What does the Koran say about Mary, Mother of God?
I heard that Jesus Christ is mentioned in the Koran but that an entire
chapter of the Koran is devoted to Mary, Mother of God.  
Please explain.  Please summarize the chapter.

Hello there

"What does the Koran say about Mary, Mother of God?"

Quite a bit actually and in more than one chapter.  Here is one place
to begin.  You will find quoted verses and the chapters they are from.
http://koran.topcities.com/Mary.htm - From koran.topcities.com

One of these chapters is called Sura Maryam.  (Mary) The Nineteenth
Surah of the Qur'aan.  You will find the whole chapter here:
http://www.al-sunnah.com/call_to_islam/quran/surah19.html - From al-sunnah.com

The best summary of the chapter is to read the chapter itself.  Just
as in trying to summarize chapter and verse in any other scripture,
such summaries are suspect.  It is difficult, next to impossible, to
summarize or paraphrase without letting ones own belief systems or
biases get in the way.  If a dozen people answered this question, you
would get a dozen different summaries and interpretations of the Sura.

But here is a short attempt: - Basically the Sura covers the birth of
Mary, the announcement by angels that she would have a special child,
the birth (which includes an interesting miracle birth story as
follows: - - 23. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of
a date-palm. She said: "Would that I had died before this, and had
been forgotten and out of sight!"

24. Then [the babe 'Iesa (Jesus) or Jibrael (Gabriel)] cried unto her
from below her, saying: "Grieve not! Your Lord has provided a water
stream under you;

25. "And shake the trunk of date-palm towards you, it will let fall
fresh ripe-dates upon you."

26. "So eat and drink and be glad, and if you see any human being,
say: 'Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allâh) so
I shall not speak to any human being this day.'"

27. Then she brought him (the baby) to her people, carrying him. They
said: "O Mary! Indeed you have brought a thing Fariya (an unheard
mighty thing). )

The Sura also mentions that Jesus spoke as a newborn infant, then goes
on to explain the differences between the "sects," Christian and Islam
and how they interpreted the story.

End of brief attempt.

So, what I will do instead is send you to a lengthy article from the
Islamic Digest which explains the meaning of Sura Maryam with
breakdowns, passage summaries and associated notes from both Sura
Maryam and Surah Al-Imran or Sura III.
http://www.maryamthemovie.net/mary.in.islam/

As an example of what you will find:

"And when the angels said 'O, Mary! Verily God has chosen you and has
purified you and has chosen you over all women of the world. (3/41)

According to this verse she was one of "the Chosen", and she was
purified by God Himself. What is even more to the verse is that she
was informed of these qualities by the angels revealing these facts to
her for a purpose known only later on in the chapter. Moreover an
amazing event is reported about her before she received the angels,
when she was virtually a child praying in her specially located
sanctuary." - From the Islamic Digest website.

"Be it as it may, according to the Qur'an, the recipients of the
Spirit are not ordinary people. They are distinguished as benefiting
from the special grace of the Lord, and as having capabilities
enabling them to be addressed by Him. It is in this category of people
that the Virgin Mary is placed in the Qur'an, although she was not a
prophet." - From same source as above.

Search - Google
Terms - Mary in the Koran, Sura Maryam, Surah Al-Imran, Jesus in Koran

Websites are included in the text of answer.

If I may clarify anything before the answer is rated, please ask.

Cheers
Digsalot

---

Clarification of Answer by digsalot-ga on 30 Apr 2004 10:45 PDT

Thank you for your kind words and the rating.  We look forward to
being of service again if you need us.

Digs

Thank you for enlightening me, digsalot.
And to sfxmystica-ga, you don't antagonize me, I just turn the other cheek.
We in the West have Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Worship.
We tolerate diverse viewpoints, and through the free exchange of ideas
we in the West progress.  We tolerate different religious practices,
or non-practices as it may be.  Indeed, the Muslims of the West, Sunni
or Shia, have more freedom to worship as they choose, of their own
free wills, than the average Saudi subject where adherence to one sect
of Islam is official, exclusive of all others, and mandatory.
So sfxmystica-ga, 
please enjoy exercising your right to Freedom of Speech, here on this
world-wide internet, this internet invented in the sunshine of North
America.

There can be only one truth about Jesus, and his mother Mary. Islam
and Christianity both claim a common beginning, but diverged somewhat.
Now these two major religions are like chalk and cheese. From my
reading of the Bible, Mary is credited with the birth of Jesus, who
himself stated that he was NOT God himself. The scriptures at John
5;19, 30, 7;28, 8;28, 8;42, all state that Jesus did nothing of his
own initiative, but did what his Father [ God himself ] wanted. Also
at John 1;18 the Bible states " No man has seen God at ANY time, the
only begotten god [ Jesus was a lesser god, not Almighty God ] who is
in the bosom position with  the Father is the one who has explained
Him. If Jesus was God, THE GOD, and we know men at that time saw him,
it would put a lie to that same scripture, and to a person of faith
and COMMON SENSE, Jesus WAS God`s son. And Mary was the mother of
God`s son, NOT the mother of God.

