Gems from the Holy Qur’an
From the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss)
About the translator:
Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss, was born of Jewish parents in Livow, Austria (later Poland) in 1900, and at the age of 22 made his first visit to the Middle East. He later became an outstanding foreign correspondent for the Franfurter Zeitung, and after years of devoted study became one of the leading Muslim scholars of our age. His translation of the Holy Qur'an is one of the most lucid and well-referenced works in this category, dedicated to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (people who think). Forwarded by Dr Ismat Kamal.
Chapter 19, Verses 27 - 36
And in time she [Mary] returned to her people, carrying the child with her.
They said: ‘O Mary! Thou hast indeed done an amazing thing! O sister of Aaron! [ 1 ] Thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a loose woman!” Thereupon she pointed to him.
They exclaimed: “How can we talk to one who [as yet] is a little boy in the cradle?”
[But] he said: “Behold, I am a servant of God. He has vouchsafed unto me revelation and made me a prophet, and made me blessed wherever I may be; and He has enjoined upon me prayer and charity as long as I live, and [has endowed me with] piety towards my mother; and He has not made me haughty or bereft of grace.
“Hence, peace was upon me on the day when I was born, and [will be upon me] on the day of my death, and on the day when I shall be raised to life [again]!
Such was, in the words of truth, Jesus the son of Mary, upon whose nature they so deeply disagree.
It is not conceivable that God should have taken upon Himself a son: limitless is He in His glory! When He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it “Be” – and it is!
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Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] In ancient Semitic usage, a person’s name was often linked with a renowned ancestor or founder of the tribal line. Since Mary belonged to the priestly caste, and hence descended from Aaron, she was called a “sister of Aaron” (in the same way as her cousin, Elisabeth, the wife of Zachariah, is spoken of in Luke I.5 as one “of the daughters of Aaron”).
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