Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān, by Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310 AH / 923 CE). The earliest of the great commentaries to survive whole. Al-Ṭabarī sets out every opinion he knows on a verse with its chain of transmission, then rules between them. His reports on 4:157 are the oldest record of how the substitution at the cross was understood.
Part 1 of 5: the commentary on The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64). The parts follow the order of the verses; this one covers 3:33 to 3:38.
On 3:33
On the interpretation of His words: Indeed God chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān above the worlds (3:33)
Abū Jaʿfar said: What He means by this, Majestic is His praise, is: God selected Adam and Noah and chose them both for their religion, and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān for the religion which they followed, because they were people of Islam (ahl al-islām), that is, of submission to God. So God, Mighty and Majestic, informed us that He chose the religion of those whom we have mentioned above all the other religions which went against it.
By “the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān” He meant only the believers.
We have already shown that “the family (āl) of a man” means his followers, his people and whoever follows his religion.
The view which we have stated on this matter is reported as the saying of Ibn ʿAbbās, who used to say it.
(6851) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words Indeed God chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān above the worlds: he said: They are the believers from the family of Abraham, the family of ʿImrān, the family of Yāsīn1 and the family of Muḥammad. God, Mighty and Majestic, says: Indeed the people with the best claim to Abraham are those who followed him (3:68), and they are the believers.
(6852) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words Indeed God chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān above the worlds: two men who were prophets, whom God chose above the worlds.
(6853) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words Indeed God chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān above the worlds: he said: God mentioned two righteous households and two righteous men, and He favoured them above the worlds; and Muḥammad was of the family of Abraham.
(6854) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us: ʿAbbād related to us, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words Indeed God chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham up to His words and God is Hearing, Knowing: he said: God favoured them above the worlds by prophethood, above all mankind; they were the prophets, the God-fearing, the ones chosen for their Lord.
On 3:34
On the interpretation of His words: descendants, one from another; and God is Hearing, Knowing (3:34)
Abū Jaʿfar said: What He means by this is: God chose the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān as “descendants, one from another”.
“Descendants” (dhurriyya) is in the accusative by way of severance (qaṭʿ)2 from “the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān”, because “descendants” is indefinite, whereas “the family of ʿImrān” is definite.
And were it said that it is in the accusative on the basis of a repetition of “chose”, that would be correct, because the meaning is: He chose descendants, one from another.
He made them “one from another” only with respect to mutual allegiance in religion and mutual support upon Islam and the truth, as He said, Majestic is His praise: The believing men and the believing women are allies of one another (9:71), and as He said in another place: The hypocrite men and the hypocrite women are of one another (9:67), meaning that their religion is one and their way is one. So likewise His words “descendants, one from another” mean only: descendants, the religion of each of whom is the religion of the other, their word being one and their creed being one in affirming the oneness of God and obeying Him, as:
(6855) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words descendants, one from another: he says: in intention, in deed, in sincerity and in affirming His oneness.
As for His words and God is Hearing, Knowing, what He means by this is: and God is possessed of hearing for the words of the wife of ʿImrān, and possessed of knowledge of what she concealed within herself, when she vowed to Him what was in her womb as one consecrated.
On 3:35
On the interpretation of His words: When the wife of ʿImrān said: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated; so accept it from me. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing (3:35)
By His words, Majestic is His praise, When the wife of ʿImrān said: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated; so accept it from me, He means that “when” (idh) is connected to “Hearing”.3
As for “the wife of ʿImrān”, she is the mother of Mary the daughter of ʿImrān, the mother of Jesus the son of Mary, God’s blessings be upon him. Her name, according to what has been related to us, was Ḥannah the daughter of Fāqūdh ibn Qutayl, thus:
(6856) Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related this to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, in his genealogy of her. And someone other than Ibn Ḥumayd said: the daughter of Fāqūd, with a dāl, ibn Qabīl.
As for her husband “ʿImrān”, he is ʿImrān ibn Yāshhum ibn Amūn ibn Manshā ibn Ḥizqiyā ibn Aḥzīq ibn Yūtham ibn ʿAzāriyā ibn Amṣiyā ibn Yāwush ibn Aḥzīhū ibn Yārim ibn Yahfāshāṭ ibn Asābar ibn Abiyā ibn Raḥbaʿam ibn Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd ibn Īshā,4 thus:
(6857) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, in his genealogy of him.
As for His words My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated, their meaning is: I have made to You, O my Lord, a vow that what is in my womb is Yours, consecrated to Your worship. By that she means: I have confined it to Your service and the service of Your sanctuary in the house of worship, set free from the service of anything other than You, devoted exclusively to You.
“Consecrated” (muḥarraran) is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) of the pronoun referring to “that which” (alladhī) that is contained in the prepositional phrase (ṣifa).5
So accept it from me, that is: so accept from me what I have vowed to You, O my Lord. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing means: indeed You, O my Lord, are “the Hearing” of what I say and what I pray for, “the Knowing” of what I intend within myself and what I wish; neither the secret of my affair nor its open aspect is hidden from You.
The cause of the vow of Ḥannah the daughter of Fāqūdh, the wife of ʿImrān, which God has mentioned in this verse, was, according to what has reached us, what:
(6858) Ibn Ḥumayd related this to us: Salamah related to us: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: Zachariah and ʿImrān married two sisters. The mother of John was with Zachariah, and the mother of Mary was with ʿImrān. ʿImrān died while the mother of Mary was pregnant with Mary, she being a foetus in her womb. He said: She had been, as they claim, withheld from bearing children until she grew old, and they were a household that held a high station with God, Majestic is His praise. While she was in the shade of a tree she looked at a bird feeding a chick of its own, and her soul was stirred with longing for a child, so she prayed to God to grant her a child, and she conceived Mary, and ʿImrān died. When she knew that there was a foetus in her womb, she made it a dedicated offering (nadhīra) to God. The “dedicated offering” means that she devote it to the worship of God, making it confined in the house of worship, not to be made use of in anything of the affairs of this world.
