Chapter Ten

THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." Such are corrupt; they do abominable deeds; there is not one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be one who is wise and seeks God. All alike have gone astray.... [Psalm 14:1-3]

Mathematical composition of a literary work is a totally new concept, though we now realize it has existed for centuries in sacred writings. Since it is a new concept, a brief explanation may be of help.

MATHEMATICALLY COMPOSED LITERATURE

Suppose you are asked to write a book with the stipulation that:

1.Chapter 3 is to contain exactly 532 of the letter `S'.2.Chapter 8 is to contain exactly 209 B's, and 779 T's.3.Chapter 6 is to contain exactly 133 of the letter combination `ING.'4.And the total number of sentences must be exactly 57,152.

You will then try to write this hypothetical book, carefully counting and keeping track of those letters and the number of sentences in order to conform with the specifications given to you. As you conform to these specifications, you must write down words and sentences that make sense and tell the reader something important having to do with the subject of your book. This is a simple example of mathematical composition.

These specifications can be increased or decreased to create varying degrees of complexity. The specific counts of certain letters, numbers of specific phrases, numbers of sentences and totals of verse numbers can soon become so interlocking that it becomes virtually impossible to compose such a book.

CODED SCRIPTURE

Mathematically composed liturgies were reported by Rabbi Judah the Pious in the 11th century. To my knowledge, a recent analysis of the Torah has not been done to see if this code is still intact in the entire scripture, but we have already discussed indications that there have been some alterations in the Torah, at the very least in reference to the sons of Abraham. These alterations would have seriously disrupted the code.

The Gospels have been shown to have many problems in their transmission to us. In their present form, they are not good candidates at all for such an analysis.

The Quran, which was revealed in A.D. 610-630, is the only scripture that is known to still exist in its original language, and form. It is also the only book known to be mathematically coded throughout.

All the parameters of the Quran-the numbers and sequences of chapters; the number of verses; the numbers assigned to each verse; the number of words; the number of certain specified letters; the number of words from the same root; the number and variety of divine names; the absence of one or more letters from a word, verse or chapter; the unique and often strange spellings of certain crucial words; and many other elements-are all authenticated by its mathematical code.

HOW IT WAS DISCOVERED

How was this code discovered in the Quran?

Before we can answer that question we need to know a little about a unique feature in Quran-a phenomenon not found in any other literature. Twenty-nine chapters of the Quran are prefixed with certain letters of the Arabic alphabet, or `Quranic Initials.' Ever since the Quran was revealed more than 14 centuries ago, Muslim and orientalist scholars have been trying to decipher the meaning and possible significance of these mysterious Quranic initials, but to no avail. They remained a mystery to all.

Finally, a Muslim scientist and computer expert named Rashad Khalifa entered the Quran into the computer in hopes of finding some pattern which would explain these initials. Khalifa, a Ph.D. chemist, later on the roster of scientists called `Technical Assistance Experts' with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), began his computer study as part of the research for his translation of the Quran into English. The result of his extensive research was the discovery of an intricate mathematical system which pervades the whole Quran and governs every possible parameter, including its initials.

Dr. Khalifa's discovery is extremely significant, especially since it matches the findings of Rabbi Judah the Pious. The common denominator of the Quran's mathematical code, the number nineteen, was reported by Rabbi Judah "in the liturgy, in the Scripture, in nature, in historical events and throughout the universe."

Thus, God's `signature,' the number nineteen, encodes and guarantees every letter and every parameter of the Quran, and intact portions of the Torah. It also places the Creator's stamp on our own creation, on major historical events, on the sun/moon/earth interactions and throughout the universe.

