Recordings › Does the Quran Mention a Virgin Birth for Jesus (a.s.)? - Mufti Abu Layth · 25 Oct 2018 › Segment 2 of 3
Does the Quran actually say Mary had a virgin birth?
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 amanah amaanah amanat trustThe virgin birth: early Christians, Mary's marriage, and the Muslim difference of opinion
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This segment6:33 to 11:43 · 5 min 10 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenNo verse of the Quran directly says Jesus was born of a virgin; a verse implies it, and Muslims have differed on it. Mary was married, is never called the Virgin Mary in Islam, and most likely did not remain a virgin all her life.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says that apart from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew the Bible hardly refers to a virgin birth, that the early Christians most likely did not believe in one, that the Old Testament prophecy they rely on uses almah, a young maiden 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 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 says it directly, a verse only implies it as the table verse implies the table came down, and he challenges Qadhi to show a clear verse. He then presents the scholars who held a natural birth, Abdul Karim Athari [?] and Tamanna Imadi [?] among them, who read the miracle as Joseph abstaining from intimacy until the angel's announcement, after which Mary conceived naturally, as the wives of Ibrahim and Zakariya did after their announcements.
- Some terms in this segment are uncertain
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says that no verse of the Quran directly says that Mary's was a virgin birth, though a verse implies it.
“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 in birth a verse implies it does not say”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine6:33 to 11:43 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
means spirit Holy Spirit which people will say is gibreel now that only comes generally comes wants to do with revelation that we sent down 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 was an 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 butall 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 2nd century 3rd 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 that this is never the and 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 ok 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 in 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 notes oh yes of 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 Oh Lamar 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 that after that that she did conceive she conceived naturally just as
Ibrahim Ali Salons 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 does 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 verge 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 another 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
Paragraphs overlapping 6:33 to 11:43. Full text on the recording page.
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 2018-10-25-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cvgwfnbqv0q/s/2/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, October 25). Does the Quran actually say Mary had a virgin birth? [Video, segment 2018-10-25-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cvgwfnbqv0q/s/2/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "Does the Quran actually say Mary had a virgin birth?" Video, segment 2018-10-25-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded October 25, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cvgwfnbqv0q/s/2/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-10-25-S02, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Does the Quran actually say Mary had a virgin birth?}}, year = {2018}, month = {10}, date = {2018-10-25}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cvgwfnbqv0q/s/2/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cvgwfnbqv0q/s/2/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-10-25-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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