Surah Maryam 19:27

فَأَتَتْ بِهِ قَوْمَهَا تَحْمِلُهُ ۖ قَالُوا يَا مَرْيَمُ لَقَدْ جِئْتِ شَيْئًا فَرِيًّا

19:27 As a rule the Holy Qur’ân omits details that would have no spiritual or moral value or other particular significance. For instance the Holy Qur’ân has does not narrate the childhood years of John (cf. 19:11-12), and similarly it has passed over the biography of Jesus from birth to early adulthood. It is therefore unreasonable to assert that a verse following the one in which the birth of Jesus is mentioned must chronologically refer to a time while Jesus was still a baby in the arms of his mother. However, the Holy Qur’ân provides a corrected account of some historically important facts wherever it becomes necessary.

Here, it was not Mary who was carrying Jesus in her arms, but a riding animal that was carrying Jesus. This results in a big mistake made by many translators. They do not follow the correct rules of classical Arabic grammar and syntax. Tahmilu-huتَحْمِلُهُ  is a compound of tahmiluتَحْمِل and huهُ. Hamalaحَمَلَ means to load, charge with, undertake responsibility, provide with carriage and other necessities for a journey, and charge one with duty or responsibility (cf. 9:92; Tâj, Lisân, Lane, Tâj). Words derived from hamala حَمَلَ have broad meanings throughout the Holy Qur’ân. Some examples are to be found in verses: 2:286; 6:146; 7:189; 17:3; 20:87; 24:54; 31:14; 6914; and 69:14. The same word tahmilu تَحْمِل is also found in verse 9:92. There we read, “Idza mâ atûka le-tahmilu-hum إذماأتُوك لتحملُهم – that you should mount them” and again لا أجِدُ مآأحملُكُم “I find not whereupon I may mount you” Here the use of the same expression does not mean that the people requested the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to carry them in their laps, but simply, “When they came to you [and requested of you] that you should mount them (provide them with riding animals)”. With this example from the Holy Qur’ân we have no doubt left as to the correct translation of the expression tahmilu-hu in this verse. The compound word tahmilu-hu signifies that Jesus was “on a mount”, or Jesus was “provided with carriage and other necessities of journey”, or to adopt the second meaning of hamala, Mary “was charged with the responsibility of Jesus”. The last translation fits better when we read the verses that follow 19:27. In these verses, it is Mary who is being questioned to give an explanation about the behaviour of Jesus, and she is still held accountable for the “irresponsible behaviour of her son”. In what has been said, the expression in no way means that Jesus was still a baby and Mary was carrying him in her hands or on her lap. Such an interpretation could only be a result of a Christianized reading of the Qur’ân.

“You have brought a strange thing” لَقَدْ جِئْتِ شَيْئًا فَرِيًّا was an expression of disrespect directed towards Jesus by the proud Jews of the Temple. This was the time when Jesus started speaking out against the Jews of the Temple because of their abandoning the authentic Mosaic Law. The reference to Mary,: “You have brought a strange thing”, and as a “forger of lies” were the accusations of her people that she had given birth to a false Prophet and one who asserted religious authority above the elders of Israel.