(6859) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, who said: Then He mentioned the wife of ʿImrān and her words My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated, that is: I have vowed it, meaning: I have made it set free for the worship of God, not to be made use of in anything of the affairs of this world; so accept it from me. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing.
(6860) ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad al-Ṭufāwī related to me: Muḥammad ibn Rabīʿah related to us: al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī related to us, from Mujāhid, concerning His words consecrated: he said: a servant for the house of worship (bīʿa).6
(6861) Abū Kurayb related to us: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us, from al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī, from Mujāhid, who said: a servant for the house of worship (kanīsa).
(6862) Abū Kurayb related to us: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us: Ismāʿīl informed us, from al-Shaʿbī, concerning His words I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: I have devoted it exclusively to worship.
(6863) Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me: Hushaym related to us: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid informed us, from al-Shaʿbī, concerning His words I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: I have placed it in the house of worship and devoted it exclusively to worship.
(6864) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us: Hushaym informed us, from Ismāʿīl, from al-Shaʿbī, the like of it.
(6865) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, from ʿĪsā, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His words I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: for the house of worship, to serve it.
(6866) Al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the same.
(6867) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Sufyān, from Khuṣayf, from Mujāhid, concerning I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: purely devoted, with nothing of the affairs of this world mixed in with it.
(6868) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Ḥakkām related to us, from ʿAmr, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: for the bīʿa and the kanīsa.
(6869) Al-Muthannā related to me: al-Ḥimmānī related to us: Sharīk related to us, from Sālim, from Saʿīd, concerning I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: consecrated to worship.
(6870) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words When the wife of ʿImrān said: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated, the verse: The wife of ʿImrān had consecrated to God what was in her womb. They used to consecrate only males, and the consecrated one, once he had been consecrated, was placed in the house of worship and never left it; he attended to it and swept it.
(6871) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: she vowed her child to the house of worship.
(6872) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, concerning When the wife of ʿImrān said: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated; so accept it from me. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing: he said: That was because the wife of ʿImrān conceived, and she thought that what was in her womb was a boy, so she gave him to God, consecrated, not to work in the affairs of this world.
(6873) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, who said: The wife of ʿImrān had consecrated to God what was in her womb. He said: They used to consecrate only males, and the consecrated one, once he had been consecrated, was placed in the house of worship and never left it; he attended to it and swept it.
(6874) I was told, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say, concerning His words I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: he said: She made her child over to God, and to those who study the Scripture and learn it.
(6875) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazzah, that he informed him, from ʿIkrimah, and from Abū Bakr, from ʿIkrimah: that the wife of ʿImrān was an aged, barren woman named Ḥannah, who did not bear children, and she began to envy the women for their children. So she said: O God, I take upon myself a vow of thanksgiving: if You grant me a child, I shall give it as an offering to the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis), that it may be one of its custodians and servants. He said: And as for His words I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: she was indeed a free woman, the daughter of free women, and “consecrated” means for the house of worship, to serve it.
(6876) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words When the wife of ʿImrān said, the whole verse: he said: She vowed what was in her womb, and then she released her7 to go free.
On 3:36
On the interpretation of His words, Majestic is His praise: Then when she gave birth to her, she said: My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female — and God knows best what she gave birth to — and the male is not like the female; and I have named her Mary (3:36)
Abū Jaʿfar said: What He means, Majestic is His praise, by His words Then when she gave birth to her is: when Ḥannah gave birth to the dedicated offering (nadhīra); and it is for this reason that He used the feminine. Had the pronoun “her” (al-hāʾ) referred back to the “what” in His words I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated, the wording would have been: “Then when she gave birth to it, she said: My Lord, I have given birth to it, a female.”
The meaning of His words she gave birth to her is: she bore her. One says of it: “the woman gave birth (waḍaʿat), she gives birth (taḍaʿu), a giving birth (waḍʿan).”
She said: My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female, that is: I have borne the dedicated offering as a female; and God knows best what she gave birth to.
The reciters differed in the reading of this.
The generality of the reciters read it what she gave birth to (waḍaʿat), as a statement by God, Mighty and Majestic, about Himself: that He is the One who knows what she gave birth to, apart from her saying “My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female.”
Some of the early reciters read it and God knows best what I gave birth to (waḍaʿtu),8 by way of reporting this about the mother of Mary, that it was she who said: “and God knows best what I have borne from myself.”
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two readings is the one transmitted by the authoritative body of reciters (al-ḥujja), its recitation being widespread among them, with none of them disputing its soundness. That is the reading of those who read “and God knows best what she gave birth to” (waḍaʿat), and the anomalous (shādhdh) reading is not to be raised in objection against it.
The interpretation of the passage, then, is: and God knows better than all of His creation what she gave birth to. Then He, Majestic is His remembrance, returned to the report of her words, and that she said, by way of excusing herself before her Lord for what she had vowed during her pregnancy, when she consecrated it to the service of her Lord: and the male is not like the female, because the male is stronger for the service and better able to perform it, and because the female is not fit, in certain conditions, to enter the sanctuary and perform the service of the house of worship, on account of the menstruation and post-natal bleeding that come upon her; and I have named her Mary. As:
(6877) Ibn Ḥumayd related to me: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, concerning Then when she gave birth to her, she said: My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female — and God knows best what she gave birth to — and the male is not like the female: that is, since I had made her consecrated to Him as a dedicated offering.
