Our body is like Mary.
Each of us has a Jesus inside.
If a pain and yearning shows up inside us,
the Jesus of our soul is born.
If there is no pain, no yearning,
the Jesus of our soul will return to its
origin from
the same secret passageway he came from…
If there is no pain, no yearning,
we will remain deprived
not benefiting from that Jesus of the
soul.
-Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (ra)
in Mathnawi---Translated by Omid Safi, in Radical
Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition (Yale, 2018).
A true believer becomes like ‘Maryam’
and is infused with the Holy Spirit
In Surah Al Tahrim, we read: “And Allah next compares the believers to Maryam, the daughter of Imran, she took care to guard her chastity, so we breathed into him (the believer who is exemplified here) Our inspiration while she declared her faith in the revelations of her Lord and His scriptures and she became of the devoted ones to prayers and obedient to Him”- (Surah Al Tahrim, HQ, 66: 13)
In this Qur’anic verse, Maryam is set as
an example for righteous servants of Allah. Like Maryam, true
believers- though they are not Prophets of Allah- can also
be bestowed with Divine revelations. Such a servant is like Maryam
and then Allah will infuse His Ruh in him and he will become
the like of Jesus, a servant of God and recipient of His
Revelations. According to Hazrat Khalifatul Massih Awwal Allama
Hakkim Nuruddin (ra), “the verse clearly informs us that in the Ummah of
the Holy Prophet (pbuh), there will be people- both men and women- like Maryam,
who will guard their chastity, be devoted to prayers, declare faith in the
Scripture and because of being an obedient servant of Allah
will receive the blessings of Divine Revelations. This promise has
been given in the very first chapter of al-Fatihah in the
words, “Show
us the path of those whom you bestowed your Mercy”.
The Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad (as) of Qadian made some very interesting points in his profound
expositions on the spiritual meaning of becoming ‘Maryam’. In many of the
Divine revelations he received, the Promised Messiah (as) was addressed by
Allah (swt) with the names of several prophets of the past: Adam, Noah,
Ibrahim, Dawood, Yusuf, Musa, Isa, etc. In some Divine revelations, he
was called ‘Maryam’, and at times, he was addressed ‘Ibn
Maryam’. Sometimes, the specific situations in the spiritual life of
the Divine servant was alluded to, and explained in relations to, specific
instances from the past lives of the Prophets and the righteous, including
episodes from the blessed life of Maryam in the Qur'an.
The title of 'Maryam'
For instance, the Promised Messiah (as) explains a Divine Revelation
he recieved in 1883 in the following words: ‘O Adam, O Maryam, O Ahmad! Dwell you
and your companion in the Jannat—that is, into attaining the means of true
salvation. I have breathed into you the spirit of righteousness from Myself.’
In this revelation the naming of the
spiritual Adam has been explained. That is to say, as Adam (as) was created
without the intervention of means, in the same way the spirit is breathed into
a spiritual Adam without the intervention of any visible means. This breathing of the spirit in its true
reality is confined to the Prophets(as) and this bounty is bestowed upon
particular individuals from among the Muslims on account of their complete
submission to the Holy Prophet (sa) and by way of inheritance from him. [Barahin-e-Ahmadiyyah, part
4, pp. 496–497, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 590–591]
In explaining these revelations, the
Promised Messiah (as) further says:
‘Maryam’ here does nor refer to Maryam, the Mother of
Jesus, nor does Adam refer to the Adam, the progenitor, nor
does Ahmad refer to the Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’ [Seal
of the Prophets], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Similarly, in
these revelations the names Musa [Moses], ‘Isa [Jesus],
and Dawud [David] have been mentioned, but these names do not
refer to those Prophets. Rather, my humble self is indicated in all these
instances.
Since Maryam here does not connote a
feminine but a masculine, the use of the masculine gender is appropriate;
hence, the phrase ‘YA
MARYAM USKUN’ should
be used… The word zauj refers to the companions and the
close associates, not the zauj [in the sense of
spouse]. In the lexicon, the word is applied in both situations. The word jannat is
sometimes used in my revelations about the Paradise in the hereafter, and
sometimes it refers to the joy, victory, tranquillity and solace in this world.
[Maktubat-e-Ahmadiyyah, vol. 1, pp. 82–83, Letter dated February 21,
1884 to Mir ‘Abbas ‘Ali Shah]
'Maryam' and the Spirit of 'Isa'
Allah (swt) breathes of His Spirit into every human being when we are/were
still in the womb of our mothers (32:7-9). It is the strong believers- men and women- who
strive to preserve the original essence of the Divinely-gifted purity of
spiritual disposition all their life, refraining from all that is unlawful
or reprehensible, and especially from illicit sexual intercourse. Indeed, the
Qur'an vouchsafes for the outstanding chastity of Hazrat Maryam and rejects
the calumny that the birth of Isa was the result of "an illicit
union" (4:157). Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an: "And (We showed Our favours to) the
woman (-Maryam) who preserved her chastity, so We revealed to her some of Our
words and We made her and her son (-Isa/Jesus) a symbol (of Our mercy, grace
and eminence) for all people."(21:91).
No wonder, Maryam and her son became a
grand metaphor of spiritual blessings promised for all those who strive in
the correct and straight Path of God in every age. In one of the Divine
revelations vouchsafed to the Promised Messiah (as), we read: "O 'Isa! I shall grant you full reward
or cause you to die and I shall raise you towards Me-that is, will elevate your
status or will call to Myself from the world (and shall clear you from the
calumnies of the disbelievers) and shall place those who follow you above
those who reject you until the Day of Judgement-that is, your co-believers and
companions will be granted ascendancy over others in authority, arguments and
blessings." [Barahin-e-Ahmadiyyah, part
1, pp. 556–557 sub-footnote, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1,
pp. 664–665 sub-footnote].
The Prophecy on Ibn Maryam
In ‘Haqiqatul Wahi’, the Promised Messiah (as)
further clarified the subject of how a true believer graduates from a
‘Maryam’-like-state of spiritual purity and absolute devotion to that
of the likes of ‘Isa/Jesus’- a recipient of Divine communion and revelations-
through the breathing of the Divine Spirit, or the infusing of the ‘Roohul
Quddus’ through the Infinite Power, Mercy and Blessings of Allah
(swt), especially against the backdrop of specific prophecies concerning the appearance
of Massih-Ibn-Maryam among the Muslims of the Later Days. The
Promised Messiah (as) writes:
“...in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya,
God Almighty named me ‘Maryam’ before calling me by the name of ‘Isa and for
quite some time this was my name in God’s estimation. Later, God addressed me
and said: ‘O Maryam! I have breathed into you the spirit of truth.’
Figuratively speaking, this ‘Maryam’ became ‘pregnant’ with the spirit of
truth. And then God named me ‘Isa at the end of Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya.
In other words, when that spirit of truth which had been breathed into Maryam
became manifest, it was given the name of ‘Isa. Thus, I was called Ibn-e-Maryam [the
son of Mary] in the Word of God. This is the very meaning of the revelation:
'All praise belongs to Allah, who has made you Masih Ibn-e-Maryam'.
Allah the Almighty compares certain persons from among the Ummah to Maryam in the Holy Quran and then adds that the Maryam became pregnant with ‘Isa. It is evident that no one, except me, in the Ummah claimed that God had named him ‘Maryam’ and then breathed into this ‘Maryam’ the spirit of ‘Isa. Since the Word of God cannot be false, it was but necessary that it should apply to someone from among the Ummah. See for yourself after deep reflection and search the world, you will not find anyone except me in the whole world to whom this verse of the Holy Quran applies. Hence this prophecy in Surah at-Tahrim [66:13] applies specifically to me and the verse in question reads:
(Translation): The second example of the individuals
of this Ummah is that of Maryam the daughter of ‘Imran who
preserved her chastity and into her womb We breathed the spirit by Our
authority; that is, the spirit of ‘Isa. It is evident in the context of this
verse that the Maryam of this Ummah can be compared to the
first Maryam only if the spirit of ‘Isa is breathed into him as God Himself has
mentioned the breathing of the spirit in this verse. It is but necessary for
the Word of God to be fulfilled. Thus, in the entire Ummah, it is
only me whom God first addressed as ‘Maryam’ in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya and
later He said only about me that We breathed into this ‘Maryam’ the spirit by
Our authority, and then, after breathing in the spirit, only I was named ‘Isa.
As such, I am the one to whom this verse applies. And except for me no one in
the 1,300 years has ever claimed that first God named him ‘Maryam’ and then
breathed into Maryam the spirit by His authority transforming him into ‘Isa.
Fear God and reflect upon it...’
‘He who questions how I became Ibn-e-Maryam
Is oblivious to the hidden secrets of the Divine.
The Almighty God, the Lord of His servants,
Himself
named me Maryam in Barahin.
For
long I remained in a Maryam-like state,
Without
following the contemporary divines.
Like
a virgin was I raised—
Unaware
and unaccompanied—on the path of truth.
Later,
God Almighty, the Lord of Grandeur
Breathed
into Maryam the spirit of ‘Isa [Jesus].
With
His breath new life was created:
The
Messiah of the age was delivered by her.
This
is the reason that I was named ‘son of Maryam’,
For
it was as Maryam that I took my first footsteps.
Thereafter,
God infused me with the spirit of ‘Isa,
And
I was elevated beyond the status of Maryam.
All
this is the Word of God, the Lord of all the worlds,
Inscribed
in Barahin for those who do not know.
Divine
wisdom is full of mysteries;
Its
subtleties cannot be fathomed but by a few.
There
is no enlightenment without the grace of God;
Nothing
can be set straight without His grace.’
---Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Haqiqatul
Wahi, pp. 424-427.