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- Welcome to "Let The Quran Speak."
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With Christmas around the corner,
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many people are reflecting
on the story of Jesus.
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Did you know that Jesus
has a central place
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in Islam as well?
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Today we'll be exploring the
birth of Jesus in the Quran.
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With me is Dr. Shabir Ally.
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Dr. Shabir, welcome to
"Let The Quran Speak."
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- Pleasure to be on.
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- Let's talk about Jesus.
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And of course, we cannot talk about Jesus
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without talking about Mary as well,
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who was a remarkable woman
who brought Jesus into being
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so let's talk about that, Dr. Shabir.
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- Yeah, the Quran depicts the
story of the birth of Jesus
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in two extensive narratives in the Quran.
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One is in the third chapter of the Quran,
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starting with the 42nd verse.
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The other is in the 19th
chapter of the Quran,
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starting with the 16th
āyah, the 16th verse.
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Both of these chapters are named
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after persons related to Jesus.
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Surat Maryam is the most obvious one,
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the 19th chapter named Surat Maryam
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after the Hebrew name of
Jesus's mother, Maryam.
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And in the third chapter of
the Quran, that one is named
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after the grandfather of Jesus, Al Imran.
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It's called the Family of Imran,
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Imran being Jesus's grandfather
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from the Quranic perspective.
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- Mm-hmm, it's interesting
that there's no chapter
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of the Quran with Jesus's
name reflected in the name
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so that's interesting.
- Yes.
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- You mentioned Maryam and
the grandfather, but no Jesus.
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- Yes, yes, though Jesus's name
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is mentioned in the Quran 25 times,
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Maryam, his mother, is
mentioned even more times,
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probably three dozen times.
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- Wow.
- Yes.
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Because often her name is mentioned
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in conjunction with her son
because her son is identified
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as Jesus, son of Mary,
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so Mary's name gets
automatically mentioned,
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but as a standalone,
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her name gets mentioned
several times more.
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- Mm-hmm, and how does
that compare to the mention
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of Muhammad's name in the
Quran, Prophet Muhammad?
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Is it similar in terms of
the way Jesus is mentioned?
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- The word Muhammad for the
name of the Prophet Muhammad,
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peace be upon him, occurs
four times in the Quran.
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And then there is a fifth
mention that we can count,
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the word Ahmad, being an alternative name
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of the Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him,
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derived from the same root as Muhammad.
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And this occurs, coincidentally,
in one of the prophecies
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that Isa Alayhi al-Salam,
Jesus, on whom be peace, offers.
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He speaks about a
prophet to come after him
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whose name will be Ahmad.
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So the Prophet Muhammad, peace
be upon him, you can say,
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is mentioned by name four or
five times if we include Ahmad.
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- Hmm, interesting.
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So, Dr. Shabir, let's move
on to the birth of Jesus.
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Tell me a little bit about
how it transpires in the Quran
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and maybe how it kind of differs
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from the biblical narrative as well.
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- Yes. So let's start with
the Quranic narrative then.
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So in the third chapter, we
read that the angels come
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to address Mary, and first
Mary rises to prominence.
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Even before the angels address her,
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the Quran gives a bit of a background
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by saying God has chosen
the family of Imran.
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So we see that this is a blessed family
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coming all the way down.
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And the mother of Mary
dedicates the child in her womb,
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this would be Mary in her
womb, to the worship of God.
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And then Mary grows up under God's care,
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and she is miraculously provided
for according to the Quran.
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Then eventually, the angels address Mary
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and speaks to her in
very respectful language,
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saying that God has chosen
her and preferred her
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over all of the women of the world.
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- And then she's given the good news
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that she will have a child.
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And she says, "How can I have a child
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when no mortal has touched me?"
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And she's told, "So it will be."
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When God decrees the thing,
He only says to it, Kun,
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the Arabic word, to be, and it is.
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Many Muslims know this phrase,
"Kun faya kun," be and it is.
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So the birth of Jesus is
therefore shown in the Quran
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to be a miraculous event.
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It's accompanied by this presaging
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of the angelic announcement.
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This is known in Christian circles
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as the Annunciation that is given to Mary.
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The 19th chapter of the
Quran is in a similar vein.
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There too, we find there is a bit
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of a background information.
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In both narratives,
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the story of John the
Baptist is told first,
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Zechariah and his son
Yahya, John the Baptist.
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And then we come to the
story of Mary there too.
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And Mary is told that
she will have a child.
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She asks how it can happen,
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and she's told that this is easy for God
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and God has made this a thing determined
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so this is going to definitely happen.
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This chapter goes into details
about Mary secluding herself
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and the, you know, we see the pain
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that a woman goes through
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as she is ready to give birth
in the story of Mary here.
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So the story becomes very much touching
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to women in particular,
but to Muslims in general.
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- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
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So she gives birth, right, Dr. Shabir,
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and then what happens next?
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- Naturally, people
want to know, you know,
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well, how do you explain all of this?
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So this-
- Because she goes back
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to her town, right?
- Yes.
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- Yes.
- The Quran says,
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(Dr. Shabir speaks in Arabic)
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then she got pregnant with him
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and she went to an eastern place.
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And then after all is
done, she gives birth.
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She comes back to her
people and the people say,
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(Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic)
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"Mary, how do you explain this?"
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And she pointed to the
child and the child spoke
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and said, "Inni Abdullah,
I am a servant of God.
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(Dr. Shabir speaks Arabic)
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God has given me the Scripture
and made me a prophet.
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(Dr. Shabir speaks Arabic)
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And has made me blessed
wherever I shall be," and so on.
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So basically, the child speaks.
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And that, is in a way,
in defense of his mother,
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in case someone might
cast aspersions on her.
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How did she have a child
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when obviously her husband
is not accounted for?
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So the Quran gives a realistic account
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of how things would be expected to happen
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in a situation like that
and at the same time,
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clears the name of Jesus
and of his mother, Mary.
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- What lessons do we learn
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from the birth of Jesus
in the Quran, Dr. Shabir?
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- Well, in the Quran, we have
a number of important lessons.
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If we reflect on what Jesus
was saying, even as a child,
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God has, you know, enjoined upon him,
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(Dr. Shabir speaks Arabic)
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"God has enjoyed upon
me prayer and charity
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as long as I am alive."
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So these are important
commandments and teachings
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in the Quran for Muslims,
prayer and charity.
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He says, (speaks Arabic)
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"And he has been made dutiful
to his mother. (speaks Arabic)
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And I have not been
overwhelming over my mother
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and unblessed in the way
that I treat my mother,
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like as a wretched child."
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So these are all important lessons
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because after the important
commandment of being kind,
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of being dutiful to God, worshiping God,
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we are enjoined to be
kind towards our parents,
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and here we see that
reflected in Jesus himself.
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Many other important lessons.
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The birth of Jesus is told
in two of the gospels,
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in the Gospel according to Luke,
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the Gospel according to Matthew,
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and each is told from a
different perspective.
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You know, I'll cut it short by
saying that the Quranic story
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is very much reflective of details
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which are mentioned in both of these,
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but especially so in the
Gospel according to Luke.
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- All right, we'll leave it at
that. Thank you, Dr. Shabir.
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- You're welcome.
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