(6878) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us: Ibn Isḥāq related to me, concerning and the male is not like the female: because the male is stronger for that than the female.
(6879) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning and the male is not like the female: It was not possible for that to be done with a woman — meaning that she be consecrated to the house of worship and placed in it, attending to it and sweeping it and never leaving it — because of the menstruation and the impurity that come upon her. It was at this that she said: the male is not like the female.
(6880) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning she said: My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female: They used to consecrate only boys. He said: and the male is not like the female; and I have named her Mary.
(6881) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, who said: The wife of ʿImrān had consecrated to God what was in her womb, and she was hoping that He would grant her a boy, because a woman is not capable of that — meaning attending to the house of worship, never leaving it, and sweeping it — on account of the impurity that comes upon her.
(6882) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: that the wife of ʿImrān thought that what was in her womb was a boy, so she gave him to God. Then when she gave birth, behold, it was a girl, so she said, excusing herself before God: My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female, and the male is not like the female; she says: only boys are consecrated. God says: and God knows best what she gave birth to. Then she said: I have named her Mary.
(6883) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazzah, that he informed him, from ʿIkrimah, and from Abū Bakr, from ʿIkrimah, concerning Then when she gave birth to her, she said: My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female, and the male is not like the female: meaning, with respect to menstruation; and it is not fitting for a woman to be among the men. It is her mother who says this.
On the interpretation of His words, Majestic is His praise: and I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36)
Abū Jaʿfar said: What she means by her words and I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring is: I place her refuge, and the refuge of her offspring, from Satan the accursed, with You.
The root meaning of “refuge” (maʿādh) is the place of resort, the shelter and the stronghold.
So God answered her: God granted her and her offspring refuge from Satan the accursed, and gave him no way against her.
(6884) Abū Kurayb related to us: ʿAbdah ibn Sulaymān related to us, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: There is no soul born but that Satan gets at it with that prod, and it is at this that the infant cries out at birth, except in the case of Mary the daughter of ʿImrān; for when her mother gave birth to her she said, My Lord, I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed, and so a veil was set up before her, and he prodded into it.
(6885) Abū Kurayb related to us: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, from Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Every newborn of the children of Adam receives a prod from Satan, and by it the infant cries out at birth, except in the case of Mary the daughter of ʿImrān and her child; for her mother said when she gave birth to her, I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed, and so a veil was set up before the two of them, and he prodded into the veil.
(6886) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, from Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), the like of it.
(6887) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Hārūn ibn al-Mughīrah related to us, from ʿAmr, from Shuʿayb ibn Khālid, from al-Zuhrī, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: I heard Abū Hurayrah say: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: There is no newborn of the children of Adam that is born but that Satan touches him when he is born, so that he cries out screaming at his touching him, except Mary and her son. Abū Hurayrah said: Recite, if you wish: I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed.
(6888) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb informed me, from ʿAjlān the client (mawlā) of al-Mushmaʿill, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Every newborn born of the children of Adam, Satan touches him with his finger, except Mary and her son.
(6889) Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb related to me: my paternal uncle ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb related to me: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me: that Abū Yūnus Sulaym, the client of Abū Hurayrah, related to him, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: Every one of the children of Adam, Satan touches him on the day his mother bears him, except Mary and her son.
(6890) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: ʿImrān9 informed me, that Abū Yūnus related to him, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), the same.
(6891) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to me: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from al-Zuhrī, from Ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: There is no newborn that is born but that Satan touches him, so that he cries out screaming from the touch of Satan, except Mary and her son. Then Abū Hurayrah would say: Recite, if you wish: and I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed.
(6892) Al-Muthannā related to me: al-Ḥimmānī related to me: Qays related to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: There is no newborn that is born but that Satan has squeezed him with a squeeze or two, except Jesus the son of Mary, and Mary. Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) recited: I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed.
(6893) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Hārūn ibn al-Mughīrah related to us, from ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays, from Simāk, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: No newborn was ever born without crying out at birth, except the Messiah the son of Mary; Satan was given no power over him and did not jab him.
(6894) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: al-Mundhir ibn al-Nuʿmān al-Afṭas informed us: that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: When Jesus was born, the devils came to Iblīs and said: The idols have this morning bowed their heads! He said: This is because of some event that has happened! And he said: Stay where you are! Then he flew until he came to the two horizons of the earth,10 and found nothing; then he went to the seas and found nothing; then he flew once more, and he found Jesus already born beside a donkey’s manger, and behold, the angels had surrounded him. So he returned to them and said: A prophet was born last night. Never has a female conceived or given birth but that I was present with her, except this one! So despair of the idols being worshipped after this night; but come at the children of Adam through levity and haste.
(6895) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning and I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed: It was related to us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: Every one of the children of Adam, Satan has prodded him in his side, except Jesus the son of Mary and his mother; a veil was placed between the two of them and him, so the prod struck the veil and nothing of it reached the two of them. And it was related to us that the two of them did not fall into sins as the rest of the children of Adam fall into them. And it was related to us that Jesus used to walk upon the sea as he walked upon the land, because of the certainty and sincerity that God, Exalted, had granted him.
(6896) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning and I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed: he said: The Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Every human being, Satan has prodded him in his side, except Jesus and his mother; the two of them did not fall into sins as the children of Adam fall into them. He said: And Jesus (peace be upon him) said, in praising his Lord: And He granted me and my mother refuge from Satan the accursed, so that he had no way against us.
