Maryam bint Imran holds a singularly exalted place in Islam. The Qu’ran refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest woman to have ever lived. Moreover, she is the only woman referenced by name in the Quran. Her story is related in three Meccan surahs (19, 21, 23) and four Medinana surahs (3, 4, 5, 66). The nineteenth Surah, Maryam, is named after her.

According to the Qu'ran, Mary's parents had been praying for a child. Their request was eventually granted by God, and Mary's mother became pregnant. Her father Imran had died before the child was born. After her birth, she was taken care of by her maternal uncle Zechariah, a priest in the temple. Mary received messages from God through the archangel Gabriel that she had miraculously conceived a child through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, though she was still a virgin. Jesus was the name chosen by God for the child who was to be the Christ, the Promised Messiah in Islam. As such, orthodox Islamic belief has upheld the virgin birth of Jesus, and although the classical Islamic thinkers never dwelt on the question, it was generally agreed in traditional Islam that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life. She is believed to have been "chosen above all the women of the worlds", and is considered as one of the four "ladies of heaven" alongside Fatima, Asiya the wife of the Pharaoh, and Khadija, the first wife of Muhammad.