Mary in Islam: Celebrating the Mother of Jesus | Khutbahs with Purpose

and so essentially the talk will cover the Quranic narrative the narrative on Mary peace and blessings be upon her as was told by the Quran and we will touch a bit on the relevance of the story of Mary to our times and the route of Mary and her family where she stems from and of course the height of her story and the virgin birth of Jesus Christ peace and blessings be upon him and so allow me to begin there from among the countless billions of women that have ever walked the earth and breathed its oxygen an enormous amount of which were righteous women who we could never dream to compete with in their piety and in their merit and in their virtue God chose that one of them in particular have an entire chapter in his final revelation of the Quran named after only one of them though many are mentioned in the Quran righteous women examples of piety and righteousness among women only one of them is mentioned in that Quran and unmatched 34 times only one of them had a remarkable birth and then she herself gave birth to her own child in a remarkable miraculous way and all of these accolades come together in none other than the wondrous Mary peace and blessings be upon her whose story of profound faith and story of virtue the Quran came to confirm and to immortalize even the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him in an authentic tradition traceable to him he mentioned Mary among those who have attained perfection in faith and not only is Mary such a special woman but the Quran positions her and asiya the wife of pharaoh the Pharaoh of Moses Mary and hacia as exemplars in their conviction so much so that Islamically speaking the term believer is undeserved by any Muslim that does not see them [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so in these verses that we begin with Almighty God illustrates for us the esteem status of these two women in particular this is the 66th chapter in the Quran were in God says and Allah God strikes an example for those who believe exemplars of faith right for those who believe the wife of Pharaoh hacia when she said at the time of her persecution according to some when she said o my lord build for me with you a home in paradise in the afterlife in paradise and rescue me from Pharaoh and his works and rescue me from the oppressive people the next verse says and also marry another exemplar of faith and also Mary is struck as an example for those who believe Mary who guarded her chastity and so we breathed into her of our spirit and she believed in the truth of her Lords words and his books and she was of those who were truly devout you know when it comes to Mary peace and blessings be upon her in particular some Muslim scholars like the 11th century jurist even Hazon of Andalusia Muslim Spain he even went as far as to champion the view that Mary according to the Quran he argues was actually a prophet of God herself and he cited as proof for that that she personally communicated with angels according to the Quran and in any case this woman is a very very special personality in the sight of God and that is why we Muslims believe that it is crucially important for us to frequent her virtues and to look for and quench our thirst for guidance in the fountain if you will that is her story let jump from there to some of the guidance the relevant guidance that we get from the story of Mary peace be upon her because the similarity between her times and our times makes her example just so relevant first of all consider the circumstances of her culture in her time in her place it was the latter generations of the Israelites the later generations of the children of Israel whose faith to a large extent was in shambles and whose regard for religion in general had greatly deteriorated she was born into a world that was riddled with disbelief who would reject God's signs who would mock God's guidance and reject disregard dismiss his teachings I think much like our secular time City the idea of a divine reference point was something that was comical to them to a lot of them but none of this ever fazed Mary peace and blessings be upon her so she stood there unwavering in her belief unwavering in her faith even when the world mocked it and so she remained as a torchbearer in her society for certainty in God in the abyss that was around her of doubts and that is why in the verses you just heard God specifically praised Mary here as what an example for those who believe he didn't say an example for the patient or an example for the women even though she was all of that right but she was an example for all those who believed be they men or women in that solid faith that she had in the one true God alone without any partners that's what defines the legacy of Mary above all else secondly in terms of her relevance consider her circumstances in the social dimension like consider the moral decay the immorality the moral disintegration of some of the lat Israelites like we know from the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him in one tradition that some of them used to mock Moses because Moses used to refuse to bathe with them in public which is something they used to do they even spread rumors about him that the only reason he didn't do this was because he had some sort of skin disorder and other rumors began to spread that he