(Here is an article by Richard P. Bailey pointing out the uniqueness of the birth of Jesus Christ of a human mother and Divine Father. Because she is fully human, Mary is the human mother of Jesus, but not, as some Muslims have speculated, the third person of the Trinity...who is God the "Holy Spirit" in sacred scripture. Ed.)

I have found the following study to be helpful with Muslims:

Throughout history there were only three people not born in the normal way (from a mother and a father) - Adam, Eve and Jesus. Let's look at them.

a. ADAM was created out of the dust of the ground: When God created Adam he "formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). Yes, God said to the dust, "Be!" and Adam was created out of the dust of the ground.

b. EVE was created out of Adam: When he created Eve he "took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called "woman" for she was taken out of man'" (Genesis 2:21-23).

In affect, God said to Adam's rib, "Be!" and so Eve was created out of Adam, who was created from the dust. Adam realized the relationship he had with Eve when he said she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Eve was not created out of the dust or out of anything else. She was "in Adam" and brought out of him. From that time on all human life has come out of Adam.

It is as if all humanity was in one lump called "Adam," and slowly generation by generation we are all being born out of Adam. We are all one bone and one flesh. We were in our father Adam when he sinned and when he was put out of the garden. We are suffering the results of his sin, just like children today carry the genetic weaknesses of their parents.

c. JESUS was born out of Mary a descendent of Adam and Eve: Before Jesus was born the angel told Mary she would have a son, and she said, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:34,35). We can say that God said to Mary's womb, "Be!" and Jesus was born out of Mary, who was created out of Adam, who was created out of the dust.

1) God caused Jesus to be "born of a woman"(Galatians 4:4) in order to be human like us - born OUT OF ADAM. Through Mary, Jesus is the son of Adam, fully a human being just like we are. Because he was born this way he is "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh." The Scripture says he "shared in (our) humanity" (Hebrews 2:14). Jesus is part of that lump of humanity just like we are. The Scripture says he "became flesh" (John 1:14). He became one of us! "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.

So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers" (Hebrews 2:11). Why? "...he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (Hebrews 2:17,18).

2) At the same time God caused him to be born without a human father because he came OUT FROM GOD IN HEAVEN - the eternal Word of God made flesh (John 1:13-14). That is why he is called the "Son of God.":

"The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man FROM HEAVEN." (I Cor.15:47);

"...the one who came from heaven....The one who comes FROM ABOVE..." (John 3:13,31);

"...He who comes down FROM HEAVEN." (John 6:33);

"...For I have come down FROM HEAVEN..." (John 6:38);

"I am the living bread that came down FROM HEAVEN." (John 6:51);

"...I am FROM ABOVE...for I came FROM GOD." (John 8:23,42).

In other words, being born of a human mother was needed for him to be one of us - the Son of Adam. Being born without a human father was needed to show He came out from God - the Son of God. In his parentage we see both his complete humanity and his full deity. Why? So He could overcome the power of sin and death and give us eternal life.

"we have one who was tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin." (Hebrews 4:15);

"He too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Hebrews 2:14,15)