WESTERN KNOWLEDGE OF THE CODE

Why haven't you heard about this? Here in the West, Rashad Khalifa's work has not received the attention it deserves. Only two `Western' comments on his momentous discovery are noteworthy. The first comment appeared in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN of September 1980. Martin Gardner wrote of Khalifa's initial publication in the West: I later discovered that the author of this monograph, Rashad Khalifa, is an Egyptian who received a doctorate in biochemistry from an American university, where he also taught for a time. His monograph was published privately in the U.S. in 1972.... Dr. Khalifa's monograph attempts to show that 19 appears throughout the Koran too often to be there by chance. The number of suras in the Koran is 114, a multiple of 19. A famous verse called the Basmala ("In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful"), which opens every sura but one, has 19 letters. Its first word (ism) appears 19 times in the Koran. The second word (Allah) is found 2,698, or 142 x 19, times. The number of times the third word (al-Rahman) appears is 57, which is also a multiple of 19, as is the number of times the fourth word (al-Raheem) appears, 114.

It's an ingenious study of the Quran, but it could have been more impressive if Khalifa had consulted me before he wrote it. Nineteen is an unusual prime. For example, it's the sum of the first powers of 9 and 10 and the difference between the second powers of 9 and 10. (Scientific American, Sept. 1980, p. 22)

Three years later the Canadian Council on the Study of Religion reported in its QUARTERLY REVIEW of April 1983 that the code Khalifa discovered is "an authenticating proof of the divine origin of the Quran."

Since 1983, little notice has been taken of this work. In spite of that, Dr. Khalifa's work has been published in the United States in six books:

1.MIRACLE OF THE QURAN: Significance of the Mysterious Alphabets, Islamic Productions, St. Louis, Missouri, 1973.

2.THE COMPUTER SPEAKS: God's Message to the World, Renaissance Productions, Tucson, Arizona, 1981.

3.QUR'AN: The Final Scripture, Islamic Productions, Tucson, Arizona, 1981.

4.QURAN: VISUAL PRESENTATION OF THE MIRACLE, Ibid, 1982.

5.QUR'AN, HADITH AND ISLAM, Ibid, 1982.

6.QURAN: The Final Testament, Ibid, 1989.

MIDEASTERN KNOWLEDGE OF THE CODE

In the Middle East, the story is a little different. Beginning in the late sixties, this work received wide publicity throughout the Islamic world, rendering Khalifa's name a household word. By the end of 1973, Rashad Khalifa had become a popular hero, commanding full-house audiences as he lectured at the universities, mosques, organizations, and even royal and presidential palaces.

However, his discovery led to unavoidable conclusions which ran contrary to certain basic beliefs of the traditional Muslim clergy. These conclusions boil down to a total rejection of the `Islamic traditions' which have been added onto the religion over the centuries, and a return to the pure teachings of Quran alone. Consequently, Khalifa's popularity was reversed and his life threatened in a number of Muslim countries.

Before Khalifa incurred the wrath of the Muslim clergy, many popular magazines and newspapers in the Middle East, from Morocco to Pakistan, reported his discoveries. Millions of summaries in pamphlet and bulletin form are still secretly circulating among the Muslims of the world.

Khalifa's first publicized report appeared in the most popular magazine of the Middle East, Egypt's AKHERSA (January 24, 1973). Updates of his research were subsequently published by the same magazine (November 28, 1973 and December 31, 1975). Many other magazines and newspaper articles by and about Khalifa appeared throughout the world in many languages.

Then, very early in the morning on January 31, 1990, Rashad Khalifa's life was taken by one or more assassins who had broken into his office in Tucson, Arizona, and waited for him. There is no doubt that his life was taken in an attempt to stem the growing rejection of distorted Islamic tradition and a return to the Quran alone-a movement which he spearheaded.

DETAILS INTRODUCED

The relevance of the Quran's mathematical code to the history of Jesus makes it necessary to review this code in some detail. The Quran was recorded as it was revealed-in fragments which were separated in both time and place, and positioned like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle into the final scripture. Since the order of revelation is different from the order of final position, two consecutive verses may be separated by as much as two years and 300 miles according to their chronological revelation.

Before his assassination, Dr. Khalifa graciously gave me permission to reproduce as much of the appendix covering the mathematical code as I wished from his translation, QURAN: THE FINAL TESTAMENT (First Edition, Islamic Productions, 1989). I have chosen to pick out the simpler facts to summarize here, but have summarized his entire appendix as an appendix to this book.