(6897) Al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān related to us: Shuʿayb ibn al-Layth related to us: al-Layth related to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Hurmuz, that he said: Abū Hurayrah said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Every one of the children of Adam, Satan prods him in his side when his mother bears him, except Jesus the son of Mary; he went to prod him, but prodded into the veil.
(6898) Al-Rabīʿ related to us: Shuʿayb related to us: al-Layth informed us, from Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Hurmuz, that he said: Abū Hurayrah said: Have you considered this scream that the infant screams when his mother bears him? It comes from that.
(6899) Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj related to me: Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd related to us: al-Zubaydī related to us, from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah: that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: There is no newborn of the children of Adam but that Satan touches him when he is born, so that he cries out screaming.
On 3:37
On the interpretation of His words: So her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance and made her grow with a goodly growth (3:37)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by this that God, Majestic is His praise, accepted Mary from her mother Ḥannah11, together with her mother’s setting her free for the sanctuary (kanīsah)12, for its service and the service of her Lord, with a goodly acceptance.
‘Acceptance’ (qabūl) is a verbal noun from ‘her Lord accepted her’ (qabilahā rabbuhā), so the verbal noun has been brought out on a pattern other than the wording of the verb. Had it followed the wording of the verb it would have been: ‘So her Lord accepted her with a goodly accepting’ (fa-taqabbalahā rabbuhā taqabbulan ḥasanan). The Arabs do this a great deal: they bring the verbal nouns on the root forms of the verbs even when the wording of the verbs differs from them by augmentation. That is like their saying ‘So-and-so spoke a speech’ (takallama fulānun kalāman); had the verbal noun been brought out on the verb it would have been said, ‘So-and-so spoke a speaking’ (takallama fulānun takalluman). Of the same kind is His saying and made her grow with a goodly growth (wa-anbatahā nabātan ḥasanan), where He did not say ‘inbātan ḥasanan‘.
It is mentioned on the authority of Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ13 that he said: We have not heard the Arabs put a ḍammah on the qāf of qabūl, although analogy would require the ḍammah, because it is a verbal noun like al-dukhūl (‘entering’) and al-khurūj (‘going out’). He said: And I have not heard of another word in the speech of the Arabs that resembles it.
(6900) I was told this on the authority of Abū ʿUbayd, who said: al-Yazīdī informed me, from Abū ʿAmr.
As for His words and made her grow with a goodly growth, their meaning is: and her Lord made her grow, in His nourishment and His provision, with a goodly growth, until she was complete and perfected as a mature and fully formed woman, as:
(6901) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: God, Mighty and Majestic, said So her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance; he said: He accepted from her mother what she had intended her for, for the sanctuary, and He rewarded her for it; and made her grow, he said: she grew up in the nourishment of God.
On the interpretation of His words: and Zachariah took charge of her (3:37)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Qurʾān readers differed in the reading of His words and he took charge of her (wa-kaffalahā).
The generality of the readers of the people of the Ḥijāz, Medina and Baṣra read it wa-kafalahā, with the fāʾ unstrengthened, meaning: Zachariah took her into his charge; taking as their warrant the words of God, Mighty and Majestic: they cast their pens as to which of them should take charge of Mary (3:44).
The generality of the readers of Kufa read it wa-kaffalahā Zakariyyā, meaning: and God gave her into Zachariah’s charge.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more correct of the two readings in this, in my view, is the reading of those who read wa-kaffalahā with the fāʾ strengthened, meaning: and God gave her into Zachariah’s charge, that is, God joined her to him. For Zachariah too took her to himself by God’s making it binding upon him that he take her to himself, through the lot which God brought out in his favour and the sign which He made manifest to his opponents therein, whereby He made him worthier of her than they were, since by it he won the lot over those who contended with him for her.
That is because it has reached us that when Zachariah and his opponents disputed over Mary as to which of them she should stay with, they cast lots with their arrows and threw them into the River Jordan. Some of the people of knowledge said: Zachariah’s arrow stuck fast and stood upright, and the water did not carry it away, while the water carried away the arrows of the others. So God made this a sign for Zachariah that he was the most entitled to her of those who disputed over her.
Others said: Rather, Zachariah’s arrow rose upstream against the river, while the arrows of the others went down with the current of the water and were carried off; so this was a sign for him from God that he was the worthiest of the people of her.
Abū Jaʿfar said: Whichever of the two it was, there is no doubt that it was a judgement from God concerning her in favour of Zachariah over his opponents, that he was the worthiest of them of her. And that being so, Zachariah took her to himself only through God’s joining her to him by His judgement in his favour concerning her, against his opponents, when they vied with one another over her and disputed as to which of them was worthiest of her.
And that being so, it is clear that the more correct of the two readings is the one we have chosen, the strengthening of kaffalahā.
As for the argument advanced by those who read it with the fāʾ unstrengthened, from God’s words as to which of them should take charge of Mary (ayyuhum yakfulu Maryam) (3:44), to the effect that this requires the soundness of their choice of the unstrengthened form in His words wa-kafalahā, it is an argument that shows the weakness of the contrivance of the one who argues by it.
That is because no one possessed of reason is prevented from saying, ‘So-and-so gave so-and-so into so-and-so’s charge (kaffala), and so so-and-so took charge of him (kafalahu).’ So likewise is the case here: the people cast their pens as to which of them should take charge of Mary through God’s giving her into his charge, by His judgement which He would judge among them concerning her when they cast the pens.
Abū Jaʿfar said: Likewise the readers differed in the reading of ‘Zachariah’ (Zakariyyā).
The generality of the readers of Medina read it with the lengthened ending (Zakariyyāʾ).
The generality of the readers of Kufa read it with the shortened ending (Zakariyyā).
