Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī tafsīr kalām al-Mannān, by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Saʿdī (d. 1376 AH / 1956 CE). A modern commentary in plain Arabic that states the sense of each verse and the lesson drawn from it, without chains or digressions.
The complete commentary on The birth of Jesus (19:16-37), covering 19:16 to 19:37.
On 19:16
When He had mentioned the story of Zachariah and John, which was one of the wondrous signs, He moved on from it to what is more wondrous still, by degrees, from the lesser to the greater, and said: And mention in the Book, the noble Book, Mary (peace be upon her). This is among the greatest of her merits: that she is mentioned in the mighty Book which the Muslims recite in the east of the earth and its west, mentioned in it with the finest mention and the most excellent praise, as a reward for her excellent work and her perfect striving. That is: and mention in the Book Mary in her goodly state, when she withdrew, that is, she went far away from her family, to an eastern place (19:16), that is, on the side towards the east from them.
On 19:17
And she took, apart from them, a screen, that is, a covering and a barrier. This withdrawal of hers and her taking a screen were so that she might seclude herself and be alone in the worship of her Lord, and be devoutly obedient to Him in a state of sincerity, submission and lowliness before God, Exalted. That was in compliance on her part with His words, Exalted: And when the angels said: O Mary, indeed God has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds. O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord and prostrate and bow with those who bow (3:42–43). And His words: Then We sent to her Our Spirit, who is Gabriel (peace be upon him), and he took for her the form of a well-proportioned human being (19:17), that is, a perfect man in a beautiful appearance and a goodly form, with no defect or deficiency in him, because she could not have borne the sight of him as he really is.
When she saw him in this state, while she was secluded from her family and alone away from people, having taken a screen even against the dearest of people to her, namely her family, she feared that he was a man who had come upon her with evil intent and desired her, so she sought protection in her Lord and sought refuge from him.
On 19:18
She said to him: I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, that is, I take shelter in Him and hold fast to His mercy, lest you reach me with any harm; if you are God-fearing (19:18), that is, if you fear God and act in fear of Him, then leave off approaching me. So she combined seeking protection in her Lord with making him afraid and warning him, and commanding him to hold to the fear of God. She was in that solitary situation, in youth and far from people, and he was in that dazzling beauty and that perfect, well-proportioned human form, yet he had not uttered any evil to her or made any advance towards her; it was only fear on her part. This is the utmost that can be of chastity and distance from evil and its causes. This chastity, especially given the conjunction of the motives and the absence of anything to prevent, is among the most excellent of deeds, and for this reason God praised her and said: And Mary daughter of ʿImrān, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into it of Our Spirit (66:12), and: And she who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her of Our Spirit and made her and her son a sign for the worlds (21:91). So God recompensed her for her chastity with a child who was one of the signs of God and a messenger among His messengers.
On 19:19
When Gabriel saw her alarm and fear, he said: I am only a messenger of your Lord, that is, my function and my business is only to carry out my Lord’s message concerning you, to grant you a pure boy (19:19). This is a great glad tiding of the child and of his purity, for purity entails his being cleansed of blameworthy traits and his being characterised by praiseworthy traits.
On 19:20
She marvelled at the existence of a child without a father, and said: How shall I have a boy when no human being has touched me and I have not been unchaste? (19:20) For a child comes into existence only by that means.
On 19:21
He said: Thus; your Lord has said: It is easy for Me, and that We may make him a sign for people, pointing to the perfection of the power of God, Exalted, and to the fact that none of the causes has independent effect of itself; rather their effect is by God’s determination. So He shows His servants the breaking of the customary order in some of the ordinary causes, lest they stop short at the causes and cut off their regard from the One who determines them and brings them about. And a mercy from Us, that is, and that We may make him a mercy from Us to him, to his mother and to people. As for God’s mercy to him, it is because God singled him out with His revelation and bestowed upon him what He bestowed upon the messengers of firm resolve. As for His mercy to his mother, it is because of the honour, the fair praise and the great benefits that came to her. As for His mercy to people, the greatest of His favours upon them is that He sent among them a messenger who recites to them His signs, purifies them and teaches them the Book and wisdom, so that they believe in him and obey him, and the happiness of this world and the Hereafter is obtained for them. And it was, that is, the existence of Jesus (peace be upon him) in this manner, a matter decreed (19:21), a prior decree; so this determination and decree had of necessity to take effect, and Gabriel (peace be upon him) breathed into the opening of her garment.