THE CODE - SIMPLE FACTS

Though the code was initially discovered by examining the occurrences of Quranic initials in the initialed chapters of Quran, there is a large number of much less complex parameters to the code. Here is a brief listing of some of them:

1.There are 114 chapters in the Quran, or 19 x 6.

2.The total number of verses in the Quran is 6346, or 19 x 334.

3.Then you add the 30 different numbers which are mentioned in the Quran's text (i.e. one God, two brothers, etc.), the total is 162146 or 19 x 8534.

4.The first statement in Quran, "In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful" consists of 19 Arabic letters. Known as the `Basmalah', it prefaces every chapter except Chapter 9.

5.Though missing from Chapter 9, exactly 19 chapters later the Basmalah occurs twice. Chapter 27 has this statement at its beginning and in verse 30. This makes the total number of times the Basmalah occurs in the Quran 114, or 19 x 6.

6.Since there are 19 chapters between the missing Basmalah and the extra one, the sum of those chapter numbers is a multiple of 19. (The sum of any 19 consecutive numbers is a multiple of 19.) But the total, 342, is also the exact number of words between the two occurrences of the Basmalah in Chapter 27. This number, 342, is 19 x 18.

7.Every word in the Basmalah occurs throughout the Quran a number of times which is a multiple of 19.

8.The very first revelation that was given to the prophet of Islam, Mohammed, came as 19 words.

9.The total number of letters making up the 19 words of the first revelation is 76, 19 x 4.

10.Though they were the first revelation, these verses are placed at the beginning of Chapter 96. This chapter is atop the last 19 chapters.

11.Chapter 96 consists of 304 Arabic letters, or 19 x 16.

12.The last chapter revealed (Chapter 110) has 19 words, and its first verse is 19 letters.

13.God's name in Arabic, `Allah,' occurs in the Quran 2698 times, or 19 x 142.

14.If you add the numbers of the verses where `Allah' occurs, the total is 118123 or 19 x 6217.

15.The main message in the Quran is that there is only One God. The number of times that the word `one' is used to refer to this concept of One God is 19.

16.The word `Quran' occurs in 38 different chapters, or 19 x 2.

17.The total number of times `the Quran' is mentioned is 57, 19 x 3.

18.Within the 114 chapters of the Quran, 29 of them begin with the Quranic initials discussed earlier. Intermixed between the first initialed chapter (Chapter 2) and the last initialed chapter (Chapter 68) are 38 non-initialed chapters, or 19 x 2.

19.In that same group of chapters, from Chapter 2 to Chapter 68, there are 19 alternating sets of initialed and non-initialed chapters.

20.The total number of verses making up this group of chapters is 5263, 19 x 277.

21.Within this group of chapters there are also 2641 occurrences of the word `Allah', or 19 x 139. Of course, that leaves 57, or 19 x 4, occurrences of that word outside of this group.

22.If you add the chapter and verse numbers of the 57 occurrences of `Allah' outside the initialed section, the total is 2432 or 19 x 128.

23.There are a large number of discoveries having to do with the numbers of the chapters and verses. Many of them are very complex and interrelated. Here is a simple one to give you a feel for these discoveries: If you add the numbers assigned to all the chapters, plus the numbers assigned to all of the verses, plus the number of verses in the Quran, the total is 346199 or 19 x 19 x 959.

24.If you look at the initialed chapters separately and add the chapter numbers, verse numbers and number of verses, the total is 190133, 19 x 10007. Of course it follows that the total for the uninitialed chapters, 156066, is also divisible by 19.

There are a great many more discoveries, most of them more complex than the ones presented above. Additional discoveries continue to be made as Dr. Khalifa's work is carried on by the many students of pure Quran he left behind.

You may already be convinced that this interlocking occurrence of the number 19 is too frequent to be accidental. If not, the next section dealing with the Quranic initials should dispel your doubts.

