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 2: the commentary on The birth of Jesus (19:16-37). The parts follow the order of the verses; this one covers 19:16-17 to 19:29.
On 19:16-17
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: And mention in the Book Mary, when she withdrew from her people to an eastern place, (16) and took a screen apart from them. Then We sent to her Our Spirit, and he appeared to her as a well-formed human being (17) (19:16–17)
He, Exalted be His mention, says to His Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him): And mention, O Muḥammad, in the Book of God which He sent down to you with the truth, Mary daughter of ʿImrān, when she went apart from her people and secluded herself from them. It (intabadhat) is the iftaʿala form from nabdh, and nabdh means casting away; we have already explained that, with its evidential citations, previously.
The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.
Those who said this
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words And mention in the Book Mary, when she withdrew, that is: she secluded herself from her people.
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us: Abū Kudaynah related to us, from Qābūs, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās: when she withdrew from her people to an eastern place, he said: she went out to an eastern place.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: Mary went out to the side of the sanctuary (miḥrāb) because of a menstruation that had come upon her, and that is His words “and she withdrew from her people to an eastern place”: in the eastern part of the sanctuary.
His words to an eastern place: He says: she moved away and went apart from her people to a spot towards the rising of the sun rather than its setting.
As in:
al-Ḥasan related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words an eastern place, he said: towards the east.
Isḥāq ibn Shāhīn related to me: Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us, from Dāwūd, from ʿĀmir, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: I am indeed the one of God’s creatures who knows best why the Christians took the east as their direction of prayer (qibla): it is because of God’s words “and she withdrew from her people to an eastern place”; so they took the birthplace of Jesus as their direction of prayer.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me: Dāwūd related to us, from ʿĀmir, from Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt informed us: Abū Kudaynah related to us, from Qābūs, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Prayer towards the House and pilgrimage to God were prescribed for the People of the Book, and nothing turned them away from these two except their interpretation of your Lord’s words when she withdrew from her people to an eastern place; so they prayed towards the rising-place of the sun.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: when she withdrew from her people to an eastern place, he said: far off and set apart.
It was said that she went to a place adjoining the rising of the sun only because what lies towards the east was, in their view, better than what lies towards the west; and so too is this, according to what is reported, among the Arabs.
His words and took a screen apart from them: He says: she took, apart from her people, a covering that would screen her from them and from the people. It is reported from Ibn ʿAbbās that she went to a place adjoining the east because God shaded her with the sun and made of it a screen for her.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words she withdrew from her people to an eastern place, he said: a place where the sun shaded her, so that none of them should see her.
Others said about it what:
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: and took a screen apart from them: of walls.
His words Then We sent to her Our Spirit: He, Exalted be His mention, says: Then We sent to her, when she had withdrawn from her people to an eastern place and taken a screen apart from them, Gabriel.
The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.
Those who said this
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words Then We sent to her Our Spirit, he said: He sent to her, according to what has been related to us, Gabriel.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one whom he did not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: She found with her Gabriel, whom God had given the likeness of a well-formed human being.
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning His words Then We sent to her Our Spirit, he said: Gabriel.
Muḥammad ibn Sahl related to me: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil, the nephew of Wahb, related to me, saying: I heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: God sent Gabriel to Mary, and he appeared to her as a well-formed human being.
Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: When she became pure, meaning Mary, from her menstruation, there was a man with her; and that is His words Then We sent to her Our Spirit, and he appeared to her as a well-formed human being. He, Exalted be His mention, says: he took on for her the likeness of a human being of sound form among them, meaning in the form of a man of the sons of Adam, of well-proportioned build.
On 19:18-19
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: She said: I take refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing. (18) He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord, to bestow on you a pure boy (19) (19:18–19)
He, Exalted be His mention, says: Mary was afraid of Our messenger when he appeared to her as a well-formed human being, and she thought him a man who desired her for himself.
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning His words I take refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing, he said: She feared that he only desired her for himself.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: and he appeared to her as a well-formed human being: when she saw him she was frightened of him and said I take refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing.
So she said: I take refuge, O man, in the All-Merciful from you; she means: I seek protection in the All-Merciful from you, lest you obtain from me what He has forbidden to you, if you are one who fears Him, who guards against what He has made inviolable and avoids disobedience to Him; for whoever is God-fearing avoids that. And if this were construed as her meaning: I take refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you fear God with respect to my seeking protection and refuge in Him from you, that would be a sound construction.
As in:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one whom he did not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih: She said: I take refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing, she supposing him to be nothing other than a man of the sons of Adam.
Abū Kurayb related to us: Abū Bakr related to us, from ʿĀṣim, who said: Ibn Zayd said, and he mentioned the story of Mary, and said: She knew that the God-fearing man is a man of restraint when she said I take refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing. He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord. He, Exalted be His mention, says: So Our Spirit said to her: I am only a messenger of your Lord, O Mary; He has sent me to you to bestow on you a pure boy.
The reciters differed in the reading of this. The generality of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Iraq, other than Abū ʿAmr, read it li-ahaba laki (“that I may bestow on you”), with the meaning: I am only a messenger of your Lord; he says: He has sent me to you that I may bestow on you a pure boy, as a report of his words. Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ read it li-yahaba laki ghulāman zakiyyan (“that He may bestow on you a pure boy”), with the meaning: I am only a messenger of your Lord; He has sent me to you that God may bestow on you a pure boy.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct reading in this is that upon which the reciters of the garrison cities agree, which is li-ahaba laki, with the alif rather than the yāʾ, because it is so in the codices (maṣāḥif) of the Muslims, and upon it is the reading of their early and their later ones, apart from Abū ʿAmr; and it is not permissible to oppose them in what they have agreed upon, nor is it allowable for anyone to oppose their codices. The “pure” boy is one who is pure of sins; and so the Arabs say ghulām zākin and zakiyy, and ʿālin and ʿaliyy.
