Maryam

The only woman called by her name

The Quran tells the stories of many women. The wife of Adam. The mother of Musa. The wife of Pharaoh. The Queen of Sheba. It does not name them. One woman it calls by her name, Maryam, thirty-four times. A whole surah carries it. Her son is called by it too. Again and again he is 'Isa ibn Maryam, Jesus the son of Mary, named for his mother.

I want to tell you who she was, by the Book, line by line. Not because Muslims own her. Because Allah chose her, and a man who wants to know what a chosen life looks like has to look at hers.

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Given away before she was born

إِذْ قَالَتِ ٱمْرَأَتُ عِمْرَٰنَ رَبِّ إِنِّى نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِى بَطْنِى مُحَرَّرًۭا فَتَقَبَّلْ مِنِّىٓ ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ

Idh qalatimra'atu 'Imrana rabbi inni nadhartu laka ma fi batni muharraran fataqabbal minni, innaka antas-Sami'ul-'Alim

When the wife of 'Imran said: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, set free for Your service, so accept it from me. You are the Hearing, the Knowing. (Surah Aal Imran 3:35)

Her story starts with her mother. A woman with a child in her womb who gave that child to Allah before she ever held it. Muharraran. Set free. Free of every claim but His.

Then the child came, and it was a girl. Her mother told Allah so, as if she had less to give than she had promised.

فَلَمَّا وَضَعَتْهَا قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّى وَضَعْتُهَآ أُنثَىٰ وَٱللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا وَضَعَتْ وَلَيْسَ ٱلذَّكَرُ كَٱلْأُنثَىٰ ۖ وَإِنِّى سَمَّيْتُهَا مَرْيَمَ وَإِنِّىٓ أُعِيذُهَا بِكَ وَذُرِّيَّتَهَا مِنَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ

Falamma wada'at-ha qalat rabbi inni wada'tuha untha, wallahu a'lamu bima wada'at, wa laysadh-dhakaru kal-untha, wa inni sammaytuha Maryama wa inni u'idhuha bika wa dhurriyyataha minash-Shaytanir-rajim

When she delivered her, she said: My Lord, I have delivered a female. And Allah knew best what she had delivered. And the male is not like the female. I have named her Maryam, and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her children, from Shaytan the outcast. (Surah Aal Imran 3:36)

Allah knew best what she had delivered. The mother thought she had less to give. She had more. Whatever she meant by her words, no son could have been what this daughter became.

And her mother did not take the vow back. She named her, and she asked Allah to shield her and her children from Shaytan. That prayer was answered in a way she could not have seen. The Prophet ﷺ said that no child of Adam is born without Shaytan touching it, which is why it cries out at birth, except Maryam and her son.

Sahih al-Bukhari 3431

A mother's dua over a newborn girl. Answered for her, and for a prophet not yet born.

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"It is from Allah"

فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍۢ وَأَنۢبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنًۭا وَكَفَّلَهَا زَكَرِيَّا ۖ كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا ٱلْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقًۭا ۖ قَالَ يَٰمَرْيَمُ أَنَّىٰ لَكِ هَٰذَا ۖ قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَآءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ

Fataqabbalaha rabbuha biqabulin hasanin wa anbataha nabatan hasanan wa kaffalaha Zakariyya, kullama dakhala 'alayha Zakariyyal-mihraba wajada 'indaha rizqa, qala ya Maryamu anna laki hadha, qalat huwa min 'indillah, innallaha yarzuqu man yasha'u bighayri hisab

So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance, made her grow in a good way, and placed her in the care of Zakariyya. Every time Zakariyya came in to her in the prayer chamber, he found provision with her. He said: O Maryam, where is this from? She said: It is from Allah. Allah provides for whom He wills without account. (Surah Aal Imran 3:37)

She grew up in the mihrab, the prayer chamber, in the care of a prophet. And every time he came in, there was food with her that no one had brought.

Look at her answer. A girl, asked by an old prophet where her food came from. She does not explain. She does not make herself the subject. It is from Allah. Allah provides for whom He wills without account.

