Jesus and Mary in Sūrat al-Māʾidah (Q 5): Anti-Imperial Discourse in the Qur’an as a Criticism of Byzantine Christology

Abstract This paper attempts to show that some verses about Jesus and Mary in Sūrat al-Māʾidah (i.e. Q 5:17.72.73.75) can best be explained by understanding them as a reaction to Byzantine imperial propaganda. The real reason for the rejection of high Christology in this latest period of qur’anic proclamation is, according to this thesis, a rejection of its political misuse. In this way, strange formulations on the role of Mary can also be understood, which until now have mostly been understood as polemical demarcations against the Christian faith or Christian devotional practice.