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thisdayinhistory-egypt · 1 year

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The Nativity in the Qur’an: What Islam has to Say about Jesus and Mary

Disclaimer:-

This article is written by an unprofessional person for purpose of educating and opening a dialogue, if you need to know more about Islam in the larger context of Abrahamic religion traditions, please go to scholars and imams in your local universities and mosques, or to the nearest libraries for books that explain it.

2nd disclaimer:-

This article is written from a Sufi leaning Sunni, the Shi’I and Ahmadi view points, as well as Salafi view point are largely similar and knowing the differences would require much more than reading this article.

It begins with two sisters

In Roman occupied Palestine, the Jewish people lived in a strange and complicated state. The Romans looked down on them, and viewed the highest ranking members of the Jewish society as beneath the lowest Roman beggar, for this is the way colonizers always view the colonized. The Jewish society itself has fallen into the habit that all human patriarchies have of forming into an unjust hierarchy. Of course not all people on the top or near the top of the hierarchy were okay with injustice, and among those who were not happy with the injustices around them were Zachariah the prophet and Imran the priest.

These two men were married to two sisters, Elizabeth and Anne, respectively, and they both had trouble conceiving, and at some point Anne decides to take it up all the way to Almighty:-

“Indeed, Allah chose Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of ’Imrân above all people ˹of their time˺. 33 They are descendants of one another. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. 34 ˹Remember˺ when the wife of ’Imrân said, “My Lord! I dedicate what is in my womb entirely to Your service,1 so accept it from me. You ˹alone˺ are truly the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” 35”

Qur’an Chapter 3 Ali ‘mran 33:35

Anne, being the God loving, God fearing woman that she was, vowed to have her child dedicating their life to service, yes she was making a decisions for her unborn child and that is unacceptable today, but in the historical context, that was just fine. And it works, God listens and Imran and Anne have Mary, knowing that children dedicated to service who do the best and most serious work are usually male, and that girls like her child are relegated to menial tasks and chores, and happy as she was with the birth of her daughter, she talks to God again, as to tell Him that her child won’t be able to do as much in His service as if she was a boy, not knowing what God has kept in store of the blessed Mary:-

“When she delivered, she said, “My Lord! I have given birth to a girl,”—and Allah fully knew what she had delivered—“and the male is not like the female.1 I have named her Mary, and I seek Your protection for her and her offspring from Satan, the accursed.”2 36”

Qur’an Chapter 3 Ali ‘mran 36

Mary’s first miracle and John’s birth

And God did protect Mary form the devil, but not from being orphaned at early age. Who has a right to Mary’s guardianship was so contested, but God’s will prevailed and she was entrusted to her maternal aunt’s husband, as Mary grew and went to live in a sanctuary in the temple to fulfill her mother’s vow, Zachariah noticed how special Mary was. Mary always had fresh fruit in her room that was not in season, and that was strange given the fact that she doesn’t leave the temple

“ So her Lord accepted her graciously and blessed her with a pleasant upbringing—entrusting her to the care of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah visited her in the sanctuary, he found her supplied with provisions. He exclaimed, “O Mary! Where did this come from?” She replied, “It is from Allah. Surely Allah provides for whoever He wills without limit.” 37 “

Qur’an Chapter 3 Ali ‘mran 37

That’s when he saw that despite the fact that both he and Elizabeth are well beyond child baring age, there just might be hope for them. And indeed God listens and gives him and Elizabeth a son.

“Kãf-Ha-Ya-’Aĩn- Ṣãd.1 ˹This is˺ a reminder of your Lord’s mercy to His servant Zachariah,2 when he cried out to his Lord privately,3 saying, “My Lord! Surely my bones have become brittle, and grey hair has spread across my head, but I have never been disappointed in my prayer to You, my Lord!4 And I am concerned about ˹the faith of˺ my relatives after me, since my wife is barren. So grant me, by Your grace, an heir,5 who will inherit ˹prophethood˺ from me and the family of Jacob, and make him, O Lord, pleasing ˹to You˺!”6 ˹The angels announced,˺ “O Zachariah! Indeed, We give you the good news of ˹the birth of˺ a son, whose name will be John—a name We have not given to anyone before.”7 He wondered, “My Lord! How can I have a son when my wife is barren, and I have become extremely old?”8 An angel replied, “So will it be! Your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me, just as I created you before, when you were nothing!’”9 Zachariah said, “My Lord! Grant me a sign.” He responded, “Your sign is that you will not ˹be able to˺ speak to people for three nights, despite being healthy.”10 So he came out to his people from the sanctuary, signalling to them to glorify ˹Allah˺ morning and evening.10 ˹It was later said,˺11 “O John! Hold firmly to the Scriptures.” And We granted him wisdom while ˹he was still˺ a child,12 as well as purity and compassion from Us. And he was God-fearing,13 and kind to his parents. He was neither arrogant nor disobedient.14 Peace be upon him the day he was born, and the day of his death, and the day he will be raised back to life!15”

Chapter 19 Maryam 1:15

From here on out, Zachariah and his son John peace be upon them both, would have their own journey to take that will intersect with the story of Mary’s son, but let us not get ahead of ourselves.