They are two well-known dialectal forms and two widely transmitted readings in the recitation of the Muslims, and in reading by either of them there is no divergence from the meaning of the other reading; so by whichever of the two the reader reads, he is correct.
However, the correct view in our opinion, when ‘Zakariyyāʾ’ is lengthened, is that it be put in the accusative without tanwīn, because it is one of the foreign names that is not given full inflection (lā yujrā)14, and because our reading of kaffalahā is with the strengthening and doubling of the fāʾ; so ‘Zakariyyāʾ’ is in the accusative by the verb whose action falls upon it.
In ‘Zakariyyā’ there is a third dialectal form in which recitation is not permitted, because it departs from the codices (maṣāḥif) of the Muslims, namely ‘Zakariyy‘, with the omission of the long vowel and of the quiescent yāʾ; the Arabs liken it to nouns bearing the relative ending, so they give it tanwīn and inflect it through the kinds of case-inflection in the manner of the yāʾ of relation.
Abū Jaʿfar said: So the interpretation of the passage is: and God joined her to Zachariah; from the saying of the poet:
So for the strays among the wandering herds he is a gatherer (kāfil),
by which is meant: for whatever has strayed of the scattered and dispersed cattle he is one who gathers them to himself and brings them together. It has also been transmitted:
So for the strays among the swift-fleeing herds (al-hawāfī) he is a gatherer (kāfil),
meaning that he gathers in whatever has bolted and fled of the cattle, from their expression ‘hafā al-ẓalīm‘, ‘the male ostrich sped away’, when it flies swiftly.
From this it is said to a man, ‘What is the matter with you, that you take charge of (takfulu) every stray?’, meaning by it: you gather it to yourself and take it.
The like of what we have said about this was said by those versed in interpretation.
Those who said this
(6902) ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad al-Ṭufāwī related to me: Muḥammad ibn Rabīʿah related to us, from al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī, from ʿIkrimah, concerning His words when they cast their pens as to which of them should take charge of Mary (3:44); he said: They cast their pens, and the current carried them away, except the pen of Zachariah, which rose upstream; so Zachariah took charge of her.
(6903) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, on His words and Zachariah took charge of her; he said: he took her to himself. He said: They cast their pens (he means, their staffs); he said: they cast them in the direction of the flow of the water, and Zachariah’s staff stood facing against the flow of the water, and so he won the lot over them.
(6904) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: God, Mighty and Majestic, said So her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance and made her grow with a goodly growth. Her mother set off with her in her swaddling-cloths (meaning the mother of Mary with Mary), when she gave birth to her, to the prayer-chamber (miḥrāb); and some said: she set off with her to the prayer-chamber when she had grown up. Those who wrote the Torah, whenever a person was brought to them whom they were to try out, would cast lots over him as to which of them should take him and teach him. Zachariah was the most excellent of them in that day, and he was among them, and Mary’s maternal aunt was his wife. When they brought her, they cast lots over her, and Zachariah said to them: I am the most entitled of you to her; her sister is my wife!15 But they refused, and went out to the River Jordan and cast their pens with which they used to write, as to which one’s pen should stand upright so that he should take charge of her. The pens were carried along, but the pen of Zachariah stood upright on its point as though it were set in clay; so he took the girl. That is the saying of God, Mighty and Majestic: and Zachariah took charge of her. So Zachariah placed her with him in his house, which is the prayer-chamber.
(6905) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: and Zachariah took charge of her; he says: he took her to himself.
(6906) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His words and Zachariah took charge of her; he said: he won the lot over them with his pen.
(6907) Al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the like of it.
(6908) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from Qatādah, who said: Mary was the daughter of their chief and their leader (imām). He said: So their rabbis vied with one another over her, and they cast lots over her with their arrows as to which of them should take charge of her. Qatādah said: Zachariah was the husband of her sister16, so he took charge of her, and she was with him and he reared her.
(6909) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazzah, that he informed him, from ʿIkrimah; and Abū Bakr, from ʿIkrimah, who said: Then she went out with her (meaning Mary’s mother) with Mary in her swaddling-cloths, carrying her to the sons of the Priest (al-Kāhin), the son of Aaron, the brother of Moses son of ʿImrān. He said: In that day they held, with regard to the Temple (Bayt al-Maqdis), the office that the doorkeepers hold with regard to the Kaʿbah. She said to them: Take this one vowed to God, for I have set her free, and she is my daughter; no menstruating woman may enter the sanctuary, and I will not take her back to my house! They said: This is the daughter of our leader (ʿImrān used to lead them in prayer) and the master of our sacrifice! Zachariah said: Hand her over to me, for her maternal aunt is with me. They said: We are not content with that; she is the daughter of our leader! That was when they cast lots: they cast lots over her with their pens, the pens with which they wrote the Torah, and Zachariah won the lot over them, so he took charge of her.
(6910) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: Yaʿlā ibn Muslim informed me, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Zachariah placed her with him in his prayer-chamber; God, Mighty and Majestic, said and Zachariah took charge of her. Ḥajjāj said: Ibn Jurayj said: ‘The kāhin‘ in their speech means ‘the learned man’.
(6911) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: and Zachariah took charge of her, after her father and her mother; He mentions her by her orphanhood. Then He related her story and the story of Zachariah.
(6912) Al-Muthannā related to us: al-Ḥimmānī related to us: Sharīk related to us, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on His words and Zachariah took charge of her; he said: she was with him.
(6913) ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me: Ḥajjāj related to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Yaʿlā ibn Muslim, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on His words and Zachariah took charge of her; he said: Zachariah placed her with him in his prayer-chamber.
(6914) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words So her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance and made her grow with a goodly growth: and the people cast lots for her, and Zachariah won the lot, so Zachariah took charge of her.