Then look at what that answer did to him.

هُنَالِكَ دَعَا زَكَرِيَّا رَبَّهُۥ ۖ قَالَ رَبِّ هَبْ لِى مِن لَّدُنكَ ذُرِّيَّةًۭ طَيِّبَةً ۖ إِنَّكَ سَمِيعُ ٱلدُّعَآءِ

Hunalika da'a Zakariyya rabbahu, qala rabbi hab li min ladunka dhurriyyatan tayyibah, innaka sami'ud-du'a'

Right there, Zakariyya called on his Lord. He said: My Lord, grant me from Yourself good offspring. You hear every prayer. (Surah Aal Imran 3:38)

Hunalika. Right there. An old man with a barren wife heard a girl say that Allah gives without account, and he raised his hands in that same room and asked for a son. Allah gave him Yahya ʿalayhi as-⁠salām. A prophet of Allah learned hope from the certainty of a child in his care.

That is what her faith was like before anything happened to her. Quiet, private, and so sure it made a prophet pray.

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Chosen above the women of the worlds

وَإِذْ قَالَتِ ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ يَٰمَرْيَمُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ٱصْطَفَىٰكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ وَٱصْطَفَىٰكِ عَلَىٰ نِسَآءِ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

Wa idh qalatil-mala'ikatu ya Maryamu innallahas-tafaki wa tahharaki was-tafaki 'ala nisa'il-'alamin

And when the angels said: O Maryam, Allah has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of the worlds. (Surah Aal Imran 3:42)

Chosen twice in one breath. Once for herself, and once above every other woman.

And the very next thing the angels said was not about status. It was a command.

يَٰمَرْيَمُ ٱقْنُتِى لِرَبِّكِ وَٱسْجُدِى وَٱرْكَعِى مَعَ ٱلرَّٰكِعِينَ

Ya Maryamuq-nuti li-rabbiki wasjudi warka'i ma'ar-raki'in

O Maryam, be devoutly obedient to your Lord, and prostrate, and bow with those who bow. (Surah Aal Imran 3:43)

Chosen, so pray. Purified, so prostrate. The honor did not lift her above worship. It bound her to it. That is how you know it was real. False honor makes a person proud. Real honor puts their face on the ground.

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Her first word was refuge

وَٱذْكُرْ فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ مَرْيَمَ إِذِ ٱنتَبَذَتْ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا مَكَانًۭا شَرْقِيًّۭا

Wadhkur fil-Kitabi Maryama idhin-tabadhat min ahliha makanan sharqiyya

And mention in the Book Maryam, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the east. (Surah Maryam 19:16)

She withdrew from her family and took a screen between herself and them. She was alone, in a private place, when a man appeared in front of her. He was Jibril ʿalayhi as-⁠salām, sent in the form of a man. She did not know that.

قَالَتْ إِنِّىٓ أَعُوذُ بِٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ مِنكَ إِن كُنتَ تَقِيًّۭا

Qalat inni a'udhu bir-Rahmani minka in kunta taqiyya

She said: I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you fear Allah. (Surah Maryam 19:18)

A young woman alone, a stranger in front of her, and her first word is refuge in the Most Merciful. Not a scream. Not a bargain. She went to Allah, and she called the man to his conscience in the same sentence. If you fear Allah. Her guard was her faith, and her faith was her guard.

He told her he was the messenger of her Lord, come to give her a pure son. She answered with the plainest truth in the world.

قَالَتْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى غُلَٰمٌۭ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِى بَشَرٌۭ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّۭا

Qalat anna yakunu li ghulamun wa lam yamsasni basharun wa lam aku baghiyya

She said: How can I have a son when no man has touched me, and I have not been unchaste? (Surah Maryam 19:20)

قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ هُوَ عَلَىَّ هَيِّنٌۭ ۖ وَلِنَجْعَلَهُۥٓ ءَايَةًۭ لِّلنَّاسِ وَرَحْمَةًۭ مِّنَّا ۚ وَكَانَ أَمْرًۭا مَّقْضِيًّۭا

Qala kadhaliki qala rabbuki huwa 'alayya hayyin, wa linaj'alahu ayatan lin-nasi wa rahmatan minna, wa kana amran maqdiyya

He said: So it will be. Your Lord says: It is easy for Me. And We will make him a sign for people and a mercy from Us. It is a matter already decreed. (Surah Maryam 19:21)

It is easy for Me. The One who made Adam from no father and no mother can make 'Isa from a mother alone. The miracle was never hard for Allah. It was going to be hard for her.