In comes Gabriel

At this point, Mary is a teenager, serving in the temple and living in a sanctuary with a window looking east. Let the Qur’an tell us what happened then:-

“And mention in the Book ˹O Prophet, the story of˺ Mary when she withdrew from her family to a place in the east,16 screening herself off from them. Then We sent to her Our angel, ˹Gabriel,˺ appearing before her as a man, perfectly formed.17 She appealed, “I truly seek refuge in the Most Compassionate from you! ˹So leave me alone˺ if you are God-fearing.”18 He responded, “I am only a messenger from your Lord, ˹sent˺ to bless you with a pure son.”19 She wondered, “How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me, nor am I unchaste?”20 He replied, “So will it be! Your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me. And so will We make him a sign for humanity and a mercy from Us.’ It is a matter 1˹already˺ decreed.”21”

Chapter 19 Maryam 16:21

Now, put yourself in Mary’s shoes, she is an unmarried teenager dedicated to serve God, living in a conservative society, the angel Gabriel appears to you as a strange man, inside your sanctuary, giving you the news that you will bare and deliver the Messiah your people are waiting for without being married. As a single woman living in a conservative society, I know how earth chattering pregnancy outside of marriage is, this news wouldn’t be easy on an adult, let alone a teenager.

The birth

Now to the story we are all here for, the nativity itself, the birth the one called by Muslims Messiah and Christ, and by Christians Lord and savior. Now in the bible there were a lot of people involved in the nativity, in the Qur’an there were only Mary, Gabriel and the palm tree under which Mary has given birth, and we don’t know if the birth was a messy as all natural births usually are, and they are super messy, as miraculous as the conception itself, or somewhere in between, regardless, birth is difficult and natural births two thousand years ago were often deadly, Mary knew that the second she received the news, now let’s see the Qur’an describes it:-

“So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a remote place.22 Then the pains of labour drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She cried, “Alas! I wish I had died before this, and was a thing long forgotten!”23 So a voice1 reassured her from below her, “Do not grieve! Your Lord has provided a stream at your feet.24 And shake the trunk of this palm tree towards you, it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you.25 So eat and drink, and put your heart at ease. But if you see any of the people, say, ‘I have vowed silence1 to the Most Compassionate, so I am not talking to anyone today.’”26”

Chapter 19 Maryam 22:26

This part is a fine example of how faith is a logic defying act, Mary is giving birth, alone in the middle of nowhere, and she’s anticipating a storm of rumors and speculations once she faces her people with the child, and yet she is told to shake the palm tree. In normal circumstances, it would be impossible shake a palm tree hard enough to have dates fall from it. This moment however, was not normal, Mary in an act of faith shook the tree, and the dates, despite needing someone to climb up and pick them, have fallen down, and being the desert’s nutrition miracle that they are, helped restore her well enough to carry the newborn and go back to her people, and this is what happened next:-

“ Then she returned to her people, carrying him. They said ˹in shock˺, “O Mary! You have certainly done a horrible thing!27 O sister of Aaron!1 Your father was not an indecent man, nor was your mother unchaste.”28 So she pointed to the baby. They exclaimed, “How can we talk to someone who is an infant in the cradle?”29”

Chapter 19 Maryam 27:29

Mary’s father was as mentioned, was a respectable priest named Imran, named after Moses’ and Aaron’s father, who, in turn, had a sister named Mary who had an important role in saving Moses’ life. The Jewish people saw that heroic Mary from the Torah in her name sake, until she walked into the town square with a baby, so who will rise to defend the young mother?

The first miracle of Christ

“˹Jesus˺ declared, “I am truly a servant of Allah. He has destined me to be given the Scripture and to be a prophet.30 He has made me a blessing wherever I go, and bid me to establish prayer and give alms-tax as long as I live,31 and to be kind to my mother. He has not made me arrogant or defiant.32 Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I will be raised back to life!”33”

Chapter 19 Maryam 30:33

Need I say more?

That is when Joseph enters the picture, but that I will talk about in details when it’s time to talk about the holy family’s journey in Egypt.

Modern thoughts

Here in Egypt I am surrounded by Coptic Christians who venerate she who bore the Messiah, so imagine my shock when I realized that there protestants out there who say that she isn’t that important…., like WHAT? Excuse you!! If the all the great women in all Abrahamic religious traditions lived in their own kingdom, mother Mary would be their rightful queen. Don’t get me wrong, in my understanding of Islam asking a human to interfere in your behalf to God is idolatry, but loving people who are close to God as means of loving and getting close to Him is not, and after reading and understanding what the virgin Mary has gone through, how could you not love her?

So, peace be upon you Mary and your blessed son.

And finally, if your Muslim buddy is a devout who does not celebrate Christmas, respect that. But have happy and safe holidays yourself. And if you are so willing listen to a recitation of the chapters of the Quran that mention the story, I’ll leave soundcloud links of my favorites below.

Salam and see you all with a new post in new years.

