Birth of Jesus (peace be upon him)

By Mohammad A Rahman

Many things that do not fall in the category of ‘normal’ occurrences according to human perception have caused man to be deceived throughout history. We see man worshipping the sun, the stars, the fire or even animals and take them as gods. The miraculous birth of Jesus without a father has also caused some of his followers to take him as either the son of God or God Himself. Even though the description of Jesus’ birth is not quite parallel as is given in Qur’an and Gospel of Barnabas, they agree on one point that Jesus was a human being as we all are. We will first see what Qur’an says followed by what Gospel of Barnabas says.

Birth of Jesus according to Qur’an:

According to Qur’an, mother of Jesus is none other than the virgin Mary (peace be upon her). She is from among the best and purified women mentioned by name in the Qur’an:

And when the angels said: O Marium! Surely Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the world (Qur’an 3:42)

It is well known that Prophet Zakariya was in charge of Mary while she was always busy in worshipping God. He did not have any offspring till then. One day he was amazed by what he saw with Mary. He found that Mary always had food with her knowing well that he did not bring the food to her and asked her what the food came from. After learning that she got the food from God in a miraculous way, Prophet Zakariya immediately asked for an offspring in the same way, miraculously, she got food.

When a woman of Imran said: My Lord! surely I vow to Thee what is in my womb, to be devoted (to Thy service); accept therefore from me, surely You are the Hearing, the Knowing. So when she brought forth, she said: My Lord! Surely I have brought it forth a female-- and Allah knew best what she brought forth-- and the male is not like the female, and I have named it Mary, and I commend her and her offspring into Thy protection from the accursed Satan. So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance and made her grow up a good growing, and gave her into the charge of Zakariya; whenever Zakariya entered the sanctuary to (see) her, he found with her food. He said: O Mary! whence comes this to you? She said: It is from Allah. Surely Allah gives to whom He pleases without measure. There did Zakariya pray to his Lord; he said: My Lord! grant me from Thee good offspring; surely You are the Hearer of prayer. Then the angels called to him as he stood praying in the sanctuary: That Allah gives you the good news of Yahya verifying a Word from Allah, and honorable and chaste and a prophet from among the good ones. He said: My Lord! when shall there be a son (born) to me, and old age has already come upon me, and my wife is barren? He said: even thus does Allah what He pleases. (Qur’an 3:35-40)

The Qur’anic words “There did Zakariya pray to his Lord..” show that Zakariya thought the presence of that sustenance to be a miraculous event which could only be attributed to Allah. That is why he felt irresistible urge to call on Allah to grant him a good offspring from Himself. It means that the sustenance was of such unusual type as to show the honor of Mary before Allah. When Zakariya heard the reply, he was convinced of her prestige in the eyes of Allah, so, therefore he felt it was the time to pray to Allah to grant him too an unusual prayer and give him a good offspring in his old age. May the peace and blessings of God be upon Zakariya and Mary.

As we have already seen that Mary was from among the purified ones, it follows that she could not have any illicit relationship with any men. Hence, when the Angels came with the news of a son to be born of her, she immediately replied to the Angels in amazement that she could not have a boy in a natural way as no man had touched her before. This is described in the Qur’an in details as follows:

When the angels said: O Mary, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near (to Allah). And he shall speak to the people when in the cradle and when of old age, and (he shall be) one of the good ones. She said: My Lord! when shall there be a son (born) to I me, and man has not touched me? He said: Even so, Allah creates what He pleases; when He has decreed a matter, He only says to it, Be, and it is. (Qur’an 3:45-47)

This is again described in a different place:

