CHAPTER 1 BIRTH OF JESUS Matthew 1–2; Luke 1–2 F. V. Greifenhagen compares the Bede Benjamin Bidlack examines the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to parallels and differences between the birth Mary in Luke with the Qur’an’s story of Lord Lao of Daoism and Luke’s birth multiple accounts of the same event. story of Jesus. Néstor O. Míguez imagines himself present as Matthew Kent Annan reads Luke’s birth story with those in writes of Herod’s slaughter of the children, drawing Haiti, focusing on their understanding of the phrase parallels with other atrocities of history. “no room at the inn” for Mary and Joseph. READINGS The Annunciation to Mary in the Qur’an F. Volker Greifenhagen Comparing the Birth Stories of Lord Lao and Jesus Bede Benjamin Bidlack Herod’s Slaughter of the Children and Other Atrocities Néstor O. Míguez Reading Luke’s Christmas Story with Those in Haiti Kent Annan 1 M01_RONC9209_01_SE_C01.indd 1 16/07/13 1:23 PM 2 Chapter 1 • Birth of Jesus The Annunciation to Mary in the Qur’an F. Volker Greifenhagen (Canada) The annunciation by a divinely sent messenger to Mary of the birth of a special son is narrated not only in Luke’s gospel (1:26–38) but also in the Muslim scripture, the Qur’an, originating with the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century C.E. in Arabia. There the story is told not just once, but twice. In Surah 19 Maryam (“Mary”) 16–21 we read thus: 16Relate in the book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the East. 17She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her our angel, and he appeared to her as a man in all respects. 18She said, “I seek refuge from you to (Allah) most gracious; (come not near) if you fear Allah.” 19He said, “No, I am only a messenger from your Lord (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son.” 20 She said, “How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me and I am not ­unchaste?” 21He said, “So (it will be); your Lord says, ‘That is easy for me, and (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to humanity and a mercy from Us’; it is a matter (so) decreed.” (Translation by ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali, 2001) It is again found in Surah 3 Ali ‘Imran (“The Family of ‘Imran”—‘Imran is the name of Mary’s father according to Qur’an 66:12 and 3:35) 45–49: 45Behold! The angels said, “O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him; his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the hereafter, and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah. 46He shall speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. And he shall be of (the company of) the righteous.” 47She said, “O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me?” He said, “Even so: Allah cre- ates what He wills; when He has decreed a plan, He but says to it ‘Be,’ and it is! 48And Allah will teach him the book and the wisdom, the law and the gospel. 49And (appoint him) a messenger to the children of Israel, (with this message): ‘I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breath into it, and it becomes a bird by Allah’s leave. And I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I quicken the dead, by Allah’s leave. And I declare to you what you eat, and what you store in your houses. Surely therein is a sign for you if you did believe.’ ” (Translation by ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali, 2001) Furthermore, the Qur’an alludes to the annunciation in two other verses. Surah 21 al-Anbiya (“The Prophets”) 91: “And (remember) her who guarded her chastity: We breathed in to her of Our Spirit, and We made her and her son a Sign for all peoples.” M01_RONC9209_01_SE_C01.indd 2 16/07/13 1:23 PM Chapter 1 • Birth of Jesus 3 And Surah 66 al-Tahrim (“Prohibition”) 12: “And Mary, the daughter of ‘Imran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (her body) of Our Spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of his Revelations, and was one of the devout (servants).” (Translation by ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali, 2001.) The qur’anic versions of the annunciation to Mary accord with Luke’s story in many respects. An angel announces that she will bear a son, to which she responds with bewilderment since she is a virgin. Her virginity, however, is no obstacle, for God is able to create a child within her without a human father. The Qur’an unpacks the angel’s more terse assertion in Luke’s gospel that “nothing will be impossible with God” (1:37) by having the messenger explain that when God decides anything, God merely needs to say “Be!” and it is—it is thus easy for God to do what is impossible for mortals. God’s Spirit is involved in the miraculous conception in both the biblical and qur’anic accounts, and in both versions the child will be named Jesus. Mary devoutly accepts the message in both Luke and the Qur’an, although her assent in the Qur’an is not explicitly verbalized as it is in Luke. Finally, like the account in Luke, both of the fuller qur’anic accounts of the annunciation are preceded by the story of the annunciation to Zechariah, who, as in the biblical version, distrusts the announcement and is struck mute. There are also differences. The Qur’an is not interested in details such as the town where Mary lives, and it omits entirely the sign of Elizabeth’s pregnancy and any mention of Joseph. The qur’anic versions especially highlight the chastity of Mary by depicting her as withdrawing alone from her family and screening herself from them (19:16–17), a motif that leads to a heightened sense of Mary’s alarm when she is approached in her seclusion by the messenger, whom the Qur’an describes as appear- ing like a human man in all respects. Mary, fearing molestation, needs to warn him off by seeking refuge with God. In an atmosphere charged with sexual danger, more explicit than the confusion or perplexity she experiences in the Lukan account, Mary displays proper propriety. Finally, one of the titles to be given to her son in the Qur’an is “son of Mary,” a name that stands out as unusual in a patriarchal context in which descent was reckoned from one’s father, and thus it serves to emphasize even further Mary’s virginal status. (The title “Jesus son of Mary” appears in Mark 6:3, but seems there to be used as a slur against him.) But the biggest differences lie in the description of the son that will be born to Mary. In the qur’anic accounts, he is not named “son of God”; nor is his career portrayed as that of a king, although he is called Christ or Messiah. Rather, the Qur’an emphasizes his qualities of righteousness and honor, and describes his career in terms of learning the holy scriptures and being sent as messenger to the children of Israel with miraculous powers of healing, animation of dead matter, and foreknowledge. This depiction accords with the prophetic paradigm applied by the Qur’an to all those that it names prophets; namely, that they are righteous folk who function primarily to bring a message from God to a specific people, encapsulated in a book, and confirmed by miracles. Interestingly, some Muslim commentators have discussed whether Mary her- self functions as a prophet in that she receives a “word” from God (3:45). While this “word” is usually glossed as a mere reference to God’s command “Be!” by which M01_RONC9209_01_SE_C01.indd 3 16/07/13 1:23 PM 4 Chapter 1 • Birth of Jesus Jesus is miraculously conceived, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the divine logos or word which is used of Jesus in the Gospel of John (1:1–18). Rather than some willful misunderstanding, the Qur’an has here redirected emphasis on Jesus as God’s word, and on his miraculous conception, away from indications or proofs of his divine status to demonstrations of the divine creative power of God. Even Jesus’ miracles, the Qur’an insists, are performed by God’s permission (3:49). In shifting the focus in this manner, the Qur’an gets behind the postbiblical Christian doctrinal ideology of Christ’s status as God. Luke, for instance, depicts Jesus mainly as subordinate to God (see especially the early Christian preaching described in Acts, such as 2:22–24; 3:13, 17–26; 4:27–28), joined to God by the Spirit but not identical with God. Overall, the Qur’an attempts to steer a middle course between what it sees as the excessive claims made about Jesus by Christians, on the one hand, and the rejection of Jesus and his significance by Jews, on the other. The Qur’an rejects the interpretation, found in Jewish literature, of the story of Jesus’ birth from a virgin as a cover-up of fornication but it does not go as far as Christians in deifying Jesus even though Jesus clearly has a preeminent status among the prophets in the Qur’an.