The sect known as Batiniyya deny the virgin birth:

"And they deny that Jesus was born without a father."

(Tahzib al-Ikhlaq, by Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, vol. i, p. 382)

Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898)

This famous Muslim social reformer and educationist of nineteenth century India denied that Jesus was born of a virgin. See his Commentary of the Quran Tafsir al-Quran, published by Munshi Fazl Din, Kashmiri Bazaar, Lahore, vol. ii, pp. 24--35. See the section titled 'Muslim Newspaper Sidq' below.

Ahl-i Hadith

From the Ahl-i Hadith sect, Maulavi Hafiz Inayat-ullah of Wazirabad explains the account given in the Holy Quran (19:16--29) as follows:

"Mary left her husband's house, which was on the western side, in displeasure and went and stayed at her parents' house on the eastern side. She was not inclined to return. Meanwhile, the truth came out and Zacharias was also grieved. Recourse was had to both prayer and medicine, which God blessed, and addressing him revealed that He would grant her a son. At this Zacharias let this revelation be known to her husband, and told him to go and tell Mary about it and bring her home. But when he got there, she made the same complaint which prevented her return, and asked for a divorce. `I seek refuge (divorce) from you, that we cannot have relations.' She also mentioned her state of health. After some discussion, he told her that the revelation had said clearly that this union would be blessed and God would grant a pure boy. She wondered that since he, her husband, had not touched her, how she could have a son? He explained things to her and told her that her guardian (Zacharias) had sent him to inform her of the revelation and bring her home. At last, she returned with him, and at the appropriate time became pregnant. Then she had to accompany her husband on a long journey for some worldly purpose. It so happened that her pains started when they were near a palm tree in Bethlehem. She lamented the fact that it had not happened in a better place, so that she would have been relieved of it less painfully. The owner of the tree, who happened to be sitting under it selling his dates, out of sympathy let her pick any dates that she wanted, whenever she felt the need, and let her drink from a stream flowing under the tree as much as she wanted. He told her to rest, and if anyone spoke to her, to just say that she had undertaken a fast of silence. She then returned back to her people, and seeing the baby in her arms they objected that this type of domestic life, in breach of her parents' vow, was against the religious law. They added that her father did not break his word, nor did her mother like such things. Mary pointed to her guardian, Zacharias, that they should talk to him, as he had been responsible for it. They said that her marriage had set a bad example for others, and that other children dedicated to the Temple would also marry after growing up, disrupting the whole organisation."

(Uyoon Zamzam fi milad Isa ibn Maryam, Darul Hadith, Gujrat, Pakistan, 1963, pp. 172--176)

Ghulam Ahmad Pervez

This present-day theologian, author and founder of the Idara Tulu`-i Islam institute in Lahore, writes:

"If you bear in mind this point about the creation of a human being, the significance of the verse in question (`Surely the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam') becomes clear. In other words, whatever belief the Christians may hold about Jesus' birth, they are told that in God's eyes his birth was like the birth of any human child, which from its inception reaches its completion through a number of stages. Thus did it happen with Jesus. `O Prophet! what is revealed to thee about Jesus being a human being, and about his birth, is the truth from thy Lord; so there is no room for thee to argue or debate' (3:59).

"The Holy Quran has called Jesus the like of Adam also because, according to the Gospels, he used to call himself the son of man. For instance: `Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Sleep and take rest, the time has come and the son of man is handed over to the sinners' (Matthew, ch. 26). Hence, he who calls himself `the son of man', his birth is like the birth of Adam (or man). He is the son of man, and born like a human."

(Shulah Mastur, pp. 132--133)

Sayyid Sulaiman Nadawi

He was a famous Indian Muslim theologian of earlier this century. He wrote:

"Jesus had a mother and, according to the Gospel account, brothers and sisters as well, and even a human father."

(Khutbat Madaras, p. 51)

Muslim Newspaper Sidq

In his paper Sidq, Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi of India (d. 1977) received the following enquiry:

"I have seen two letters of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, dated 7 August 1870 and 8 April 1882, addressed to Maulavi Mumtaz Husain. In both these letters Sir Sayyid has emphasised that (God forbid) Jesus being born without a father is not proved from the Holy Quran. His birth, says Sir Sayyid, was a natural human birth. However, in verse 20 of the chapter Mary of the Holy Quran, Mary says to the angel Gabriel: `How can I have a son when no man has touched me, nor have I been unchaste'."

--- Yours faithfully, Abul Wafa Sadiqui, Delhi-- 6

The reply given was as follows:

"Sidq --- Yes, the majority of ulama have taken this verse, and other verses, in the meanings which are well-known. But Sir Sayyid and his co-thinkers have interpreted these verses to mean, for instance, that the obstacles in the way of Mary becoming pregnant were removed --- whether this conclusion is correct or not, this interpretation does not make one subject to a verdict of heresy (kufr)."

(Sidq Jadid, Lucknow, 7 April 1972)

Allama Al-Sayyid Abdul Qayyum Qayoomi

"It is a matter of great astonishment that despite the facts that Mary was married and went to live with her husband, that she and Joseph were declared wife and husband, that they lived together, and that everything took place, yet the son to whom Mary gave birth had no father! God forbid, God forgive us! Thank God that, in this book, by proving the marriage of Mary, her living with her husband, and Jesus having a father, from the Holy Quran, the Gospels, books of Hadith, and statements of Sunni Muslim scholars, in a most detailed and factual manner, we have refuted the false belief that Jesus had no father and established the reality with daylight clarity."

(Haqiqat al-Masih, Gujrat, Pakistan, 1964, p. 237)

Muhammad Asad

In his English work, The Message of the Quran, Muhammad Asad comments as follows:

"In connection with the announcement of a son to Mary, the Quran states in 3:47 that `when He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, Be, and it is': but since neither the Quran nor any authentic Tradition tells us anything about the chain of causes and effects (asbab) which God's decree `Be' was to bring into being, all speculation as to the `how' of this event must remain beyond the scope of a Quran-commentary."

(Note 15 on verse 19:11, p. 459)

Hence, according to Asad, "neither the Quran nor any authentic Tradition" tells us that Jesus was actually born of a virgin. Consequently, not the slightest blame can attach to any Muslim who believes that Jesus had a father.