The birth of Jesus in Islam
From among the countless billions of women who have walked this planet, only one had a chapter named after her in the Quran. This was the wondrous Maryam (peace be upon her), whose story of profound faith and virtue the Quran confirms and immortalizes.
There is so much to learn from the single day Maryam gave birth to prophet Jesus, Peace be upon them both. She was instructed to shake the palm-tree towards her, a profound lesson in the importance of taking action while also relying on God. After all, even the strongest men do not shake palm trees to bring down their fruits, let alone a woman moments who had just given birth. Here, Allah was teaching us all a lesson that engaging our reality is an inseparable part of reliance on Allah who is Al-Ḥaqq (the Ultimate Reality).
Maryam witnessed a powerful miracle in Jesus speaking in infancy, and that was sufficient for her to calm the anxiety she felt, and remind her that God was there to bolster her. Hours later, her people witnessed Jesus speaking from the cradle, but they soon thereafter turned away and disbelieved. Here, Allah reminds us that proofs are useless for people not willing to believe. Maryam sought faith, while her people sought doubt. And just as blind faith is imprudent, stubborn rejection can blind a person into faithlessness and destruction.