View source for Maria the Copt (Mariyah Al-Qibtiyyah)

{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}}
[[File:Maria Al Qibtiyya.png|220px|right|thumb|Islamic seal of Mariyah as a "mother of the believers"]]
Mary the Copt (Arabic: مارية القبطية Mariyah Al-Qibtiyah‎), also known as Maria Qubtiyya, was one of the concubines/sex slaves of the prophet Muhammad. Although she is considered an ''umm al-mu'minin'' أم ألمؤمنين (Mother of the Believers) she was never actually the wife of the prophet according to the accepted historical sources by orthodox Sunni Islam.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Maria, the Copt: Prophet Muhammad's Wife or Concubine? {{!}} ICRAA.org| author = | work = ICRAA.org| date = | access-date = 18 November 2021| url = https://www.icraa.org/maria-copt-muhammad-wife-concubine/| quote = }}</ref><ref name="seek_WasM">{{Cite web| title = Was Mariya al-Qibtiyya Ever a Wife of the Prophet Muhammad? - SeekersHub Answers| author = | work = SeekersHub Answers| date = | access-date = 3 March 2016| url = https://seekersguidance.org/answers/general-counsel/was-mariya-al-qibtiyya-ever-a-wife-of-the-prophet-muhammad/| quote = }}</ref> The Muslim academic scholar Jonathan Brown has examined in detail the evidences cited by modern writers who believe Muhammad married Mariyah, but found in each case that the source was "both extremely rare and unreliable, or it is ambiguous".<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, ''Slavery & Islam'', Chapter 7: Concubines and consent, London: Oneworld Publications, 2019.<BR />
Brown writes: 
{{Quote-text||The problem with this explanation is that it lacks any support whatsoever. It is a denial of history, not an interpretation of it. Aside from modern Muslim authors, there is simply no evidence that Mariya was not a slave woman of the Prophet who bore him a son."}}
In Appendix 4: Was Māriya the Wife or Concubine of the Prophet?, Brown goes through the evidence cited by those who claim Muhammad married Mariyah, but finds in each case that these are ambiguous, or both extremely rare and unreliable, for example where a purported evidence relies on an anomalous manuscript that differs from other copies of the same work.</ref> According to the [[sira]] she was sent to Muhammad as a gift from the Christian Patriarch of Egypt. According to the [[hadith]] and the [[sirah]] her beauty and Muhammad's lust for her incited the jealousy of Muhammad's wives, in particular Hafsa and [[Aisha]]. The jealousy they had of her and Muhammad's response was actually the [[Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran)|cause]] of the "revelation" of several Qur'an verses according to the tradition. Although she converted to Islam and bore the prophet a son who later died, as an ''umm-walad'' she remained a slave of the prophet until he died, according to most of the traditional scholars. The traditional sources compare her concubinage to that of Hajar to Ibrahim, and the son that Mariyah bore was named Ibrahim. According to classical Islamic sources, had her son Ibrahim lived, he too would have been a prophet.