron.[25][26] Orientalist George Sale writes:

"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."[27]

Rhyme structures

In its original Arabic, the text of chapter 19 progresses through a series of varying

rhyme 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]

2–28 Sanaa 1

The sequence of the

Chapter 9 (al-Tawbah) (Q9:122-129).[28]

Recto

Location [29] Visible Traces Reconstruction Standard Text
Quran 19:2[30] Line 24 ر ﺣ[ـﻤ]ﻪ رَحْمَةِ "mercy" رَحْمَتِ "have mercy"
Quran 19:3 Line 25 ا د ٮا د ی ر ٮک ر ﻛ[ـر] ٮا إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّــكَ زَكَرِيَّا "When your Lord called Zechariah" إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّــهُ "When his Lord called"
Quran 19:4 Line 25 و ٯل ر ٮی وَقٰلَ رَبِّــي "And my Lord said" قالَ رَبِّ "God said"
Quran 19:4 Line 26 و ٯل ر ٮی ا سٮعل ا لر ا س سٮٮا And my Lord said: “Let the head be young.” وَقٰلَ رَبِّي ٱشْتَعَلَ ٱلرَّأْسُ شَيْباً قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ ٱلْعَظْمُ مِنِّي وَٱشْتَعَلَ ٱلرَّأْسُ شَيْبًا The Lord said that while they were greater than me, the head was young
Quran 19:4 Line 26 و لم ا کں ر ٮ ٮـ(ـد) عا ک وَلَمْ أَکُنْ رَبِّ بِدُعَاءِكَ "And I was not a lord by your supplication" وَلَمْ أَكُن بِدُعَائِكَ رَبِّ "And I was not called by your Lord"
Quran 19:5 Line 27 و ﺣ(ڡـ)ـٮ ا لمو ل مں و [ر] ا ی "I feared my mind" وَ خِفْتُ ٱلْمَوَٰل مِن وَرٰاءِى وَإِنِّى خِفْتُ ٱلْمَوَٰلِىَ مِن وَرٰاءِى "And I have eased my mind from behind me"

Verso

Main article:
Sanaa 1 § Folio 22

34 Significance of Mary

Chapter 19 is the only surah in the Qur'an that is named after a woman. Mary, the figure from whom this Surah takes its name. Jesus is referred to by his familial connection to her in Q19:34, 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 not a biological process, and no father was involved, but it rejects the Christian belief that he was begotten by 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.[31]

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.[32]

Maryam in Syriac (ܡܪܝܡ) is a common adjective connoting blessing and perhaps the verb "[God] exalts her".

35–37 Dome of the Rock

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
]

41–65 Abraham

The second section, verses 41–65, tells of Abraham'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.[33]

66–98 Islamic view of the Trinity

See also: Islamic view of the Trinity

The third section, verses 66–98, confirms the reality of

resurrection and offers depictions of the Day of Judgment alongside depictions of this life.[34]

91–98 Birmingham manuscript

folio 1 verso (right) and folio 2 recto (left); Q19:91–98 above triple line
Q20
:1–11 below triple line

The

Arabic language in Hijazi script
by unknown scribe(s).

The Manuscript has been

radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE (in the Islamic calendar, between 56 BH and 25 AH).[2][3] Saud al-Sarhan, Director of Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, considers that the parchment might in fact have been reused as a palimpsest.[36] 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 any chapter 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.[37]

Q19:91–92 dissents from the

Faith and deeds"[40] 96Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds – the Most Merciful will appoint for them affection.[41]

Notes

The notes are mostly by Sale who in turn relied heavily on

cleric regular of the Mother of God of Lucca:[42]

  1. Zacharias'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]
  1. ^ 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.
  1. ^ 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]
  1. ^ s To conceal her delivery, she went out of the city by night, to a certain mountain.
  1. Latona, 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
  1. ^ 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.
  1. ^ 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.
  1. ^ y Literally, thine eye.
  1. ^ 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.
  1. ^ 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]
  1. ^ Arabic script in Unicode symbol for a Quran verse, U+06DD, page 3, Proposal for additional Unicode characters.

References

  1. ^ Ibn Kathir. "Tafsir Ibn Kathir (English): Surah Maryam". Quran 4 U. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Birmingham Qur'an manuscript dated among the oldest in the world". University of Birmingham. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b "'Oldest' Koran fragments found in Birmingham University". BBC. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  4. ^ Sadeghi & Bergmann 2010, p. 348.
  5. Sale's Text, Preliminary Discourse, and Notes. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain
    .
  6. ^ Haleem, M. A. S. Abdel. The Qur'an: Sura 19:1. New York: Oxford University Press.
  7. Preliminary Discourse 3
  8. ^ a b Qutb, Sayyid. In the Shade of the Qur'an. http://kalamullah.com/shade-of-the-quran.html
  9. ^ a b c d Yahya
  10. ^
    Baidawi
  11. ^
    Al Zamakh
  12. ^ The main purpose of this dividing system is to facilitate recitation of the Qur'an.
  13. ^ a b Tafsir al-Jalalayn
  14. ^ Vide Sikii not. in Evang. Infant. p. 9, 21, &c.
  15. ^ 8 Homer. Hymn. in Apoll. Callimach. Hymn. in Delum.
  16. 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".
  17. ^ Translation: George Sale.
  18. ^ Haleem, M. A. S. Abdel. The Qur'an: Sura 19:2–40. New York: Oxford University Press.
  19. ^ Quran "7:65". "7:73". "7:85". "26:105-106". "26:162".
  20. Muslim Ibn Al-Hajjaj (2013). The English Translation of Sahih Muslim (PDF). Translated by Nassirudin Al-Khattab. Reading: Darussalam
    . p. 501. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  21. ^ "The Historical Mary". America Magazine. 19 October 2005.
  22. ^ "Who Was Mary the Mother of Jesus?". Christianity.com.
  23. ^ "Tafsir Ibn-Kathir, 19:28".
  24. ^ "Sahih International, 19:28".
  25. ^ KJV Bible Luke 1:34–36
  26. ^ KJV Bible Luke 1:5
  27. ^ George Sale (1733). The Koran (PDF). Reading. p. 233. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  28. ^ Sadeghi & Goudarzi 2012.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ Sahih International
  31. ^ Wadud, Amina. Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
  32. ISBN 9781883991692
    .
  33. ^ Haleem, M. A. S. Abdel. The Qur'an: Sura 19:41–65. New York: Oxford University Press.
  34. ^ Haleem, M. A. S. Abdel. The Qur'an: Sura 19:66–98. New York: Oxford University Press.
  35. ^ "Tests show UK Quran manuscript is among world's oldest". CNN. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  36. ^ Dan Bilefsky (22 July 2015), "A Find in Britain: Quran Fragments Perhaps as Old as Islam", The New York Times
  37. ^ "Experts doubt oldest Quran claim". Saudi Gazette. 27 July 2015. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  38. Sam Gerrans
  39. Sahih International translation
  40. ^ Gerrans p1034
  41. ^ Q19:96 Sahih International
  42. ODNB
    , 28 May 2015

Sources

External links

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