MARY AND JESUS IN ISLAM

Muslims emphasize that Jesus (ʿĪsā) is mentioned frequently in the Qur’an, that Mary (Maryam) is honored with an entire chapter named after her, and that Islam acknowledges Jesus as a prophet of God. Superficially, this sounds appealing, especially to uninformed Christians who assume this overlap must represent genuine common ground. But when examined closely, this claim collapses. The Jesus and Mary of the Qur’an are not the biblical figures known to Christians, and they are certainly not honored. They are appropriated, rewritten, and weaponized in order to dismantle the very foundations of Christianity. Islam does not “respect” Jesus. It negates Him. It does not “honor” Mary. It exploits her. Every reference to them in the Qur’an functions not to elevate them but to conscript them into Muhammad’s project of replacing Christianity with Islam.

The claim is that Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’an, and that an entire surah, Surah Maryam, is named after her. This is held up as proof of esteem. But naming is not the same as honoring. If attaching a name were proof of sanctity, then Surah al-Baqarah (“The Cow”), Surah al-Nahl (“The Bee”), and Surah al-Naml (“The Ant”) must also be understood as exaltations of livestock, insects, and pests. Clearly, they are not. The Qur’an uses names as literary markers, not as signs of dignity. Mary’s presence in the Qur’an has one function: to serve Islam’s polemical purposes. Her virginity is affirmed not to exalt her, but to deny Christ’s divine Sonship. Her story is retold not to celebrate her, but to make her testimony endorse Muhammad’s theology. She becomes a prop in Islam’s denial of the Incarnation.