Sharing Mary – title essay Intermezzo by Marlies ter Borg “And no female conceives, or lays down (her load), but with His knowledge.”35 The Originator of Creation, 11 A desired pregnancy really can fill you with joy, with feeling special, as if you are receiving Divine attention. In the Qur’an God calls for respect for the mother in whose womb we were created. “He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness.” 39 The Crowds, 6 So the story about Maria and Elizabeth gives me that sense of wonder about creation, that I lost in the rat race of life.…

The Qur’an and the Bible also come together in the story of Zacharias/Zakariya. Both books describe the wonder of the elderly woman. In the Bible, she is called Elizabeth, (few women are named in the Qur’an), who becomes pregnant with John/ Yahya. In the Bible this John is called ‘the Baptist’ because he baptized Jesus, and to distinguish him from other Johns such as the writer of one of the Gospels. In the Qur’an there is no baptism for there is no original sin from which people must be cleansed. In the Qur’an the only John is the son of Zakariya. In both books his birth is announced by an…

Jonah is the unwilling prophet who tries to get out of the difficult task God has put on his shoulders: warning the people of Nineveh (Bible) or his own people (Qur’an) about the pending disaster. He flees his responsibility by boarding a ship going in another direction. But a storm arises, and after drawing lots, the crew throws him overboard to lighten the ship’s load. He is swallowed by a fish. From its belly, he calls to God for help. He repents his ways and is reconciled with God. Three days later, the fish spits him out onto a beach. God causes a plant to grow to shelter him from…

The story of Job appears in both books, but in the Qur’an, it is much shorter than in the Bible, and is rather difficult to follow. For this reason, the Qur’an text is supplemented here with quotes from The Stories of the Prophets by Al Imam Ibn Kathir 701 -774 AH or 1301 -1372 AD. These quotes are shaded to distinguish them from those from the Qur’an itself. The story is about a wealthy man with a large family, who leads an exemplary life. The Qur’an numbers him among the prophets. Job is struck by great misfortune. His children die, and his wealth disappears overnight. Then, he becomes seriously ill.…

Solomon inherited his father David’s kingdom. He was also a sovereign with a sense of guilt and a willingness to apologize for his mistakes. In the Qur’an, he repented for being carried away by a lust for material possessions like beautiful racehorses. In the Bible, Solomon realizes that all his achievements are only wind, and striving for them mere vanity. Solomon did indeed achieve a great deal. God bestowed special powers on him. In the Qur’an he understands the language of animals. Surah 27 is named ants, who Solomon heard warning one another to avoid being trampled on by his army. The king also has a special power over the…

David is a favorite hero, both in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an. As a youngster, he slew the ‘giant’ Goliath, using only sling and stone. According to the Qur’an, God later helped him to manufacture iron armor. However, he was not just a great warrior, but also a musician and the successor of King Saul. The Bible attributes to David many psalms, in which deep despair alternates with exuberance. The Qur’an speaks of God giving David the Zabur, meaning text written on wood or stone. The (Arabic) Qur’an mentions the ‘Mazamiru Dawud’, zamir(un), as the Arabic equivalent of zimra in Hebrew, which means singing, music or songs. The Qur’an…

Moses is an important figure in both Bible and Qur’an. He liberated his people, fought idolatry and received the Law, or Torah, from God. The stories run parallel from the moment the baby Moses is cast into the river, via the exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. Both books describe Moses’ struggle to release his people from Egyptian bondage. To this end, God brings down plagues upon Egypt, the last of which is very gruesome. In one night, the first-born of all humans and animals are killed. Only the first-born of the Israelites are miraculously passed over. The children of Israel escaped in such haste that there was no…

Joseph was one of twelve sons of Jacob, a grandson of Abraham by Isaac. The story begins with a dream in which Joseph sees eleven stars, a sun and a moon bow before him. In the Qur’an, to avoid jealousy, his father Jacob advises him not to tell his brothers about his dream. For Joseph and his little brother Benjamin are their father’s favorites, and the other brothers envy them. The jealous brothers hatch a plan to get rid of Joseph by throwing him into a well. The Bible relates how the brothers – except for Benjamin and the well-meaning Rueben – sell him to passing traders for mere pennies.…

In addition to good tidings about the birth of Isaac, the angels also had some bad tidings for Abraham. They came to warn him about the destruction of Sodom, a city notorious for its many crimes. The Biblical Abraham could not understand how God could allow the innocent to suffer with the guilty. He negotiated with God and was promised that the city would be saved if 10 righteous people could be found inside its walls. The story continues with Abraham’s cousin Lot, a righteous man, who lived in the sinful city of Sodom. Just like other prophets, Lot attempted to warn his people of God’s punishments for a godless…

In both Bible and Qur’an, Abraham is an important figure. Via his first-born son Ishmael on one side and his son Isaac on the other, he is believed to be the patriarch of both Arabs and Israelites. The New Testament gives this kinship a symbolic meaning, as determined by faith rather than parentage. In both books, Abraham breaks with the past and carves out new paths. In the Bible, he leaves his father and his people behind to make a covenant with God, in which the land of Canaan is promised to his progeny, on condition of good behavior. Thus, the Bible relates how God becomes the only God of…