As a Muslim woman, I learned many lessons from Maryam’s life. Frequently mentioned in the Qur’an, her life story inspired me as a young girl growing up in a non-Muslim country. Years later, she still inspires me.
First Impression of Mother Maryam
I was around 6 years old when my youngest sister was born. My late father picked me up from school to take me to meet the family’s newest addition at Brisbane Mater Hospital.
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As we walked in, I remember being awestruck by a beautiful painting of a veiled woman who met us in the hospital entrance. As I waited for the elevator doors to open, I kept looking at the beautiful painting making a mental note to ask my father who she was.
That night, when I asked him, my father told me it was Maryam, or Mary, the mother of Jesus. He said that Maryam the Qur’an described her as the best woman that will ever exist; a role model for all Muslim women of all ages.
My father then told me that I too should make her my role model, along with all the mothers of the believers.
He also explained why I should imitate her impeccable manners, genuine devotion to and trust in Allah, which reflected Maryam’s perfect worship and behavior.
Perfect Role Model for All Muslim Women
Here I am, many years later, facing another challenge in life and I still remember my father’s words.
My thoughts again return to Maryam, who was a model believer. She is also a perfect example of someone who overcame intense physical pain and, as I am now, emotional turmoil.
There are so many beautiful lessons in Surah Maryam, the only Quranic Chapter named after a woman. Its verses offer many opportunities for reflection on how Allah made the family.
Although both my parents are gone, I can still do a lot for them. I remember my father telling me that there are verses in the Qur’an telling us of our bond with our parents and how they are a gift in the world.
I found a deep significance in the lessons of Maryam’s story. It inspires me to think about the strength women and men need in order to raise righteous children.
Strength Like No Other
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Maryam’s strength was exemplified when she became pregnant by Allah’s decree and was to deliver her child all alone.
Although people accused her of the worst of sins, Maryam ignored the pessimism and displayed enormous willpower, resolve, and faith in Allah. She placed her fullest trust in His plan and was therefore unaffected by their accusations.
This can be seen in Maryam’s response to the news that she was expecting a child: she has never been impure so how could this be?
Allah had sent an angel, just as He did with Zakaria, in order to tell her that for Allah, anything is easy.
{And [mention] when the angels said, “O Mary, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds. O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord and prostrate and bow with those who bow [in prayer].” (Aal `Imran 3:42-43)
Regardless of how difficult and hopeless things may seem, we should not worry for everything is easy for Allah.
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These days it can be easy for our faith in Allah to go through ups and downs. There may be times where we even surrender to sadness. Yet, we can learn through Maryam that patience and faith are rewarded.
Maryam received glad tidings that she would be gifted with a righteous son; who we know, was to be the Prophet Jesus.
{He said, “Thus [it will be]; your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign to the people and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter [already] decreed.’} (Maryam 19:21)
By persevering in trusting Allah, the highest levels of productivity can be achieved. Through continued supplication and prayers, we will be rewarded.
Prayer As The Ultimate Worship
As Muslims, prayers are the most important method of worship in our lives. It is the first thing that we will be questioned about on the Day of Judgement.
Prayer was the last thing that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered before he passed away and prayer is cited over 600 times in the Qur’an.
Maryam’s devotion is also mentioned in the Qur’an. Allah praises Maryam in the Qur’an and declares her as being obedient to Allah.
{And [mention] when the angels said, “O Mary, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds. O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord and prostrate and bow with those who bow [in prayer].} (Aal `Imran 3:42-43)
How Much Control Do We Really Have?
From Maryam, I have learned patience and humility. While some of us get egotistical in this world, Allah reminds us in surah Maryam that we have no control over when or where we are born. We will also go through life wondering when and how we will leave this world.
Fact is, the ultimate knowledge is with Allah. So who are we to be arrogant?
The Many Lessons of Maryam’s Life
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There are many lessons we all can take from Maryam, including myself on a personal level, but learning to have few worldly expectations may have been the most significant.
I realized also, that as a parent, I should put more focus on raising my children to aim for success. By success, I am not suggesting the highest of positions or income, but rather to work and invest for the afterlife. That is what counts in the end.
Just as Zakariah raised Maryam and just as she raised the Prophet Jesus, I have learned to ask Allah for my children to be raised with one expectation in mind: I pray to Allah to make them good Muslims and devoted servants of Him.
Maryam’s inspirations are endless and there is nothing more in our hands than to supplicate that we have the strength and courage of Maryam to be patient through our hardships.
Her life has taught me to be in a consistent state of working for the betterment of both myself and my family. For in front of Allah and on the Day of Judgement, we will all be held accountable.
