Appearance
Was Mary a Prophet?
وَإِذْ قَالَتِ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ يَـٰمَرْيَمُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ٱصْطَفَىٰكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ وَٱصْطَفَىٰكِ عَلَىٰ نِسَآءِ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
“And when the angels said: ‘O Mary, God has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of all worlds’” (3:42)
The question
The angels spoke to Mary. Does that make her a prophet, as some Sunni exegetes hold, or not?
Views answered: al-Qurṭubī and others who hold her a prophet; Fakhr al-Rāzī and others who deny it; al-Ālūsī; al-Zamakhsharī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī sets out the two arguments for Mary’s prophethood, the replies of those who deny it, and their two proofs against it: that God sent only men, and consensus. Al-Ālūsī answers that those verses deny women messengership, not prophethood, and that consensus cannot settle a disputed matter; Jawādī Āmulī replies that hearing angels is no sign of legislative prophethood, since revelation may support and guide without bringing law, as it came to the Imams. Between al-Zamakhsharī, who “went to the extreme of deficiency” in giving her miracles to Zechariah, and al-Qurṭubī, who “went to the extreme of excess” in making her a prophet, he takes the middle path: the wonders were Mary’s own, but they do not prove prophethood, since such marvels (karāmah) belong to every friend of God (walī); hers was an “informative prophethood”, and she followed the law of Zechariah.
Views compared
Each view is given as al-Tasnim reports it, with the exegete or work it cites. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
One angel, the bearer of revelation Read →
Those who hold her a prophet
The Spirit sent down with the angels (16:2) is revelation, whose bearer is Gabriel alone; and in Sūrat Maryam one angel, Gabriel, spoke to her (19:17).Those who deny it
What came to her was guiding and supporting revelation, not law; the Spirit may be Gabriel leading other angels; other angels too bear revelation; and the angels spoke to her twice, not once.Only men were sent Read →
al-Ālūsī
The verses that God sent only men deny women messengership, not prophethood; and consensus cannot decide a disputed matter.Jawādī Āmulī
Seeing angels or hearing them is no sign of legislative prophethood: revelation can be supportive and confirmatory, as it was to the Imams (21:73).Whose were the wonders? Read →
al-Zamakhsharī
Mary was no prophet and a non-prophet cannot work wonders, so the angels’ speech to her was a miracle of Zechariah, or a herald of Jesus.Jawādī Āmulī
The extreme of deficiency: the verse first speaks of God choosing her and then of the angels’ speech, so the wonder was her own.Revelation through angels Read →
al-Qurṭubī
Revelation came to her through angels as to the prophets, and angels descend only on prophets, so she was a prophet.Jawādī Āmulī
The extreme of excess: marvels are not exclusive to prophethood; whoever reaches the station of wilāyah may have them. Hers was “informative prophethood”, not legislative, and she followed Zechariah’s law.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.