Younus Y. Mirza, "The Islamic Mary: Maryam Through the Centuries" (Fortress Press, 2025)

August 12, 2026

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5 min read

In a 2025 Pew survey, Muslims and Christians together will account for roughly six billion people by mid-century—roughly equal numbers. Younus Y. Mirza, a scholar who grew up in a Muslim family that names its children after biblical prophets, argues that the figure who may matter most for the relationship between these two largest religious communities is not Abraham, but Mary. His book The Islamic Mary: Maryam Through the Centuries (Fortress Press, 2025) traces how Maryam has been interpreted across Islamic scripture, medieval theology, Sufi poetry, Iranian cinema, and shared pilgrimage sites. The core argument is quiet but consequential: Maryam is not a marginal figure in Islam but a central one, and understanding her opens a more textured picture of how Muslims think about prophecy, gender, sanctity, and Christian-Muslim relations.

What the Quranic Maryam story contains that the New Testament does not

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What you'll learn

1 (01:35) **Introduction & Guest Background** - Host Morteza Hajj introduces Dr. Younus Y. Mirza and his book on the Islamic Mary.
2 (06:41) **Why Maryam is Central to Islam** - Mirza argues that Maryam is a uniquely essential figure in Islamic thought, opening doors that other shared figures like Abraham do not.
3 (10:10) **The Quranic Story of Maryam vs. the Biblical Mary** - Mirza outlines the key narrative differences between the two traditions.
4 (15:14) **Medieval Scholarly Debates: Was Maryam a Prophet?** - Early and medieval Islamic scholars debated Maryam’s prophetic status.
5 (18:48) **Maryam as the Ideal of Piety and Celibate Mysticism** - Medieval scholars in both Christianity and Islam portrayed Maryam as a model of ideal piety, but with distinct emphases.
6 (26:10) **Sufi Interpretations: Miracles and Divine Connection** - Sufi mystics focused on the miraculous and intimate aspects of Maryam’s story.
7 (29:15) **Maryam in Popular Culture and Film** - Mirza discusses how modern media, especially an Iranian film, reinterprets Maryam for contemporary issues.

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Show Notes

Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been historically revered throughout the Islamic tradition. This began already in the Qur'an, where she is called by the name "Maryam." The Islamic Mary: Maryam Through the Centuries (Fortress Press, 2025) examines the varied appearances of Maryam in different Islamic cultural and theological contexts. The chapters in this history extend from Maryam's scriptural mentions in the Qur'an and the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, her appearances in medieval debates regarding prophecy, citations of her virtuous model in Sufi discussions of piety, presentations in art and film, through to her role in modern interfaith relations.

Younus Y. Mirza is the Founding Director of the Barzinji Institute for Global Virtual Learning at Shenandoah University. He defended his dissertation in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Georgetown University and has taught at Millsaps and Allegheny Colleges. His research focuses on the relationship between the Bible and the Qur’an and the shared stories between them

Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature.

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