Birth Of Jesus Son Of Mary
Allah Almighty has said,
And mention Mary in the Book when she drew aside from her family to an eastern place; so she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We sent her Our spirit, and he appeared to her as a perfectly ordinary man. She said: Surely I seek refuge against you with the Beneficent God, if you are God-fearing. He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord to give you [the glad tiding of] a pure boy.” She said, “How can I have a boy while no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste?” He said. “Even so; your Lord says: It is easy for Me, and so that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter already decreed.”
So she conceived him [Jesus], then withdrew with him to a remote place. And the throes (of childbirth) compelled her to betake herself to the trunk of a palm tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died before this and had been a thing quite forgotten! Then (the newly-born) called out to her from beneath her: Do not grieve! Surely your Lord has made a stream flow beneath you, and shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop on you fresh ripe dates; so eat and drink and refresh the eye. Then if you see any mortal, say: Surely I have vowed a fast to the Beneficent God, so I shall not speak to any human today. And she came to her people carrying him. They said: O Mary! Surely you have done a strange thing! O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a bad man, nor was your mother unchaste! But she pointed to him. They said: How should we speak to one who is a child in the cradle? He [Jesus] said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet, and He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayers and zakat as long as I live, and dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed. And peace be on me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised (back) to life. Such is Jesus son of Mary; (this is) the saying of truth about which they dispute. (19:16-34)
Prophets' biographers have said that when three days had passed since Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she was either thirteen or fifteen years old. One of those dedicated for the service of the temple with her was her above-mentioned cousin Joseph the carpenter. He was a thoughtful man who used to offer charity from his earnings. Joseph and Mary used to take turns in serving the temple. When they ran out of water, each would take the pitcher and go to the cave to obtain water then return to the temple. The day that she met Gabriel was the longest and the hottest day of the year. She had run out of water, so she asked her cousin, “Shall we go together, O Joseph, to obtain water?” He said, “I have some water left which will suffice me for today.” She said, “But I, by Allah, am out of water!” She took her pitcher and went out alone till she came to the cave where she met Gabriel whom Allah made to appear to her as an ordinary man. He told her that Allah had sent him to grant her a pure boy. She said, “Surely I seek refuge from you with the Beneficent God if you are God-fearing” (Qur'an, 19:18), that is, a pious, obedient to his Lord. Imam `Ali has said, “I have come to know that a pious person is one who has compassion for others and is merciful, and she thought that he (Gabriel) was a man, a human.” `Ikrimah has said, “Gabriel appeared to her in the form of a young beardless man with curly hair, and in perfect form.” Wise men have said that Allah Almighty sent him in human form so that Mary would be able to remain self-composed and listen to his speech. Had he appeared in his normal form, she would have been frightened by him and would have shunned him. When Mary sought refuge with Allah against him, he said to her, “I am only a messenger of your Lord to give you (the glad tiding of) a pure boy. She said: How can I have a boy while no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste? He said: Even so; your Lord says: It is easy for Me, and so that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter already decreed” (Qur'an, 19:19-21). Having heard his statement, she submitted to Allah's decree, whereupon Gabriel blew in the pocket of her loose outer garment. By then, she had taken it off. Once he had left, Mary filled her pitcher with water, put her outer garment on, instantly and unconsciously conceiving of Jesus, then went back to the temple.
Another story of how Mary conceived is narrated, or say suggested, by al-Suddi and `Ikrimah who have said that Mary used to remain in the temple as long as she was clean. Once she started her period, she would go to her aunt's house till she became clean again and would then return. While Mary was bathing after her period was over, having chosen a sunny spot because it was then winter and that day was the shortest day of the year and placed a curtain between her and the rest of the house residents, arch-angel Gabriel appeared. He gave her the glad tiding of Jesus, then he blew in the pocket of her outer loose garment. Al-Hasan says that the Nazarenes had taken the east as their qibla because Mary had taken a place facing the east [prior to her conception]. When she was big with Jesus, her cousin Joseph the carpenter was in her company, and they were both going to the temple one day near Mount Zion. That temple was their greatest. They used to repair it, heat it, and sweep it, and nobody knew anyone more diligent or dedicated that both of them. The first person who found it objectionable that she should be pregnant was this same cousin and fellow servant of the temple, Joseph the carpenter. When he saw what had happened to her, he thought it was monstrous and horrible, and he did not know what to do or what to say to her. Whenever he contemplated upon charging her, he remembered her uprightness, adoration, and innocence and the fact that she was never out of his sight even for one hour. If he desired to think of her as innocent, he saw the signs of her pregnancy. When he could not keep it to himself any longer, he decided to discuss it with her.