And mention Mary in the Book when she drew aside from her family to an eastern place; so she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our spirit, and there appeared to her a well-made man. She said: Surely I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent God, if you are one guarding (against evil). He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will give you a pure boy. She said: When shall I have a boy and no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste? He said: Even so; your Lord says: It is easy to Me: and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter which has been decreed. So she conceived him; then withdrew herself with him to a remote place. And the throes (of childbirth) compelled her to betake herself to the trunk of a palm tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died before this, and had been a thing quite forgotten! Then (the child) called out to her from beneath her: Grieve not, surely your Lord has made a stream to flow beneath you; And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree, it will drop on you fresh ripe dates: So eat and drink and refresh the eye. Then if you see any mortal, say: Surely I have vowed a fast to the Beneficent God, so I shall not speak to any man today. (Qur’an 19:16-26)

As can be seen from above that this event made Mary to withdraw herself from public sight because of this unusual event of being pregnant without a man. After she had the baby she came back to her people. Obviously everyone wanted to know how this happened when she was a chaste woman known as such.

And she came to her people with him, carrying him (with her). They said: O Mary! Surely you have done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a bad man, nor, was your mother an unchaste woman. But she pointed to him. They said: How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle? He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; and He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and poor-rate so long as I live; and dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; and peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life. Such is Jesus, son of Mary; (this is) the saying of truth about which they dispute. (Qur’an 19:27-34)

Jesus had this distinction of being able to speak to people when he was just born. This is described only in the Qur’an. Neither the New Testament of Bible nor the Gospel of Barnabas mention this miraculous event.

Birth of Jesus according to Gospel of Barnabas:

Gospel of Barnabas also described Mary as someone who was blameless always engrossed in the worship of God in prayer and fasting.

In these last years a virgin called Mary, of the lineage of David, of the tribe of Judah, was visited by the angel Gabriel from God. This virgin, living in all holiness without any offense, being blameless, and abiding in prayer with fastings, being one day alone, there entered into her chamber the angel Gabriel, and he saluted her, saying: 'God be with thee, O Mary'. 

The virgin was affrighted at the appearance of the angel; but the angel comforted her, saying: 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God, who hath chosen thee to be mother of a prophet, whom he will send to the people of Israel in order that they may walk in his laws with truth of heart.'

The virgin answered: 'Now how shall I bring forth sons, seeing I know not a man?' The angel answered: 'O Mary, God who made man without a man is able to generate in thee man without a man, because with him nothing is impossible.'

Mary answered: 'I know that God is almighty, therefore his will be done.' The angel answered: 'Now be conceived in thee the prophet, whom thou shalt name Jesus: and thou shalt keep him from wine and from strong drink and from every unclean meat, because the child is an holy one of God.' Mary bowed herself with humility, saying: 'Behold the handmaid of God, be it done according to thy word.'

The angel departed, and the virgin glorified God, saying: 'Know, O my soul, the greatness of God, and exult, my spirit, in God my Saviour; for he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden, insomuch that I shall be called blessed by all the nations, for he that is mighty hath made me great, and blessed be his holy name. For his mercy extendeth from generation to generation of them that fear him. Mighty hath he made his hand, and he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of his heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. Him who hath been hungry hath he filled with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. For he keepeth in memory the promises made to Abraham and to his son for ever'.(Gospel of Barnabas, CH 1)

Gospel of Barnabas has an additional episode regarding the birth of Jesus in that an angel appeared to people to announce his birth:

At that time the shepherds were watching over their flock, as is their custom. And, behold, they were surrounded by an exceeding bright light, out of which appeared to them an angel, who blessed God. The shepherds were filled with fear by reason of the sudden light and the appearance of the angel; whereupon the angel of the Lord comforted them, saying:

'Behold, I announce to you a great joy, for there is born in the city of David a child who is a prophet of the Lord; who bringeth great salvation to the house of Israel. The child ye shall find in the manger, with his mother, who blesseth God.' (Gospel of Barnabas, CH 4) 

What can be concluded from the description of Qur’an and Gospel of Barnabas concerning the birth of Jesus is that he was born without a human father. However, this should not be taken as a more miraculous event than the creation of Adam in that he was created without a father and a mother as described in the Qur’an:

Surely the likeness of Jesus is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was. (Qur’an 3:59)