QURANIC INITIALS

As we discussed earlier in this chapter, it was the search for an explanation of the Quranic Initials which led to the discovery of the code imbedded in the Arabic text of this scripture. These initials exhibit many aspects of the code, when looked at as individual sets and when looked at as a whole.

Let us begin by looking at the initials which use a single letter. The first one we will examine is the initial which has the English transliteration of `Q'.

THE INITIAL `Q.' (Qaaf)There are several special phenomena having to do with the initial Q. Perhaps it can be seen as standing for Quran. This is especially so since there are two Q-initialed chapters, each with 57 (19 x 3) Q's in them. Thus, the total of Q's in both chapters is 114 (19 x 6), the same number as the number of chapters in the Quran.

The fact that both Q-initialed chapters contain exactly 57 Q's is quite remarkable because the first of them (Chapter 42) is more than twice as long as the second (Chapter 50).

There is another remarkable phenomenon in the sum of the number of each chapter with the number of verses in that chapter. Chapter 42 has 53 verses; 42 plus 53 is 95, 19 x 5. If we look at the other Q-initialed chapter, 50, it has 45 verses; 50 plus 45 is also 95.

THE INITIAL `N.' (Noon)This initial prefixes only one chapter, number 68. The total number of occurrences of N in this chapter is 133, or 19 x 7.

THE INITIAL `Š.' (Saad)Š prefixes three different chapters, 7, 19 and 38. The total occurrences of Š in these three chapters taken together is 152, or 19 x 8.

Most of the time the initials occur together in sets. Next, we will examine some of these sets.

THE INITIALS `Y.S.' (Ya Seen)These two initials are found at the beginning of Chapter 36. The number of times that these two letters appear in this chapter is 285, or 19 x 15.

THE INITIALS `H.M.' (Haa Meem)This set of initials is found initializing the seven consecutive chapters 40 through 46. The total occurrence of these two in all of these chapters is 2147, or 19 x 113.

THE INITIALS `Á.S.Q.' (Ayn Seen Qaf)Chapter 42 is the only chapter with a set of initials (H.M.) in the first verse and another (Á.S.Q.) in verse two. The number of times the letters of this second set of initials are in Chapter 42 is 209, or 19 x 11.

CONCLUSION

There are more sets of initials which we could discuss. All of them exhibit similar phenomena to those we have examined. Much more detail is contained in the appendix of this book.

From this short presentation, it is easy to see that the substitution or removal of any word containing one of the initials in an initialed chapter would break the code in that chapter. As the initials become more complex, the difficulty of writing readable and meaningful sentences increases. In some cases the only way that the code could have been written into the Quran was for the language to have been invented around it!

The patterns exhibited in the initialed chapters added to the simpler parameters discussed earlier make an awesome network of coding which pervades the very fabric of the Quran. All this clearly required divine control.

Having established the Quran as a valid outside source, let us continue to examine what we know about Jesus and his teachings.

Chapter Eleven

VIRGIN BIRTH

Upon arriving, the angel said to her: "Rejoice, O highly favored daughter! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women." She was deeply troubled by his words, and wondered what his greeting meant. The angel went on to say to her: "Do not fear, Mary. You have found favor with God. You shall conceive and bear a son and give him the name Jesus. Great will be his dignity...." [Luke 1:28-32]

In today's scientific era many, if not most people are skeptical about the virgin birth of Jesus. Such a miraculous conception is more than they can accept. This doubt is strengthened by the fact that in the Bible Joseph is called Jesus' father. Also, it is only through Joseph that Jesus has a legitimate claim to the line of David, the family line from which the Messiah was to come. Mary was from the line of Levi, and only Joseph tied back to David.

Some, like University of Detroit professor Jane Schaberg, have gone so far as to claim that Jesus was illegitimately conceived. (See Schaberg's book, THE ILLEGITIMACY OF JESUS, Harper and Row, 1987.) Of all aspects of Christian doctrine, the virgin birth is perhaps the most difficult for people to accept. Yet it is confirmed by the Quran's mathematical code.

