thumb|upright=1.25|Double-page from the Qur'an with chapter heading and first twenty nine verses of surah Maryam. This spread marking the middle of the text also has elaborate decorative panels with Qur'anic passages at the top and bottom. [[Iran, 1186. Chester Beatty Library.]]

thumb|upright=1.25|Qur'an made for emperor [[Akbar with chapter heading and first thirty-one verses of sura Maryam. Lahore, 1573/1574. British Library]]

Maryam (, ; Arabic cognate of 'Mary') is the 19th chapter () of the Qur'an with 98 verses (). The 114 chapters in the Quran are roughly ordered by size. The Quranic chapter is named after Mary, mother of Jesus (, ), and the Virgin Mary in Christian belief. It recounts the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. The text of the surah refers to many known prophetic figures, including Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Ishmael, Idris, Adam, Zechariah and Noah.

The Birmingham Quran manuscript preserves the final eight verses (Q19:91–98), on parchment radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE (56 BH – 25 AH). The Sanaa manuscript, dated between 578 and 669 CE (44 BH – 49 AH), includes verses 2–28.

From the perspective of Islamic tradition, (, ), it is an earlier "Meccan Surah", believed to have been revealed sooner than the later revelations in Medina. Theodor Nöldeke's chronology identifies this Surah as the 58th Surah delivered. Traditional Egyptian chronology places it as the 44th.

Summary

thumb|Mary and Jesus in a [[Persian miniature]]

thumb|[[۩ verse 58 in Q19 Maryam]]

  • 1–6 Zechariah prays for offspring
  • 7–8 Gabriel is sent with an answer promising a son
  • 9–12 Zechariah asks a sign which is given
  • 13–15 John the Baptist's mission and character described
  • 16–22 Story of Mary's miraculous conception
  • 22–23 The birth of Jesus
  • 23–27 Mary in distress is comforted by Jesus 28–29 Mary brings her child to her people, who reproach her 30–34 Jesus (speaking in infancy) vindicates his mother and describes his own prophetic character 35 Jesus the Word of Truth
  • 36 God has no son 37 God alone to be worshipped
  • 38–41 The miserable fate of Jewish and Christian sectaries
  • The story of Abraham:
  • 42–46 He reproaches his father for idolatry
  • 47 His father threatens to stone him
  • 48–50 Abraham prays for his father, but separates himself from him
  • 50–51 God gives him Isaac and Jacob, who were notable prophets
  • 52 Moses—an apostle and prophet
  • 53 Discourses with God privately
  • 54 Aaron given him for an assistant
  • 55–56 Ismaíl was a prophet acceptable to his Lord
  • 57 ۩ 58 Idris was taken up to heaven
  • 59 God is bounteous to all true prophets
  • 59, 60 The followers of former prophets compared with those of Muhammad
  • 61–63 The reward of the faithful in Paradise
  • 64 Gabriel comes down from heaven only when commanded
  • 65 God is the only Lord—no name like his
  • 66–67 The dead shall surely rise
  • 68–72 The dead shall be judged on their knees
  • 73–75 Believers and unbelievers compared
  • 75–76 The prosperity of disbelievers a sign of God's reprobation
  • 77–78 Good works better than riches
  • 79–83 The doom of the wicked certain
  • 84–85 Even the false gods will desert idolaters on judgment day
  • 86–87 God sends devils to incite disbelievers to sin
  • 88–92 Attributing children to God a great sin 93–95 God the only Lord—all creatures His servants
  • 96 Believers to be rewarded with love
  • 97 The Quran made easy for Muhammad
  • 98 Miserable doom of all God's enemies

1 The "mysterious letters"

The chapter opens with the Bismillah and the "mysterious letters," or muqattaʿat: Kaf; Ha; Ya; 'Ayn; and Sad. Muslims believe these letters to be the peculiar marks of the Quran, and to conceal several profound mysteries, the certain understanding of which has not been communicated to any mortal except for Muhammad.

The remaining 97 verses may be divided many ways.

16–30 Story of Maryam

Q19:16–30 Translator George Sale was a solicitor and early member of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. His verse structure differs slightly from that of the later Arabic King Faud I Edition. He interprets al-kitab as "the book of the Koran" when he translates the Story of Mary in the Quran

:And remember in the book of the Koran the story of Mary; when she retired from her family to a place towards the east, and took a veil to conceal herself from them; and we sent our spirit Gabriel unto her, and he appeared unto her in the shape of a perfect man.

:۝ 20 She said, I fly for refuge unto the merciful God, that he may defend me from thee: if thou fearest him, thou wilt not approach me.

:He answered, Verily I am the messenger of thy LORD, and am sent to give thee a holy son.

:She said, How shall I have a son, seeing a man hath not touched me, and I am no harlot?

:Gabriel replied, So shall it be: thy LORD saith, This is easy with me; and we will perform it, that we may ordain him for a sign unto men, and a mercy from us: for it is a thing which is decreed.

:۞ Wherefore she conceived him; She said, Would to GOD I had died :before this, and had become a thing forgotten, and lost in oblivion.

:And he who was beneath her called to her,