Maryam Amir – Story of Maryam Virgin Mary The POWER of Submission
AI: Summary ©
A woman named Mariam Alaihi talks about her desire for a baby and her desire for a man. She is the first woman to enter the space of Subhan Allah and wants to show Allah's panaips. She is the only woman who has been living in the space for the first time. She emphasizes the importance of taking action and helping others through their cycle of suicidal thoughts. The Prophet sallahu alayhi wa sallam's message is negating the fact that many people were considered to be prophetess and bringing them back to him.
AI: Summary ©
When the mother of Virgin Mary may Allah be pleased with them both
found out that she was pregnant, we can only imagine how excited
she was to share the news with her husband, because the scholars of
Quranic commentary mention that Maryam mother had been sitting and
looking at a little bird, and that bird was feeding her baby, and she
made dua to Allah to be blessed with the baby herself. She had
been struggling with infertility, and so we can only imagine her joy
when she tells her husband narwhal that they're expecting their first
child. And there's a very famous dua that many of us know that
Allah quotes the mother of Maryam when she says, I'll to
be The human Robin. Me another mini in
the
semi. Olali, she's making this dua, the O Allah I dedicate who is
in my womb to you. Muharra, so accept it from me. Indeed you are
the All Hearing, the All Knowing. How
many of you have heard this dua before?
A number of us have heard it in this beautiful way,
but she made this dua out of intense grief. She was making this
dua out of extreme pain because her husband anuran, passed away,
and now she went from the excitement and joy of her first
child with her husband to being a widow and a single mother
and SubhanAllah. It's incredible to note that the Quran has so many
women who are single mothers. She is making this dua, and she is
saying that she dedicates this baby, muharra,
and muharra, as a Razi, who is a Quranic commentator, mentions
it means to be to meqdas, what we now know as Mashallah.
But Subhanallah, she made this jail without placing a condition
on the fact that it could be a boy or it could be a girl. She said
she dedicates this baby, and then the Quran goes to her actually
having the baby. So she has her baby, expecting it to be a boy,
because she's already dedicated this baby to be told naqtis and in
beitul, naqtis only men served, only boys served. There had never
been a woman who had served in beitel muqdis before. So when she
has her baby. Pan Allah, listen to this. Ayah
fellow
Allahu,
a
me or
why in MENA, she
said in me over and over and over, in me, ini, ini, ini. Why?
Because, as two of the Quranic commentators, Ibn Ashur and Al
Razi mention, she is shocked, she is flustered, and she disliked the
fact that she suddenly had a girl. And it's not because she's not, of
course, honored that she had a baby girl. It wasn't the issue of
a gender. It was because she had, in fact, in one of the
commentators, tafsir mentioned that she, before she was even
pregnant, wanted a child so badly that she promised if she had a
baby, she would give that baby to betel naqdis. So now she doesn't
know how she's going to fulfill her promise, because she had
promised this baby to Allah's panel at alles servitude.
And so she says, Well, they said that Canta, why does she say the
boy is not like the girl? Why did she say boy first? Because a boy
was the one she was expecting. That's what she wanted. And Ibn
Abbas actually has a different recitation for this part of the
verse, the next part that the what
that that Allah knows better of what you of what you birthed, it,
of who you birthed. Why? Because the boy that you thought you
wanted is not as as not as good as the girl that Allah gifted you.
You don't know the level of the gift of who Allah Tala has given
you. So now, Mariam Alaihi said.
Am, it's mother. She says, What in me? Send me to ha Mariam? Why? She
catches her emotions. She realizes her initial reaction. And so to
show her contentment in Allah's decree, she names her baby,
Maryam, the servant of Allah. Maryam is a servant of Allah, and
what else does she say? She makes dua for her that she seeks Allah's
protection from Satan for her baby and her progeny. Why is she making
dua for this baby? Of course, out of the love she has for her baby
as a mother, but also because she wants to show Allah's panawata
Allah that despite the way that she initially felt, she's content
with whatever Allah decrees. She trusts whatever Allah has planned
for her life. And so now we see that Mariam, alaihi salam becomes
the very first woman to enter BETOs. She is raised and mentored
in this space by her uncle, zakiriya, Prophet Zechariah, peace
be upon them. So she is in this space, the very first woman to
enter and Subhan Allah, that we can only imagine in that moment,
how hard it must have been for her mother to lose her husband, to to
already have promised the dedication of her baby. And yet,
how finite the life span of any of his is, but how infinite the
impact of that sacrifice was, because you and I can go into mesh
Al Aqsa today as woman. Why can we go in as woman? Because Maryam
paved the way for us to enter that space by Allah's will.
