Hezekiah (1) son of Ahaz, son of Mutham, son of Azariah, son of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Isha, son of Iba, son of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, son of David—peace be upon him—(2). This differs from the genealogy recorded by Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, though there is no disagreement that she was of the line of David—peace be upon him. Her father, ʿImrān, was the prayer-leader of the Children of Israel in his time, while her mother—Ḥannah daughter of Fāqūd ibn Qabīl—was one of the devout worshipers. Zachariah, the prophet of that era, was—according to the majority—married to Mary’s sister, Ashyāʿ. Some say he was married to her maternal aunt, Ashyāʿ; Allah knows best (3).
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and others (4) relate that Mary’s mother was barren. One day she saw a bird feeding its chick, felt a longing for a child, and vowed to Allah that if He granted her a pregnancy she would devote the child as a muḥarrar—meaning one permanently dedicated to the service of the Temple in Jerusalem. They say she immediately menstruated; when she became pure her husband lay with her and she conceived Mary—peace be upon her. Allah says: “When she delivered her she said, ‘My Lord, I have given birth to a female’—and Allah knew best what she had delivered—‘and the male is not like the female’” (Qurʾān 3:36). The verb is also recited with a ḍammah on the tā’ (5). “And the male is not like the female”—that is, in the service of the Temple. In those days people would vow their children as servants of the Sacred House.
Her words, “And I have named her Mary,” have been cited as evidence that the newborn should be named on the day of birth. Likewise, it is authentically reported in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (6) from Anas that when he brought his brother to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the Prophet chewed a date for him (taḥnīk) and named him ʿAbd Allāh. In the marfūʿ ḥadīth of al-Ḥasan, from Samurah, the Prophet said, “Every child is in pledge for his ʿaqīqah: an animal is sacrificed for him on the seventh day, he is named, and his head is shaved.” This was narrated by Aḥmad (7) and the authors of the Sunan (8), and al-Tirmidhī declared it sound. In some