The first thing he said to her was, “I have noticed something about you to which I have found myself reacting, and I have been trying to keep it to myself, but I finally decided that discussing it with you may set my mind at ease.” She said to him, “Say it nicely.” He asked her, “Tell me, Mary, has there been any trees growing without seeds?” She said, “Yes!” He asked her again, “Then has there been trees growing without rain?” She said, “Yes!” Then he said, “Can there be children without parents?” She said, “Yes! Don't you know that Allah Almighty caused all the trees to grow when He created them without first sowing their seeds, for seeds come from trees? Have you not come to know that Allah caused the trees to grow without rain, and through His might He caused the rain to sustain the species of trees after having created each species separately? Or do you say that Allah is not able to grow trees without the help of water and without it He could not have been able to grow them?!” Joseph said to her, “No, I do not say that, but I say that Allah Almighty is capable of doing anything; all He has to do is to say to it, `Be!' and it is!” Mary then said, “Don't you know that Allah created Adam and his wife without parents?” He answered in the affirmative. Her last statement convinced him that what had happened to her must have been something which Allah Almighty had decreed, and that it was not fitting for him to ask her about it due to the secrecy she seemed to maintain in its regard. Then Joseph took charge of all the maintenance chores needed to be performed at the temple and spared her having to do anything at all.
Scholars say that when Mary came close to giving birth, Allah Almighty inspired her that the Jerusalem temple was one of His houses which was pure and was built so that His Name would be praised therein. “Go to a place where you can seek seclusion,” the Almighty inspired her. Mary went to the house of her aunt, the mother of Yahya (John the Baptist). When the latter stood up to greet her and welcome her, she found herself in need of Mary to support her to stand up. Then she asked her, “O Mary! Can you imagine me being pregnant?!” Mary said, “I, too, am pregnant!” Zakariyya's wife said, “Then I find the one in my womb prostrating to the one in yours!” To this does the Almighty refer in the verse saying, “... testifying to a Word from Allah” (Qur'an, 3:39). When she felt comfortable at her aunt's house, the Almighty inspired her, “If you give birth among your people, they will taunt you, charge you, and kill both you and your son; so, get away from them.” Scholars have differed regarding how long it took Mary to conceive and deliver. Some say that the duration of her pregnancy was nine months like all other women, while others say it was eight, and that that was another miracle: no new-born who stayed in his mother's womb for only eight months survived except Jesus. Other scholars say it was six months, still others say it was three hours, and some even say it was only one hour. Ibn `Abbas has said, “It was only conception then delivery, and the time from the conception to the delivery and the seclusion she sought was only one hour, for Allah Almighty did not mention any separation between them when He said, `So she conceived him then withdrew with him to a remote place' (19:22), that is, far away from her people.” Muqatil
has said, “His mother conceived him in one hour; he was formed in one hour; he was delivered in one hour when the sun had just set, and she was twenty years old, having had only two menstrual periods before conceiving Jesus.”
Mujahid
has said, “Mary, peace be upon her, has said, `Whenever I sought seclusion, Jesus would speak to me, and I would speak to him. If a human distracted me from that, he would praise the Almighty while being in my womb, and I would hear his praising,'” and Allah knows best.
