Christmas in the Qoran

December 25, 2015

The birth of Jesus as related in the Gospels is the traditional story the Christian world is familiar with. But the birth of Jesus is also related in the Qoran. Jesus is one of the Prophets of Islam, which holds that Jesus was born of a virgin mother. But many details of the Christmas story related in the Qoran are strange to Christian ears—for example, that Jesus was born under a palm tree. The Qoran also makes clear, in Verse 35, that the Jesus of Islam is not the Son of God. Here is the Christmas story as related in Sura 19, entitled “Maryam,” the Arabic version of Mary. Note that the Qoran is the word of God, so the term “We” is used when God speaks.

 

16 And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking east,

17 And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man.

18 She said: Lo, I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art God-fearing.

19 He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son.

20 She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste?

2I He said: So it will be. Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And it will be that We may make of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained.

22 And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place.

23 And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm tree. She said: Oh, would that I died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten.

24 Then one cried unto her from below her, saying: Grieve not. Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee,

25 And shake the trunk of the palm tree toward thee; thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee.

26 So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo, I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal.

27 Then she brought him [Jesus] to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary, thou hast come with an amazing thing.

28 Oh, sister of Aaron: thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot.

29 Then she pointed to him [Jesus]. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy?

30 He spake: Lo, I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet,

31 And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive,

32 And hath made me dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest.

33 Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die; and the day I shall be raised alive.

34 Such was Jesus, son of Mary. This is a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt.

35 It befitteth not the Majesty of Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to him. When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be. And it is.

36 And, lo, Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path.

37 The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful day.

 

Translation of

Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall

—a British convert to Islam