{"id":4685,"date":"2019-03-23T20:31:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T01:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/?p=4685"},"modified":"2019-03-23T20:31:51","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T01:31:51","slug":"a-reply-to-the-christian-polemic-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-a-houri-in-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/en\/a-reply-to-the-christian-polemic-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-a-houri-in-paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reply to the Christian Polemic ‘Mary the Mother of Jesus: A Houri in Paradise?’"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Rasheed Gonzales<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

The praise is for Allah, and it is sufficed. May peace be upon His slaves who He has chosen. As for what follows .<\/span><\/p>\n

After painting a sexually explicit picture for his Christian readers with a long introduction in which he describes the H<\/u>\u016br\u00ees of Paradise, their physical features, and other sexually oriented details pertaining to the pleasures of the Hereafter, this Christian polemicist presents his prized piece of evidence for his attack on Prophet Muhammad (may Allah send salutations and peace upon him), Mary the Mother of Jesus: A Houri in Paradise?<\/em>: a (clipped) quote taken from Ibn Kath\u00eer’s Qasas<\/em> (not Qisas) al-Anbiy\u00e2’<\/em> which states,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“The Messenger of God . said, ‘God MARRIED ME IN PARADISE TO MARY THE DAUGHTER OF ‘IMRAN<\/strong> and to the wife of Pharaoh and the sister of Moses.’ (Tabarani)” (Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya<\/em> [Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, 1968\/1388], p. 381- as cited in Aliah Schleifer’s Mary The Blessed Virgin of Islam<\/em> [Fons Vitae; ISBN: 1887752021; July 1, 1998], p. 64; bold and capital emphasis [the writer’s]).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately, there have been a couple of ignorant Muslims who have tried to refute this polemic drafted by this Christian writer by referring to the available English translations of Qasas al-Anbiy\u00e2’<\/em>, which do not include this quote, or any of the similar narrations that Ibn Kath\u00eer quoted along with it. Had they referred to the Arabic text of the work, or to the work it was originally taken from, al-Bid\u00e2yah wan-Nih\u00e2yah<\/em>, they would have surely found the quote presented above as well as the necessary information to properly address this polemicist’s allegations. So in all fairness, he was not guilty of fabricating some made up h<\/u>ad\u00eeth or lying (at least in this instance) to support his claims.<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing he is guilty of, however, is being ignorant-or perhaps not, but is dishonest enough to keep hidden from his readers-of the fact that Ibn Kath\u00eer quotes a significantly important statement concerning this narration that directly effects the validity of his attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

The above cited narration from Qasas al-Anbiy\u00e2’<\/em> is quoted by Ibn Kath\u00eer under his chapter on the story of Jesus (upon him be peace), under the subheading, “Allah’s choosing Mary, peace be upon her”. After mentioning a number of the authentic narrations concerning Mary’s high status among the women of Paradise, Ibn Kath\u00eer states,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The purpose here is the mention of what is connected to Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n, peace be upon her. For indeed Allah purified her and chose her over the women of the worlds of her time, and it is conceivable that the favouring of her over the women [of mankind] is general, as we have presented. And it has been mentioned in a h<\/u>ad\u00eeth that she is from the wives of the Prophet, may Allah send salutations and peace upon him, in Paradise-her and \u00c2siyah bint Muz\u00e2h<\/u>im-and in the Tafs\u00eer<\/em>\u00a0we have mentioned from some of the predecessors that he [i.e., Prophet Muh<\/u>ammad] said that and drew upon His statement, \u00abwidows and virgins\u00bb (66:5): he said thus the widow is \u00c2siyah and from the virgins is Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n; and we mentioned it at the end of the chapter of at-Tah<\/u>r\u00eem<\/em> [ch. 66]. So Allah is more knowledgeable.<\/span><\/p>\n

at<\/u>–T<\/u>abar\u00e2n\u00ee said,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

‘Abdullah bin N\u00e2jiyyah narrated to us: Muh<\/u>ammad bin Sa’d al-‘Awf\u00ee narrated to us: Ubay narrated to us: my uncle al-H<\/u>usain informed us: Y\u016bnus bin Naf\u00ee’ narrated to us from Sa’d bin Jun\u00e2dah-he is al-‘Awf\u00ee?[who] said, “Allah’s messenger, may Allah send\u00a0salutations and peace upon him, said, \u00abSurely Allah will marry me to Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n, the wife of Pharaoh, as well as the sister of Moses in Paradise.\u00bb”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was narrated by Ab\u016b Ja’far al-‘Uqail\u00ee from the h<\/u>ad\u00eeth of ‘Abdun-N\u016br with it, and he [‘Abdun-N\u016br] added, “So I said, ‘[Be it] a pleasure for you, O Allah’s messenger!'” Then al-‘Uqail\u00ee said, “It is not preserved<\/em>.” [Emphasis mine; take note that al-‘Uqail\u00ee’s statement, “it is not preserved,” is an indication of the h<\/u>ad\u00eeth’s weakness].<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ibn Kath\u00eer then cites three narrations in which the Prophet, may Allah send salutations and peace upon him, entered upon his dying wife Khad\u00eejah, may Allah be pleased with her, and mentioned to her that Allah will marry him in Paradise to Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n, \u00c2siyah bint Muz\u00e2h<\/u>im, and Kulthum the sister of Moses. He then comments,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The basis of the peace from Allah upon Khad\u00eejah and her glad tidings with house of pearls in Paradise that contains no noise or hardship is in the S<\/u>ah<\/u>\u00eeh<\/u>. However, this context with these additions is very strange. Each of these h<\/u>ad\u00eeths, their chains [of transmission] contain a problem<\/em>. [Emphasis mine].<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let us now take a look at what Ibn Kath\u00eer said in his exegesis of the above mentioned verse (66:5) in his Tafs\u00eer al-Qur’\u00e2n al-‘Adh<\/u>\u00eem<\/em>. Ibn Kath\u00eer mentions,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