On 19:20-23
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: She said: How can I have a boy, when no human being has touched me, and I have not been unchaste? (20) He said: Thus said your Lord: It is easy for Me; and that We may make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us; and it is a matter decreed (21) (19:20–21)
He, Exalted be His mention, says: Mary said to Gabriel How can I have a boy: from what quarter shall I have a boy? Is it from a husband whom I marry, so that I am granted him from him, or will God originate his creation in me from nothing? when no human being has touched me of the children of Adam by lawful marriage, and I have not been, since none of them has touched me in the lawful way, unchaste: I have not acted unchastely and done that in the unlawful way, so as to have conceived him by fornication.
As in:
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: and I have not been unchaste, he says: a fornicatress. He said: Thus said your Lord: It is easy for Me: He, Exalted be His mention, says: Gabriel said to her: The matter is thus, as you describe, in that no human being has touched you and you have not been unchaste; but your Lord has said: It is easy for Me, that is: the creation of the boy whom I said I would bestow upon you is easy for Me; his creation, and his bestowal upon you without a male to impregnate you, is not difficult for Me.
and that We may make him a sign for mankind: He says: and so that We may make the boy whom We bestow upon you a token and a proof against My creatures, I bestow him upon you. and a mercy from Us: He says: and as a mercy from Us to you and to whoever believes in him and affirms him, I create him from you. and it is a matter decreed: He says: and his creation from you was a matter which God had decreed, and which had passed in His judgement and His prior knowledge, that it would come to be from you.
As in:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: one whom I do not suspect related to me, from Wahb ibn Munabbih: and it is a matter decreed, that is: God has resolved upon that, so there is no escaping it.
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: So she conceived him, and withdrew with him to a far-off place. (22) Then the pangs of childbirth drove her to the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Would that I had died before this and been a thing forgotten, out of mind! (23) (19:22–23)
In this speech there is something left out, omitted from mention because what is mentioned of it suffices to indicate it: “So We breathed into her of Our Spirit, with a boy, so she conceived him, and withdrew with him to a far-off place.” And so the interpretation of the people of interpretation has come.
Those who said this
Muḥammad ibn Sahl related to me: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil, the nephew of Wahb ibn Munabbih, related to me, saying: I heard Wahb say: When God sent Gabriel to Mary, he appeared to her as a well-formed human being, and she said to him I take refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing; then he breathed into the neck-opening of her shift, until the breath reached the womb, and she conceived.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one whom he did not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, who said: When he said that, meaning when Gabriel said He said: Thus said your Lord: It is easy for Me, to the end of the verse, she submitted to the command of God, and he breathed into the opening of her garment, then departed from her.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: She threw her outer wrap over herself when Gabriel said that to her, and Gabriel took hold of her two sleeves and breathed into the neck-opening of her shift, which was slit at the front; the breath entered her breast and she conceived. Then her sister, the wife of Zachariah, came to her one night to visit her, and when she opened the door to her she embraced her, and the wife of Zachariah said: “O Mary, do you know that I am pregnant?” Mary said: “And do you know that I too am pregnant?” The wife of Zachariah said: “I find that what is in my belly prostrates to what is in your belly.” And that is His words confirming a word from God (3:39).
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, who said: Ibn Jurayj said: They say that he breathed only into the neck-opening of her shift and her sleeve.
His words and withdrew with him to a far-off place: He says: she went apart with the one she had conceived, namely Jesus, and withdrew with him from the people to a far-off place; He says: a remote place, distant from the people. One says: he is in a place that is qāṣin, and qaṣiyy, with one and the same meaning, as the rajaz-poet1 said:
You shall surely sit in the seat of one far removed
from me, a man of foul ways, detested.
From it one says qaṣā al-makānu yaqṣū quṣuwwan, when it is far off; and aqṣaytu al-shayʾa, when you have put a thing far away and set it back.
The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.
Those who said this
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words and withdrew with him to a far-off place, he said: a remote place.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me: al-Ḥasan related to us: Warqāʾ related to us; both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His words a far-off place, he said: distant.
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, the like of it.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: When the time came for Mary to give birth, she went out to the eastern side of the sanctuary and came to its furthest part.
His words Then the pangs of childbirth drove her to the trunk of the palm-tree: He, Exalted be His mention, says: the labour pains brought her to the trunk of the palm-tree. Then it was said that when the bāʾ was dropped from it, it became ajāʾahā, just as one says ataytuka bi-Zayd (“I came to you with Zayd”), and when you drop the bāʾ it is said ātaytuka Zaydan (“I brought you Zayd”), as He, Majestic is His praise, said Bring me pieces of iron (18:96), the meaning being “come to me with pieces of iron”, except that the alif was lengthened when the bāʾ was dropped; and as they said kharajtu bihi and akhrajtuhu (“I went out with it” and “I brought it out”), and dhahabtu bihi and adhhabtuhu (“I went off with it” and “I took it away”). It is simply the afʿala form from majīʾ (coming), as one says jāʾa huwa (“he came”) and ajaʾtuhu anā (“I made him come”), that is, I brought him. Among the proverbs of the Arabs is: “It is an evil thing that has driven me (ajāʾanī) to the marrow of a hock”,2 and also ashāʾa; it is said: “an evil thing it is that drives you (yujīʾuka) and forces you (yushīʾuka) to that”; and from this is the saying of Zuhayr:3
And many a protégé who journeyed, making straight for you,
whom fear and hope together drove on.
He means: brought him, and drove him to us. Ashāʾaka is of the dialect of Tamīm, and ajāʾaka of the dialect of the people of al-ʿĀliyah.4 Those who interpreted it with the meaning “compelled her” (aljaʾahā) did so only because when the labour pains brought her to the trunk of the palm-tree, they had thereby compelled her to it.
The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.
Those who said this
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me: al-Ḥasan related to us: Warqāʾ related to us; both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His words Then the pangs of childbirth drove her, he said: the labour pains compelled her.
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, who said: the labour pains compelled her. Ibn Jurayj said: And Ibn ʿAbbās said: the labour pains compelled her to the trunk of the palm-tree.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: Then the pangs of childbirth drove her to the trunk of the palm-tree, he says: the labour pains compelled her to the trunk of the palm-tree.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words Then the pangs of childbirth drove her to the trunk of the palm-tree, he said: they forced her to the trunk of the palm-tree.