The story of Jesus' ancestry and birth is prominently narrated in the Quran. It is well established by the scriptures that Jesus was a descendant of Aaron, who was the brother of Moses. Aaron and Moses' father, Amram, head of the Amramite tribe, is given such an important position in the Quran that its third chapter is named `The Amramites.'

MARY

When Mary's mother conceived her, she dedicated the baby in her womb to the service of God. We learn from the Quran that she was rather disappointed when the baby turned out to be a girl. Nevertheless, she prayed that God might accept her newborn daughter:

The Amramite woman said, "My Lord, I dedicate the fruit of my womb to your service. Please accept this offer from me; You are the Hearer, the Omniscient." When she gave birth to her, she said, "My Lord, I have given birth to a girl;" God was fully aware of what she bore. "And the girl is not the same as the boy; I have named her Mary, and I invoke Your protection for her and her seed from Satan, the rejected." Her Lord accepted Mary, a gracious acceptance, and brought her up a gracious upbringing, and Zachariah was her guardian.... [Quran 3:35-37]

A similar account is given in the apocryphal book, The Gospel of the Birth of Mary:

Afterwards the angel appeared to Anna his (Joachim's) wife saying: Fear not, neither think that which you see is a spirit. For I am that angel who hath offered up your prayers and alms before God, and am now sent to you, that I may inform you, that a daughter will be born unto you, who shall be called Mary, and shall be blessed above all women.... being an unparalleled instance without any pollution or defilement, and a virgin not knowing any man, shall bring forth a son, who both by his grace and name and works, shall be the saviour of the world. [Lost Books of the Bible, 1974, p. 19]

As we see above, the Quran and the Apocrypha both hold Mary in the highest esteem, "above all women." In fact, the Quran uses Mary as the prime example of a believer.

This esteem in which the scripture holds Mary is illustrated again below:

Then Mary said: "My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit finds joy in God my savior, For he has looked upon his servant in her lowliness; all ages to come shall call me blessed. God who is mighty has done great things for me, holy is his name; His mercy is from age to age on those who fear him." [Luke 1:46-50] Proclaim that the angels said, "O Mary, God has chosen you and blessed you; He has chosen you above all women." [Quran 3:42]

She [Mary] shall be, immediately upon her birth, full of the grace of the Lord.... she shall serve the Lord night and day in fasting and prayer, shall abstain from every unclean thing and never know any man. [Lost Books of the Bible, p. 19]

THE VIRGIN BIRTH ACCORDING TO THE QURAN

The virgin birth is clearly indicated in the Quran, where Mary exclaims: "My Lord, how can I have a son, when no man has touched me?":

Proclaim that the angels said, "O Mary, God sends to you good news; a word from Him to be called the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary. Great will be his dignity in this world, and, in the Hereafter, he will be among those close to God. He will preach to the people while still in the cradle, as well as when he grows up. He will be righteous." She said, "My Lord, how can I have a son, when no man has touched me?" (The angel) said, "God thus creates whatever He wills. To have anything done, He simply says to it, `Be,' and it is." [Quran 3:45-47]

The details of the virgin birth are mathematically authenticated in the Quran's Chapter 19, which is appropriately entitled `Mary:'

Commemorate in the scripture Mary: She isolated herself from her family to an Eastern location. While alone in the sanctuary, we sent to her our spirit. He materialized before her in human form. She said, "I invoke God's protection from you, if you do observe God.. He said, "I am your Lord's messenger, to grant you an immaculate son." She said, "How can I have a son, when no man has touched me, nor was I ever unchaste?" He said, "Thus says your Lord, `It is easy for Me.' We will render him a portent for the people and a mercy from us. This is a matter already decreed." When she conceived him, she moved away, bearing him, to a faraway place. [Quran 19:16-22]

The true date of birth for Jesus has always been in question, even among Christians. According to the Gospel of Luke, the angels announced the birth to shepherds who were tending their sheep on the hillsides at night. This indicates that the time of year could not have been bitter winter.

