Women of Jannah

Mariam bint Imran

Mariam (the mother of Prophet Eesa) wasn’t great just because she was the mother of Prophet; she was also great because she perfected her faith.

The Greatest Woman – Maryam bint ‘Imran

by Omar Suleiman at QuranWeekly

Today we will be talking about the greatest woman who has ever walked on the face of this Earth, that is Maryam, the daughter of Imran, may Allah (SWT) be pleased with her. Allah (SWT) says

يَا مَرْيَمُ

(Ya maryamu)

Oh Maryam (3:42)

إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ وَاصْطَفَاكِ عَلَىٰ نِسَاءِ الْعَالَمِينَ

(Inna Allaha istafaki watahharakiwastafaki AAala nisa-i alAAalameen)

Allah has chosen you, Allah has purified you, and Allah has chosen you over all of the women of the world. (3:42)

So Maryam is the greatest women of all time. The Rasullah (S) said she is the best woman of her time and Khadijah (R) is the best woman of her time. What makes Maryam (A) so special and Allah (SWT) says that she is

مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

(Mathalan lillatheenaamanoo)

An example for those who believe (66:11)

وَمَرْيَمَ ابْنَتَ عِمْرَانَ

(Wamaryama ibnata AAimrana)

Maryam ibnta Imran (66:12)

Notice that Allah (SWT) did not associated Maryam with Isa (A) in every ayah of the Quran. In fact, as Allah (SWT) is mentioning her, just after mentioning that Aasiyah, as the wife of the Pharoah, and the wives of Lut (A) and Nuh (A) as their wives, He doesn’t say Maryam, the mother of Jesus (peace be upon him). He just says Maryam ibnta Imran.  What is the wisdom of that?  Maryam’s greatness is not necessarily tied to Isa (A).  She was great because of who she was and in fact her name is even mentioned more than the name of Isa (A) in the Quran because of how great she was. 

She is not just a woman who is great because she happened to be the mother of a Prophet.  She is recognized as a woman who perfected her faith as the Prophet (S) mentioned her amongst that group.  She is a woman who demonstrates for all of us really how to have Tawakkul (faith) in Allah (SWT), to truly trust Allah (SWT) in the most difficult of times.  She is an example of modesty for both men and women because yes modesty exists for both men as well, so both men and women.  She is an example of modesty.  She is an example in her devotion, in her Ibadah, her worship.  All of these things, Maryam (A) excels in. So it is not just that she is the mother of Isa (A).

Her story starts off in Ibadah (worship) and she was dedicated to Allah (SWT) even before she was born.  Her mother is Hinna bintu Faaquut and her father of course is Imran (A).  Hinna bintu Faaquut and Imran (A), and Imran (A) being the Imam of his people, they were unable to have children for many, many, many years.  Very similar to the story of Zakariyah (A) except he wasn’t that old but he did reach an age where it wasn’t expected that he would have children anymore or that she would have children.  And then all of a sudden Allah (SWT) gives her the news that she is pregnant and she is not told what kind of child this is going to be, whether it is going to be a boy or a girl or whether it is going to be a prophet or layman.  She is not told anything about the type of child, the gender of the child, or anything of that sort.  She just knows that she is pregnant and she praises Allah (SWT), Imran (A) praises Allah (SWT), the people are celebrating, they are overjoyed because they love Imran (A) and his wife and then all of a sudden, tragedy.  Imran (A) dies a sudden death.  So now Hinna bintu Faaquut is left with this baby that is not even born yet that’s going to already be born without a father and then as she delivers the child, expecting that it is going to be a boy, so that it can be a prophet so he can do dawah and those types of things since she dedicated this child to Allah (SWT), Allah (SWT) gave her a girl.  Subhannallah. As He is narrating this story to us in the Quran,