بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
والصلاة والسلام على رسوله الكريم
وعلى آله والصحابه اجمعين
One of the modernist
deviations from the orthodox creed of Islam is concerning the virgin birth of
the Messiah of Nazareth عليه الصلاة والسلام.
Two of the “Synoptic Gospels”,
namely Matthew and Luke, affirm the virgin birth of the Messiah by the power of
the Holy Spirit in their respective first chapters. But the solid basis for our
belief in his virgin birth is the Holy Quran:
قَالَتْ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ ۖ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ
اللَّـهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ إِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُن
فَيَكُونُ
She (Mary) said: “My Lord, how can I have a child when
no man has touched me?” “Such is Allah. He creates what He will. When He
decrees a matter He only says to it ‘Be’ and it becomes.”
(Sura 3:47)
The question of the virgin
Mary عليه السلام makes clear that she wishes to know how she
will become pregnant when no man has touched her. The modernists misinterpret
this Verse to mean that Allah will bring about the natural means for this to
happen, i.e., through saint Mary’s marriage with Joseph the carpenter.
قَالَتْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا
﴿٢﴾ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ ۖ وَلِنَجْعَلَهُ آيَةً لِّلنَّاسِ
وَرَحْمَةً مِّنَّا ۚ وَكَانَ أَمْرًا مَّقْضِيًّا ﴿٢١﴾ فَحَمَلَتْهُ فَانتَبَذَتْ بِهِ مَكَانًا قَصِيًّا
﴿٢٢﴾
She (Mary) said: “How can I have a boy when no man has
touched me and I am not unchaste?” He (Angel) said: “Thus it is. Your Lord says
it is easy for Me.” And He will make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from
Us. And it is a matter decreed. So she became pregnant with him and she
withdrew to a remote place.
(Sura 19:20-22)
Furthermore, one of the
strongest proofs that the Qur’an affirms the virgin birth of prophet Jesus عليه السلام is the
mentioning of the objection of the people to the virgin Mary after her son عليهما السلام was born:
فَأَتَتْ بِهِ قَوْمَهَا تَحْمِلُهُ ۖ قَالُوا يَا مَرْيَمُ لَقَدْ جِئْتِ شَيْئًا
فَرِيًّا ﴿٢٧﴾ يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ امْرَأَ سَوْءٍ وَمَا كَانَتْ
أُمُّكِ بَغِيًّا ﴿٢٨﴾
So she brought him to her people carrying him. They
said: “O Mary, you have done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron, your father
was not an evil man nor your mother unchaste.”
(Sura 19:27-28)
If, as the modernists
argue, Allah had given the glad tidings to the virgin Mary that she would give
birth to a pure son عليهما السلام but that it would come
about through the male agency, referring to her future marriage to Joseph the
carpenter, then the Messiah’s eventual birth would not have elicited such a
negative reaction from her people. Their words, as quoted in the Qur’an, make
clear that they thought saint Mary عليه السلام had committed fornication (God
forbid) hence they reminded her that her parents were virtuous people and they
did not expect a girl of her upbringing and background to commit such a deed.
The fact of the matter is that the Qur’anic account of the Messiah’s birth is
so similar to the narrative present in the Gospel of Luke that it becomes quite
apparent the Qur’an is endorsing and affirming the well known idea of the
virgin birth. Additionally, this has been the doctrine of the Muslims from the
very beginning. Throughout the Qur’an and Hadith, the Messiah is called Isa bin
Maryam (Jesus son of Mary). There is never any mention of him having a father,
another strong indication of his virgin birth. It was only in modern times,
with the expanding influence of modernist, materialist and naturalist thought,
that certain Muslim thinkers re-interpreted the Qur’anic narrative and declared
that the Messiah عليه السلام had a father. Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, G. A. Parwez, and the
Lahore Ahmadiyya sect (founded by Maulana Muhammad Ali) are the prominent
modernists and naturalists who claimed that the Messiah had a father and was
born in the usual way, through the male agency. I shall, in future entries,
refute their general arguments ان شاء الله
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