There is evidence in the Quran that Jesus was born late in September or early in October. This time of year is indicated because Mary "shook the palm tree, and it dropped ripe dates for her." Dates ripen in that part of the world during a very specific and narrow period, in late September and early October.

The Quran gives quite a bit of detail about the actual birth:

The birth pangs came to her by the trunk of a palm tree. She said, "(I am so ashamed), I wish I were dead and completely forgotten." (The baby) spoke to her: "Do not worry. Your Lord has provided you with a stream of water next to you, and shake the trunk of this palm tree; it will drop ripe dates for you. Eat and drink and rejoice. When you see anyone say, `I have pledged to God a pledge of silence; today, I shall not speak to anyone." She carried him back to her family. They said, "O Mary, you have committed a horrendous crime! O descendant of Aaron, your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste." She simply pointed to the baby. They said, "How can we communicate with an infant in the cradle?" The baby spoke and said, "I am a servant of God. God has decreed that I shall receive the scripture; He has appointed me a prophet. He rendered me blessed wherever I might be. He has exhorted me to observe the contact prayers and the giving of alms, for as long as I live, and to honor my mother. He did not make me an evil tyrant. Peace is my lot the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am resurrected." This is the true story of Jesus, son of Mary, about whom they still conjecture. It never befits God to have a son; be He glorified. To have anything done, He simply says to it, "Be," and it is. Jesus himself preached: "God is my Lord and your Lord; you shall worship Him alone. For this is the right path." [Quran 19:23-36]

It is apparent from this narration that the Bible's account of the virgin birth includes a number of different elements from those in the Quran. Given the Bible's need to explain Jesus' relation to the line of David, and what we have already seen to be indications of human interference in its text, we can be comfortable with the greater reliability of the Quran's account.

It is interesting that the Quranic elements of the date palm and water provided to Mary at the time of her labor are found in the Apocrypha, though when Jesus was an older child. The charges of fornication brought against Mary are also mentioned in the Apocrypha, in the description of Jesus' trial before Pilate. See THE BIBLE OF THE WORLD, edited by Robert O. Ballou, Viking Press, 1939, pp. 1258 & 1261.

The fact that Jesus spoke with wisdom even from the cradle is also in the Apocryphal book of I. Infancy of Jesus Christ. See THE LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, Ibid., p. 38.

OTHER EXTRAORDINARY BIRTHS

The virgin birth of Jesus Christ was not the only extraordinary birth mentioned in the scriptures. Both the Bible and the Quran teach that Adam, Eve, Isaac, John the Baptist, and perhaps others have all come into being through uncommon or miraculous means.

Abraham and Sarah were very old when their son Isaac was conceived. Not only was Sarah old, far beyond menopause, she also had been sterile all of her life. The same was true with John the Baptist; his parents were much too old to have a child, and his mother was sterile. Thus, the creation of Isaac in the womb of Sarah, and the creation of John in the womb of Elizabeth were just as miraculous as the creation of Jesus inside Mary's womb.

But the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say `Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?' Is anything too marvelous for the Lord to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son." [Genesis 18:13-14] [Quran 11:73]

Zachariah was so impressed by the young girl Mary, for whom he was guardian, that he prayed for an equally pious child:

...Whenever Zachariah entered her sanctuary, he found provisions with her. He would ask, "Mary, where did you get this from?" She would say, "It is from God. God provides for whomever He chooses, without limits." That is when Zachariah implored his Lord: "My Lord, grant me such a good child; You are the Hearer of prayers." [Quran 3:37-38]

(Zachariah and Elizabeth) were childless, for Elizabeth was sterile; moreover, both were advanced in years. ...The angel said to him: "Do not be frightened, Zachariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth shall bear a son whom you shall name John." [Luke 1:7,13]

HOW IS VIRGIN BIRTH POSSIBLE?