#the nativity story #christmas #xmas #christianity #islam #the bible #the quran #jesus #mary #zachariah #john #moses #aaron

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hypermascbishounen · 3 months

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So, I haven't played Curse of Darkness myself, and I've never enjoyed Netflixvania. But, I feel like I've noticed something particular, that I have not seen mentioned by anyone. And am curious what fans of Curse of Darkness specifically would think about my reading of this.

It seems to me that in game, Hector and Isaac both have names that are meaningful to their characters, but also come with connotations of another implied meaning, as each others foils, that feel just as important.

Game Isaac seems to be named in reference to the biblical Isaac, bc he is effectively a sacrificial son. But he is also out to ruin Hector in retaliation, to the point of needless cruelty, because of his grief and madness. Like Achilles, from the Iliad(or he possibly also has Ajax parrelels, another notable opponent to Hector).

And game Hector seems named for the Illiad's Hector, bc like him, he is at his core a sympathetic and honorable man who was nonetheless on the wrong side of a bloody conflict. But he is also cast out by a patriarchal figure, like bliblical Isaac's brother and counterpart, Ishmael. (There's also possibility for Achilles parallels himself, thanks to his vengeance quest over his own lost love. Which also seem to be part of his narrative comparisons to Dracula)

So I suspect that the reason N!Isaac ends up with a sort of unearned version of game Hector's arc and themes, that is hard to tell if it was even intentional, is because:

Unlike in the bible, in the *Quran*, Isaac and Ishmael have their roles switched. Ishmael is the central focus instead of Isaac, and is the sacrifice, before he is cast out into the desert, and becomes a founding figure in islam. This is probably why Dracula literally finds N!Isaac in the sahara desert(and banishes him there again).

So, N!Isaac, as a muslim, is no longer treated as a reference to the biblical Isaac, but is an Ishmael archetype, which *is what Hector is supposed to be.* But N!Hector's role as being his foil is gone, and instead he's at best there to weakly prop up how much better N!Isaac is by comparison. (And I don't believe him being "sacrificed" to Ellis' fetish writing counts either, bc he's framed more as a pet dog than a lamb, and it's not really connected much to his relationship with N!Isaac.)

Meanwhile, because N!Hector is no longer a proper foil, or respected by the narrative, he's also lost all symbolism behind the name Hector. And in turn, N!Isaac has completely lost all of game Isaac's illiad parallels.

Game Isaac as Achilles' less flattering qualities - of arrogance and need for recognition through glory, his grief and self-hatred over not being there to protect the person who meant the most to him, and his uncalled for ruthlessness and disrespect for his opponent, that ultimately leads to his death -

Or possibly Ajax, who was often considered second best to Achilles, who felt entitled to Achilles armor, and when passed over had violent delusions that lead to him killing himself with Hector's sword

- is just completely missing as an axis in N!Isaac. He doesn't even really get any *positive* Achilles or Ajax symbolism iirc, or any illiad Hector symbolism to complete the reversal either. His character is a one note(and clumsy) Ishmael archetype, who can only really be held up as great by the narrative no matter what he's done, or is doing.

Obviously, N!Isaac's freedom/agency arc is also tied up in him being a former slave. But I do think that him being muslim, and the way he's framed akin to Ishmael, is meant to line up with it. Which decision was made first/whether it was at the same time is debatable. But either way, it leads to him being an almost immediate inversion of game isaac's character from the basic themes. And bc game Isaac was already designed mirroring Hector, N!Isaac would inevitably just become a low-level partial rendition of game Hector.

This all bothers me, if my suspicions are correct. It looks like hugely wasted potential, and worse, the kind of writing decision borne of not paying attention to the source materials themes, bc it wasn't respected, and thought to not have them at all. Trading dual literary references meant to reinforce two characters relationship, for a single one-sided one, is just weaker writing. To the point where it seems unthinkable to do consciously, and has to have been from not even realizing there was something there to leave out. I come away feeling like the nfcv writers think they're smarter than the games writers, but with little evidence to show that. And that these characters deserved better.

Is this a fair interpretation or am I reaching too far with CoD's themes? Did I forget anything major about this in regards to nfcv? Has this all been mentioned before, and I'm just re-treading basic analysis? Feel free to lmk, bc I am but some guy with a mythology special interest passing through, who goes slightly insane wnv I see allusions to things I recognize, go unnoticed and neglected by supposedly professional writers, lol.

#also i can't shake the feeling that #This was all just decided by reading the Wikipedia pages on biblical isaac #Seeing that ishmael is more important in islam #And thinking you will be the first ever biggest brain writer to write about ishmael as more important than isaac #When we in fact have a work that did that it is called #THE QURAN #idk it just feels like an inexperienced writer's first draft idea in execution lol #Also I think it says something nfcv acknowledged Hector is Greek via skintone #but then ultimately disregarded his greek myth allusions as unimportant #Anti netflixvania #Obv this isn't a full analysis of possible illiad and/or biblical allusions in CoD lol #I am definitely not qualified to do that and would have to actually play CoD #For one thing I have no idea how Trevor factors into it altho I doubt these allusions are meant to be completely 1:1 #That is nfcv's style instead lol

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