So she is in this space being raised by this prophet, and she is
a Daya. She is a caller to God, and we see her powerful conviction
in calling to Allah. When zakiriya, alaihi salam comes in,
and he notices that she has fruit out of season, and she's he asked
her, where did you get this fruit? And she says, Who am in
love in Allah?
This is from Allah, and Allah gives whoever he wants without
measure and Prophet. Zakiriya alaihi salam is an elderly man who
has an elderly wife. They've been trying to have the baby for a very
long time. This is a time in their life when they're not they haven't
had a baby, and they're older. It's not the time of having
children, he sees the fruit, and he thinks, subhanAllah, if Allah
can gift fruit out of season, then perhaps when they are out of
season, Allah can gift them. And that's why the very next verse,
hunali,
he makes dua for Allah to bless them with a baby, because he's so
worried about the Dawah. What is going to happen to his people if
there isn't someone who's going to be a messenger to the people? And
when Angel Jibril alayhi salam comes to give the glad tidings of
his son, this isn't the only reason why Angel Jibreel alayhi
salam is there so many ALA has Salam gives dawah to zakiri alaihi
salam by reminding him of Allah's power. And now she enters her
mehrab. Different scholars of tafsir mentioned that she had gone
away from her MA she goes into her prayer space. This, this, this
very respected, important space for her. She is the only woman who
lives here. There are no other men. And in her private private
area, there is a man, a very beautiful man. Why would a man be
in her private prayer area?
Look at her reflexive action. It's not to scream, it's not to run to
her uncle and ask her uncle to come and see what's going on. It's
her immediate reaction. What is it? All of the worship that she
has been doing, the praying, the fasting, the making, the
translates into action. What is that action to call everyone who
she has an impact on back to Allah. So what is her immediate
response when she sees this very beautiful man in her chambers? She
says to him,
in me,
she reminds him
of a Rahman
she seeks.
Refuge with Abu Rahman. If he is one of the people who is God
conscious, why would she say this? Why didn't she say why are you
here or stop or I'm going to get someone why does she use a Rahman?
Because a Rahman is the most compassionate he is, the most
merciful He is the one who will accept the repentance of anyone
who turns to him. She is reminding him that if he goes back to Allah,
no matter what his intention was for being in a very private room
with her, that Allah will accept his repentance. Don't do whatever
you're thinking. Allah is the Most Merciful. Go back to him before
you do it. And Ibn Kathir mentions that he Salam was so impacted by
the power of her words that he immediately just flipped into the
form of an angel.
And then he says to her, hola
in Nana bikini ahabanic, I'm
just a messenger. I am here to give you the glad tidings of a
son, a pure son. I want you to focus on her reaction after this,
because Allah said a heavy ahava in Jabil, ala Islam used the word
ahava. This is what Allah swam Tala has
recorded. Ahaba hiba, gifting you, gifting you, if any one of us met
Angel jib alaihi salam, saying there's a gift from Allah. Perhaps
our reaction might be like Allah has chosen me,
or maybe something like Allahu Akbar, Allah, Allah knows who I
am, or Subhanallah I am. I am the one making it about me. I am
certainly way Maya protect me from myself. But listen to what Mariam
alaihi salam's response is, because she is so invested in Dawa
that she is terrified of how people are going to react to the
fact that she is pregnant.
No man has touched me.
How is she gonna have a baby when no man has touched her?
Jibreel I lay his salaam comforts and reminds her of this ability of
Allah. He says, Be and it is.
What is the very next verse, Allah doesn't tell us about the nine
months of her pregnancy
after she's given the glad tidings of a pregnancy of this gift, after
she has had time to emotionally process it on her own, after she's
had day after day of being pregnant and preparing for the
fact that she's going to be a mother. Is she giving birth in the
desert on her own as a young woman thinking Subhanallah, the moment
has come,
or now My people will see that I am truly a righteous person.