They differed as to which was the place to which Mary withdrew with Jesus to give birth to him, and to which the labour pains drove her.
- Some of them said: That was in the nearest part of the land of Egypt and the furthest part of the land of Syria; for she fled from her people when she conceived and set out towards Egypt, fleeing from them.
Those who said this
Muḥammad ibn Sahl related to us: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: When Mary conceived, there was with her a kinsman of hers called Joseph the Carpenter, and the two of them used to go to the temple which is by Mount Zion; that temple was in those days among the greatest of their places of worship. Mary and Joseph used to serve in that temple at that time, and its service carried great merit, so they were eager for it, and they used to undertake its upkeep with their own hands: its adornment, its sweeping and its purification, and every work that was done in it; and none of the people of their time worked more strenuously or more devoutly than those two. The first to notice Mary’s pregnancy was her companion Joseph. When he saw what was with her he found it monstrous; it weighed heavily upon him and he was appalled by it, and he did not know on what footing to place her affair. Whenever Joseph wished to suspect her, he remembered her righteousness and her innocence, and that she had never been absent from him for a single hour; and whenever he wished to acquit her, he saw what had appeared upon her. When this became too hard for him he spoke to her, and the first of his speech to her was that he said to her: “There has arisen in my mind concerning you a matter which I have feared; I have been anxious to kill it and conceal it within myself, but it has overcome me, and I have found that speaking of it is more healing for my breast.” She said: “Then say a fair word.” He said: “I would say to you nothing but that. So tell me: does a crop grow without seed?” She said: “Yes.” He said: “Does a tree grow without rain falling upon it?” She said: “Yes.” He said: “Can there be a child without a male?” She said: “Yes. Do you not know that God, Blessed and Exalted, made the crop grow on the day He created it without seed, and that seed on that day came only from the crop which God had made grow without seed? Or do you not know that God by His power made the trees grow without rain, and that by that same power He made rain the life of the trees after He had created each one of them separately? Or do you say that God was not able to make the trees grow until He sought the help of water for it, and that had it not been for that He would not have been able to make them grow?” Joseph said to her: “I do not say this; but I know that God, Blessed and Exalted, by His power over whatever He wills, says to it ‘Be’, and it is.” Mary said: “Or do you not know that God, Blessed and Exalted, created Adam and his wife without female or male?” He said: “Indeed yes.” When she said that to him, it fell into his mind that what was with her was something from God, Blessed and Exalted, and that it was not for him to question her about it, because of what he saw of her keeping it concealed. Then Joseph took over the service of the temple and spared her every work she used to do in it, because of what he saw of the thinness of her body, the yellowness of her complexion, the blotching of her face, the swelling of her belly, the weakness of her strength and the constant fixedness of her gaze; and Mary had not been like that before. When her confinement drew near, God revealed to her: Go out from the land of your people, for if they lay hold of you they will reproach you and kill your child. So she confided that to her sister, and her sister at that time was pregnant, having been given the glad tidings of John; and when the two met, the mother of John felt what was in her belly fall down upon its face in prostration, acknowledging Jesus. So Joseph carried her towards the land of Egypt on a donkey of his, there being nothing between her, when she mounted, and the pack-saddle. Joseph went on with her until, when he was on the border of the land of Egypt, at the furthest limit of the country of her people, the birth-pangs overtook Mary and compelled her to a donkey’s manger, meaning the donkey’s feeding-trough, and the foot of a palm-tree; and that was in a season which, I think, was cold, or hot (the doubt is from Abū Jaʿfar). The labour pains became severe for Mary, and when she felt their severity she took refuge at the palm-tree and clasped it, and the angels surrounded her, standing in rows encircling her.
Another opinion, other than this, has been related from Wahb ibn Munabbih, namely what:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one whom he did not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: When her delivery drew near, meaning Mary, and she felt what a woman feels of the pangs of labour, she went out of the city, departing from Aelia,5 so that the birth should overtake her at a village six miles from Aelia called Bethlehem; and the labour pains drove her to the foot of a palm-tree, beside which was a cow’s manger, and beneath it a spring of water; and she gave birth to him there.
- Others said: Rather, when the time came for her to deliver what was in her belly, she went out to the eastern side of the sanctuary and came to its furthest part, and the labour pains compelled her to the trunk of the palm-tree. That is the opinion of al-Suddī, and I have already mentioned the report of it before.
Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah related to me: Ḥajjāj related to us, who said: Ibn Jurayj said: al-Mughīrah ibn ʿUthmān informed me, saying: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: It was nothing but that she conceived and gave birth.
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: And al-Mughīrah ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed me that he heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: It was no more than that she conceived and gave birth.
His words Would that I had died before this: It is mentioned that she said that while in the pangs of labour, out of shame before the people.
As in:
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: She said, while in the pangs of labour from the pregnancy, out of shame before the people: Would that I had died before this and been a thing forgotten, out of mind!
She says: would that I had died before this distress in which I am, and the grief of my giving birth to a child without a husband, and been a thing forgotten, out of mind (nasyan mansiyyan): something forgotten, the seeking of which has been abandoned, like the menstrual rags which, once thrown away and discarded, are neither sought nor remembered; and likewise everything that is forgotten and abandoned and not sought is a nasy. Nasy, with fatḥa on the nūn and with kasra, are two well-known dialectal forms among the dialects of the Arabs with a single meaning, like watr and witr, and jasr and jisr; and whichever of the two the reciter reads, he is correct in our view. With kasra the generality of the reciters of the Ḥijāz, Medina and Baṣra, and some of the people of Kūfa, read it; and with fatḥa the people of Kūfa read it. From this is the saying of the poet:6
As though she had upon the ground some forgotten thing she was tracking
whenever she went forth in the morning; and if she speaks to you, she speaks fair and true.
