and Public Piety in Shi’i Lebanon (Princeton, N.J.: Princ-
eton University Press, 2006).
Mary (Arabic: Maryam) (late first century
b.c.e.–early first century c.e.) the mother of Jesus
Mary is the only female figure mentioned by name
in the qUran, with a chapter named after her
(Surat Maryam). She is the mother of JesUs (Ar.
Isa) and a significant female exemplar of piety and
purity in Islam in her own right. There are two
chapters in the Quran that include her narrative
in detail (Q 3:33–51 and 19:16-35), along with
important mentions in other chapters (Q 4:171,
21:91, 66:11–12). Jesus is identified in Islam first
and foremost as Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus son of
Mary), as well as ruh Allah (spirit of God), kali-
mat Allah (word of God), and al-masih (Messiah).
Aside from the Quran itself, other later sources for
characterizations of Mary’s life and role in Islam
include Quran commentary literature (tafsir)
and the genre of qisas al-anbiya’ (stories of the
prophets).
Mary’s personal quality of isma (sinlessness)
in Islam reflects her sinless conception by her
mother, her ritual purity, which allowed her to
serve in the Temple in JerUsalem (normally a
role restricted to men), and her virginity in con-
ceiving Jesus. God is shown to have given Mary
special favor. Mary is chosen and purified above
all Women in this world and has precedence over
all other women in heaven. Her extraordinary
personal devotion and piety led God to support
her with miraculous provisions of summer fruit
in winter and winter fruit in summer, allowing
her to sustain her prayers in seclusion without
outside labor.
Jesus is cast into Mary’s womb as the “word” of
God in three different senses according to Quran
commentary: (1) creation of life by divine speech,
that is, God says “be” and life “is”; (2) Jesus’ pro-
phetic mission is embodied in his “word,” that is,
the gospel (Ar. al-injil); and (3) the communica-
tion of God’s “word” to Mary, that is, the “annun-
ciation” by the angel. Despite Jesus’ miraculous
conception, Mary’s experience of gestation and
childbirth is documented in Islam as fully human.
She experiences struggle and pain in laboring
to give birth, during which God helps her with
gifts of water and fresh dates. Mary returns to her
people after the birth of Jesus and is miraculously
defended by him. He speaks on her behalf in his
cradle when she is accused of unchaste behavior
in bearing a child while unwed.
Aside from Mary’s importance as the mother of
Jesus, she plays an ongoing role in Muslim piety
as a model of pious devotion, sorrowing mother-
hood, and saintly (even “prophetic”) inspiration.
In shiism, the minority tradition in Islam, Mary
is associated with the “mother of the Imams,”
Fatima. Mary is believed by Twelver Shiis to have
appeared to Fatima to console her in her last ill-
ness. Mary and Fatima are both understood in this
theological context as a joint image of persecuted
and holy motherhood, as their sons Jesus and
Husayn are linked as the suffering, persecuted,
and ultimately martyred leaders of the faithful. In
the majority Sunni theological tradition, because
of her righteousness, Mary is granted the abil-
ity to receive revelation and inspiration via the
angel’s transmission to her of the “word of God”
(Jesus). She is even assigned some Sunni Quran
commentary in the otherwise exclusively male
function in Islam of prophethood (nubuwwa),
since she received direct divine communication,
as opposed to messengerhood (risala), or bringing
a new scriptural revelation, a male-only function
in Islam.
See also christianity and islam; John the bap-
tist; tWelve-imam shiism.
Kathleen M. O’ConnorFurther reading: Mahmoud Ayoub, Redemptive Suffer-
ing in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of Ashura
in Twelver Shi’ism (The Hague: Mouton, 1978). Jane D.
McAuliffe, “Chosen of All Women: Mary and Fatima in
Qur’anic Exegesis,” Islamochristiana 7 (1981): 19–28;K 460 Mary