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"I wish I had died before this"

She carried him and withdrew to a far place. Then labor came, and the pain drove her to the trunk of a palm tree.

فَأَجَآءَهَا ٱلْمَخَاضُ إِلَىٰ جِذْعِ ٱلنَّخْلَةِ قَالَتْ يَٰلَيْتَنِى مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَٰذَا وَكُنتُ نَسْيًۭا مَّنسِيًّۭا

Fa-aja'ahal-makhadu ila jidh'in-nakhlah, qalat ya laytani mittu qabla hadha wa kuntu nasyan mansiyya

And the pains of labor drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said: I wish I had died before this and been something forgotten, utterly forgotten. (Surah Maryam 19:23)

Stop here. The woman chosen above all the women of the worlds, in labor, alone, with no husband, no midwife and no mother beside her, said she wished she had died. She wished she had never been. Allah put those words in His Book, and they will be recited until the Last Day.

He did not hide it. He did not correct her. If you have ever said those words, or thought them on a floor somewhere, know that the best of women said them too, and Allah did not turn from her. Being chosen does not mean being spared. Saying "I cannot take this" is not disbelief. It is a human being in pain, speaking to her Lord.

If you are carrying something that heavy tonight, the words in When Worry Will Not Let You Rest are for you. And if you have thoughts of ending your life, call someone now: 988 in the United States, Samaritans on 116 123 in the United Kingdom, or your local emergency number.

What came next was the answer.

فَنَادَىٰهَا مِن تَحْتِهَآ أَلَّا تَحْزَنِى قَدْ جَعَلَ رَبُّكِ تَحْتَكِ سَرِيًّۭا

Fanadaha min tahtiha alla tahzani qad ja'ala rabbuki tahtaki sariyya

Then he called to her from below her: Do not grieve. Your Lord has placed a stream beneath you. (Surah Maryam 19:24)

وَهُزِّىٓ إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ ٱلنَّخْلَةِ تُسَٰقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًۭا جَنِيًّۭا

Wa huzzi ilayki bijidh'in-nakhlati tusaqit 'alayki rutaban janiyya

And shake the trunk of the palm toward you. Fresh, ripe dates will fall on you. (Surah Maryam 19:25)

Think about that command. A woman who has just given birth, alone, is told to shake the trunk of a palm tree. A strong man cannot shake a palm trunk. Allah could have dropped the dates in her lap. He told her to reach out and push.

That is the whole lesson of provision. You do what you can with what you have left, even if it would move nothing on its own. The dates come from Him. The effort is yours, and the effort is what is asked.

فَكُلِى وَٱشْرَبِى وَقَرِّى عَيْنًۭا

Fakuli washrabi wa qarri 'ayna

So eat, and drink, and let your eye be cooled. (Surah Maryam 19:26, its opening)

Eat. Drink. Rest your eyes. Before any trial with people, Allah saw to her body. Water first, food second, then comfort. He knew what a woman needs after birth, because He made her.

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She let Allah speak for her

Then came the part she must have dreaded more than the pain. Going home.

She was told not to argue. If you see anyone, say: I have vowed a fast to the Most Merciful, so I will not speak to anyone today (Maryam 19:26). She carried her son back to her people, and they said what she knew they would say.

يَٰٓأُخْتَ هَٰرُونَ مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ ٱمْرَأَ سَوْءٍۢ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمُّكِ بَغِيًّۭا

Ya ukhta Haruna ma kana abuki-mra'a saw'in wa ma kanat ummuki baghiyya

O sister of Harun, your father was not a bad man, and your mother was not unchaste. (Surah Maryam 19:28)

They went after her lineage. Your father was good. Your mother was pure. What happened to you? The cruelest kind of accusation, the kind that shames a whole family through one woman.