When the pain of childbirth intensified, she sought to support herself with the trunk of a tree, and it was a dry palm tree with neither leaves nor a live trunk but a dead stump. The angels did not like the sight of that palm tree, and they were surrounding her in rows, and that palm tree was at a village called Bethlehem
. When her crisis reached its zenith, she said in agony, “Oh! Would that I had died before this and had been a thing quite forgotten” (Qur'an, 19:23), whereupon she was addressed, “Grieve not! Surely your Lord has made a stream flow beneath you, and shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree, it will drop on you fresh ripe dates” (Qur'an, 19:24-25). The original Arabic text of the first verse, that is, “Then he called out to her from beneath her” (Qur'an, 19:24), can be recited in two different ways: min tahtiha, that is, from under her, connotes a reference to the one who called upon her from the mountain side, namely Gabriel. Or it can be recited man tahtaha, the one who was underneath her, that is, Jesus Christ, after having emerged from his mother's womb. He addressed her by the Will of Allah.
Allah caused a river to flow for her after she had given birth to Jesus. Its water would be sweet and cool if she wanted to drink of it, lukewarm if she wanted to wash herself with it. Ibn `Abbas has said, “Jesus, or Gabriel, struck the earth, whereupon water gushed forth, and the dry tree was brought back to life after its dryness. Its branches cascaded, and it brought forth its produce and excelled in it. She was told to shake the trunk of the palm tree to her so that it would cause fresh dates to fall upon her.” Al-Rabee` ibn Khaytham has said, “There is nothing better for a woman in her postnatal period than fresh dates, nor for any patient better than honey.” Omer ibn Maymoon has said, “I cannot think of anything better for a woman having difficulty delivering than fresh dates.”
Wahab has said, “When he [Jesus] was born, all idols were seen falling on the ground headlong in each and every land, so much so that the demons were frightened and did not know why. They rushed to Eblis the accursed who was on a throne which he had made for himself on the surface of a lake mocking the Almighty's Throne when it was first on the water. They came to him when six hours of the day had passed. When Eblis saw their throngs, he felt very upset and alarmed because he had never seen them assembling like that since he scattered them throughout the world to do their mischievous deeds. He used to see some of them now and then but never all of them at the same time. He asked them what had happened. They told him that something must have happened on earth that caused all the idols to be smashed without any human touching them. Nothing was more instrumental than those idols in bringing destruction to the descendants of Adam. Now this new event that has occurred caused humans to think very low of those idols, and the devils were concerned that humans were not going to worship idols any more. “Be informed,” they said, “that we have not come to you here before looking for its cause throughout the world, in the seas, and everywhere else, but we did not increase but in ignorance regarding what has happened.” Eblis said to them, “This must have been a momentous event; so, remain where you are.”
Eblis immediately flew away for three hours during which he passed by the place where Jesus was born. When he saw the angels gazing at that spot, he realized that that was the scene of the event. He wanted to approach it from above, but the heads of the angels and their shoulders acted as a shield. He wanted to approach it from under the ground, but he noticed that the angels' feet were planted firmly in it. He then wanted to penetrate through their ranks, but they forbade him from doing so as testified to this fact by the statement of the Prophet saying, “Every human being is hit by Satan on the side upon its birth except Jesus son of Mary, peace be upon him; Allah Almighty shielded Jesus from him, so he kept trying [unsuccessfully] to penetrate the shield.'“
Having facilitated the delivery for Mary, Allah Almighty prepared Mary to meet her people. “Eat, O Mary,” the Almighty inspired her, “of the fresh dates, and drink of the sweet and cool water; cool your eyes and be contented. If you see any human, and he asks you about your son, or makes a serious charge against you in his regard, tell him that you pledged to abstain (from speaking to anyone) for the sake of achieving the Pleasure of the Most Merciful One.” The “fast” referred to in chapter 19 (Surat Maryam), verse 26, meant abstention from speaking. Fast during that period was abstention from eating, drinking, and speaking, “... so I shall not speak to any man today” (Qur'an, 19:26), Mary was instructed to say. Another reference to abstention from speaking to people is made in the first verses of the Qur'anic Chapter named after Mary, the same Surat Maryam referred to above: “He (Zakariyya) said: Lord! Give me a sign (aya). He said: Your sign is that you will not speak to the people for three nights though being in sound health” (Qur'an, 19:10). Sometimes staying away from people and remaining in constant contact with the Almighty enables one to reach a very high spiritual plain. Remember how Prophet Muhammed, prior to the initiation of his historic mission, used to seek seclusion from people at the Hira cave of Mount Thawr in order to meditate and to clear his thoughts.
