Recordings › A Reply to Sheikh Yasir Qadhi - Mufti Abu Layth · 20 Oct 2018 › Segment 9 of 15
Does the Quran say Jesus was born of a virgin?
muftis atharis atharism athariyyah koran quraan al-quran sura soorah surat suwar soora chapter ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat wahy wahi wahee ulama ulema ulamaa nikah nikkah nikaah nikah nama nikahnama zina zinaa zinah fornication amanah amaanah amanat trustThe virgin birth: early Christianity, Mary's marriage, and the Muslim difference of opinion
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This segment49:47 to 54:58 · 5 min 11 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenNo verse of the Quran states that Jesus's birth was a virgin birth, only implies it, and Muslim scholars have differed on it. Mary is never called the Virgin Mary in Islam; she was married, and some scholars held that she conceived naturally.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says that apart from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew the Bible does not refer to a virgin birth, that the early Christians most likely did not believe in one, that the Old Testament prophecy they cite uses the word almah, a young woman who need not be a virgin, and that the letters of Paul never mention a miraculous birth, which became doctrine by the second or third century. He says Mary is never called the Virgin Mary in Islam, that she was married, and that she most likely did not remain a virgin throughout her life as the Catholic Church holds, since the Gospels of Mark and Matthew name James, Joses, Jude, Simon and unnamed sisters as her children. He stresses that he has not said people cannot believe in the virgin birth, only that Muslims have differed on it: it is the general belief, but no verse of the Quran states it, a verse implies it just as the table verse implies the table came down, and he asks Qadhi to show a verse that says it directly. He names scholars who held that the birth was natural, Abdul Karim Athari [?] and Tamanna Imadi [?], who read the miracle as Joseph abstaining from intimacy after marriage until the angel's announcement, after which Mary conceived naturally, as the wives of Ibrahim and Zakariya conceived after the angel's announcement without a non-sexual conception being meant.
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Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says that no verse of the Quran states that Jesus's birth was a virgin birth, only implies it, that Muslim scholars have differed on the question, and that Mary, who was married, is never called the Virgin Mary in Islam.
“no verse in the Quran says that she had virgin birth a verse implies it does not say just as the table verse implies that the table may come down”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine49:47 to 54:58 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
just means spirit holy spirit which people will say is gibreel now that only comes generally comes wants to do with revelation that we sent them revelation with the Holy Spirit other than that with the only prophet that it is mentioned it is just ASA now my point of mentioning this is that the rhetoric with Jesus is is different so now when it comes to the virgin birth first of all it's a different topic that even in the Bible right now with the exception of the Gospel of Luke and
Matthew generally the Bible never really referred to in essence the virgin birth I mean this wasn't a the early Christians it's not it's Oh most likely that the early Christians did not believe in a virgin birth right this is the early Christians I'm not speaking about Muslims the early Christians most likely did not believe in a virgin birth and neither and the prophecy that they're referring to in the Old Testament even biblical scholars highlight that that word does not say but all virgin he says Alma which meant a young girl as in like a
young maiden which most likely was a virgin but didn't have to be so the same word is used with Solomon and the same word is used on a certain occasion Alma who had a child and so and it's one of the prophecies mentioned in the Old Testament that they kind of fall back on but you will see before the Gospels are written so any of the letters of the Apostles of the letters of for example Paul and all of these there is never a mention of a miraculous birth of Jesus and this comes much later definitely by the second century third century after Krish
after Jesus this becomes doctrine now the question is as well Mary is never in Islam referred to as the Virgin Mary this is a very Christian thing right this is never the some Muslims have started to fall victim to this we never say virgin mary virgin it mary is not referred to as maryam al bottle okay she is not Mary was definitely married and she was most likely definitely not a virgin generally speaking throughout her life like the Catholic Church likes to
believe so for example Jesus had brothers and sisters in fact the Gospel of Mark and definitely the Gospel of Matthew 13 mentions James josie's Jude Simon and unnamed sisters were the children of Mary and the siblings of Jesus that is mentioned so now just to highlight right so okay another thing I wanted to highlight the reason I was saying this is I've not said that people cannot believe in the virgin birth I've
not said that I've said that the Muslims have had a difference of opinion on this matter that you do have that as a general belief that Muslims feel that Mary had a virgin birth although no verse in the Quran says that she had virgin birth a verse implies it does not say just as the table verse implies that the table may come down but it doesn't say that it did happen like that so I'll come to that verse in just a moment now verse is implying note so yes in God he says in his thing this is a clear verse of the Quran I'd like him to show me what clear verse of the Quran says that
it was a virgin birth that it happened like that now not just implies but directly says that then I mentioned some Olimar like Maulana Abdul Karim Allah thirty Alamut Amana Ahmadi and these people said that it was a natural birth and that's not the case but the miracle they highlighted was that when she got married to Joseph that Joseph would abstain and he was not interested in any kind of intimacy and hence when the angel came and she said but how can I have a child and I haven't even been touched and that after that that she did
conceive she conceived naturally just as Ibrahim ELISA Lam's wife said how can I have a child and when the angel came to her and she said I've reached the menopause I'm an old lady and they said and the angel said well it's the decree of God it doesn't mean she had a natural somehow kind of non-sexual birth it doesn't it didn't mean that just as the wife of Zechariah in the Quran who says that she was barren and she says well how can I have a child and the angel says it is the decree of God it doesn't mean that she just conceived just like that she had a husband Zachariah I mean that none of
these and the same so these people who have argued this point have just gone with with those two prophets before them they said well the same thing was said to them same thing was said to Mary everybody accepts Mary had a husband at the time Joseph the difference was was that birth a virgin birth Muslims do not believe virgin she remained a virgin throughout her life nobody says these not Muslims anyway and even many Christians beyond the Catholics don't say that either so and here's the verse now this is an interesting one you see chef yes sir are you saying no we must only go with literal reading of
the Quran in surah tota hareem in verse verse 12 you had the verse about Mary whoa Mary my Boneta in Ramallah t a sonnet for jaha and Mary who had been chaste and safe guarded her private parts and asana by the way is a verb that is used often in Arabic to do with safeguarded through marriage so hence they say when somebody is in trouble for adultery were they my son as allah says in the quran well mas an ottoman and Nisa which is the beginning of the fifth
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2018-10-20-S09, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/9/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, October 20). Does the Quran say Jesus was born of a virgin? [Video, segment 2018-10-20-S09, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/9/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "Does the Quran say Jesus was born of a virgin?" Video, segment 2018-10-20-S09, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded October 20, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/9/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-10-20-S09, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Does the Quran say Jesus was born of a virgin?}}, year = {2018}, month = {10}, date = {2018-10-20}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/9/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/9/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-10-20-S09, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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