By his saying taquṣṣuhu he means: she seeks it, because she had forgotten it until it was lost, then remembered it and sought it; and by his saying tablit he means: she speaks well and truthfully. And if nasy were construed as the verbal noun of nisyān (forgetting), that would be correct, because the Arabs, according to what is reported of them, say nasītuhu nisyānan and nasyan, just as one of them said “of obedience to the Lord and disobedience (ʿaṣy) of Satan”, meaning ʿiṣyān; and as you say ataytuhu ityānan and atyan, as the poet said:
The committing of abominations among them is a thing well known,
while they deem the doing of noble deeds forbidden.
His words out of mind (mansiyyan): a passive participle from nasītu al-shayʾa (“I forgot the thing”); it is as if she said: Would that I were the thing that is cast away, abandoned and forgotten.
The people of interpretation said the like of what we have said about this.
Those who said this
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī informed me, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words Would that I had died before this and been a thing forgotten, out of mind: I had not been created, and had not been anything.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: and been a thing forgotten, out of mind, he says: nasyan: my mention forgotten; and mansiyyan, she says: my trace forgotten, so that neither trace nor substance of me is seen.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: and been a thing forgotten, out of mind: that is, something neither known nor remembered.
al-Ḥasan related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words and been a thing forgotten, out of mind, he said: I not being known, nor it being known who I am.
al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Abū Jaʿfar, from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: a thing forgotten, out of mind, he said: it is the miscarried foetus.
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words Would that I had died before this and been a thing forgotten, out of mind: I had never been anything on the earth at all.
On 19:24-25
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: Then he called to her from beneath her: Do not grieve; your Lord has placed beneath you a stream. (24) And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you fresh, ripe dates. (25) (19:24-25)
The reciters differed over the reading of this. The generality of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Iraq read it fa-nādāhā min taḥtihā, then he called to her from beneath her, meaning: then Gabriel called to her from in front of her, though they differed among themselves in its interpretation: some of them, when reading it min taḥtihā in that way, interpreted it thus, while some of them interpreted it to mean that it was Jesus, and that he called to her from beneath her after she had given birth to him. Some of the reciters of Kufa and Basra read it fa-nādāhā man taḥtahā, with the vowel a on both tāʾs of taḥt,7 meaning: then the one who was beneath her called to her, on the basis that the one beneath her was Jesus, and that it was he who called to his mother.
Those who said: the one who called to her from beneath her was the angel
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin related to us, who said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās recite then he called to her from beneath her, meaning: Gabriel.
Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Yūnus related to me: ʿAbthar informed us: Ḥuṣayn related to us, from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn al-Awdī, who said: The one who called to her was the angel.
Ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū Aḥmad related to us: Sufyān related to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAlqamah, that he recited: then he addressed her from beneath her (fa-khāṭabahā min taḥtihā).
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us: Yaḥyā related to us: Sufyān related to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAlqamah, that he recited: then he addressed her from beneath her.
Al-Rifāʿī related to us: Wakīʿ related to us, from his father, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAlqamah, that he recited it thus.
Ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū ʿĀmir related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk: then he called to her from beneath her: he said: Gabriel.
Ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, from Sufyān, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the like of it.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: then he called to her from beneath her: that is, from beneath the palm tree.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: then he called to her, Gabriel, from beneath her: Do not grieve.
Al-Ḥasan related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words then he called to her from beneath her: he said: the angel.
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 then he called to her from beneath her: meaning: Gabriel; he was lower down than she was.
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: then he called to her from beneath her: he said: Gabriel called to her, and Jesus did not speak until she came to her people.
Those who said: Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) called to her
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, on His words then he called to her from beneath her: he said: Jesus son of Mary.
Ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū ʿĀmir related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the like of it.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me: al-Ḥasan related to us: Warqāʾ related to us; both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the like of it.
Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, the like of it.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan: then he called to her from beneath her: her son.
Al-Ḥasan related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, who said: al-Ḥasan said: It is her son.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih: then he called to her, Jesus, from beneath her: Do not grieve.
Abū Ḥumayd Aḥmad ibn al-Mughīrah al-Ḥimṣī related to me: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us: Muḥammad ibn Muhājir related to us, from Thābit ibn ʿAjlān, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on His words then he called to her from beneath her: he said: Jesus. Do you not hear God say then she pointed to him (19:29)?
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said: then he called to her from beneath her: he said: Jesus; he called to her from beneath her: Do not grieve; your Lord has placed beneath you a stream.
I was told on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah al-Riyāḥī, from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, who said: The one who addressed her was the one whom she had carried in her womb and who had entered by way of her mouth.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more fitting of the two opinions on this, in our view, is the opinion of those who said: the one who called to her was her son Jesus. That is because, of the pronouns that refer to him, this one is nearer to the mention of him than it is to the mention of Gabriel, and referring it back to that which is nearer to it is more fitting than referring it back to that which is further from it. Do you not see that in the sequence of His words So she conceived him, and withdrew with him to a far-off place (19:22), by which He means: so she conceived Jesus and withdrew with him, it is then said: then he called to her, following on in order from that mention of Jesus and the account of him? And for another reason, namely His words then she pointed to him (19:29): she would not have pointed to him, God willing, unless she already knew that he could speak in that condition of his, and on account of what she had come to know and to trust of him through his addressing her with his words to her, Do not grieve; your Lord has placed beneath you a stream, and through what God has related of him, that he said to her: point the people to him. Had that been a saying of Gabriel, it would have been fitting that there be, in the plain sense of the account, a clear statement that Jesus would speak and argue on her behalf before the people, and a command from Gabriel to her that she point the people to him when they asked her about her condition and his.
If that is the correct interpretation, as we have explained, then it is clear that both readings, I mean min taḥtihā with the vowel i and man taḥtahā with the vowel a, are correct. That is because when it is read with i, there is in His words then he called to her a pronoun referring to Jesus; and when man taḥtahā is read with a, the verb belongs to man, the one who, and that is Jesus. The interpretation of the words, then, is: then the newborn called to her from beneath her: do not grieve, O my mother; your Lord has placed beneath you a stream.