In his al-Mu’jam al-Kab\u00eer<\/em>, Abul-Q\u00e2sim at<\/u>–T<\/u>abar\u00e2n\u00ee said,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Ab\u016b Bakr bin S<\/u>adaqah narrated to us: Muh<\/u>ammad bin Muh<\/u>ammad bin Marz\u016bq narrated to us: ‘Abdullah bin Umayyah narrated to us: ‘Abdul-Qudd\u016bs narrated to us from S<\/u>\u00e2lih<\/u> bin H<\/u>ayy\u00e2n, from Ibn Buraidah, from his father: [concerning] \u00abwidows and virgins\u00bb (66:5), [who] said, “In this verse, Allah promised His prophet, may Allah send salutations and peace upon him, that He would marry him to the widow: \u00c2siyah, wife of Pharaoh, and with the virgins: Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In his biography of Mary, peace be upon her, H<\/u>\u00e2fidh Ibn ‘As\u00e2kir mentioned from the route of Suwaid bin Sa’\u00eed: Muh<\/u>ammad bin S<\/u>\u00e2lih<\/u> bin ‘Umar narrated to us from ad<\/u>–D<\/u>ahh<\/u>\u00e2k and Muj\u00e2hid, from Ibn ‘Umar, he said,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Gabriel came to Allah’s messenger, may Allah send salutations and\u00a0peace upon him, at the death of Khad\u00eejah and said, “Surely, Allah greets her with peace and gives glad tidings of a house of pearls in Paradise, distant from the fire, containing no hardship, nor noise, of hollow pearls between Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n’s house and \u00c2siyah bint Muz\u00e2h<\/u>im’s house.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And from the h<\/u>ad\u00eeth of Ab\u00ee Bakr al-Hudhal\u00ee, from ‘Ikrimah, from Ibn ‘Abb\u00e2s that the Prophet, may Allah send salutations and\u00a0peace upon him, entered upon Khad\u00eejah while she was dying and said, \u00abO Khad\u00eejah, if you meet your co-wives, then greet them with peace from me.\u00bb She said, “O Allah’s messenger, have you married before me?” He said, \u00abNo, but Allah will marry me to Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n, \u00c2siyah wife of Pharaoh, and Kulthum sister of Moses.\u00bb [It is] weak also.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ab\u016b Ya’l\u00e2 said,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Ibr\u00e2h\u00eem bin ‘Ar’arah narrated to us: ‘Abdun-N\u016br bin ‘Abdillah narrated to us: Y\u016bnus bin Shu’aib narrated to us from Ab\u00ee Um\u00e2mah, he said, ‘Allah’s messenger, may Allah send salutations and\u00a0peace upon him, said, \u00abI have learned that Allah married me in Paradise to Mary bint ‘Imr\u00e2n, Kulthum sister of Moses, and \u00c2siyah wife of Pharaoh.\u00bb So I said: [be it] a pleasure for you, O Allah’s messenger!’<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What is mentioned from Ibn ‘As\u00e2kir in this quote is contained in one of the three narrations alluded to previously for which Ibn Kath\u00eer said, “Each of these h<\/u>ad\u00eeths, their chains [of transmission] contain a problem.” The last narration was also quoted earlier and as was mentioned, al-‘Uqail\u00ee viewed it as being weak; in Silsilah al-Ah<\/u>\u00e2d\u00eeth ad<\/u>–D<\/u>a’\u00eefah<\/em> (2\/220\/no.812), Shaikh al-Alb\u00e2n\u00ee elaborates further mentioning the criticisms of two narrators in its chain: Y\u016bnus bin Shu’aib, who Imam al-Bukh\u00e2r\u00ee declared was rejected in H<\/u>ad\u00eeth and ‘Abdun-N\u016br bin ‘Abdillah bin Sin\u00e2n, who Imam adh-Dhahab\u00ee declared was a liar and accused of fabricating H<\/u>ad\u00eeth.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the narrations regarding the marriage of Mary to Prophet Muhammad in Paradise weak, the question is: where did this story originate? Enter Eulogius of Cordova, a Spanish Christian writer and (so-called) martyr who lived during the 800s in Muslim-ruled Andalusia (he was beheaded around 859CE). In his book, Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination<\/span><\/a><\/em> (p. 93), John V. Tolan writes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Eulogius deforms Muhammad’s biography to fit the standard biographies of Antichrist. He is certainly not ignorant of what Muslims say about their prophet; he simply chooses to present the elements of Muhammad’s life that fit the images of Antichrist. One of the favorite topics of Christian polemicists is sex: Muhammad’s wives, Muslim polygamy, and the celestial houris promised to the faithful [sounds quite a bit like this writer, no?]. All this is foreign to the ideal of Christian celibacy and to Christian ideas of heaven, but it fits well with the doctrines traditionally attributed to Antichrist. Eulogius has more trouble explaining the Koran’s affirmation of the virginity of Jesus’ mother. Here, again, his solution is a gross deformation: “I will not repeat the sacrilege which that impure dog [Muhammad] dared proffer about the Blessed Virgin, Queen of the World, holy mother of our venerable Lord and Savior. He claimed . that in the next world he would deflower her.” [Eulogius, Memoriale sanctorum<\/em>, 1:7 in Corpus Scriptorum Muzarabicorum<\/em>. 376] This outrageous claim, it seems, is Eulogius’s invention; I know of no other Chrisitan polemicist who makes this accusation against Muhammad. Eulogius fabricates lies designed to shock his Christian reader. This way, even those elements of Islam that resemble Christianity (such as reverence of Jesus and his virgin mother) are deformed and blackened, so as to prevent the Christian from admiring anything about the Muslim other.<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal is to inspire hatred for the “oppressors,” and (as wartime propagandists have long known) there is little better way to do so than to accuse the enemy of murder and rape. If most Cordovans seem ready to tolerate Islam with a sort of ecumenical open-mindedness, Eulogius sets out to show that the Muslim is not a friend but a potential rapist of Christ’s virgins.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here we have a more than likely origin for such a story. As it is known that some of the early narrators of H<\/u>ad\u00eeth would also narrate Israelite traditions (Isr\u00e2’\u00eeliyy\u00e2t; narrations originating from the People of the Book), as well as the fact at least one of the narrators of this h<\/u>ad\u00eeth was accused of fabricating h<\/u>ad\u00eeths, it is not entirely strange that this story could have (and probably did) originate from Eulogius (or other Christian polemicists in Andalusia during the third century of Islam). Add the fact that those who recorded the h<\/u>ad\u00eeth (al-‘Uqail\u00ee, at-Tabar\u00e2n\u00ee, Ab\u016b Ya’l\u00e2, and Ibn ‘As\u00e2kir) were either young children or not even born yet by the time Eulogius was beheaded and the likelihood only increases.<\/span><\/p>\n

