Home > Surah 3 - The Family of Imran
1. The Apocryphal Source:
This verse is a direct replication of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (Chapter 2). This 2nd-century Gnostic fable about Jesus animating clay sparrows was universally rejected by the early Church as a fictional fabrication. The text lifts this exact narrative, mistaking a well-known regional myth for genuine historical revelation.
2. The Failure of Canonical Validation:
This clay bird miracle is completely absent from all 1st-century canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), which are the earliest and historically reliable records of Jesus's life. By canonizing a legendary development that arose over a century after Christ, the text demonstrates it is a product of 7th-century Arabian folklore rather than divine omniscience.
The Quran Verse
Surah 3:49:
And a messenger to the Children of Israel, 'Indeed I have come to you with a sign from your Lord in that I design for you from clay like the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird by permission of Allah.
The Relevant Source Text (Apocryphal Gospel)
Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Chapter 2:
He made soft clay and fashioned twelve sparrows from it... Jesus clapped his hands and cried to the sparrows, "Off with you!" And the sparrows took flight and went away chirping.
This miracle is not found in the canonical Gospels. It is plagiarized from a rejected, late 2nd-century Gnostic text that was popular as a myth in the Middle East, treating the fable as a divine miracle.