What Question did Lady Mariam Ask in Regards to How She could Have a Child and What was Allah’s Response?

Brief description of the dubiety

In verse 47 of Surah Ale Imran and verses 20 and 21 of Surah Mariam, the event of the birth of Prophet Isa and the conversation that took place between Lady Mariam and Allah has been narrated. However, the wording in these verses seem to conflict one another. How is it possible for an incident and conversation that took place once to have different wording?

Detailed description of the dubiety

Contradictory Verses

Verse in which the phrases ‘child’ and ‘‘Be!’and it is’ have been used

In verse 47 of Surah Ale Imran, it says: “She said, ‘My Lord, how shall I have a child seeing that no human has ever touched me?’ He said, ‘So it is that Allah creates whatever He wishes. When He decides on a matter He just says to it ‘Be!’and it is.’”

Based on this verse, Lady Mariam used the term وَلَد in her question to Allah which means ‘child.’ Similarly in His reply, Allah says: “When He decides on a matter He just says to it ‘Be!’and it is.” In other words, whenever Allah prescribes something, He only says ‘Be!’and that thing comes into existence.

In verses 20 and 21 of Surah Mariam, Allah says: “She said, ‘How shall I have a son seeing that no human being has ever touched me, nor have I been unchaste?’  He replied: ‘So shall it be. Your Lord says, ‘It is simple for Me.’ And so that We may make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter [already] decided.’”

In these verses, Lady Mariam uses the phrase غلام or son. In reply to her, Allah uses the words هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ which means: “It is simple for Me.”

Summary

In the verse of Surah Ale Imran, it says that after the angels gave the glad tidings of Prophet Isa to Lady Mariam, she asked Allah how it was possible for her to have a وَلَد  - child, while no man has ever had any contact with her? However, in verse 20 of Surah Mariam, she raises her question using the term غلام - son.

Allah’s reply in both of the verses is different. In verse 21 of Surah Mariam, He says: “It is simple for Me,” whereas in verse 47 of Surah Ale Imran, He mentions the manner of Allah’s creation process and explains that when He wants something, He says to it: ‘Be!’and it is.

A summarized response

Two hypotheses can be drawn for these sets of verses. The first premise is that these verses are in regards to separate events that took place in two different times and places. The second hypothesis is that both of the verses are describing one event.

According to the first assumption, there is no contradiction because each verse is describing a separate event. Therefore, two groups of verses are describing two individual events. However, if someone does not accept this, even then there is no contradiction according to the second hypothesis. That which has been mentioned in the Holy Quran is the narration of a historical conversation. Frequently, when a narration is being quoted, the theme of the narration is quoted. That which is important in narrating the theme is the protection of the meaning and intent of those who are conversing, and the actual words themselves do not have much relevance. In other words, if the meanings that the words convey are not contradictory (even if the words themselves may be different), then there is no contradiction present. Based on this theory, these verses have been narrated according to their theme. In conclusion, a contradiction would exist if the meanings of the two pieces of texts conflicted with one another, however this is not the case here.  

A detailed response

As mentioned above, two hypotheses can be drawn for these two verses; and based on each of them, the contradiction or non-contradiction between the verses will be analyzed separately.

Analysis of a contradiction based on the first hypothesis: (each verse describing a separate event)

Premise (unity of events being reported is a condition for contradiction between two pieces of information)

In order for there to be a contradiction or conflict between two pieces of information, it is necessary that the two contradicting sides are in regards to one single incident. In other words, if two pieces of information are contradictory in appearance, but in reality, each one is regarding a separate event, then no contradiction exists. For example, two pieces of news such as: ‘Ali came’ and ‘Ali went’ appear to be contradictory on an initial glance. However, when these two pieces of information are studied carefully, we reach the conclusion that the first piece of news took place at 5pm, while the second piece of news took place three hours after that. In conclusion, there is no contradiction between these two pieces of news because each one is in regards to a different event.

Every group of verses describes a separate event

In order to understand the verses of the Holy Quran precisely, attention must always be paid to the verses preceding and succeeding each verse; and these can be used as context in order to correctly understand the verses. Later on, each verse that is being discussed will be clarified with due attention to the verses before and after them, and in the end, it will be proven that these verses are providing information regarding two different incidents and conversations. Therefore, the difference in the wordings of these verses does not result in contradiction between them.

Clarification of verse 47 of Surah Ale Imran with due attention to its preceding verses

It has been revealed in verse 45 of Surah Ale Imran that: “When the angels said, ‘O Mariam, Allah gives you the good news of a Word from Him whose name is Messiah, Isa son of Mariam, distinguished in the world and the hereafter and one of those who is brought near [to Allah].”

In this verse, the angels were ordered to give the glad tidings to Lady Mariam regarding the birth of Prophet Isa. In other words, those who spoke to her were a group of angels. Likewise, they only gave glad tidings about the birth of the Prophet to his mother and nothing more. Therefore, verse 47 of Surah Ale Imran, which is located two verses after this verse, reports the conversation between Lady Mariam and the angels who brought the glad tidings.

Clarification of verses 20 and 21 of Surah Mariam with due attention to its preceding verses

In verses 17-19 of Surah Mariam, such has been revealed: “Thus did she seclude herself from them, whereupon We sent to her Our Spirit and he became incarnate for her as a well-proportioned human.  She said, ‘I seek the protection of the All-Beneficent from you, should you be God conscious!’ He said, ‘I am only a messenger of your Lord that I may give you a pure son.’ ”

Based on these verses, Lady Mariam spoke to someone, because the phrase ‘Our Spirit’ is singular and shows that she spoke to someone (some of the exegetes consider that angel to be Jibrael himself). Likewise, there were no glad tidings given in this verse only the ‘Spirit’ which bestowed Prophet Isa to Lady Mariam from Allah. In verse 19, it says: “He said, ‘I am only a messenger of your Lord that I may give you a pure son.’” The subsequent verses - 20 and 21 of Surah Mariam report the conversation that took place between Lady Mariam and the ‘Spirit,’ which was the messenger of Allah.