Others said: Rather, after Ḥannah gave birth to her daughter Mary, Zachariah took charge of her without any casting of lots or drawing of arrows over her, and without anyone disputing with him over her. He took charge of her only because her mother died after the death of her father while she was a small child, and with Zachariah was her maternal aunt, Alāshibāʿ daughter of Fāqūdh17 (and it has been said that the name of the mother of John, the maternal aunt of Jesus, was Ishbaʿ).
(6915) Al-Qāsim related this to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: Wahb ibn Sulaymān informed me, from Shuʿayb al-Jabaʾī, that the name of the mother of John was Ashbaʿ.
So he joined her to her maternal aunt, the mother of John, and she remained in their keeping and with them, until, when she reached maturity, they brought her into the sanctuary in fulfilment of the vow of her mother which she had vowed concerning her.
They said: The casting of lots over her with the pens took place only a long time after that, because of a hardship that befell them, when Zachariah grew too weak to bear the cost of her maintenance; so they each pushed the burden of her maintenance onto one another, not out of any desire on their part, nor out of rivalry over her and over bearing the cost of her maintenance. We shall relate her story according to those who said this when we reach it, God Exalted willing.
(6916) Ibn Ḥumayd related this to us: Salamah related to us: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me.
On this interpretation, the reading of those who read wa-kafalahā Zakariyyā with the fāʾ unstrengthened would be sound, if the interpretation were sound. However, the statement upheld by the concurrence of those versed in interpretation is the first statement: that the people’s drawing of lots over her was before Zachariah’s taking charge of her, and that Zachariah took charge of her only through his arrow coming out concerning her victorious over the arrows of his opponents regarding her. For that reason its reading with the strengthened form is, in our opinion, preferable to its reading with the unstrengthened form.
On the interpretation of His words: Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the prayer-chamber he found provision with her (3:37)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by this, Majestic is His praise, that whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the prayer-chamber, after he had brought her into the prayer-chamber, he found with her provision from God for her nourishment.
It was said that the provision which Zachariah used to find with her was the fruit of winter in summer and the fruit of summer in winter.
Those who said this
(6917) Abū Kurayb related to us: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyyah related to us, from Sharīk, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: he found provision with her; he said: he found with her grapes in a large basket, out of their season.
(6918) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Ḥakkām related to us, from ʿAmr, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Saʿīd, concerning His words Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the prayer-chamber he found provision with her; he said: grapes out of their season.
(6919) Yaʿqūb related to me: Hushaym related to us: Mughīrah informed us, from Ibrāhīm, concerning His words he found provision with her; he said: fruit out of its season.
(6920) Yaʿqūb related to me: Hushaym related to us: Abū Isḥāq al-Kūfī informed us, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk: that he used to find with her the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer; meaning concerning His words he found provision with her.
(6921) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Salamah ibn Nubayṭ, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the same.
(6922) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Hushaym informed us, from one of his shaykhs, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the same.
(6923) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Hushaym informed us: Juwaybir informed us, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the same.
(6924) Yaʿqūb related to us: Hushaym related to us: one who heard al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtaybah relating informed us, from Mujāhid, who said: he used to find with her grapes out of their season.
(6925) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, from ʿĪsā, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His words he found provision with her; he said: grapes which Zachariah found with Mary out of their time.
(6926) Al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the like of it.
(6927) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us: al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī related to us, from Mujāhid, concerning His words he found provision with her; he said: the fruit of summer in winter, and the fruit of winter in summer.
(6928) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the prayer-chamber he found provision with her; he said: We used to be told that she was brought the fruit of winter in summer and the fruit of summer in winter.
(6929) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah: he found provision with her; he said: he found with her fruit out of its time.
(6930) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, who said: Zachariah set seven doors between her and others, and he would enter upon her and find with her the fruit of winter in summer and the fruit of summer in winter.
(6931) Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān18 related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: Zachariah placed her with him in a house, which is the prayer-chamber, and he would enter upon her in winter and find with her the fruit of summer, and enter in summer and find with her the fruit of winter.
(6932) I was told, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, who said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say, concerning His words he found provision with her; he said: he used to find with her the fruit of summer in winter.
(6933) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: Yaʿlā ibn Muslim informed me, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the prayer-chamber he found provision with her; he said: he found with her the fruits of Paradise, the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer.
(6934) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: one of the people of knowledge related to me that Zachariah used to find with her the fruit of winter in summer and the fruit of summer in winter.
(6935) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, who said: Whenever Zachariah entered upon her (meaning upon Mary) in the prayer-chamber, he found with her provision from heaven, from God, not from people. And they said: Had Zachariah known that that provision came from his own hand, he would not have asked her about it.
Others said: Rather, the meaning of this is that whenever Zachariah went in to her in the prayer-chamber he found with her provision over and above what was brought to her by the one who was maintaining her in those days.
Those who said this
(6936) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, who said: He took charge of her after the death of her mother and joined her to her maternal aunt, the mother of John, until, when she reached maturity, they brought her into the sanctuary in fulfilment of the vow of her mother which she had vowed concerning her, and she began to grow and increase. He said: Then a famine befell the Children of Israel while she was in that condition of hers, until Zachariah grew too weak to support her; so he went out to the Children of Israel and said: O Children of Israel, do you know? By God, I have grown too weak to support the daughter of ʿImrān! They said: We too have been hard pressed, and this year of drought has afflicted us as it has afflicted you! So they pushed her from one to another among themselves, though they saw no way for themselves out of supporting her, until they cast lots with the pens, and the lot for supporting her fell upon a man of the Children of Israel, a carpenter called Jurayj. He said: Mary perceived in his face the severity of the burden this was upon him, and she used to say to him: O Jurayj, think well of God, for God will provide for us! And Jurayj began to be provided for on account of her place with him, and he would bring her every day from his earnings what would suffice her; and when he brought it in to her while she was in the sanctuary, God made it grow and multiplied it. Then Zachariah would come in to her and see with her a surplus of provision, not in proportion to what Jurayj was bringing her, and he would say, O Mary, whence have you this? and she would say, It is from God; God provides for whom He will without reckoning.
