3.35 – when the wife of ‘Imrān said

Verse 35 begins the first extended passage (vv. 35–62) about ‘Īsā, the quranic Jesus. The story in this passage includes the characters Zachariah, John (Yaḥyā), Mary, and ‘Īsā.

The Quran here identifies the father of Mary as ‘Imrān (also 66.12). In the Old Testament, the father of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam is ‘Amrām (Exodus 6:20, cf. 15:20–21). Together with Q 19.28, where Mary is called the “sister of Aaron,” 3.35 seems to suggest confusion between the New Testament Mary and the Miriam of the Hebrew Bible.

According to Muslim tradition, this passage (vv. 1–64) was first recited in the middle of a conversation between Muhammad and a group of Christians from Najrān, a town in the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula (Sīra, 272–77).

Two other extended passages about ‘Īsā are found at 5.110–20 and 19.2–36.