“The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger; messengers passed away before him, and his mother was a woman of utmost truthfulness.” (Q 5:75)
Accordingly, it is not impossible that she should be the foremost of all the renowned women of absolute veracity—those who came before her and those who will come after. Allah knows best.
Her name is repeatedly mentioned alongside Āsiyah bint Muzāḥim, Khadījah bint Khuwaylid, and Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad—may Allah be pleased with them all.
Imām Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasāʾī transmit through numerous chains from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaʿfar, from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah ennoble his countenance—that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“The best woman of her time is Mary daughter of ʿImrān, and the best woman of her time is Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid.”
Imām Aḥmad also relates—through ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Maʿmar, from Qatādah, from Anas—that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“Sufficient for you among the women of all the worlds are four: Mary daughter of ʿImrān; Āsiyah, the wife of Pharaoh; Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid; and Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad.”
Al-Tirmidhī recorded this ḥadīth from Abū Bakr ibn Zanjawayh, from ʿAbd al-Razzāq, and declared it sound.
Ibn Mardawayh reports it through ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, and Ibn ʿAsākir through Tamīm ibn Ziyād—both from Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, from Thābit, from Anas—that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“The best women of all the worlds are four: Mary daughter of ʿImrān; Āsiyah, wife of Pharaoh; Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid; and Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah.”
Imām Aḥmad likewise reports—through ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Maʿmar, from al-Zuhrī, from Ibn al-Musayyib—that Abū Hurayrah used to recount that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“The best women ever to ride camels are the righteous women of Quraysh: the most compassionate toward their children when they are young and the most considerate of their husbands when resources are scarce.”
Abū Hurayrah then remarked, “Mary never rode a camel at all.”
Muslim includes this narration in his Ṣaḥīḥ through Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, both from ʿAbd al-Razzāq.