Mary brought her infant Jesus to her people carrying him.
Al-Kalbi
has said, “Joseph the carpenter took Mary and Jesus inside a cave and kept them there for forty days till she recovered fully from the pains of childbirth, then he brought her back carrying him, being forty days old, whereupon Jesus spoke to her on the way saying, `Mother! Congratulations! I am the servant of Allah and His Messiah!' When she came to her family with the infant, all members of her family were so grieved, they wept. It was a family of righteousness. They said to her, `O Mary! You surely have done a strange thing' (19:27), that is, `Where did you get this son from?' She beckoned to them to ask Jesus.
They were now angry and said, `How can we speak to one who is a child in the cradle?' (19:29).” Wahab has said that Zakariyya came to her while she was debating with the Jews about him; he said to Jesus, `Speak up and produce your proof if you were indeed ordered to do so.' Jesus, who was then forty days old, said, `I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet, and He has made me blessed wherever I may be. He has enjoined on me prayer and zakat as long as I live, and (to be) dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed. And peace be on me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised to life'“ (Qur'an, 19:30-33). Thus did Jesus admit his submission to the Will of Allah at the very beginning of his speech, belying the claim of the “Christians” and making his argument against them.
Imam Muhammed ibn `Ali al-Baqir
is quoted as saying, “When Jesus was born, in each day he grew up as much as infants would grow in a month. When he was nine months old, his mother took him by the hand, brought him to the class and seated him before the teacher. The teacher asked him to say Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim, which Jesus repeated. The teacher then required him to repeat the alphabets after him, whereupon he raised his head and asked him whether he knew what the alphabets meant. The teacher raised his stick aiming to hit him, but he quickly said to him, `Do not hit me, O teacher! If you do not know, ask me, and I shall explain them to you.' The teacher asked him to explain them to him, so he stated the following,
Alif أ is derived from La ilaha illa-Allah (there is no god except Allah);
Ba ب is derived from Behjatullah (the Splendor of Allah);
Jeem ج is derived rom Jalal-Allah (the Greatness of Allah);
Dal د is derived from Din-Allah (the Creed of Allah);
Ha هـ is derived from Hawiya, Hell, the pit;
Waw و is derived from Waylun li ahlin-nar (Woe unto the people of the Fire!);
Za ز is derived from Zafeeru-Jahannam, the exhalation of Jahannam (or ge hen Hinnom
, Hell, the eternal Fire;
Hutti حطي is derived from Huttatil khataya `anil mustaghfirin (the sins have been removed from those who seek His forgiveness);
Kilman كلمن is derived from Kalamullahi ghayr makhlooq wala mubaddila li kalimatih (the Speech of Allah is not created, and there is no alteration to it);
Sa`af صعف is derived from Sa` bi sa` wal jaza bil jaza (a measure for a measure, and a reward for each good deed);
Qirshat قرشت is derived from taqrushuhum heena tahshuruhum (it gathers them together as it inflicts its pain upon them).'“
The teacher said to Mary, “Woman, take your son away, for he needs no teacher.”
Al-Husain ibn Muhammed ibn al-Husain, a scholar of exegesis, has informed us through his chain of narrators which goes back to Abu Sa`eed al-Khudri who quotes the Messenger of Allah as saying, “Jesus was sent by his mother to learn, so the teacher required him to say Bismillah (in the Name of Allah), whereupon Jesus asked him what that meant. The teacher told him he did not know, so Jesus explained it to him. He said, `The B means Bahaullah (the Splendor of Allah), the sin [the `s' in bismillah] means Sanaullah (the Majesty of Allah), and the mim [the `m' in Bismillah] means Mamlakatullah (the Kingdom of Allah, the Exalted, the Sublime),'“ and Allah knows best.
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Author: Yasin T. al-Jibouri