On 19:22
That is: when she conceived Jesus (peace be upon him), she feared disgrace, and so she withdrew far from people to a distant place.
On 19:23
When her delivery drew near, the pangs of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. When the pain of childbirth hurt her, together with the pain of being cut off from food and drink and the pain in her heart at what people would say, and she feared she would not be able to bear it, she wished that she had died before this event and had been a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten, so that she would not be mentioned. This wish was on account of that distressing situation, and there was no good or benefit for her in this wish; the good and the benefit lay rather in the decree of what came to pass.
On 19:24
Then at that point the angel calmed her alarm and steadied her heart, and called to her from beneath her, perhaps from a place lower than her place, and said to her: Do not grieve, that is, do not be distressed or anxious, for your Lord has placed beneath you a stream (19:24), that is, a river from which you may drink.
On 19:25
And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you fresh ripe dates (19:25), that is, fresh, delicious and nourishing.
On 19:26
So eat, of the dates, and drink, from the river, and be comforted in eye, with Jesus. This was her reassurance as regards safety from the pain of childbirth and the obtaining of wholesome food and drink. As for what people would say, He commanded her that if she saw any human being she should say, by way of gesture: I have vowed to the Most Merciful a fast, that is, silence, so I shall not speak today to any human being (19:26), that is, do not address them with speech, so that you may be relieved of their talk and their words; and it was known among them that silence was one of the prescribed acts of worship. She was not commanded to address them in denial of that concerning herself only because people would not believe her and there was no benefit in it, and so that her exoneration by the speech of Jesus in the cradle might be the greatest witness to her innocence. For a woman’s bringing a child without a husband, and her claiming that it was from no one, is among the greatest of claims, such that even if a number of witnesses were produced it would not be believed; so the proof of this breach of the customary order was made something of the same kind, namely the speech of Jesus while he was still very small.
On 19:27
For this reason He, Exalted, said:
That is: when Mary had recovered from her confinement, she came to her people with Jesus, carrying him. That was because of her knowledge of her own innocence and purity, so she came unconcerned and untroubled. They said: You have indeed brought an unheard-of thing (19:27), that is, something grave and disastrous; and by that they meant unchastity, far be she from that.
On 19:28
O sister of Aaron: the apparent meaning is that he was a real brother of hers, and so they attributed her to him. Your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste (19:28), that is, your parents were nothing but righteous, free of evil, and especially this evil to which they were pointing. Their intent was: how then are you unlike the two of them in character, and have done what they never did?! That is because offspring for the most part take after one another in righteousness and its opposite, so they marvelled, in accordance with what arose in their hearts, at how this had come from her.
On 19:29
So she pointed them to him, that is, speak to him. She pointed only because she had been commanded, when people addressed her, to say: I have vowed to the Most Merciful a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human being (19:26). When she indicated to them that they should speak to him, they marvelled at that and said: How shall we speak to one who is a child in the cradle? (19:29), because that had never been the customary way of things nor had it ever come from anyone at that age.
On 19:30
Then at that point Jesus (peace be upon him) said, while he was a child in the cradle: Indeed I am the servant of God; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet (19:30). So he addressed them describing himself as a servant, and that there was in him no attribute by which he would deserve to be a god or a son of God. Exalted is God above the saying of the Christians, who contradict Jesus in his words Indeed I am the servant of God while claiming to agree with him. He has given me the Book, that is, He has decreed that He will give me the Book, and made me a prophet (19:30). So he informed them that he is the servant of God, and that God taught him the Book and made him one of the company of His prophets; this is from his perfecting of himself.
On 19:31
Then he mentioned his perfecting of others, and said:
And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, that is, in whatever place and whatever time. The blessing God placed in me consists in teaching good and calling to it, forbidding evil and calling to God in his words and his deeds; so everyone who sat with him or met with him received his blessing, and his companion was made happy through him. And He has enjoined upon me prayer and alms-giving as long as I live (19:31), that is, He has enjoined upon me the fulfilment of His rights, the greatest of which is prayer, and the rights of His servants, the most important of which is alms-giving, for the duration of my life; that is, I comply with my Lord’s injunction, acting upon it and carrying it out.
