Dr. Abdel Hamdi Eliwa
She is Maryam bint Imran the daughter of the priest Imran
and his wife Hanna, who when pregnant with Maryam vowed to
dedicate the child she bore to the service of the Holy Temple
in Jerusalem and at her birth accordingly named her Maryam,
meaning “servant of her lord” Allah the Almighty
said
{Behold! A woman of 'Imran said: "O my Lord! I do dedicate
unto Thee what is in my womb for Thy special service: So accept
this of me: For Thou hearest and knowest all things."
When she was delivered, she said: "O my Lord! Behold!
I am delivered of a female child!"- and Allah knew best
what she brought forth- "And no wise is the male Like
the female. I have named her Mary, and I commend her and her
offspring to Thy protection from the Evil One, the Rejected.}
3: 35-36
The mother of Maryam expected a male child. Was she disappointed
that it was a female child? No for she had faith and she knew
that Allah’s Fate was better than any wishes of hers.
Maryam was no ordinary girl: only Allah knew what it was that
he mother brought forth.
Maryam grew under Allah’s special protection. Her sustenance,
under which we may include both he physical needs and he spiritual
food, came from Allah, and he growth was indeed a “goodly
growth” some apocryphal Christian writings say that
she was brought up in the Temple to the age of twelve like
a dove and that she was fed by angels.
The purest of woman kind, she was a great- faithed one, and
miraculously conceived the prophet Isa (pbuh). Allah the Almighty
said
{Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah hath chosen
thee and purified thee- chosen thee above the women of all
nations} 3: 42
Mary the mother of Jesus was unique, in that she gave birth
to a son by special miracle, without the intervention of the
customary physical means. This of course does not mean that
she was more than human any more than that her son was more
than human.
Being chosen as the purest of womankind, she was told that
she would beget a child without wedlock. Maryam was still
a virgin. No human had touched her no was she married or engaged.
Therefore she was stunned and wondered saying.
{She said: "How can I have a son, when no man has touched
me, nor am I unchaste?} (Maryam: 20 )
She at once heard the Divine reply :
He said: "So (it will be), your Lord said: 'That is
easy for Me (Allâh): And (We wish) to appoint him as
a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (Allâh), and it
is a matter (already) decreed, (by Allâh).' " (Maryam:20)
Allah had destined her to be the mother of the prophet Isa
(Jesus Christ) in a miraculous way.
Allah’s creation is not dependent on time, or instruments
or means, or any conditions whatsoever. Existence waits on
His will, or plan, or Intention. The moment He wills a thing
it becomes His Word or command, and the thing forthwith comes
into existence.
Allah created Adam without a father and mother. There was
no man or woman before Adam, Hawwa was created after Adam
and she was created from a male without a female parties.
Both Maryam and her son, Isa were unfortunately taken as objects
of worship by some sects of Christians because of the strangeness
of Isa’s birth without a father, though as commentators
point out by such reasoning the prophet Adam might better
deserver to be worshipped, since he neither had father not
mother.
The amazement of the people knew no bounds, in any case they
were ready to think the worst of her, as she had disappeared
from her kin for some time, but now she came, shamelessly
parading a babe in her arms. How she had disgraced the house
of Aaron, the fountain of priesthood. The people then reminded
her of her high lineage and the unexceptionable morals of
her father and mother, how they said she had fallen and disgraced
the name of her progenitors. What could Maryam do? How could
she explain would they in their censorious mood, accept her
explanation? All she could do was to point to the child, who,
she knew was no ordinary child. And the child came to her
rescue. By A miracle he spoke defended his mother, and preached
to an unbelieving audience. Allah the Almighty said.
