Mary

Hannah, the grandmother of Jesus ,

The mother of Mary,

The wife of Aaron,

The mother-in-law of Zachariah,

The daughter of Fazuka,

On realizing that she was pregnant,

Prayed to God in utmost sincerity:

“O my Lord! I do dedicate to You

What is in my womb for Your special service,

Free from all wordly work,

To serve Your temple.

So accept this, from me.

You are indeed All-Hearing and the

All-Knowing.”

 

Though she knew that

God knew best what she brought forth,

When she delivered, she said:

“O my Lord!

I have given birth to a female child.

Yet a male is not like a female.

I have named her Mary.

I commend her and her offspring

To your protection from Satan,

The Rejected.”

 

So The Lord accepted Mary graciously.

He made Mary grow in purity and beauty,

Like a beautiful flower…

Yet Mary was an orphan at birth,

For she lost her father

While she was in her mother’s womb,

And soon after her mother too

Bid farewell to the world.

 

Thereupon all her kith and kin came together

And decided to contend between them

By casting lots with their pens

As to which of them should be charged with

The honour of taking care of Mary.

 

The family of Aaron was such a blessed one

In the eyes of each and everyone.

And then they threw their lots into the river,

It turned out to be in favour of

Prophet Zachariah,

The husband of Mary’s aunt.

Mary grew under God’s special protection,

Her growth was indeed a “goodly growth.”

 

One day the angels said to her:

“ Mary ! God has chosen you, and purified you;

Chosen you above the women of all nations,

And given you such blessings.

Therefore, O Mary,

Worship your Lord devoutly.

Prostrate yourself and bow down

Along with those who bow before Him.”

Thereupon Mary took refuge

In one corner of the temple,

Behind the curtains,

Where she submitted herself with obedience

To worship and remembrance.

 

Again, she was addressed by the angels:

“O Mary!

God gives you glad tidings of a Word:

His name will be Jesus, the Messiah,

The son of Mary, held in honor

In this world and the next,

And of those the nearest to

The Almighty Creator.

He shall speak to the people

In the cradle and in manhood;

He shall be of the righteous indeed.”

 

Jesus was an extraordinary wonder,

Blessed with a special creation.

A manifest “Word” of God.

Therefore, the age in which he speaks

Would be unlike any other.

“Word “ is but speech

Designated by the Creator, All-Mighty God.

 

Mary said: ”O my Lord,

How can I have a son

When no man has ever touched me? ”

The angel answered:

“Thus shall it be.

God creates whatever He wills.

When He decrees something,

He but says:

“Be” and it is.

And God will teach your son the Book,

The Wisdom, the Torah, the Gospel,

And he will be messenger

To the Children of Israel.”

And when Jesus came to them he said:

 

“ I have come to you

With a sign from your Lord.

I will make for you

From clay the likeness of a bird,

And then I will breathe into it

And by the leave of God

It will become a bird.

I will also heal the blind

And the leper, and by the will of God

Will bring the dead back to life.

I will also inform you

Of what things you eat

And what you treasure up in your houses.

 

Surely this is a sign, a message, for you

If you are true believers.

And I have come to confirm

the truth of The Torah,

And to make lawful to you

Some of the things

Which had been forbidden to you

I have come to you

With a sign from your Lord;

So have fear of God

And obey me.

Surely God is my Lord and your Lord;

So serve Him, worship Him alone.

This is the straight way.”

 

This is how the angels heralded

The glad tidings to Mary.

Whenever Zachariah went into her sanctuary

He would find various kinds of food and fruits,

Even some of which were

At that time out of season.

And he asked:

“O Mary! From where did this come to you?”

She said;”God provides sustenance,

Beyond all reckoning, without measure,

To whom He wills and He pleases.”

 

Devoting all her time to remembering God,

Mary withdrew from her people

To a place in the east;

Drawing a curtain ,to screen herself from people.

God says:

“Whereupon We sent to her Our spirit

And he appeared to her as a well-formed man,

Seeing him in her special compartment,

Mary exclaimed :”I surely take refuge from you

With the most Compassionate Lord.

If you are at all God-fearing,

Do not come near or touch me.”

 

He said:” I am

A bearer of a message from your Lord,

Come to grant you a most pure son.”

Mary said:

“How can a son be born to me

When no man has ever touched me,

Nor have I ever been unchaste?”

He said:”Thus shall it be.

Your Lord says: ‘It is easy for Me

And We shall do so

In order to make him a sign for mankind

And a mercy from Us.

This has been decreed.’”

 

Annunciation and conception.

As is destined beyond time,

In the eternity. God’s will came true.

And she conceived Jesus.

She left her sanctuary

And retired to a remote place.

Then the pains of childbirth

Drove her beneath a palm tree.

 

And she said:

“Oh, would that I had died before this

And had been forgotten and out of sight!”

But a voice cried to her from beneath:

“Grieve not, for your Lord has provided

A rivulet beneath you, at your feet.

Shake the trunk of the palm tree

And fresh and ripe dates shall fall down for you.

So eat and drink and cool your eyes

And if you see any person say:

“I have vowed a fast for God,

The Most Compassionate,

And so I shall not speak with

Any human being this day.”

 

What is the reason that

The fresh date and a rivulet were

Given a place in the Qur’an, Holy Book?

What could be the wisdom that

They come on the scene on such a blessed occasion?

Why was there a date palm and rivulet

At the time of Jesus’ birth?

Alas, only recently has science discovered

The contribution that the date makes

In increasing the milk

In the mothers’ breast.

And the fresh water of the rivulet,

And the sound it makes

Gives comfort and eases the labour of birth.

This is a message

To modern science and the man of fact.

 

And Prophet Muhammed said:

“Were there something else better than the date

God would have granted it to Jesus

When his mother gave birth.”

At length Mary brought the baby

To her people carrying him in her arms.

They said:”O Mary!

Truly an amazing thing you have brought.

O sister of Aaron!

Your father was not an evil man,

Nor was your mother an unchaste woman.”

Thereupon Mary pointed to the child.

They said:”How can we speak to one

Who is a child in the cradle?”

And then one of God’s miracles

Granted to Jesus took place.

 

Whereupon the child said:

“I am indeed a servant of God.

He has granted me the Revelation, the Book,

And has made me a prophet

Making me blessed

Wheresoever I might be, enjoining upon me

Prayer and Charity

As long as I live,

And making me dutiful to my mother.

 

“He has not made me oppressive,

Nor bereft of God’s blessings, or wicked.

So peace be upon me the day

I was born and on the day I will die,

And on the day I will be raised up to life again.”

 

In the light of The Qur’an and sayings of Prophet Muhammed

Abdullah Aymaz