On 19:32
And He has enjoined upon me also that I be dutiful to my mother, treating her with the utmost kindness and discharging what is due to her, on account of her nobility and her excellence, and because she is a mother who has the right of motherhood and what follows from it. And He has not made me arrogant, that is, haughty towards God and self-exalting over His servants, or wretched (19:32), in my worldly life or my Hereafter. He has not made me so; rather He has made me obedient to Him, submissive, humble, lowly and modest towards the servants of God, happy in this world and the Hereafter, I and whoever follows me.
On 19:33
When perfection and praiseworthy traits had been completed for him, he said: And peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I am raised up alive (19:33), that is, by the grace of my Lord and His generosity, safety from evil, from Satan and from punishment has come to me on the day of my birth, the day of my death and the day of my resurrection. That entails his safety from the terrors and from the abode of the wicked, and that he is among the people of the Abode of Peace. This, then, is a mighty miracle and a dazzling proof that he is truly the messenger of God and the servant of God.
On 19:34
That is: that one who is described with those attributes is Jesus son of Mary, without doubt or uncertainty; rather it is the word of truth, and the speech of God, than which none is more truthful in saying or finer in discourse. This, then, is the certain report concerning Jesus (peace be upon him), and whatever has been said of him that contradicts this is definitely false, and at most it is doubt on the part of the one who says it, who has no knowledge of it. For this reason He said: about which they are in doubt (19:34), that is, they doubt, and so they dispute on the basis of their doubt and argue on the basis of their guessing. Among them is one who says of him that he is God, or the son of God, or the third of three. Exalted is God above their falsehood and their fabrication, in great exaltation.
On 19:35
So it is not for God to take any son, that is, it is not proper or fitting, because that is among impossible things, for He is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy, the Owner of all dominions; how then should He take from among His servants and His possessions a son? Glory be to Him, that is, He is transcendent and holy, far above having a son and above any deficiency. When He decrees a matter, that is, any matter, small or great, it is neither impossible for Him nor difficult; He only says to it Be, and it is (19:35). So when His determination and His will take effect in the upper world and the lower, how should He have a son?! And when it is the case that, when He intends a thing, He says to it Be, and it is, how can His bringing Jesus into existence without a father be thought improbable?!
On 19:36
For this reason Jesus declared that he is a servant with a Lord, like everyone else, and said: And indeed God is my Lord and your Lord, who created us and fashioned us, whose governance takes effect in us and whose determination disposes of us; so worship Him, that is, devote worship sincerely to Him and strive in turning to Him in repentance. In this is the affirmation of the oneness of lordship (tawḥīd al-rubūbiyya) and the oneness of divinity (tawḥīd al-ilāhiyya), and the use of the first as evidence for the second. For this reason he said: This is a straight path (19:36), that is, an even path leading to God, since it is the path of the messengers and their followers; and whatever is other than this is among the paths of misguidance and error.
On 19:37
When He, Exalted, had made plain the condition of Jesus son of Mary, concerning which there is no doubt or uncertainty, He informed that the factions, that is, the sects of misguidance among the Jews, the Christians and others, in their various classes, differed concerning Jesus (peace be upon him): some went to excess regarding him and some fell short. Among them were those who said that he is God! Among them were those who said that he is the son of God! Among them were those who said that he is the third of three! And among them were those who did not make him a messenger at all, but accused him of being the child of fornication, like the Jews! The sayings of all of these are false and their opinions corrupt, built upon doubt and obstinacy, upon corrupt proofs and worthless doubts, and all of these deserve the severe threat. For this reason He said: So woe to those who disbelieve, in God, His messengers and His books, among whom are included the Jews and the Christians who say of Jesus the saying of disbelief, from the witnessing of a mighty Day (19:37), that is, the witnessing of the Day of Resurrection, which the first and the last will witness, the inhabitants of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth, the Creator and the created, a Day filled with convulsions and terrors, comprising the recompense for deeds. Then at that time will become clear what they used to conceal and what they used to disclose, and what they used to hide.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī tafsīr kalām al-Mannān on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=saadi). 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 · The classical commentaries