The Story of Mary as a Feminine Counterpart of the Story of Joseph: A Narratological Study

Abstract

Mary is a character held in the Qurʾān in great esteem. A prominent attribute of hers in the Qurʾān is her chastity (aḥṣanat farjahā/ Q 21:91; 66:12). However, the Qurʾān does not give any explicit reason why Mary was known as chaste. This paper proposes an answer to this question by analyzing three Qur’anic narratives: the narrative of Mary’s encounter with the angel in Sura Maryam (Q 19), another version of the same narrative in Sura Āl ʿImrān (Q 3), and Joseph and Zulaykhā’s narrative in Sura Yūsuf (Q 12). I begin by highlighting the differences between the two versions of Mary’s story in Q 19 and Q 3, then I will show that in the Q 19 version, Mary is at the heart of the narrative, while in the Q 3 version the theme is the “word” (Jesus). I will compare Mary’s story in Q 19 with Joseph’s story in Q 12. The Qurʾān has deployed similar elements in both narratives, leading us to think that, in the Q 19 version, we can see a theme analogous to that of Joseph and Zulaykhā’s narrative, since in both the main characters are involved in an erotic situation but preserve their chastity. With this analysis, we can claim that the sentence “[She] guarded her chastity” refers to Mary’s encounter with the angel. To show this, I focus on the Qurʾānic manner of storytelling, analyzing the elements of these narratives (i.e., the location, situation, characters’ reactions, etc.). I also refer to Quranic commentaries and traditional sources of qiṣaṣ al-qnbiyāʾ, because they contain details of the story which support this understanding.