As in the following:
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words then he called to her from beneath her: Do not grieve: She said: How should I not grieve when you are with me, and I am neither a married woman, that I might say he is from a husband, nor a slave woman, that I might say he is from my master? What excuse have I before the people? Would that I had died before this and been a thing forgotten, out of mind! (19:23). So Jesus said to her: I will spare you the speaking.
The people of interpretation differed over what is meant by the stream (sarī) in this place. Some of them said: by it is meant the small river.
Those who said this
Ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: Sufyān related to us, from Abū Isḥāq, from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: he said: the rivulet (jadwal).
Ibn Bashshār related to us: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us: Shuʿbah related to us, from Abū Isḥāq, who said: I heard al-Barāʾ say concerning this verse, your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: he said: the rivulet.
ʿAlī related to me: ʿAbd Allāh related to us: Muʿāwiyah related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, on His words your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: and it is the river of Jesus.
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 your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: he said: The sarī is the river that was beneath Mary when she gave birth to him; it was flowing, and it was called a sarī.
Abū Ḥuṣayn related to me: ʿAbthar related to us: Ḥuṣayn related to us, from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn al-Awdī, who said concerning this verse, your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: he said: The sarī is a river from which one drinks.
Yaʿqūb and Abū Kurayb related to us, both saying: Hushaym related to us: Ḥuṣayn informed us, from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, concerning His words your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: he said: It is the rivulet.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me: al-Ḥasan related to us: Warqāʾ related to us; both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid: a stream: he said: a river, in Syriac.
Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, the like of it. Ibn Jurayj said: a river beside her.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū Dāwūd related to us: Shuʿbah related to us, from Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: he said: He was a sarī.8 Then Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said: The sarī is the rivulet. And he said: The commanders have got the better of us over you.
Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, from Abū Ḥuṣayn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: he said: It is the rivulet, the small river; in Nabataean it is al-sarī.
Abū Ḥumayd al-Ḥimṣī related to me: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us: Muḥammad ibn Muhājir related to us, from Thābit ibn ʿAjlān, who said: I asked Saʿīd ibn Jubayr about the sarī, and he said: a river.
Abū Kurayb related to us: Hushaym related to us, from Mughīrah, from Ibrāhīm, who said: the small river.
Yaʿqūb related to me: Hushaym related to us: Mughīrah informed us, from Ibrāhīm, that he said: It is the small river, meaning the rivulet; he means His words your Lord has placed beneath you a stream.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Salamah ibn Nubayṭ, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: a small rivulet, in Syriac.
It was related to us on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh, who said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, who said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words beneath you a stream: the small rivulet among rivers.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: and the sarī is the rivulet; so the people of the Ḥijāz name it.
Al-Ḥasan related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us: Maʿmar informed us, concerning His words a stream: he said: It is a rivulet.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, and from Wahb ibn Munabbih: your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: meaning a channel of water.
Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: and the sarī is the river.
Others said: by it He meant Jesus.
Those who said this
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan: your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: and the sarī is Jesus himself.
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words your Lord has placed beneath you a stream: He means himself. He said: And what thing is more eminent (asrā) than he? He said: As for those who say that the sarī is the river, the river is not like that: had it been the river, it would only have been beside her, and a river is not beneath her.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The more fitting of the two opinions on this, in my view, as regards correctness, is the opinion of those who said: by it He meant the rivulet. That is because he was informing her of what God had brought to her, of the water that He had placed by her, and he said to her, And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you fresh, ripe dates. So eat, of these fresh dates, and drink, of this water, and be comforted (19:25-26), by your child. And the sarī is well known in the speech of the Arabs as the small river. From this is the saying of Labīd:9
So the two of them went into the midst of the breadth of the stream (sarī) and cleft
a brimming pool, its rushes growing close together.
It is also transmitted as fīnā masjūrah, and it is also transmitted as fa-ghādarā, and the two left behind.
His words: And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree (19:25)
It is mentioned that the trunk was a dry trunk, and that he commanded her to shake it, this being in the days of winter; and her shaking it was her moving it.
As in the following:
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree: he said: move it.
Those who said this
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: And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree: he said: It was a dry trunk, and he said to her: shake it, it will drop upon you fresh, ripe dates.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin related to us, who said: I heard Abū Nahīk say: It was a dry palm tree.
Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar related to me: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me, who said: I heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say concerning His words And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree: and the fresh dates kept falling upon her, and that was in winter.
Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree: it was a trunk cut off from the tree, and she shook it, and behold, it was a palm tree; and a river was made to flow for her in the sanctuary (miḥrāb), and the palm tree dropped fresh, ripe dates. Then he said to her, So eat and drink and be comforted (19:26).
Others said: Rather, the meaning of that is: and shake towards you the palm tree.
Those who said this
Ibn Bashshār related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: Sufyān related to us, who said: Mujāhid said: And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree: he said: the palm tree.
Ibn Bashshār related to us: Abū Aḥmad related to us: Sufyān related to us, from ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn, from Mujāhid, concerning His words And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree: he said: the ʿajwah.10
Yaʿqūb related to me: Hushaym related to us: Ḥuṣayn informed us, from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, that he recited this verse, And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you fresh, ripe dates, and ʿAmr said: There is nothing better for a woman in childbed than dried dates and fresh dates.
The bāʾ was introduced in His words wa-huzzī ilayki bi-jidhʿ al-nakhlah, and shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree, just as one says zawwajtuka fulānah and zawwajtuka bi-fulānah, I married you to so-and-so, and as He said tanbutu bi-l-duhn, it produces oil (23:20), meaning tanbutu al-duhn.
