Reading Mary alongside Maryam
We were seated on chairs arranged in a circle in the aptly named Hospitality Room, men and women from Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Japan, and the U.S. We were reading the Qur’an. Some were Muslims who many people would not consider Muslim; others were Christians who many people would not consider Christian. It was our semester-long Qur’an study group at Jubilee! Community Church in Asheville, North Carolina. What we all had in common was a commitment to understanding the texts, practices, and beliefs of the others in the room.
Each December, I find myself thinking about those sessions. With Ramadan currently falling in the summer months, our connections to Islam can easily get lost in the winter holiday shuffle. That’s somewhat ironic, since the story of the conception and birth of Isa (Jesus) to Maryam (Mary) is found in numerous passages. In fact, there is an entire surah (chapter) in the Qur’an titled “Maryam.”
There is also a version of the story of Jesus’ birth in the Islamic text Qisas Al-Anbiya. I was able to find an English translation by Wheeler M. Thackston Jr. as Tales of the Prophets. Though it is not scripture, the chapter “Jesus son of Mary” includes portions that relate directly to verses in the Qur’an:
