The Nativity as Told in the Quran
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Author: Translated by Ismail I. Nawwab
Released 28 December 2005
Of the Biblical personages appearing in the Quran, Islam’s scripture, the most prominent are Abraham, Moses and Jesus. One of the earliest Quranic chapters revealed to Muhammad in Makkah is the fact honorifically entitled Mary (Maryam in Arabic) and has a section devoted to the annunciation, conception and birth of Jesus. The reverence in which Jesus and Mary are held by Muslims, combined with the poignancy of the Virgin’s circumstances, the moving tenor of the text, and the melodious rhythm of the verses in the original Arabic, have earned this passage universal appeal in the world of Islam. The following translation of some of the relevant verses of Mary (Chapter XIX, vv. 16-34), undertaken especially for the readers of The Arabian Sun, attempts to reflect some of the meaning and beauty of the sonorous Arabic.
Mention Mary in the Scripture, when she withdrew from her people to the eastern place, and she placed a veil to screen herself from them; then We sent unto her Our Spirit, who presented himself to her as a perfect man.
She said, “I take refuge in the All-merciful from thee if thou art God-fearing.”
Said he, “I am a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a boy most pure.”
She said, “How can I have a son when no mortal has touched me, neither have I been unchaste?”
Said he, “So shall it be! Thy Lord has said, ‘It is easy for Me; and We will make him a sign unto man, and a mercy from Us; it is a matter decreed.’”
So she conceived him, and withdrew with him to a remote place.
And the birth pangs drove her to the trunk of the palm-tree. She said, “Would that I had died before this, and become a thing forgotten and out of sight.”
Then he called to her from below her, “Grieve not! See, thy Lord has placed beneath thee a rivulet.
Shake also towards thee the palm-trunk and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe.
So eat and drink and be consoled, and if thou dost see any mortal, say, ‘I have vowed to the All-merciful a fast, and I will not this day speak with any human being.’”
Then she brought the child to her folk, carrying him. They said, “Mary, thou hast surely done a monstrous thing! Kin of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother unchaste.”
Then she pointed to the babe. They said, “How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?”
He said, “I am the servant of God. He has given me the Scripture, and made me a Prophet. Blessed has He made me wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and almsgiving, so long as I live;
And He has made me dutiful to my mother; He has not made me overbearing, unblest. Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up alive!”
Such was Jesus, son of Mary, in word of truth, about which they dispute…
Translated by Ismail I. Nawwab
The Arabian Sun – December 23, 1981
Professor Ismail Ibrahim Nawwab is a former university professor and general manager at Saudi Aramco. He is co-editor of the "The Foundations of Islam."