The Arabs only do that because verbs are alluded to by means of the bāʾ: when one alludes to I struck ʿAmr, one says faʿaltu bihi, I did it to him, and likewise with every verb. For that reason the bāʾ is introduced upon verbs and dropped from them, and its introduction and its omission bear one meaning. So the meaning of the words is: and shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree. And had the exegetes interpreted it as: and shake towards you fresh dates by the trunk of the palm tree, in the sense of: upon the trunk of the palm tree, that too would have been a sound construal; but I do not recall of anyone that he interpreted it so. Among the evidence for the bāʾ being introduced in a position where its introduction and its omission are alike is the saying of the poet:
In a Yemeni valley whose upper part grows the lote tree,
and its lower part the markh and the shabahān.11
The reciters differed over the reading of His words tassāqaṭ, it will drop. The generality of the reciters of Medina, Basra and Kufa read it tassāqaṭ, with a tāʾ, from tasāqaṭa, and with doubling of the sīn, meaning: the palm tree will drop (tatasāqaṭ) upon you fresh, ripe dates, one of the two tāʾs then being assimilated into the other so that it is doubled. It is as though those who read it thus directed the meaning of the words to: and shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree, the palm tree will drop upon you fresh dates. Some of the reciters of Kufa read it tasāqaṭ, with a tāʾ and lightening of the sīn, and they directed the meaning of the words to the same as that to which those who doubled it directed it, except that they differed from them in the reading. And it is transmitted from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib that he read it yusāqiṭ, with a yāʾ.
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related that to me: al-Qāsim related to us: Yazīd related to us, from Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, from Abū Isḥāq, who said: I heard al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib recite it thus. It is as though he directed the meaning of the words to: and shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree, the trunk will drop upon you fresh, ripe dates.
And it is transmitted from Abū Nahīk that he used to read it tusqiṭ, with the vowel u on the tāʾ and omission of the alif.
Ibn Ḥumayd related that to us: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin related to us, who said: I heard Abū Nahīk recite it thus. It is as though he directed the meaning of the words to: the palm tree will let fall upon you fresh, ripe dates.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct opinion on this, in my view, is to say that these three readings, I mean tassāqaṭ with a tāʾ and doubling of the sīn, with a tāʾ and lightening of the sīn, and with a yāʾ and doubling of the sīn, are readings close to one another in meaning, each one of which has been read by reciters possessed of knowledge of the Qurʾān; so by whichever of them the reciter reads, he hits upon what is correct in it. That is because when the trunk drops fresh dates while it stands fixed and uncut, the palm tree has dropped fresh dates; and when the palm tree has dropped fresh dates, the palm tree in its entirety has dropped them, its trunk and what is other than its trunk. For as long as the palm tree stands upon its root, it is nothing but trunk, frond-stalks and fronds; it is when it is cut down that it becomes a trunk (jidhʿ). And as for the trunk which Mary was commanded to shake, no one we know of mentioned that it was a cut trunk except al-Suddī, and he claimed that through her shaking it, it became a palm tree once more. So his meaning and the meaning of those who said that what dropped fresh dates upon her was a palm tree have become one, and by that the soundness of what we have said is made clear.
His words: ripe (janiyyan)
He means: gathered (majnī). Its original form was the pattern mafʿūl, and it was turned into the pattern faʿīl. The gathered (majnī) is that which is taken while fresh; and whatever is taken from a fruit tree, or moved from its place while still fresh, has been gathered (ujtuniya). For that reason it is said: so-and-so gathers (yajtanī) truffles. From this is the saying of the son of the sister of Jadhīmah:12
This is my gathering, and the choicest of it is in it,
whereas every gatherer’s hand goes to his mouth.
On 19:26
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: So eat and drink and be comforted; and if you see any human being, say: I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human. (26) (19:26)
He says, Exalted be His mention: So eat of the fresh dates that fall upon you, and drink of the water of the stream that your Lord has placed beneath you; fear neither hunger nor thirst. And be comforted (wa-qarrī ʿaynan, literally: be cool of eye): He says: be of good cheer and rejoice at your giving birth to me, and do not grieve. The eye (ʿaynan) is put in the accusative because it is the eye that is described as being cooled. The meaning of the words is in fact: and let your eye be cooled by your child; then the verb was transferred from the eye to the woman who is the possessor of the eye, and the eye was put in the accusative, since in the original sense, according to the explanation, the verb belonged to it. This is comparable to what was done in His words but if they are pleased, of their own soul, to remit to you any part of it (4:4), which is in fact: but if their souls are pleased for you.
And His words and he was straitened for them in capacity (11:77).13
And from this are His words yusāqiṭ ʿalayki ruṭaban janiyyan, it will drop upon you fresh, ripe dates (19:25): it is in fact: the fresh dates of the trunk will fall upon you, and then the verb was transferred to the trunk, in the reading of those who read it with a yāʾ. And in the reading of those who read tusāqiṭ with a tāʾ, its meaning is: the fresh dates of the palm tree will fall upon you, and then the verb was transferred to the palm tree.
The reciters differed over the reading of His words wa-qarrī, and be comforted.
As for the people of Medina, they read it wa-qarrī, with the vowel a on the qāf, according to the dialect of those who say qarirtu bi-l-makān aqarru bihi, I settled in the place, and qarirtu ʿaynan aqarru bihi qurūran, I was cooled of eye; this is the dialect of Quraysh, according to what has been mentioned to me, and upon it rests the reading.
As for the people of Najd, they say qarartu bihi ʿaynan aqirru bihi qarāran and qarartu bi-l-makān aqirru bihi; so the reading according to their dialect is wa-qirrī ʿaynan, with the vowel i on the qāf. The reading in our view is according to the dialect of Quraysh, with the vowel a on the qāf.
His words: and if you see any human being (19:26)
He says: if you see any of the children of Adam speaking to you, or questioning you about anything of your affair and the affair of your child and the cause of your giving birth to him, say: I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast: He says: say: I have made obligatory upon myself, for God, a silence, that I shall not speak to any of the children of Adam today; so I shall not speak today to any human.
The like of what we have said concerning the meaning of the fast was said by the people of interpretation.
Those who said this
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us: Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, from his father, who said: I heard Anas ibn Mālik say concerning this verse, I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast: a silence.
Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah related to me: Ḥajjāj related to us: Ibn Jurayj informed us, who said: al-Mughīrah ibn ʿUthmān informed me, who said: I heard Anas ibn Mālik say: I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast: he said: a silence.