This book by John Tolan is quite the read; it shows the lengths to which Christian polemicists and anti-Muslim writers of the past went in twisting facts, distorting truths, providing misinformation, or simply fabricating blatant lies in order to defend their religion and attack Islam; lengths we see the Christian polemicists and anti-Muslim writers of today (like this writer and his cronies) going to as well. What Tolan mentions above perfectly illustrates the high probability that many of the weak narrations found in early Islamic texts concerning the Biblical Prophets and other Biblical notables-which many Christian missionaries and polemicists use to attack Islam-were concocted and fabricated by Christians themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the last of our claim is that the praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds; and may Allah send His salutations, prayers, and blessings upon our beloved Prophet Muh<\/u>ammad, upon his family, his companions, and those who follow them upon charitable conduct until the establishment of the Final Hour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Source:https:\/\/www.call-to-monotheism.com\/a_reply_to_the_christian_polemic_mary_the_mother_of_jesus__a_houri_in_paradise___by_rasheed_gonzales<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rasheed Gonzales   The praise is for Allah, and it is sufficed. May peace be upon His slaves who He has chosen. As for what follows . After painting a sexually explicit picture for his Christian readers with a long introduction in which he describes the H\u016br\u00ees of Paradise, their physical features, and other … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-most-common-doubts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"gform-image-choice-sm":false,"gform-image-choice-md":false,"gform-image-choice-lg":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Site Admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/en\/author\/admin2\/"},"uagb_comment_info":58,"uagb_excerpt":"By Rasheed Gonzales   The praise is for Allah, and it is sufficed. May peace be upon His slaves who He has chosen. As for what follows . After painting a sexually explicit picture for his Christian readers with a long introduction in which he describes the H\u016br\u00ees of Paradise, their physical features, and other…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcT0IL-1dz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4673,"url":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/en\/refuting-christian-misconceptions-about-the-islamic-paradise-and-a-brief-look-at-the-christian-paradise\/","url_meta":{"origin":4685,"position":0},"title":"Refuting Christian Misconceptions About The Islamic Paradise And a Brief Look At the Christian Paradise","author":"Site Admin","date":"03\/23\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By Bassam Zawadi This article's main purpose is to address four common misconceptions put forth especially by Christian missionaries regarding the Islamic concept of paradise. 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