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The original was posted on /r/academicquran by /u/longtimelurkerfirs on 2023-09-07 10:49:50.
Here's an excerpt from Tony Burke's "Syriac Tradition of the IGT" showing how it thrived in Syriac Tradition along with other works such as the Life of Mary:
"IGT was known in Syriac speaking lands by at least the fifth or sixth century—the time of the earliest known manuscript, published over a century and a half ago by William Wright.
...
It is clear from the number of manuscripts that IGT was a very popular text in the Syriac churches. Though it is found as a separate text in only a few manuscripts, it had a much richer life as part of collections of apocryphal texts featuring episodes from the life of the Virgin Mary. One branch of this tradition, the West Syriac Life of Mary, is examined here from 19 Syriac manuscripts and another 13 in Garšūnī.
Another effort to collect Mary-related apocrypha is found in the East Syriac History of the Virgin, known in 21 manuscripts, though only four of them incorporate IGT. Many of the manuscripts containing the two Life of Mary compendia seem to have been created specifically for use in Marian piety, as they often contain additional Mary-related texts, including hymns and miracle stories. And these books of Mary were copied well into the nineteenth century. For many Syriac Christians then, these texts contained acceptable depictions of Jesus’ childhood years; they were neither frivolous nor blasphemous."
In his book, Tony Burke analyzes and compares various Syriac manuscripts presenting the stories of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. He notes how the IGT finds its place in books about Mary retelling stories of her birth & childhood, infancy Jesus miracles & education in Bethlehem, and the death & departure of Mary. These include sources (obviously besides IGT) such as the Protoevangelium of James, Six-Books Dormition of the Virgin, and the Visions of Theophilus.
Just so, the Quran, in 3:35-3:55, curiously presents such events in a similar manner; Mary's birth, childhood, and the anunciation of Jesus as the 'Word from God' from Proto James, then Zechariah's prayer from Luke, Jesus' divine education of Biblical Scripture as a child, and finally the Thomasine clay bird miracle.