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 I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast: he said: by the fast He means silence.
Yaʿqūb related to me: Ibn ʿUlayyah related to us, from Sulaymān al-Taymī, who said: I heard Anas recite: and I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast and a silence (wa-innī nadhartu li-l-Raḥmān ṣawman wa-ṣamtan).
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah: I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast: as for His words a fast, she fasted from food, drink and speech.
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 I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast: he said: Among the Children of Israel there were those who, when they strove in devotion, would fast from speech as one fasts from food, except for the remembrance of God. So he said that to her, and she said: I am fasting from speech as I fast from food, except for the remembrance of God. So when they spoke to her, she pointed to him, and they said How shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child? (19:29). And he answered them and said I am the servant of God; He has given me the Book (19:30), as far as That is Jesus son of Mary, the word of truth, concerning which they are in doubt (19:34).
They differed over the reason on account of which he commanded her to fast from speaking to human beings. Some of them said: he commanded her to do that because she had no manifest argument before the people, for she had come, being an unmarried woman, with a child; so she was commanded to refrain from speech, so that her child might suffice her in speaking.
Those who said this
Hārūn ibn Isḥāq al-Hamdānī related to us: Muṣʿab ibn al-Miqdām related to us: Isrāʾīl related to us: Abū Isḥāq related to us, from Ḥārithah, who said: I was with Ibn Masʿūd when two men came; one of them gave the greeting of peace and the other did not. He said: What is the matter with you? His companions said: He has sworn that he will not speak to people today. ʿAbd Allāh said: Speak to people and greet them with peace; for that was a woman who knew that no one would believe her that she had conceived without a husband, meaning by that Mary (peace be upon her).
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said: When Jesus said to Mary Do not grieve (19:24), she said: How should I not grieve when you are with me, and I am neither a married woman nor a slave woman? What excuse have I before the people? Would that I had died before this and been a thing forgotten, out of mind! (19:23). So Jesus said to her: I will spare you the speaking. And if you see any human being, say: I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human. He said: All of this is the speech of Jesus to his mother.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih: And if you see any human being, say: I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human: for I shall spare you the speaking.
Others said: that was simply a sign for Mary and her son.
Those who said this
Al-Ḥasan related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast: he said: In some of the readings (ḥurūf): a silence. That is because you will not meet any ignorant woman who says: I have vowed, as Mary vowed, not to speak for a day until night. God only made that a sign for Mary and for her son, and it is not lawful for anyone to vow a day’s silence until night.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah; he recited I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast, and it used to be read in the first reading (al-ḥarf al-awwal): a silence; it was simply a sign that God sent for Mary and her son.
Others said: Rather, she was fasting on that day, and one who fasted in that age would fast from food, drink and speaking to people; so Mary was permitted this measure of speech on that day while she was fasting.
Those who said this
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: And if you see any human being who speaks to you, say: I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human: whoever fasted in that age would not speak until evening; so it was said to her: do not add to this.
On 19:27
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said: O Mary, you have done a monstrous thing. (27) (19:27)
He says, Exalted be His mention: When Jesus said that to his mother, her soul was set at rest, she submitted to the command of God, and she carried him until she brought him to her people.
As in the following:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: The anguish of the trial and the fear of people made her, meaning Mary, forget what she used to hear from the angels of the glad tidings of Jesus; until, when he spoke to her, meaning Jesus, and there came to her the confirmation of what God had promised her, she took him up and then came with him to her people.
And al-Suddī said about this what follows:
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: When she gave birth to him, Satan went and informed the Children of Israel that Mary had given birth; so they came running and called her, and she brought him to her people, carrying him.
His words: They said: O Mary, you have done a monstrous thing (19:27)
He says, Exalted be His mention: When they saw Mary, and saw with her the child to whom she had given birth, they said to her: O Mary, you have come with an astonishing matter and brought about a grave event. Everyone who does a deed and does it thoroughly and well has wrought it (farāhu), as the rajaz poet said:14
You have fed me poor dates of Ḥujr,
and yet over them you used to work the mighty work.
The like of what we have said about this was said by the people of interpretation.
Those who said this
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me: al-Ḥasan related to us: Warqāʾ related to us; both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, on the words of God, Exalted, monstrous: he said: grave.
Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, the like of it.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, on His words you have done a monstrous thing: he said: grave.
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: you have done a monstrous thing: he said: grave.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: When they saw her, and saw him with her, they said: O Mary, you have done a monstrous thing: that is, an indecency beyond compare.
On 19:28
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste. (28) (19:28)
The people of interpretation differed over the reason on account of which it was said to her: O sister of Aaron, and over who this Aaron was whom God mentioned, relating that they attributed Mary to him as his sister. Some of them said: it was said to her O sister of Aaron as an attribution by them of her to righteousness, because the righteous among them used to be named Aaron; and he is not Aaron the brother of Moses.
Those who said this
Al-Ḥasan related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words O sister of Aaron: he said: There was a righteous man among the Children of Israel named Aaron, and they likened her to him and said: O you who resemble Aaron in righteousness.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, on His words O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste: he said: She was of a household known for righteousness and not known for corruption. Among people there are those who are known for righteousness and beget offspring in it, and others who are known for corruption and beget offspring in it. Aaron was a righteous man, beloved among his kinsfolk; and he is not Aaron the brother of Moses, but another Aaron. He said: And it has been mentioned to us that on the day he died forty thousand followed his bier, all of them named Aaron, from the Children of Israel.
Yaʿqūb related to me: Ibn ʿUlayyah related to us, from Saʿīd ibn Abī Ṣadaqah, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, who said: I was informed that Kaʿb said: As for His words O sister of Aaron, this is not Aaron the brother of Moses. He said: ʿĀʾishah said to him: You have lied. He said: O Mother of the Believers, if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said it, then he knows best and is better informed; otherwise, I find between the two of them six hundred years. He said: So she fell silent.
Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words O sister of Aaron: he said: A name coincided with a name. How many nations there were between Aaron and the two of them, nations upon nations!
