The Quran

116

Preface

وَإِذ قالَ اللَّهُ يا عيسَى ابنَ مَريَمَ أَأَنتَ قُلتَ لِلنّاسِ اتَّخِذوني وَأُمِّيَ إِلٰهَينِ مِن دونِ اللَّهِ ۖ قالَ سُبحانَكَ ما يَكونُ لي أَن أَقولَ ما لَيسَ لي بِحَقٍّ ۚ إِن كُنتُ قُلتُهُ فَقَد عَلِمتَهُ ۚ تَعلَمُ ما في نَفسي وَلا أَعلَمُ ما في نَفسِكَ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلّامُ الغُيوبِ

Yusuf Ali

And behold! God will say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of God.?” He will say: “Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden.¹

Jesus disclaims here any knowledge of the sort of things that are attributed to him by those who take his name. The worship of Mary, though repudiated by the Protestants, was widely spread in the earlier Churches, both in the East and the West.