had some sort of what they said is a scrotal hernia so they were launching a ploy of a reverse psychology to get Moses to conform basically and to sedate their own self sense of guilt because him being different from them continues to remind them of their shameless act being shameless their indecent exposure being just so vile but despite all of this Moses remained committed to his modesty until God eventually cleared his name we are told by the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him by having a rock run off with his clothing as he was bathing privately one day in a river and so he was forced to run across a gathering from those very people that mocked him and God made a display of his superior physique in front of everyone as he chased that rock down and so God Almighty Himself he spoke about this incident in the Quran and he said [Music] [Music] [Music] God Almighty says in this chapter of the Quran o you who have believed do not be like those who abused Moses but God had cleared him of what they said and he Moses was certainly distinguished in the eyes of God I cast that image only to say that it was in this very hyper sexualized climate that Mary lived but her modesty would never eroded because of the acts of indecency that were all around her they never became normalized in the Heart of Mary peace and blessings be upon her and so that is why in that first set of verses God also celebrated Mary and identified her as Mary who guarded her chastity because everywhere she turned I'm gonna say it again just like in our times social conditioning had stripped people of that virtue the virtue of modesty but not Mary peace and blessings be upon her and not those who recite and reflect on her story in God's words and then let me switch gears here now to the roots of Mary the family of Mary peace and blessings be upon her production [Music] [Music] [Laughter] these verses are found in the third chapter of the quran called ali imran the chapters entitled the family of imran in this verse God says that God himself has chosen selected esteemed Adam the first man the father of humanity and Noah the first messenger sent to humanity and the family of Abraham and the family of Imran over all mankind offspring one from another so what does that mean from the line of Adam which we all return back to God chose Noah and then from the line of Noah God chose the family of Abraham and then from the line of Abraham Abraham had Ishmael and he had Isaac from the line of Abraham through Isaac then Jacob God chose the family of Imran all as the the greatest or among the greatest of all of humanity in their respective times and places the wife of Imran her name was said to be Hina or Hannah known in English as Ana or Saint Anne that is who that is the mother of Mary Ann Braun's wife Ana or Hannah is the mother of Mary she was a pious woman that never had a child and she deeply longed for one historians mentioned that on one particular day Hannah saw a bird placing food inside of the mouth of one of her chicks and it was the straw that broke the camel's back and so her heart melted her heart broke and they drove her to earnestly appeal to God and pray to God incessantly for him to bless her with the gift of motherhood and she soon discovered that her prayer was answered and that she was finally pregnant [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] the wife of Imran Hanna said my lord I have vowed to you whatever is within my womb maja Iran liberated meaning solely dedicated to you liberated from every other preoccupation so accept this from me indeed you are the hearer knower of all but when she delivered her she said my lord I have delivered a girl and God knows best what she delivered she says and the boy is not like the girl the male is not like the female and I have named her Mary and I seek refuge with you for her and her offspring from Satan the outcast in another authentic tradition the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him he said that there is no newborn except that they emerge to the world screaming at birth because Satan pokes them in their sides except for two except for Mary and her son the narrator of this hadith one of the disciples companions of the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him when he would recite this tradition when he would rip convey it to people he would tell them and go look in the Koran recite that verse if you wish remind yourselves of this verse where Mary's mother prayed that God protect Mary what would be Mary and her offspring from Satan the outcast so he was highlighting to them how the prayer of Mary Miriam's mother mary's mother is what armored them against that envious assault that Satan does announcing his enmity to all the children of Adam write extensions of the enmity he had for their father so this is how Mary emerged to the remarkably peaceful and tranquil not screaming or crying but how would Hannah now uphold her vow to God that she would dedicate her child in the service of God she said when the male is not like the female meaning what she meant that it's not customary for girls to serve in the holy house of worship in Jerusalem and masjid-e-aqsa only men did this so how can i fulfill my promise to dedicate her to that when she is not a male but God would make it a reality how so signs kept surfacing that Mary was no ordinary child which led to