Encyclopedia of Islam

martyrdom

  

459  J

---

and Public Piety in Shi’i Lebanon (Princeton, N.J.: Princ-

eton University Press, 2006).

Mary 

(Arabic: Maryam)

 

(late first century 

b

.

c

.

e

.–early first century 

c

.

e

.)  the mother of Jesus

Mary is the only female figure mentioned by name 

in the q

Uran

, with a chapter named after her 

(Surat Maryam). She is the mother of J

esUs

 (Ar. 

Isa) and a significant female exemplar of piety and 

purity in Islam in her own right. There are two 

chapters in the Quran that include her narrative 

in detail (Q 3:33–51 and 19:16-35), along with 

important mentions in other chapters (Q 4:171, 

21:91, 66:11–12). Jesus is identified in Islam first 

and foremost as Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus son of 

Mary), as well as ruh Allah (spirit of God), kali-

mat Allah (word of God), and al-masih (Messiah). 

Aside from the Quran itself, other later sources for 

characterizations of Mary’s life and role in Islam 

include Quran commentary literature (

tafsir

) 

and the genre of qisas al-anbiya’ (stories of the 

prophets).

Mary’s personal quality of isma (sinlessness) 

in Islam reflects her sinless conception by her 

mother, her ritual purity, which allowed her to 

serve in the Temple in J

erUsalem

 (normally a 

role restricted to men), and her virginity in con-

ceiving Jesus. God is shown to have given Mary 

special favor. Mary is chosen and purified above 

all 

Women

 in this world and has precedence over 

all other women in heaven. Her extraordinary 

personal devotion and piety led God to support 

her with miraculous provisions of summer fruit 

in winter and winter fruit in summer, allowing 

her to sustain her prayers in seclusion without 

outside labor.

Jesus is cast into Mary’s womb as the “word” of 

God in three different senses according to Quran 

commentary: (1) creation of life by divine speech, 

that is, God says “be” and life “is”; (2) Jesus’ pro-

phetic mission is embodied in his “word,” that is, 

the g

ospel

 (Ar. al-injil); and (3) the communica-

tion of God’s “word” to Mary, that is, the “annun-

ciation” by the 

angel

. Despite Jesus’ miraculous 

conception, Mary’s experience of gestation and 

childbirth is documented in Islam as fully human. 

She experiences struggle and pain in laboring 

to give birth, during which God helps her with 

gifts of water and fresh dates. Mary returns to her 

people after the birth of Jesus and is miraculously 

defended by him. He speaks on her behalf in his 

cradle when she is accused of unchaste behavior 

in bearing a child while unwed.

Aside from Mary’s importance as the mother of 

Jesus, she plays an ongoing role in Muslim piety 

as a model of pious devotion, sorrowing mother-

hood, and saintly (even “prophetic”) inspiration. 

In  s

hiism

, the minority tradition in Islam, Mary 

is associated with the “mother of the Imams,” 

F

atima

. Mary is believed by Twelver Shiis to have 

appeared to Fatima to console her in her last ill-

ness. Mary and Fatima are both understood in this 

theological context as a joint image of persecuted 

and holy motherhood, as their sons Jesus and 

Husayn are linked as the suffering, persecuted, 

and ultimately martyred leaders of the faithful. In 

the majority Sunni theological tradition, because 

of her righteousness, Mary is granted the abil-

ity to receive 

revelation

 and inspiration via the 

angel’s transmission to her of the “word of God” 

(Jesus). She is even assigned some Sunni Quran 

commentary in the otherwise exclusively male 

function in Islam of prophethood (nubuwwa), 

since she received direct divine communication, 

as opposed to messengerhood (risala), or bringing 

a new scriptural revelation, a male-only function 

in Islam.

See also 

christianity

 

and

 

islam

; J

ohn

 

the

 b

ap

-

tist

; t

Welve

-i

mam

 s

hiism

.

Kathleen M. O’Connor