Parents of Mary, Mother of Jesus

This post is supposed to bring to our attentions a relatively short period in history.  It is meant to highlight for us the communication between Imran, Hannah the wife of Imran, peace be upon them, and God.  Although initially this post may not seem to contain any important or interesting points in it, after a better examination, we can infer the following points.

            Firstly, in this post, a few of Jesus’ miracles, which we often hear from Christians and are found in the Bible, are confirmed.  We, as Muslims, can now confirm and be certain that Jesus, peace be upon him, did indeed heal the blind and the leper, and did indeed resurrect the dead with God’s permission. 

            Secondly, we can notice that Imran’s wife’s name is Hannah.  Therefore, Hannah is the mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus, peace be upon them all. 

            Thirdly, we can notice that, like Mary, Hannah also communicated with Allah, and Allah did respond to Hannah’s concern about her new-born child.

            Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, we learn from the following tradition that there is a direct connection between a man, his sons and his grandsons.  When God makes a promise to a man, or when an event is prophesized about a man, and it doesn’t happen to him, it could be because it may in fact happen to his sons or even grandsons. 

            Now, we could ask ourselves, is this tradition and the exposition of this family connection meant to hint towards the biological genetic connections between parents and offsprings?  I do not know if this is the case. However, if you are interested to research this matter further, keeping this tradition in mind could certainly come in handy.

            At the end, if there are any other points that you see in this tradition that I missed and did not notice, please do not hesitate to point them out in the comment section.

Now, without any further ado, I present to you the following Authentic tradition.

1)

Arabic Text:

مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ جَمِيعاً عَنِ ابْنِ مَحْبُوبٍ عَنِ ابْنِ رِئَابٍ عَنْ أَبِي بَصِيرٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى أَوْحَى إِلَى عِمْرَانَ أَنِّي وَاهِبٌ لَكَ ذَكَراً سَوِيّاً مُبَارَكاً يُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ وَ الْأَبْرَصَ وَ يُحْيِي الْمَوْتَى بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَ جَاعِلُهُ رَسُولًا إِلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ فَحَدَّثَ عِمْرَانُ امْرَأَتَهُ حَنَّةَ بِذَلِكَ وَ هِيَ أُمُّ مَرْيَمَ فَلَمَّا حَمَلَتْ كَانَ حَمْلُهَا بِهَا عِنْدَ نَفْسِهَا غُلَامٌ فَلَمَّا وَضَعَتْها قالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَضَعْتُها أُنْثى‏ (آل ‏عمران: 36)... وَ لَيْسَ الذَّكَرُ كَالْأُنْثى‏ (آل‏ عمران: 36) أَيْ لَا يَكُونُ الْبِنْتُ رَسُولًا يَقُولُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِما وَضَعَتْ (آل ‏عمران: 36) فَلَمَّا وَهَبَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى لِمَرْيَمَ عِيسَى كَانَ هُوَ الَّذِي بَشَّرَ بِهِ عِمْرَانَ وَ وَعَدَهُ إِيَّاهُ فَإِذَا قُلْنَا فِي الرَّجُلِ مِنَّا شَيْئاً وَ كَانَ فِي وَلَدِهِ أَوْ وَلَدِ وَلَدِهِ فَلَا تُنْكِرُوا ذَلِكَ

Farsi Translation:

ابو بصير گويد: امام صادق عليه السلام فرمود: خداى تعالى بعمران (پدرم مريم مادر عيسى عليه السلام) وحى كرد كه من بتو پسرى ميبخشم، سالم و مبارك كه باذن خدا كور مادر زاد و پيس را درمان كند و مردگان را زنده كند و پيغمبر بنى اسرائيلش قرار دهم، عمران اين مطلب را بهمسرش حنة كه مادر مريم است گزارش داد، چون بمريم حامله گشت، فكر ميكرد كه حملش پسر است، چون او را زائيد (و ديد دختر است) گفت: “پروردگارا من دختر زائيدم ...  و پسر مانند دختر نيست”  (3:36)يعنى دختر كه پيغمبر نميشود. خداى عز و جل (در باره او) ميفرمايد: “خدا بآنچه او زائيده داناتر است (3:36)”، سپس چون خداى تعالى عيسى را بمريم بخشيد، او همان پيغمبرى بود كه بعمران بشارت داده شده بود و باو وعده كرده بودند.

پس هر گاه ما در باره مردى از خاندان خود چيزى گفتيم. و در فرزند يا فرزند زاده او پيدا شد آن را انكار مكنيد.

English Translation:

Narrated by Mohamed Ibn Yehya from Ahmed Ibn Mohamed and Ali bin Ibrahim, from his father, narrated by all of these from Ibn Mahboub from Ibn Re’ab, from Abu Baseer from Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him). He said:

“Allah the Almighty revealed to Imran, ‘I shall bestow upon you a pleasing, blessed male child who shall heal the blind and the leper and raise the dead in the name of Allah. We shall make him a prophet to the children of Israel.’ Imran notified his wife Hannah, the mother of Maryam. And when she became with a child she imagined the child would be a boy. When she gave birth to her (Maryam) she said, “O Lord, I have given birth to a girl child… A male is not the same as a female.” (3 :36) for a female cannot be a messenger [of Allah].   Allah the almighty said, “I know best what you have given birth to.” (3:36) When God the Almighty bestowed Jesus upon Maryam, he was the child foretold by Him to Imran and bestowed upon him.

Thus, when a thing is foretold about a man and it appears in his sons or grandsons [instead], do not deny it.”

 Source:

Al-Kafi, Volume 1, Page 535, Tradition #1