Conclusion of the first hypothesis

From this collection of context, it is understood that each of these groups of verses is in relation to a separate event. One of them takes place when the glad tidings of the birth of Prophet Isa were given to Lady Mariam through a group of angels; and the other one takes place where the ‘Spirit’ bestowed Prophet Isa to Lady Mariam on Allah’s behalf. The ‘angels’ and the ‘Spirit’ are different, and similarly their job - in other words, purely and only to give the glad tidings - with the job of the ‘Spirit’ which was to bestow Prophet Isa to Lady Mariam was also different. These differences are the reasons why the verses in Surah Ale Imran and Surah Mariam report two different events and conversations. One being the meeting and conversation between the ‘angels’ and Lady Mariam and the other being the meeting and conversation between Lady Mariam and the ‘Spirit.’ Therefore, with due attention to the difference in that which is being reported in these verses, there is no contradiction between them.

Common example

Someone wants to buy a house and goes to the real estate agent. Before making the transaction, he speaks to the agent and agrees to buy a house. He discusses the price of the house and after mutually agreeing upon a price, he will ascertain a time to give the money. However, it is possible that the time he signs the official contract could be one week after the initial conversation. The customer, in his initial conversation with the agent said that he will give the money in one month. However, while writing up the official contract, he tells him that he will give the money in three weeks.

Now, if the real estate agent wants to inform the owner of the house regarding when the money will be paid, he can say that the customer in his initial conversation, said that he will pay it in one month. Similarly, he can say that when the contract was being drafted, the customer promised to give the payment for the house in three weeks. In this case, the estate agent has narrated two different quotes from the customer. The first quote was: ‘I will give the money in one month;’ and the second quote was: ‘I will give the money in three weeks.’ However, these two quotes are not contradictory to one another, because the first line was in relation to the initial conversation between the customer and the estate agent, and the second phrase was in relation to the time that the contract was being drafted, which took place one week after the initial conversation.

Analysis of contradiction based on the second hypothesis (Each verse describing the same event)

Based on the context that was mentioned in the previous hypothesis, it has become clear that these verses are giving information regarding two separate conversations and events; however, nonetheless, if it was said that these two verses were in relation to one event and provided information regarding that same event, even then there would still be no contradiction in play.

Premise (usage of narrating themes when delivering news of things that are said)

Narrating a theme means that when one narrates the words of others, he explains the theme of what was said. In other words, he does not remember the exact words that were used by the speaker, only the meaning of the words which were conveyed to the audience. For example, someone likes a car and suggests to the owner to sell it. The owner of the car says: “Even if you give me the whole world in its entirety, I will not sell my car.” The one who wanted to buy the car tells a friend of his that the owner of the car said: “Even if you give me the whole world in its entirety, I will not sell my car.” He tells another friend that the owner of the car said: “I will not sell my car under any circumstances.” The owner did not use those exact same words as used in the second sentence, but there is no contradiction between the pieces of information that the person told his friend. This is because in the first sentence, he mentioned the exact wording, but in the other sentence, he said the general theme of what was said, which still conveyed the original message of the speaker.

Themes of the verses have been narrated

Therefore, it can be observed from the two verses that no contradiction exists between their meanings; and only the phrases are different. In verse 47 of Surah Ale Imran, the question and the reply between Lady Mariam and Allah has been revealed. Based on this verse, the moment that the angels gave the glad tidings to Lady Mariam regarding the birth of Prophet Isa, she became surprised how it was possible that she would have a child without having had any contact with a man. In reply to this shock of hers, Allah said that He creates anything which He wants and if He decides to carry out any action at all, then He is able to carry it out.

In verse 21 of Surah Mariam, this same conversation has been mentioned. Here, the gist of the question and the reply is also these two similar points. Lady Mariam becomes surprised about being pregnant with a child when she has had no contact with any man, and Allah in reply to her says that: “It is simple for Me.”

The theme of Allah’s two replies to Lady Mariam which have been revealed in the verses, are one and the same, and both of them point to how easy any action is for Allah to perform. Therefore, the narration of the themes has been conveyed, and with due attention to the premise between these various verses, we can deduce that there is no contradiction present.

Similarly, the information regarding the astonishment that Lady Mariam expresses at becoming pregnant in one verse and having a son in the other verse does not result in a contradiction because these two phrases are one and the same in their theme. The explanation of this is that what is important is having conceived a child, and whether that child is a boy or a girl does not make any difference in this scenario. Therefore, in the verse which narrates her amazement at having a child, in reality the theme has been narrated - because the child being a son does not have any relevance with her shock.

Common example

In society and daily conversation, it is common for someone in order to narrate a story about a certain subject, to sometimes narrate the exact wording of what happened; however, sometimes one will use different phrases that point to a similar theme of what was said. For example, in order to fix a vehicle, a mechanic says: “I will fix this car like I drink water.” When we want to narrate what the mechanic said to our friends, we can use those exact words that the mechanic used;  or we might say: “He said to fix the car is very easy for him.” Even though the wordings are different of the two statements, there is no contradiction between them. This is because both of these wordings convey one meaning which is similar to what the mechanic had intended.