Most of us look forward to the Christmas season as a time of family gatherings, stringing the Christmas tree, joy and anticipation of exchanging gifts and all those wonderful things! A lot of friends, family and acquaintances are perfectly happy and content with what they know about the birth of Jesus and that's just fine.
However, unbeknownst to me was the Quran's version of the story on the birth of Jesus. It was quite different than the one I knew by heart since childhood and the fist time I read through a few verses in the Surah I must admit I was numb by a puzzling flurry of confusion. I'm sure the same goes for any Muslim reading the the story in the Bible... the two stories just do not match.
Let me begin by explaining why I chose the title of this post "The Virgin Mary's Super Strength" by looking at the following Surah.
Surah 19:23-26
"And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said 'Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.' But he called her from below her, 'Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream.' And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.'"THE CONTEXT:
- The context of the story is that the Virgin Mary gives birth to Jesus alone outside without her husband and the Lord helps her replenish her strength.
- This story is very different than that in the Bible:
- She is alone, where is her husband Joseph?
- She gives birth outside, not in a manger?
- Why is she left alone in the first place?
- How can she give birth alone?
- Why does the Lord tell her not to speak to any man that day?
- How can she gather the strength to shake a palm tree after giving birth? (Super Strength)
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| Can you shake one of these? |
