๏ She [maryam] said, “My Lord, how can there be for me a child while not has touched me any human?” He said, “Thus God creates what He wills. When He decrees a matter then only He says to it, ‘Be’ and it becomes. ๏ — al-ʿim’rān/47

This is understood to mean maryam miraculously became pregnant and Prophet ʿīsā had no father. But what if “kun fayakūn” here means that God willed that maryam would meet a man and then become pregnant?

The story of the birth of Prophet ʿīsā is mentioned twice in the Quran, once in al-ʿim’rān and then in maryam, and both times preceded by the story of the birth of Prophet yaḥyā:

๏ He [zakariyyā] said, “My Lord, how can there be for me a young one, while verily has reached me the old age and my wife is barren?” He said, “Thus God does what He wills.” ๏ – al-ʿim’rān/40

If the logic traditionally used in the story of ʿīsā were applied to this verse, we would have to conclude that the Prophet yaḥyā had neither father nor mother.

No one believes Prophet yaḥyā fell from the sky, so we can see how the classical interpretation fills the gaps in this story in a way it does not with the story of ʿīsā, even though the two accounts appear side by side in the Quran.

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Tagged: #prophets #tradition #ch003 #ch019

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