The Christmas Message of Jesus
As Christmas is celebrated all over the world, it will come as a real surprise to many people that Muslims have any regard for Jesus at all.
Most people have no idea that Jesus has any part in Islam. And yet, for Muslims not only is Jesus revered as a Prophet of Islam, but whenever his name is mentioned, they will add the words “peace be upon him.”
Far from being a “foreign” religion, Islam teaches that all prophets in the Old Testament actually brought a message from Almighty God, Allah, to His people, and Muslims respect the same prophets revered by Christians and Jews.
Whilst Christians and Muslims believe very different things about Jesus, it is nonetheless a very useful starting point to know that both religious traditions honor Jesus as a very special person. In fact, it would be quite acceptable for Muslims to include the name of Jesus in their Shahadah, or declaration of faith.
Muslims say: “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” but they could just as equally declare “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Jesus is the Messenger of Allah.”
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That being said, the Jesus revealed in Islam is in many ways quite different from the Jesus many Christians have come to know. The foremost difference is that Jesus is not considered by Muslims to be the son of God.
The next major difference is that Muslims do not believe that he died on the cross to save people from their sins.
They take their belief from what Allah tells them in the Quran. For example, regarding who Jesus was, we read:
O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary… (Quran 4:171)
And we also read:
{Christ the son of Mary was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah doth make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth! (Quran 5:75)
Regarding Jesus’ death, we read in the Quran:
And they said we have killed the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God. They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them… (Quran 4:157-158)
An Authentic Narrative About Jesus
It is important for us to understand why Muslims believe a different narrative about Jesus, rather than the one accepted by many Christians. Muslims in fact believe that the words about Jesus in the existing gospels are not the actual words revealed about him by Allah.
They believe, instead, that Almighty God, Allah, has spoken to His creation down through the centuries through prophets. Some of these prophets had books revealed to them. Prophet Moses, for example, had the Torah revealed to him, just as Prophet Jesus had a message revealed to him known as the Injeel.
Muslims believe that neither of these books now exist in the form in which they were originally revealed because they have been altered, either deliberately or accidentally, over time. Allah never intended these messages to last, since they were for a particular people at a particular time in their history.
The Quran revealed to Muhammad, however, was intended for all people and for all time. It is the fullness of revelation, affirming all that is correct of what had gone before and correcting all that had become unclear about previous revelation.
The Message of Jesus in Quran
The Quran, then, has a different nativity narrative for the birth of Jesus and a completely different approach to who Jesus was. Jesus according to the Quran, was “no more than a messenger,” delivering God’s words to mankind. Unlike prophets before him, he was given the gift of miracles, but these miracles were a manifestation of the power of God, not of Jesus’ own power.
The message of Jesus was the message given to all prophets before him: that God is One and that He deserves to be worshipped in a particular way. By following the “straight path” people can come to get to know God better. This is the message confirmed in the Quran and is what has come to be known as Islam today. For Muslims, Jesus is a Messenger of Islam.
So what about the “Christian message” preached by Jesus? What about all the teaching about love of neighbor? What about all the stories and the parables related by Christians today as the words of Jesus himself?
For Muslims, the Quran is the fullness of revelation. Everything that agrees with the Quran in the previous scriptures is considered to be true. Anything that disagrees with the Quran is considered to be false. And as for anything in the previous scriptures which is not found in the Quran, Muslims don’t know if it is true or false, whether it is divinely revealed or the invention of men.
Stories like the Good Samaritan and the Sermon on the Mount, for example, do not appear in the Quran so Muslims have no way of knowing who wrote them. Since they don’t actually disagree with Islamic teaching we cannot say they are wrong, but we remain unclear about where they came from.
In other words, much of Jesus’ so-called teaching, as narrated by the New Testament, sits very comfortably with the principles of the Quran, but is not to be found as divine revelation in the Quran itself.
Teaching that people should love their neighbor, although related in different language, is very much a part of what Muslims believe. Prophet Muhammad is the closest commentary we have on the Quran. In his life we see how the Quran should be lived and in his life we see that caring for neighbors, the widowed and the orphans is very much a part of being a Muslim.
Christmas Message
As people throughout the world celebrate Christmas, it might be a very good way of building bridges between people of faith if Muslims were to let others know just what Islam teaches about Prophet Jesus. This shouldn’t be done in a way that offends the belief of others. After all, disagreeing is not the end of the world!
If people could understand one another more and agree to differ on certain matters of belief, our world would be a much better place.
Christians would have us believe that “Peace” is the central message of Christmas. As Muslims we say “Amen” to that, since “Islam” itself comes from a root word that means “Peace” and Prophet Jesus came to teach the message of Islam.
Happy holidays!
(From Discovering Islam’s archive.)