We are all God's own daughters and son my child ... :)

At the risk of antagonising a lot of people ... 

Mary was no virgin; she did give birth to a baby didn't she?

Jesus was nothing but a MAN with great heart and exceptional people skills. 

Period.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been so brusque... 

?you don't antagonize me, I just turn the other cheek."

--> First, yes I am a Muslim.
I wasn't trying to antagonize you (or anyone else for that matter). I
was voicing a belief of mine to give you a different perspective. I
honestly believe that ALL prophets (including Prophet Muhammad), were
just great leaders. Men. I believe in God, but I refuse to accept
religion as 'words from him'.

If you'll look at history, you'll find that every ruler or leader
associated himself in some way with God.

Let me explain with one example of why I believe the prophets to be
just great leaders.

Moses. During the time of Moses, the Egyptian pharaohs considered
themselves God (or representatives of God). And people believed that.

Moses was raised as a prince. When he realized that he wasn't actually
a part of that family, his perspective changed. He started to
investigate his root and than started identifying himself with his
real people. He started empathizing with the sufferings 'his' people
had to go to.

After he was exiled, a lot of different people, especially his wife,
influenced him. Raised to be a future pharaoh, Moses had all the
training and experience to be a great leader. He knew all the tricks
of the trade, so to speak. Since he was indeed a prince before, people
had no problem in looking up to him and accepting him as their natural
leader. He proclaimed himself as a prophet of God, because he, like
the pharaohs, realized the advantage of it. And 'preaching' God, he
galvanized his people to rise and defeat the pharaohs.

What about the miracles he performed?? There were no miracles. 
Ever played a game called 'pass on the message'. You sit around in a
circle. The person next to you whispers a message to you. You have to
pass it on to your next neighbor. The last person finally says the
message aloud. And if there are a lot of people, the original message
is always lost. (Try it out, if you doubt the veracity of it). The
point being, over the centuries, the original story keeps getting
garbled or filled in. As the X - Files says, 'the Truth is out there';
we just don't have the original version of the truth. :)

--> "We in the West have Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Worship.
We tolerate diverse viewpoints..... "

Please. Please spare me that bull ****! (Sorry, I just can't help
being rude after reading that). I don?t have the freedom of speech
because of America. In fact, I am worried whether I?ll lose it because
of you people.

You American's are the least tolerant when it comes to 'diverse
viewpoints.' (Of course I mean the American Govt. and its supporters
and, not all Americans).

Have you ever been to any of the gulf or Asian countries??  You might
find a shock awaiting you. Some of the refined cultures of these
countries might sometimes cause you to feel embarrassed or ashamed of
your own.

I am an Indian. Come to India if you get the opportunity and you might
learn what 'accepting diverse viewpoints' means.

My country actually practices democracy than just spewing out its
virtues. That is why, even today, some of our states are run by
communist government, some by socialist and so on. You name any
political orientation you'll find some political party practicing that
in India. We allow it because we believe in the will of the people,
true democracy. I and my country men have no problem in electing a
woman to lead the country (Indira Gandhi, and in this years election,
Sonia Gandhi is running for PM). I think it'll take the Americans a
century or 2 to even to start a political agitation on the
woman-president issue! Perhaps you might not be aware, India is
seriously considering reserving 33% of its parliamentary seats for
women. Not just India, even a Muslim state like Pakistan has had woman
leaders (Benazir Bhutto).

The problem with most Americans is that you are too self involved in
yourself to be aware of what?s happening outside your world. And
hence, your government finds it easy to manipulate you people. Best
example, Iraq. I find a lot of posts on the internet voicing the
disgust and disbelief on the abuse issue. They have a hard time
believing it. The people on this side of the world aren't shocked,
(disgusted yes) because we have always known how your government acts.
We know America is a bully who preaches God and democracy only when it
suits them.

Your government isn't interested in democracy in Iraq ... they just
want a puppet government who will freely allow them to pump oil. We
know that. But most of you Americans still go around believing you
guys have done the world a favor by bringing ?democracy? and
?freedom?.


Trust me, history has shown and proved time and again, that no ruler
can survive without the goodwill of the people. If the Iraqis or the
Iranians want to get rid of their leaders they would have.

I can feel your contempt for the Arabs. Many of my relatives live in
many gulf countries, and they find them to be very hospitable and good
natured people.

Every country, every society has its own culture and its own failings.
You don't just ridicule it or consider it inferior to yours without
even trying to understand it.

"We in the West have Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Worship.
We tolerate diverse viewpoints, and through the free exchange of ideas
we in the West progress.  We tolerate different religious practices,
or non-practices as it may be."

Unfortunately, our current administration (i.e., Bush et al.) does not
share these same feelings.  Look at the record.