She is so worried,
and I really want us to recognize that in her story,
we see the humanity of what it means to be someone close to
Allah, but not know how to process Allah's plan emotionally, because
when we look at the mother of Moses, the set of his high so
beautifully and powerfully discussed, para colophyha, what we
see is that she could have been given a girl, and then she
wouldn't have had any of these issues. The mother of Meriam could
have had a boy, and then she wouldn't have had any problems in
with regards to this concern, she had Allah chose who is going to be
given to whom, out of his wisdom, if the mother of Moses didn't have
Musa alaihi salam, we wouldn't have had the Banu Israel freed,
and until today, History wouldn't have been impacted the way it was
impacted. And the same thing with the mother of Maryam, and the same
thing with Maryam alaihi salam, despite the fact that they were
gifts from Allah, they struggled, as we saw with the mother of Musa.
Her heart was very Allah. It just became completely empty. And if it
wasn't for Allah giving strength to her heart, she would have,
would have lost it.
So when you as a believer are struggling with something you're
going through emotionally, whatever it is, whatever you're
going through, every one of us has our own tests and trials.
Remember, it's not because you're not reading enough Quran, it's not
because you're not praying hard enough. It's not because you're
not making dua with enough sincerity. Of course, we need to
pray harder. Of course, we need to read the Quran more. Of course, we
need to make dua with more sincerity. We only increase in
these actions when we're going through a trial, and especially
when we're not.
But the point is, even if you're still sad and it's been five years
since you've lost your loved one,
that doesn't mean that you don't believe in Allah's plan. You
continue to worship Him while recognizing that he has a plan,
suban Hua taala, and that this life is short, and that the
Hereafter with him is the ultimate place. So when she's having this
baby, she is calling out, and only Allah knows everything that she
said as she's giving birth. Maybe she said lots of things, but what
he chose to record for all of us to know until the End of Time was
she said,
If only she had, if only I had died before this and was something
that had never been mentioned and unknown. She wished she had never
been known. She wished she could have died. And again, this is a
very real human emotion. Did Allah's next statement say for
Allah? Of course, we shouldn't make these statements, but when we
are in the midst of something very difficult and we feel that way,
even the most righteous had human emotion, and that connects us to
them, and that allows us to take them as our example. So what does
Allah order her to do to shake the date palm tree. Now many of us
have heard that the reason Allah has ordered her to shake the date
palm tree was because even when you make dua, you need to take
action, right? Even when we make dua, we need to take action, do
our part. This is 100% true, but she's literally giving birth, so
she's already taking a huge action. So yes, definitely doing
our part is part of it. But also why? Modern Day researchers talk
about those who are going through suicidal thoughts or depressive
thoughts in a cycle, who have extreme anxiety, who are just
going through them in a cycle, that the way you as a listener can
help them break the cycle and focus on something else, so that
it is not so intense for them, so they can recalibrate and think
about life in a slightly different way. Is by quite literally,
changing their perspective of thoughts and being able to help
them focus on a quick action to do. Do you want to think of your
water bottle? Where did you get that from?
It seems completely out of the blue, but it's very intentional,
so that you can help support them through their process. So Allah
orders her to shake the deep palm tree. So she's shaking the deep
palm tree, and the thoughts are no longer mentioned in the Quran.
What does Allah then go to take some time to rest,
eat, drink. Wakari aina, take some time to rest, because once she's
in a space of resting, once she comes back and she feels that she
has gathered herself, she's had a moment to come to this grounding
with Allah's panawati. Allah what
she is then tasked as her role as a caller to God,
to take that baby to her people.
Allah, subhana wa Taala could have had
Angel Jibreel alehissala Angel Gabriel, take baby Aisa, baby
Jesus, to the people.
Allah could have asked Zakaria alaihissam. Could have ordered
Zakaria alaihi salam to take the baby to the people. This young
woman just gave birth. We know what people are going to say about
her. She knows what people are going to say about her. She is so
worried about the image of piety. She is literally, she is literally
the symbol for piety. How are people going to think about
worship, about God, about religion, if someone of her status
came with a baby. She's worried about how people are going to
react, not only because of her reputation as an individual, but
because of all she represents. And yet, Allah's Panama Taala had her
go out, and this is such an important message for every single
one of us. We all have a role to play in Dawa. That role could be
within our families, it could be within our relatives, it could be
within our neighbors, it could be our Masjid our society. But no
matter what you are going through in your life, look at the example
Allah gave for every single woman and man until the end of time she
just gave birth. Take a moment to be prepared and go out and call
the people to Allah.
