Website: www.aaiil.uk

The innocence of Mary, mother of Jesus

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 24 July 2026

“And when the angels said: O Mary, surely Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the world. O Mary, be obedient to your Lord and humble yourself and bow down with those who bow. … … 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 one of those who are drawn near (to Allah)” — ch. 3, Āl ‘Imrān, v. 42–43, 45

وَ اِذۡ قَالَتِ الۡمَلٰٓئِکَۃُ یٰمَرۡیَمُ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ اصۡطَفٰکِ وَ طَہَّرَکِ وَ اصۡطَفٰکِ عَلٰی نِسَآءِ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ﴿۴۲﴾ یٰمَرۡیَمُ اقۡنُتِیۡ لِرَبِّکِ وَ اسۡجُدِیۡ وَ ارۡکَعِیۡ مَعَ الرّٰکِعِیۡنَ ﴿۴۳﴾ ……اِذۡ قَالَتِ الۡمَلٰٓئِکَۃُ یٰمَرۡیَمُ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ یُبَشِّرُکِ بِکَلِمَۃٍ مِّنۡہُ ٭ۖ اسۡمُہُ الۡمَسِیۡحُ عِیۡسَی ابۡنُ مَرۡیَمَ وَجِیۡہًا فِی الدُّنۡیَا وَ الۡاٰخِرَۃِ وَ مِنَ الۡمُقَرَّبِیۡنَ ﴿ۙ۴۵﴾

“The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger — messengers had indeed passed away before him. And his mother was a truthful woman. They both used to eat food. See how We make the messages clear to them, then see how they are turned away (from truth)!” —ch. 5, Al-Mā’idah, v. 75

مَا الۡمَسِیۡحُ ابۡنُ مَرۡیَمَ اِلَّا رَسُوۡلٌ ۚ قَدۡ خَلَتۡ مِنۡ قَبۡلِہِ الرُّسُلُ ؕ وَ اُمُّہٗ صِدِّیۡقَۃٌ ؕ کَانَا یَاۡکُلٰنِ الطَّعَامَ ؕ اُنۡظُرۡ کَیۡفَ نُبَیِّنُ لَہُمُ الۡاٰیٰتِ ثُمَّ انۡظُرۡ اَنّٰی یُؤۡفَکُوۡنَ ﴿۷۵﴾

In the first set of verses that I recited Mary — Maryam — is described as having been chosen by Allah and purified by Him, and being the best of women. She would be granted a son, Jesus, who would be a greatly honoured person in the world, and in God’s eyes as well. According to the second passage I recited, Mary was a truthful woman. However, there is another verse in the Quran which mentions an allegation made by Jews against Mary:

“and for their disbelief and for their uttering against Mary a grievous slander.” (4:156)

The people of Jesus, known as the Children of Israel, or Jews, rejected him bitterly and severely when he claimed to be sent by God as their Messiah. After his time, they levelled all kinds of accusations against him and his mother, of deception, lying, falsely claiming to be performing miracles by using magic to do them, etc. Regarding this “grievous slander” against Mary, Maulana Muhammad Ali writes under this verse in his footnote:

“The slander referred to was that Mary was guilty of fornication. Jewish tradition in this connection mentions Panther (Jewish Life of Jesus).”

The word “fornication” means illicit sexual relations before marriage, and they smeared Jesus as being of an illegitimate birth through this man named Panther.

Maulana Muhammad Ali doesn’t mention any details about this book Jewish Life of Jesus, except its name. I did some searching on the Internet and discovered that it is, in fact, a section in a bigger book entitled Did Jesus live 100 Years B.C.? written by G.R.S. Mead and published in 1903. In Section 14 of his book, Mr Mead has quoted this ancient Jewish book from one of its several versions. I must add here that Mr Mead was an English historian, writer, scholar and translator, who influenced several famous writers and thinkers of his time, and he was editor of a quarterly magazine from London called Quest.

Looking through Mr Mead’s book, I found some of his general comments to be interesting and worthwhile quoting. He writes that the allegations in Jewish religious literature against Jesus and Mary led to centuries of hate, strife and bitter enmity between Jews and Christians. But he says he has faith “in present-day humanity than in the inhumanity of the past” and adds:

“Let us agree to seek an explanation, to confer together, to sink our pride in our own opinion, and discover why we are enemies, one of another, in things theological, while we are friends perchance in things scientific and philosophic.” (p. 7–8)

He is saying that in matters of religion we, Jews and Christians, are enemies of one another, but in matters relating to worldly knowledge, such as science, we agree with one another. I may say here that worldly knowledge is derived from observation of the nature around us, and using reason, logic and experimentation to understand it. We don’t accept or reject such knowledge on the basis of the religion of the discoverer, whether Jew or Christian or anyone else.

Mr Mead’s appeal to humanity of the present day chimes with the message with which Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had come in those very days. He emphasised that religions must give up past enmities and behave towards one another in a civil and decent way, as befits the present age of knowledge and enlightenment. He wrote in his last book Paigham Sulh, or ‘Message of Peace’, addressed to Hindus and Muslims:

“Friends! you are now an enlightened people, and it is time you cleared your hearts of all hatred, and advanced in mutual goodwill and friendliness. It is time that men of your intelligence gave up unkindness and took to charity.”