How was Jesus born without a father? The Quran draws an analogy between the birth of Jesus and the creation of Adam. If God created Adam without a father, or a mother, why should it be strange that He created a man from a mother and no father? The birth of Jesus without a father completes the picture of extraordinary creations:

1.the creation of a man, Adam, with neither a father nor a mother;

2.the creation of a woman, Eve, from a `father' (Adam) and no mother; andfinally,

3.the creation of a man, Jesus, from a mother and no father.

In the mathematically composed account of the Quran, it is significant that the assertion that "the creation of Jesus is equal to the creation of Adam," is backed up by the fact that both Adam and Jesus are mentioned in the Quran exactly twenty-five times each. This reflects the numerical structuring of the Quran. Given all the other mathematical coding, this could not be a coincidence.

The creation of Jesus, as far as God is concerned, is equal to the creation of Adam; God created Adam from clay, then said to him, "Be," and he was. [Quran 3:59]

The key word here is `Be.' Thus, God commanded that Jesus be formed inside the virgin Mary's womb, in much the same manner as He commanded that Adam be created, and Jesus was formed without a father. God simply said the word `Be,' and he was. The divine command `Be' is possibly `The Word' or `The Logos' that both the Bible and the Quran mention in connection with Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word; the Word was in God's presence.... [John 1:1]

The angels said, "O Mary, God sends good news to you; a `Word' from Him, to be named the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary. Great will be his dignity in this world, as well as in the Hereafter; he shall be one of those who are close to Me." [Quran 3:45]

O followers of the scriptures, do not exceed the limits in practicing your religion, and do not attribute to God other than the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is a messenger of God and His Word, which He bestowed upon Mary; a divine order from Him. Therefore, you shall believe in God and His messengers, and do not say, "Trinity." You shall refrain (from such an utterance) for your own good. God is only one God; be He glorified; it is not befitting that God should beget a son. To Him belongs everything in the heavens and the earth. God suffices as protector. [Quran 4:171]

The Quran even gives us some details on the immaculate conception. It tells us that Jesus, like Adam, was created with the divine breath:

Your Lord said to the angels, "I am creating a human being from aged mud, like the potter's clay. Once I perfect him, and blow into him from My spirit, you shall fall prostrate before him." [Quran 15:28-29]

And (recall) the one who maintained her virginity, then we blew into her from our spirit. We rendered her and her son a sign for the whole world. [Quran 21:91]

THE QUESTION OF JOSEPH

It is generally accepted by Christians that Mary was married to Joseph prior to the birth of Jesus. This understanding is derived from verses in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke:

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary. It was of her that Jesus who is called the Messiah was born. [Matthew 1:16]

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, an upright man unwilling to expose her to the law, decided to divorce her quietly. [Matthew 1:18-19]

And so Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to David's town of Bethlehem- because he was of the house and lineage of David- to register with Mary, his espoused wife, who was with child. [Luke 2:4-5]

The concept of Mary's marriage to Joseph is peculiar indeed, coming from people who believe in the virgin birth of Christ. It brings into serious doubt the whole idea of virgin birth. In fact, Vincent Taylor theorizes: "It is also possible, and even probable, that the Matthean Genealogy ended originally with the words, `And Joseph begat Jesus, who is called Christ' (Mt. i. 16)." [Ibid., p.10]

Interestingly, the Quran totally supports the idea of Jesus' virgin birth. The mathematically authenticated account in the Quran does not mention anything about Mary's marriage to anyone. There is no mention of Joseph.

The context of the Quranic narration conveys the clear message that Mary was neither married, nor unchaste, nor touched by any man prior to the birth of Jesus. Since Mary's marriage after the birth of Jesus is irrelevant to his birth, as well as to religious doctrine, the Quran does not mention whether Mary was ever married or not.

CONCLUSION

The virgin birth is reported in the Bible, the Apocrypha and the Quran. Though the details are somewhat different, in all cases Mary is held in great esteem, and her virgin pregnancy is recognized as a great honor.

The Quran's mathematical code stamps it as authentic, and the Quran itself gives us new insights into how such a miraculous birth could have taken place.