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for ‘the prayer-chamber’ (al-miḥrāb), it is the foremost part of every sitting-place and place of prayer; it is the chief of sitting-places and the noblest and most honoured of them, and so it is with regard to mosques. From this is the saying of ʿAdī ibn Zayd19:
Like ivory statues in the sanctuaries (maḥārīb), or like ostrich eggs in a meadow whose blossom shines bright.
‘Maḥārīb‘ is the plural of ‘miḥrāb‘, and it may also be pluralised as ‘maḥārib‘.
On the interpretation of His words: He said: O Mary, whence have you this? She said: It is from God; God provides for whom He will without reckoning (3:37)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by this, Majestic is His praise: Zachariah said: O Mary, whence have you this?, that is, from what quarter have you this provision that I see with you? Mary said, answering him: It is from God, meaning that it is God who provided her with it, conveyed it to her and gave it to her.
Zachariah used to say this to her only because, according to what has been related to us, he would lock seven doors upon her and go out; then he would come in to her and find with her the fruit of winter in summer and the fruit of summer in winter. He would marvel at what he saw of this, and say to her, in wonder at what he saw, whence have you this? And she would say: from God.
(6937) Al-Muthannā related this to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ.
(6938) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: one of the people of knowledge related to me, and he mentioned the like of it.
(6939) Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my paternal uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, on His words O Mary, whence have you this? She said: It is from God; he said: He found with her fresh fruit at a time when fruit was not to be found with anyone, so Zachariah used to say: O Mary, whence have you this?
As for His words God provides for whom He will without reckoning, it is a report from God that He conveys His provision to whomever He will of His creatures without any counting or numbering for which He calls His servant to account. For He, Majestic is His praise, does not diminish His treasuries by conveying that to him in this way, nor does His giving it to him, or His calling him to account for it, add anything to His dominion or to what is with Him; nor does knowledge of what He provides escape Him. The one who calls to account him to whom he gives, for what he gives him, is only he who fears diminishment of his dominion, and the onset of exhaustion upon it through the going out of what goes out from him without a known reckoning, and he who is ignorant of what he gives out without reckoning.
On 3:38
On the interpretation of His words: There Zachariah called upon his Lord; he said: My Lord, grant me from Yourself a goodly offspring; truly You are the Hearer of prayer (3:38)
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for His words There Zachariah called upon his Lord, their meaning is: at that; that is, upon Zachariah’s seeing what he saw with Mary of God’s provision with which He had provided her, and His bounty which He had bestowed upon her without any human being’s having had any part in procuring it for her, and upon his witnessing with her the fresh fruit which, at the time of his seeing it with her, did not exist on earth, he conceived a desire for a child, despite his advanced age, from his barren wife. So he hoped that God would provide him with a child from her, notwithstanding the state the two of them were in, just as He had provided Mary, in her seclusion from people, with what He provided her of the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer, even though nothing of the kind was among the things whose existence at such a time was customary on earth; rather, what is known among people is otherwise, just as the giving birth of a barren woman is other than what is customary among people. So he turned in longing to God, Majestic is His praise, for a child, and asked Him for a goodly offspring.
That is because the household of Zachariah, according to what has been related to us, had died out at that time, as:
(6940) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: When Zachariah saw that of her condition (meaning the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer), he said: Truly a Lord who has given her this out of its season is well able to provide me with a goodly offspring! And he conceived a desire for a child; so he stood and prayed, then called upon his Lord secretly and said: My Lord, truly my bones have grown feeble and my head is aflame with grey hair, and never, my Lord, have I been unblessed in my prayer to You. And truly I fear my kinsmen after me, and my wife is barren; so grant me from Yourself an heir who will inherit from me and inherit from the house of Jacob, and make him, my Lord, well-pleasing (19:4–6); and his words My Lord, grant me from Yourself a goodly offspring; truly You are the Hearer of prayer (3:38); and he said: My Lord, do not leave me alone, and You are the best of inheritors (21:89).
(6941) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: Yaʿlā ibn Muslim informed me, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When Zachariah saw that (meaning the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer) with Mary, he said: Truly He who brings this to Mary out of its time is able to provide me with a child. God, Mighty and Majestic, said There Zachariah called upon his Lord; he said: that was when he prayed.
(6942) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Abū Bakr, from ʿIkrimah, who said: So he entered the prayer-chamber and locked the doors and communed secretly with his Lord, saying: My Lord, truly my bones have grown feeble and my head is aflame with grey hair up to His words my Lord, well-pleasing (19:4–6); Then the angels called to him while he stood praying in the prayer-chamber: God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming a word from God (3:39), to the end of the verse.
(6943) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: one of the people of knowledge related to me, saying: So Zachariah prayed at that, after he had grown old with no child and his household had died out, and said: My Lord, grant me from Yourself a goodly offspring; truly You are the Hearer of prayer; then he complained to his Lord, saying: My Lord, truly my bones have grown feeble and my head is aflame with grey hair up to and make him, my Lord, well-pleasing (19:4–6); Then the angels called to him while he stood praying in the prayer-chamber (3:39), to the end of the verse.