the scribes of the earlier scriptures the scribes of the Torah that would transcribe copies of the Torah competing for the honor of being her mentors we want her we want to take her under out to our tutelage and so it was an extraordinary scene folded away in human history but God chose to revive it and God chose to immortalize it in this next verse of the Quran God says here and we're still in the third chapter the family of Imran that these are the accounts of the unseen which we reveal to you you were not with them o Muhammad the original recipient of the Quran for the rest of the world you were not with them o Muhammad when they cast their Lots they were casting their Lots as to which of them would take charge of Mary nor were you among them as they quarrelled as they disputed so historians gather that these scholars of the scripture of heavenly scripture they had pens that they would only use to write scripture pens they considered very special and sacred and so they decided they would all cast those pens into the Jordanian River agreeing that whoever's pen does not float away would become the caretaker of Mary and so after casting their Lots it became clear that God did not wish for anyone to be in charge of Mary to be the caretaker of Mary from among their religious scholars that wouldn't be enough for someone like Mary God chose they'd be the one among them those scholars who was himself a prophet and that was Zechariah God says about this in [Music] her Lord accepted her accepted marry in his service into his special servitude at the house in Jerusalem and Masjid al-aqsa he accepted her with a gracious acceptance and he granted her a beautiful upbringing and he entrusted her to the care of Zechariah and so in the shade of Prophet Zechariah peace be upon him Mary grew and she learned that sacred science of devotion to Almighty God and only he had the keys to her quarters on he had the keys to her chambers and this very privilege is what allowed him to be the only one with the honor to serve her but it wasn't just that it allowed him to be someone who would even learn at times from his young apprentice and that is the next verse the same verse actually continues to say whenever Zechariah entered upon her in her quarters in her sanctuary he found her with provisions there like food and things there and so he said Oh Mary where did you get this from and she would say it is from God God provides to whom he wishes without account it was reported that when Zechariah would enter upon her quarters he would find food in there that he did not bring which was odd because only he had the keys but furthermore he would find fruits there that are summer fruits present in the winter and winter fruits that are present in the summer and so how could this happen Mary would remind him it's from God don't calculate when it comes to God's grace and the next verse is in this story actually to summarize them for you they say it is actually at that point that Zachariah called out to his Lord for a child disregarding no longer calculating his old age that factor or the factor of his wife being barren or no longer fertile and it was at that point that God blessed Zachariah with Yehia John peace and blessings be upon him and let us quickly move now to the height of Mary's story and a lot tells us God tells us to recall it in the Quran and so let's do that now ponder over it verse by verse uninterrupted [Music] and mention in the scripture Mary when she withdrew from her people to an Eastern location and she screened herself away from her people she went out of sight and we sent to her our spirit the Archangel Gabriel and he appeared to her as a human being and immaculate human being in every respect [Music] when Mary saw him she said I seek refuge in the most gracious from you should you be of the righteous [Music] he said I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you the gift of a pure son she said how can I ever have a son when no man has ever touched me and I was never on chase so he said to her thus said your Lord your Lord has said this it is easy for me and we will make him that pure son assigned for humanity and a mercy from us and it is a matter that is already finalized and decreed so she carried him and secluded herself with him in her womb to a remote place [Music] [Music] then the labor pains drove her to the trunk of a palm tree at which point she said I wish I had died before this and had been completely forgotten whereupon he Jesus Christ peace be upon him baby Jesus Christ peace and blessings be upon him called her from beneath her and he said do not grieve do not worry your Lord has placed a stream beneath you and he continued to say and Shake towards you the trunk of this palm tree it will drop right edible greats dates by you [Music] [Music] so eat and drink and be consoled he said to her and if you see any human today say to him I have vowed a fast to the most gracious abstaining from speaking a fast to the most gracious so I will not speak to any human today then she came to her people carrying him and they said to her Oh Mary you have certainly done something so terrible they continued to say o sister of Aaron someone named after the Prophet not the brother of Moses o sister of Aaron your father was not an evil man your mother was not on chase Buse Lobby yeah so she pointed to him Jesus Christ peace and blessings be upon