How Many Angels Were Speaking with Mary?
A claim far from sincerity and reason directed at the Quran, the word of Allah, is the claim of a contradiction between Surah Maryam 17-19 and Surah Al-Imran verse 45. According to this claim, while it is written in the first surah that a single angel appeared to Mary, in the second surah the angels who appeared occur in the plural; for this reason, it is the claim that there is a contradiction between these two surahs.
To understand what this claim is, let us write the verses in question below….
Surah Maryam 16-17-18-19
Mention Mary too in the Book. She had separated from her family and withdrawn to a place on the eastern side.
She had drawn a curtain between herself and them. In this situation We sent her Our Spirit and it took shape before her as a perfect human being.
(The angel:) ‘I am a messenger of your Lord, assigned to give you a pure male child,’ he said.
Surah Al-Imran 42-43-44- 45
The angels had said thus: ‘Mary, ALLAH has chosen and purified you; He has chosen you above all women.
O Mary! Worship your Lord; fall into prostration, bow (in His presence) together with those who bow.
These are from the news of the unseen that We reveal to you. You were not with them when they were casting dice as to which of them would be guarantor for Mary; you were not with them when they quarrelled either.
The angels had said: ‘Mary, ALLAH gives you good news of a Word from Himself. His name is Jesus the Messiah, son of Mary. He is among the leaders in this world and in the hereafter and among those who are near (to God).
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When these two groups of verses are read, it is seen that two different events are told. In the verses in Surah Maryam, Mary’s encounter with Gabriel is spoken of. In the verses in Surah Al-Imran, what is told is a different event. Here the conversation of Mary and the angels in another place, at another time, is spoken of.
Consequently, there is no contradiction between PLURAL angels being spoken of in one place and a SINGLE spirit (Gabriel) being spoken of in the other place.