As for His words My Lord, grant me from Yourself a goodly offspring, by ‘offspring’ (dhurriyyah) He means progeny, and by ‘goodly’ (ṭayyibah) blessed, as:
(6944) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: He said: My Lord, grant me from Yourself a goodly offspring; he says: blessed.
As for His words from Yourself (min ladunka), He means: from Your presence (min ʿindika).
As for ‘offspring’ (dhurriyyah), it is a plural, though it can bear the meaning of the singular, and in this place it is singular. That is because God, Mighty and Majestic, said in another place, reporting the prayer of Zachariah: so grant me from Yourself an heir (19:5), and He did not say ‘heirs’, which shows that he asked for one. He made ‘goodly’ (ṭayyibah) feminine only because of the feminine form of dhurriyyah, as the poet said:
Your father is a successor (khalīfah) whom another bore (waladat-hu ukhrā), and you are a successor: that is perfection.
So he said ‘waladat-hu ukhrā‘ (‘another woman bore him’), making it feminine, although he is a male, because of the feminine form of the word khalīfah; as the other poet said:
What is it you make light of in a mountain viper (ḥayyah jabaliyyah), a silent one, which, when he bites (idhā mā ʿaḍḍa), is not toothless?
So he made ‘jabaliyyah‘ (‘mountain’) feminine because of the feminine form of the word ḥayyah (‘snake’), then returned to the meaning and said ‘idhā mā ʿaḍḍa‘ (‘when he bites’), because he had intended a male snake. This is permissible only in those nouns to which ‘so-and-so’ (fulān) does not apply, such as al-dābbah (‘beast’), al-dhurriyyah and al-khalīfah. But when a man is named by one of these, so that it bears the meaning of ‘so-and-so’, it is not permissible to make its verb or its adjective feminine.
As for His words truly You are the Hearer of prayer, their meaning is: truly You are one who hears (sāmiʿ) prayer; except that ‘samīʿ‘ is more laudatory, and it has the meaning: possessor of hearing for it.
Some of the grammarians of Baṣra claimed that its meaning is: truly You hear that for which You are called upon.
Abū Jaʿfar said: So the interpretation of the verse is: at that, Zachariah called upon his Lord and said: My Lord, grant me from Your presence a blessed child; truly You are possessed of hearing for the prayer of him who calls upon You.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=tabari). Nothing is abridged: every opinion, every report with its chain of transmission, every verse of poetry and every grammatical note is translated. Qur’anic quotations are in bold; the translator’s own notes are confined to the numbered footnotes and identify names, terms and variant readings only. A second translator has not checked the rendering, and the Arabic is linked so that any passage can be compared. The modern editors’ apparatus is not part of the classical text and is not translated.
The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64): all commentaries · Part 2 → · The classical commentaries
Notes
- Yāsīn here is taken as the name of Elijah (Ilyās), after the reading of 37:130 as “Āl Yāsīn”. ↩
- “Severance” (qaṭʿ) is the Kufan grammarians’ term for what the Basrans call the circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl): an indefinite noun cut off from a preceding definite noun that it describes. ↩
- That is, the adverb “when” in 3:35 depends grammatically on “Hearing” at the end of 3:34: God heard her when she said this. ↩
- This is the line of the kings of Judah in Arabicised form: Josiah, Amon, Manasseh, Hezekiah, Ahaz, Jotham, Azariah (Uzziah), Amaziah, Joash, Ahaziah, Joram, Jehoshaphat, Asa, Abijah, Rehoboam, Solomon, David and Jesse. ↩
- By the ṣifa al-Ṭabarī means the prepositional phrase “in my womb”, following the Kufan grammarians’ usage, in which prepositions are called ḥurūf al-ṣifāt; the ḥāl thus qualifies the implied pronoun of the relative clause, not the relative “what” itself. ↩
- Bīʿa denotes a Christian church or a Jewish synagogue; the kanīsa named in the following reports has the same range of meaning. ↩
- Sayyabat-hā, “she released her”, is the verb used of an animal set free as a sāʾiba, a beast dedicated to God which no one may use or ride; al-Ḥasan means that she made her daughter over wholly to God, so that no one had any claim upon her, which is close in meaning to “consecration” (taḥrīr). ↩
- A variant reading (qirāʾa) with the first-person ending, waḍaʿtu, attributed among others to Ibn ʿAbbās; the standard reading has the third-person feminine waḍaʿat. ↩
- The editor of the Arabic text suspects that “ʿImrān” is a copyist’s error for “Ibn ʿImrān”, that is, Ḥarmalah ibn ʿImrān al-Tujībī, a known transmitter from Sulaym ibn Jubayr. ↩
- Al-khāfiqān, the horizons of east and west, which encompass the two sides of the earth. ↩
- Ḥannah (Anne), the wife of ʿImrān and mother of Mary, as she is named in the Muslim tradition. ↩
- Al-Ṭabarī uses kanīsah, the ordinary word for a church or synagogue, for the house of worship at Jerusalem. ↩
- Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ (d. 154/770), the Baṣran philologist and one of the seven canonical Qurʾān readers. ↩
- That is, it is a diptote, barred from full declension (mamnūʿ min al-ṣarf). ↩
- That is, the sister of Mary’s mother; Zachariah’s wife was Mary’s maternal aunt. ↩
- That is, of the sister of Mary’s mother. ↩
- Elizabeth (Elisheba); the Arabic sources spell the name in several ways. ↩
- So the manuscript; elsewhere al-Ṭabarī’s regular chain to al-Suddī runs through Mūsā ibn Hārūn al-Hamdānī. ↩
- ʿAdī ibn Zayd al-ʿIbādī, a Christian poet of al-Ḥīrah who died shortly before Islam. ↩