You have a role to do this. It is your space to go out. You are
important for this role. So she goes out to her people,
and as she goes out to her people, and they see her with a baby, what
is their reaction?
SubhanAllah? Shock you the fact
that she comes from a righteous family, the fact
that she's been raised in this space of righteousness with a
baby, and this is when Allah has her baby speak, affirming that He
is a messenger of Allah.
We know from her story
that she did not just leave her worship to her worship, as in
ritual acts of worship, her worship was in her action as well.
And this is so important because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam tells us, in them as yet, that Your deeds are by your
intention.
And Allah tells us
that my salah, my sacrifice, my
life, my death,
is all for Allah. So whether that means taking care of my children,
or whether that means taking care of myself, anything I do can be
worship with the intention and her life embodies that in the Quran
Allah says that he has raised her above
Subhanallah,
above all women,
and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us in a hadith that
many men have reached perfection,
but amongst the woman,
those who have reached perfection. He's talking about are atya and
Maryam
and Ibn Hazm, who is with the Lahiri he's that, like the Lahiri
founder. I know many people are not familiar with, like, all the
different scholars names. I totally understand. It was a long
process for me to learn them, and I certainly don't know all of
them, but we are very familiar with, like the malikis, the
hambadis, the Hanafis. He's from the Lahiri method. So Ibn Hazm, he
uses this hadith as proof for his position on why there were women
who were prophets. Ibn Hajar explains that this hadith that
there were many men who reached completeness in religion, Kemet
but only a few women. What does that mean? Ibn Hajj explains that
there were many women who were martyred, there were many women
who were truthful, there were many women who dedicated their lives in
worship. So it's not possible that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam is negating the fact that all of these women existed. So
what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is actually saying here
is that there were many men who were prophets, and from the woman
who were prophets, these two women were the most elevated of them.
Because even in prophet hood, many men, there were many men, but some
of them were in a higher status than other men.
And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is making this
distinction. Imam Al qurtubi also believes that marim alaihi salam
holds the opinion that she's a prophetess. This is a minority
opinion by a minority of scholars who are quite literally, a handful
of the majority, the majority opinion, which is summarized
beautifully by Imam nawawi, mentions that these were righteous
women. These were pious women. They were examples for all of us,
but they were not prophets. This is a very long discussion, and I
would love to share more with you. Inshallah, maybe at another time.
The point is that the Prophet Muhammad, sallAllahu, alayhi wa
sallam, shared with us the level of Maryam alaihi salam just being
so high as an example for all of us. So even if we don't consider
her to be a prophet, she is an example for all of humankind.
Subhanallah, when we look at the discussion on our roles as women,
we can take the example of Mariam alaihena,
who, anytime we see an image of her, she always has her hair
covered, and we know that that's not her actual picture.
Sure we know that's not what she actually looks like.
But whenever someone asks me why I wear hijab, especially because I'm
named after her, thank you so much, Mommy. I love bless you.
It's very easy for me to respond with, I'm named after Virgin Mary.
And anytime you see a picture of Virgin Mary, even if I don't
believe that that's her actual picture. She has her hair covered.
She's dressed modestly, and she's mentioned in the Quran as the
highest status woman in the world who's ever been created. And she
is mentioned in her dynamism and her power and submission to God's
will, and in wearing hijab, I'm fulfilling the Quranic guidance
to worship my lord in this way and to follow the footsteps of my
foremother, Virgin Mary, that she gives us the example of what it
looks like
to claim modesty and claim My identity in my relationship with
God, but to use that space to call myself and others back to him, and
anytime you doubt what your role is in this space, remember what
Allah's Panama Taala told us. He says
that he has chosen you and Imam, Imam tabri mentions that he has
chosen you, every single one of you who is part of this ummah, for
a quality that he sees inside of you,
even when you don't see that quality inside of yourself.
If you're a part of this ummah, in the same ummah of Mariam, alaihi,
salam, as a woman who Allah created as a woman to honor you,
it's because he has a plan for your life. The question is,
are we going to use the gifts that He's given us, even when they look
like tests, to go back to him and to be a means of calling others to
him and to know that our destination lies with him?
SubhanAllah?