She did not defend herself. She had the truth and she still did not speak it. She pointed to the child.

قَالَ إِنِّى عَبْدُ ٱللَّهِ ءَاتَىٰنِىَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ وَجَعَلَنِى نَبِيًّۭا

Qala inni 'abdullahi ataniyal-Kitaba wa ja'alani nabiyya

He said: I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. (Surah Maryam 19:30)

The baby in the cradle spoke, and the first thing he said about himself was: I am the servant of Allah. Her silence was the strongest defense she had, because it left the defending to Allah, and Allah defends better than any of us.

Most of us do the opposite. We are accused and we talk. We explain, we post, we argue, we gather witnesses. Sometimes that is needed. But there is a kind of slander you cannot talk your way out of, and Maryam shows what to do with it. Keep your fast. Hold your peace. Point to the truth, and let your Lord speak.

And Allah never stopped defending her. Centuries later, in the Quran, He named the slander for what it was: their saying against Maryam a great slander (An-Nisa 4:156). He called her siddiqah, a woman of truth (Al-Ma'idah 5:75). The Book that tells her story clears her name forever.

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An example for the believers

وَمَرْيَمَ ٱبْنَتَ عِمْرَٰنَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِنَا وَصَدَّقَتْ بِكَلِمَٰتِ رَبِّهَا وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَكَانَتْ مِنَ ٱلْقَٰنِتِينَ

Wa Maryamabnata 'Imranal-lati ahsanat farjaha fanafakhna fihi min ruhina wa saddaqat bikalimati rabbiha wa kutubihi wa kanat minal-qanitin

And Maryam, the daughter of 'Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into it of Our spirit. She believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures, and she was one of the devoutly obedient. (Surah At-Tahrim 66:12)

Read the ayah before it. Allah sets forth an example for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh, and Maryam (At-Tahrim 66:11 to 12). For those who believe. Not for the women who believe. For all of them.

When Allah wanted to show every believer, man and woman, what faith looks like under pressure, He chose two women. One in the palace of a tyrant. One alone under a palm tree. Brothers, these are our examples too.

The Prophet ﷺ said the same. Many men reached perfection, and of women only Asiyah, the wife of Pharaoh, and Maryam, the daughter of 'Imran. He said the best of the women of her time was Maryam, and the best of the women of this nation was Khadijah. And he named four: sufficient for you among the women of the world are Maryam, Khadijah, Fatimah and Asiyah.

Sahih al-Bukhari 3411 · Sahih al-Bukhari 3432 · Jami at-Tirmidhi 3878 · Sahih (Darussalam)

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To the one who loves her from another faith

If you are a Christian, you may be surprised by how much of this you already knew. The angel. The virgin birth. The pure son. Muslims believe it. We believe she was chaste, chosen and true. Her name is one of the most loved names among Muslim girls to this day.

Where we differ is about her son. The Quran says he was a servant of Allah and a prophet, and that he and his mother both ate food (Al-Ma'idah 5:75). I wrote about him in 'Isa ibn Maryam. Here I only want you to know that we honor her, as the best of women, who worshipped her Lord alone.

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What she leaves us

A mother can give her child to Allah before it is born, and Allah will accept that child with a good acceptance.

Faith grows best where no one is watching. Hers grew in a prayer chamber, and the provision came there.

Say where your blessings come from. It is from Allah. Your certainty may be the thing that makes someone else pray.

Honor is a command, not a crown. Chosen, so bow.

When you are cornered, your first word is refuge in the Most Merciful.

You can be the best of creation and still say "I cannot take this." Allah will answer with water, food and rest before He answers with anything else.

Shake the trunk. It will not move. The dates will fall.

And when they come for your name, you do not have to win the argument. Point to the truth and let Allah speak.

If you want to read her surah line by line, it is in the Surah Maryam guide.

It is from Allah. Allah provides for whom He wills without account.

By Mike Rashid King • Allah's Humble Servant