TWO BIRTH STORIES BUT ONLY ONE CHILD
Compiled by Rudy A. Arizala
December 2009
During the month of December there are two narrations of birth to ponder, meditate on.
The first - -Through the Bible (Luke 2:6-7).
“And it came to pass while they were there, that the days for her to be delivered were fulfilled. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn.”
The second - - Through the Holy Koran (Marium, Surah XIX, 22-23)
« So she conceived him ; then withdrew herself with him to a remote place.
And the throes (of childbirth) compelled her to betake hereself in the trunk of a palm tree. She said :
Oh, would that I had died before this, and had been a thing quite forgotten ! »
COMMENTS :
In the Bible, Joseph and Mary went from Galilee out of the town of Nazareth into Judea to the town of David, which is called Bethlehem to register. And because there was no room at the Inn in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to her firstborn outside the Inn and laid him in a manger.
In the Koran, Marium and Joseph withdrew "to a remote place." and she "betake herself to the trunk of a palm tree."
In the Bible, Joseph and Mary (the latter heavy with child) went to the town of Bethlehem while in the Koran "to a remote place").
In the Bible, Mary’s firstborn was laid "on a manger" while in the Koran, Mary betake hersel to "the trunk of a palm tree."
The two stories differ in details; but speak of the same - the birth of a child through a blessed woman called Maria or Marium.
That child named Jesus or Isa became a prophet, a great teacher, a Saviour for all mankind. The truth and light of the world.
And speaking of light, it was reported that when that child was born, there shone a bright star which guided Three Wise Men (Magi) from the East to seek the place where He was born, to worship and offer him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.