"And Allah sets forth for those who believe the example of the wife of Pharaoh when she said, `My Lord! Build for me a house with Thee in the Garden and deliver me from Pharaoh and his work and deliver me from the wrong-doing people." "And the example of Mary, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity; so We breathed into her of Our Spirit and she fulfilled in her person the Words of her Lord and His Books, for she was one of the obedients." (Al-Tahrim: 12-13)In this passage believers are likened to the wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh who persecuted Moses. She sought her end in Heaven, in the nearness of God, and she asked for release from the Pharaoh and his machinations and from partnership in his cruel deeds. Believers are also likened to Mary, the daughter of Imran. She guarded her chastity and she received the revelation of God and affirmed the truth of God's teaching and His Books. She proved to be one of the most loyal servants of God. Here, believers are described as of two types: the type which is like the wife of Pharaoh, and the type which is like Mary. It is obvious that at least one type of believers is Mary-like. If, therefore, the Promised One is called, son of Mary, it might mean that this Promised One will have his origin in a Mary-like condition, and that growing out of this, will attain to a Jesus-like condition. It might mean that the earlier life of the Promised One will be holy and spotless even as Mary was holy and spotless, his later life being akin to that of Jesus. Jesus received sustenance and support from the Holy Spirit, so will the Promised One. Jesus devoted his life to the service of truth and goodness, so will the Promised One.
It is a pity, the Ulema of our time do not ponder over the words of the Holy Quran. They have forbidden themselves to go deep into its meaning. Little wonder, they miss the beauty and the significance which lie underneath the surface of the Holy Text. But if our Ulema had read the writings of the early doctors of Islam, (writings based on the Holy Quran and on the lives and experiences of early prophets), they would have found the truth. Shaikh Shahab al-Din Suharwardy, to cite one example of a Muslim saint who has written relevantly on this subject, says in his book Awarifa'l-Maarif that birth is of two kinds: ordinary physical birth and metaphorical birth. In support of this statement, the great saint goes on to quote no other person than Jesus himself. Writes the Shiakh:
"The Murid (disciple) is a part and parcel of the Shaikh, (preceptor), even as in physical birth the son is a part and parcel of the father. The Murid comes to birth in a metaphorical manner in the sense which Jesus described when he said that no man will enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he is born twice over."The first birth, according to the saint, links the person with the physical world, the second links him with the spiritual world. The theme is also in the Quran:
"And thus did We show Abraham the Kingdom of the Heavens and the earth that he might be rightly guided, that he might be of those who have certainty of faith." (Al-An'am: 76)According to Shaikh Shahab al-Din Suharwardy, therefore, every human being experiences a spiritual birth. In support of this view he cites a verse of the Holy Quran and a saying of Jesus according to whom the experience of spiritual birth is necessary for the spiritual development of an individual. Why should such spiritual birth be impossible or difficult in the case of the Promised Messiah?
(By Hazrat Al-Haaj Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih II, Second Successor to the Promised Messiah, in his book "Dawat-ul-Amir", English translation: "Invitation to Ahmadiyyat")