Abū Kurayb, Ibn al-Muthannā, Sufyān, Ibn Wakīʿ and Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, all saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs al-Awdī related to us, who said: I heard my father mention, from Simāk ibn Ḥarb, from ʿAlqamah ibn Wāʾil, from al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me to the people of Najrān, and they said to me: Do you not recite O sister of Aaron? I said: Yes indeed. And you know what interval there was between Jesus and Moses. So I returned to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him, and he said: “Why did you not inform them that they used to name themselves after their prophets and the righteous who were before them?”
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us: ʿAmr related to us, from Simāk ibn Ḥarb, from ʿAlqamah ibn Wāʾil, from al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me on one of his errands to the people of Najrān, and they said: Does your Prophet not claim that Aaron the brother of Mary is the brother of Moses? I did not know what to answer them until I returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and mentioned that to him, and he said: “They used to name themselves with the names of those who were before them.”
Some of them said: by him is meant Aaron the brother of Moses, and Mary was attributed to him as his sister because she was of his descendants; one says to a Tamīmī: O brother of Tamīm, and to a Muḍarī: O brother of Muḍar.
Those who said this
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: O sister of Aaron: he said: She was of the descendants of Aaron the brother of Moses, and it is as you say: O brother of the Banū So-and-so.
Others said: Rather, that was a man among them who was dissolute and open in his dissoluteness, and they attributed her to him.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct opinion on this is what the report from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) which we have mentioned has brought: that she was attributed to a man of her people.
His words: your father was not a man of evil (19:28)
He says: your father was not a man of evil who committed indecencies; nor was your mother unchaste: He says: nor was your mother a fornicatress.
As in the following:
Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: nor was your mother unchaste: he said: a fornicatress.
He said nor was your mother unchaste (baghiyyan), and did not say baghiyyah, because that is one of the things by which women are described to the exclusion of men, so it followed the course of imraʾah ḥāʾiḍ, a menstruating woman, and ṭāliq, a divorced woman. Some of them used to liken that to their saying milḥafah jadīd, a new wrapper, and imraʾah qatīl, a slain woman.
On 19:29
On the interpretation of His words, Exalted: Then she pointed to him. They said: How shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child? (29) (19:29)
He says, Exalted be His mention: When her people said that to her, she said to them what Jesus had commanded her to say to them, and then she pointed them to Jesus, that they should speak to him.
As in the following:
Mūsā related to us: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: When they said to her your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste (19:28), she said to them what God had commanded her; and when after that they pressed her to speak, she pointed to him, to Jesus.
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, on His words then she pointed to him: he said: she bade them speak to him.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih: then she pointed to him: he says: she pointed to him, that they should speak to him.
Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, on His words then she pointed to him: that they should speak to him.
His words: They said: How shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child? (19:29)
He says, Exalted be His mention: her people said to her: How shall we speak to one who is found in the cradle? The verb kāna in His words one who is in the cradle, a child has the meaning of the complete verb, not that which requires a predicate.15 It is similar in meaning to the kāna in His words Am I anything but a human being, a messenger? (17:93), the meaning of which is: am I anything but a human being, a messenger? and: was I found, or was I sent, as anything other? And as Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā said:
I urged on along it a noble she-camel of Arḥab,16
when the colour of the night had become like black-dyed leather.
meaning: and it had become, or was found. And it is said that by the cradle in this place He meant the lap of his mother.
Those who said this
Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: one who is in the cradle, a child: and the cradle is the lap.
Abū Jaʿfar said: We have already explained the meaning of the cradle in what has preceded, with its evidences, and that dispenses with repeating it in this place.
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 birth of Jesus (19:16-37): all commentaries · Part 2 → · The classical commentaries
Notes
- Ruʾbah ibn al-ʿAjjāj, the Umayyad-era master of the rajaz metre. ↩
- The hock has no marrow; only one in utter want would resort to it, so the proverb is said of being driven by necessity to what is worthless. ↩
- Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā, the pre-Islamic poet. ↩
- The highlands around Medina and the Ḥijāz, whose Arabic the grammarians often cite. ↩
- Īliyāʾ, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, from Aelia Capitolina. ↩
- Al-Shanfarā, the pre-Islamic outlaw-poet; the verse describes a modest woman who walks with her eyes on the ground as though tracing a thing she had lost. ↩
- That is, the reading man taḥtahā, “the one who was beneath her”, with a on man and on the final letter of taḥta, as against min taḥtihā, “from beneath her”, with i. ↩
- Al-Ḥasan here takes sarī in its other sense, “noble, eminent”, as a description of Jesus; see the second opinion below. ↩
- Labīd ibn Rabīʿah al-ʿĀmirī, the pre-Islamic poet and Companion; the line is from his Muʿallaqah, describing a wild ass and his mate coming down to water. ↩
- ʿAjwah is a prized variety of date palm, especially associated with Medina. ↩
- The markh is a desert tree whose wood kindles readily; the shabahān is a thorny shrub of the Yemen. The line is cited because bi-l-markh has the bāʾ where plain al-markh would mean the same. ↩
- ʿAmr ibn ʿAdī al-Lakhmī, nephew of the Lakhmid king Jadhīmah al-Abrash. Sent out with others to gather truffles for the king, he alone brought back the best of what he found instead of eating it, and said these words, which became a proverb for one who gives his companion the pick of what he has. ↩
- Ḍāqa bihim dharʿan, in which dharʿan, capacity, stands in the accusative in the same way as ʿaynan and nafsan in the examples just given. ↩
- The lines are ascribed to Zurārah ibn Ṣaʿb, addressing a woman of the Banū ʿĀmir. Daqal is the poorest grade of date, and ḥujrī refers to Ḥujr, a town of al-Yamāmah. To “work the mighty work” (yafrī al-fariyya) is to do something prodigious; the poet mocks her for making a great show over worthless dates. ↩
- That is, kāna here is the full verb meaning “to come to be, to exist”, not the copula “to be” that links a subject to a predicate. ↩
- Arḥab is a clan of Hamdān to which a famous breed of riding camels was attributed. ↩