Mary in Islam

Maryam bint Imran (Arabic: مَرْيَم بِنْت عِمْرَان, romanized: Maryam bint ʿImrān, lit. 'Mary, daughter of Imran') is revered in Islam. The Qur'an refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest woman to have ever lived.^[1][2][3] In the Quran, her story is related in three Meccan surahs (19, 21, 23) and four Medinan surahs (3, 4, 5, 66). The nineteenth Surah, Maryam, is named after her. Moreover, she is the only woman named in the Quran.^[4]

According to the Quran, Mary's parents had been praying for a child. Their request was eventually accepted by God, and Mary's mother became pregnant. Her father Imran had died before the child was born. After her birth, she was taken care of by her maternal uncle Zechariah. According to the Quran, Mary received messages from God through the archangel Gabriel. God informed Mary that she had miraculously conceived a child through the intervention of the divine spirit, though she was still a virgin. The name of her child is chosen by God, being Isa (Jesus), who would be the "anointed one", the Promised Messiah. As such, orthodox Islamic belief has upheld the virgin birth of Jesus,^[5] and although the classical Islamic thinkers never dwelt on the question of the perpetual virginity of Mary,^[5] it was generally agreed in traditional Islam that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life, with the Quran's mention of Mary's purification “from the touch of men” implying perpetual virginity in the minds of many of the most prominent Islamic fathers.^[6]

Mary is believed to have been chosen by God, above all "the women of the worlds" in Islam.^[5] She is referred to by various titles in the Quran, with the most prominent being al-Qānitah.