With the feast of the Annunciation coming up on March 25, I wanted to do a quick post regarding the Annunciation, but present it from the Islamic point of view, particularly how it is portrayed in the Quran, as well as non-canonical Christian texts.
When I read through the Quran a few years ago, I was fascinated by it’s viewpoint on various Biblical events. In the future I’d like to explore more of these scenarios but with this post, I am just going to focus on the Annunciation.
In the Christian tradition, the Annunciation is the event where the Arch-angel Gabriel informs the Virgin Mary of her conceiving of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. This is laid out in Luke 1:26-38 (NIV translation):
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
The Annunciation in the Quran is mentioned in three different surahs. If you haven’t read the Quran, there is no straight narrative. It jumps around quite a bit. It is definitely a different way of reading texts and does take some time getting used to. The first surah it is mentioned is in the third one, Ali ‘Imran, verses 42-47. I will not be including the Arabic verbiage, but rather just the English translation:
And ˹remember˺ when the angels said, “O Mary! Surely Allah has selected you, purified you, and chosen you over all women of the world.
O Mary! Be devout to your Lord, prostrate yourself ˹in prayer˺ and bow along with those who bow down.”
This is news of the unseen that We reveal to you ˹O Prophet˺. You were not with them when they cast lots to decide who would be Mary’s guardian, nor were you there when they argued ˹about it˺.
˹Remember˺ when the angels proclaimed, “O Mary! Allah gives you good news of a Word from Him, his name will be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary; honoured in this world and the Hereafter, and he will be one of those nearest ˹to Allah˺.
And he will speak to people in ˹his˺ infancy and adulthood and will be one of the righteous.”
Mary wondered, “My Lord! How can I have a child when no man has ever touched me?” An angel replied, “So will it be. Allah creates what He wills. When He decrees a matter, He simply tells it, ‘Be!’ And it is!
Like in Christianity, Jesus is also referred to as the “Word” in Islam, and he is also the Messiah in both traditions, though the definition of that is not quite the same. Notice in verse 46 it mentions that Jesus will speak during his infancy. I did a post about this a few years ago, check out the link at the bottom of this page.
Now we jump to surah 19, Maryam, which is the only surah named after a woman and is the Islamic name for Mary. Verses 16-22 are presented below:
And mention in the Book ˹O Prophet, the story of˺ Mary when she withdrew from her family to a place in the east,
screening herself off from them. Then We sent to her Our angel, ˹Gabriel,˺ appearing before her as a man, perfectly formed.
She appealed, “I truly seek refuge in the Most Compassionate from you! ˹So leave me alone˺ if you are God-fearing.”
He responded, “I am only a messenger from your Lord, ˹sent˺ to bless you with a pure son.”
She wondered, “How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me, nor am I unchaste?”
He replied, “So will it be! Your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me. And so will We make him a sign for humanity and a mercy from Us.’ It is a matter ˹already˺ decreed.”
So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a remote place.
Now if you haven’t already noticed, there is no mention of a conception by the Holy Spirit. It is only by the decree of Allah that Mary is conceived.
And finally, this is from surah 66, At-Tahrim, verse 12:
˹There is˺ also ˹the example of˺ Mary, the daughter of ’Imrân, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her ˹womb˺ through Our angel ˹Gabriel˺. She testified to the words of her Lord and His Scriptures, and was one of the ˹sincerely˺ devout.
Comparing those verses with the scenario in the Gospel of Luke, it really is not much different with the exception of the lack of Holy Spirit involvement. While we are on the subject of the Annunciation, let’s see how it is portrayed in the Christian non-canonical text, the Protoevangelium of James:
And she took the pitcher and went to fill it with water, and look! A voice was saying to her, “Rejoice, blessed one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.”
And Mary looked around to the right and the left, to see where the voice might be coming from. And she became terrified and went into her house. And setting down the pitcher, she took up the purple and sat upon her throne and spun the purple.
And look! An angel of the Lord stood before her, saying, “Don’t fear, Mary, because you’ve found grace before the Lord of All. You’ll conceive from God’s word.”
And hearing this, Mary questioned herself, saying, “Will I conceive from the Lord, the living God, and give birth like all women give birth?”
And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Not like that, Mary, because the power of God will overshadow you, so the holy one who will be born from you will be called the Son of the Most High. And you’ll call his name Jesus, because he’ll save his people from their sins.
And Mary said, “Look, I’m the servant of the Lord. May it be to me according to your word.”
And finally, in chapter 9 of the Pseudo-Gospel of Matthew (not to be confused with the Gospel of Matthew), we have this account of the Annunciation:
And on the second day, while Mary was at the fountain to fill her pitcher, the angel of the Lord appeared to her, saying: Blessed art thou, Mary; for in thy womb thou hast prepared an habitation for the Lord. For, lo, the light from heaven shall come and dwell in thee, and by means of thee will shine over the whole world.
Again, on the third day, while she was working at the purple with her fingers, there entered a young man of ineffable beauty. And when Mary saw him, she exceedingly feared and trembled. And he said to her: Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And when she heard these words, she trembled, and was exceedingly afraid. Then the angel of the Lord added: Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour with God: Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a King, who fills not only the earth, but the heaven, and who reigns from generation to generation.
Let it be known in the Eastern Orthodox tradition the annunciation does take place near a well. What is interesting about the two non-canonical texts is that like the Quran statements, they too do not reference the Holy Spirit. I am not sure if the Annunciation appears in other texts, perhaps in retellings from later sources.
Featured image and second image are medieval Islamic art. First image is a Roman Catholic medieval piece and the last photo is an Orthodox icon, of unknown date.
I used quran.com for the Quran English translations.
Protoevangelium of James: Infancy Gospel of James — Gospels.net
Pseudo-Gospel of Matthew: The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
Talking Baby Jesus blog post: Talking baby Jesus – Culmination of Wisdom
bP
Culmination of Wisdom 