Mr Mead also expresses his wonder that Christians, out of excessive love for Jesus, came to regard him as God Himself in human form, and Jews, out of disbelief and hate, came to regard the same man Jesus as a “deceiver”. We may point out that Muslims fall in the middle of these two extremes. They neither display excessive love for Jesus and raise him above being a mortal, nor do they show hatred towards Jesus and condemn him, despite Christians being their religious opponents.

Turning to the allegations against Mary and Jesus in ancient Jewish literature, I found an article in an American Jewish magazine called Tablet, by Eli Yassif, a Professor in the School of Jewish Studies at Tel-Aviv University, published in 2016. It discusses this ancient book Jewish Life of Jesus or Toledot Yeshu that is mentioned in Mr Mead’s book. He writes that this book refutes the Christian belief that Jesus was born of a virgin by relating a story that Mary was (and I quote him):

“impregnated by a Roman officer or adulterous neighbour by the name of Pandera or Pantera, who lusted after her not only while she was engaged to her fiancé, but even worse, while she was menstruating. Mary attempted to cover up her extramarital pregnancy by fabricating a story about a virgin birth.”

It is a story, writes Professor Yassif, of “an innocent maiden, (her) seduction, deception, a betrayed husband, and a pregnancy concealed by the adulteress through great cunning.”

Professor Yassif, who as I said is a Professor at Tel-Aviv University, Israel, writes that as a result of such stories, Jesus became known in the Jewish world by the title of “a bastard, son of a menstruant”. I am sorry to quote these words, but these are his words which anyone can read in the American Jewish magazine Tablet, dated December 23, 2016. The Professor quotes an incident from this book Jewish Life of Jesus which happened when Jesus as a boy played with other children:

“The wicked one [Jesus] angered the lads with his playing. The lads said unto him: ‘Bastard, son of a menstruant! You think you are the son of Johanan [husband of Mary]? You are not his son, but the son of Joseph Pandera, who bedded your mother in her menses and sired you, evil begotten by evil.’ Whereupon hearing these words the wicked one ran to his house, to his mother, fuming.”

Note here that the term used for Jesus in this ancient Jewish writing is “the wicked one”.

This is why I recited verses of the Quran at the beginning of this khutba, according to which Mary was the purest of the pure women of the world, entirely obedient to God, and the son promised to be born to her would be “worthy of regard in this world and the Hereafter, and one of those who are drawn near (to Allah)”. The next verse adds a third quality of Jesus, that he will be from among the good ones. It says:

“and he will speak to the people when in the cradle and when of old age, and (he will be) one of the good ones.” (3:46)

As an aside, I noticed in Professor Yassif’s article the following description by him of this book Jewish Life of Jesus: “It follows the main character [Jesus] from cradle (and even prior to birth) to grave in one long retelling, complete and seamless.” So this book defamed Jesus from the cradle to the grave while the Quran says Jesus was a good person from the cradle to old age. When the Quran says “he will speak to the people when in the cradle and when of old age”, speaking might mean that the events of his life will speak for themselves.

The Quran makes it absolutely clear that, when the angel gave Mary the news of the future birth of a son, she said that she had not yet been touched by any man (3:47) and to this it is added in 19:20: “nor have I been unchaste”. She had had neither a legitimate nor an illegitimate sexual union with a man up to that time when she was given this news. The plain conclusion from this is that God’s protection of her chastity would continue till she would conceive her son, and in fact for her whole life. I have already recited a verse at the beginning which says that Mary was a truthful woman. Thus the Quran unequivocally refutes the allegations of the Jewish books against her.

I want to point out that the Holy Prophet Muhammad had nothing to gain by defending Mary and Jesus against the allegations of the Jews. He was obviously not trying to please Christians because the verse which says that Mary was a truthful woman also says:

“The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger — messengers had indeed passed away before him.” (5:75)

The Holy Prophet Muhammad’s own people, the Arabs, had criticised him for regarding Jesus as a true prophet. The Quran says to the Holy Prophet:

“And when the son of Mary is mentioned as an example — lo! — your people raise a clamour at it. And they say: Are our gods better, or is he?” (43:57–58).

They said to him: You are calling our gods, the gods of your own people, as being false, but you are calling the man whom the Christians take to be god besides Allah as being true. So by defending Jesus the Holy Prophet provoked opposition from everyone, from his own people and from the Jews, and he gained no credit from Christians, nor does he get any credit for it from the Christians of today; in fact, they attack his character, often with allegations relating to sexual matters.

If the Holy Prophet’s revelation had been made up and composed by himself for his own ends, it would not have defended persons who were unconnected with him in any way, and defending them brought him no advantage whatsoever. In fact, he might have supported the allegations against Mary and Jesus to make himself look better than they were!

So may Allah enable Muslims to inform the world that the Quran defends the sacred figures even of its rival religions, for the sake of the truth — Ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk