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.
-Hadhrat 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 Hadhrat
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 recieved, 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 Hadhrat 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 Hadhrat 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).
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 Hadhrat 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).
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,
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.’
---Hadhrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Haqiqatul Wahi, pp. 424-427.