him and they said how can we speak to an infant that is still in the cradle he Jesus Christ peace be upon him said from the cradle I am the servant of God he has given me the scripture and made me a prophet and has made me blessed wherever I may be and has enjoined upon me prayer and charity so long as I live and to be kind to my mother and he did not make me to be a disobedient rebel and peace be upon me the day that I was born and the day that I will die and the day that I get resurrected alive again [Music] that is Jesus the Son of Mary the word of truth about which they dispute it is not for God to have a child glory be to him to have anything done he merely says to it be and it becomes Jesus concluded by saying and God is my Lord and your Lord so worship Him that is the straight path this is an excerpt from the chapter on Mary the 19th chapter of the Quran and there is so much to learn from this single day in the life of Mary peace be upon her such as perhaps clarifying to the world that the Holy Spirit was in fact the Archangel Gabriel who God sent as a messenger to carry the message of God was what was not himself one with God and it also reminds us and reiterates at the central message of Jesus Christ peace and blessings be upon him was delivering people to God not to himself but through him meaning through his teachings and his example but let us conclude this talk with just two quick lessons powerful lessons from that excerpt from Mary herself the first of them is that Mary was instructed to shake the palm tree towards her and this is a profound lesson in the obligation to do your part while at the same time relying on God I mean after all even the strongest men in the world don't shake a palm tree to bring down the dates nevertheless a woman who just went through the pangs and the pains and the agony of labor so here God is teaching us and this message is permeates the entire Quranic message that engaging our reality is in separate inseparable from putting our reliance on God it's actually a part of putting your trust in God God is the ultimate reality but he made this reality effective by his permission to be engaged and not to be ignored that's why an imam ahmed one of the great jury service sanam was once told about a group of people that just remain in the mosque remain in the house of worship and they say we've put our full trust in god and so he said these are people that have no trace of knowledge like they don't know what the scent of knowledge is and then he said don't they read the quran and find god telling Mary Shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree the second lesson we and with it I'll conclude is that Mary peace and blessings be upon her she witnessed a powerful miracle which was what Jesus peace be upon him speaking in infants infancy God allowed her to see that miracle to hear that miracle and that was enough for her to dispel her anxiety and to recalibrate her it reminded her that God is there with her but then a few hours later shortly thereafter her people witnessed Jesus peace be upon him speaking from the cradle but very soon after hearing that they turned away they explained it away as they say and they disbelieve and so God here reminds us that proof and evidence is useless if you are not willing to accept it the same way that islam teaches us that blind faith could be imprudent it could be a dismissal of the blessing of intellect that god endowed us with at the same time someone stubbornly rejecting irrespective of the proofs they come across this could blind a person into faithlessness and into destruction and God speaks about this throughout the Quran here God says and we turn people's hearts away we turn people's hearts away and we turn people's eyesight's away just as they refuse to believe in it the first time and we leave them wandering in their rebellion in another verse God says [Music] [Music] you know what is wrong [Music] [Laughter] and even if we were to open for people gateways into the heavens and allow them to climb to ascend through them they would still say our eyes are hallucinating rather we are a people that have been bewitched someone just must have cast a spell on us some people no matter what proof you bring them it would never be enough Mary wanted to believe whereas some people want to disbelieve and so to close and open the floor for questions we ask Almighty God to further honor Mary in both worlds our mother and faith and our mother in modesty and we ask him for faith that does not waver even if the world may doubt and we ask him for modesty that dignifies as human beings even if the world terms should turn shameless and we ask him to grant us genuine love for him and the righteous of all times in all places and we ask him to bolster our weakness through their example and we ask him to create in us a drive for guidance that would overcome whatever may hinder us from it and we ask him to protect us from swerving from the straight path due to either ignorant or arrogance and grant us his grace to compensate us for our weak attempts at being righteous human beings in our lives allahumma Ameen you

Channel: Yaqeen Institute

Views: 7,111

Rating: 4.8552036 out of 5

Keywords: yaqeen institute, islamic research, maryam, mary, mother of jesus, jesus mom

Id: 190adlhuboc

Length: 40min 2sec (2402 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 26 2019