The Gospel According to Islam · Chapter 1, Birth and Childhood · Section 1

The family of Amran, Zacharias and John. 21 verses. With the Qur’an: 1:1-7.

The Opening

1:1In the Name of God—the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. 1:2All praise is for God—Lord of all worlds¹, 1:3the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful, 1:4Master of the Day of Judgment. 1:5You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help. 1:6Guide us along the Straight Path, 1:7the Path of those You have blessed—not those You are displeased with, or those who are astray.²³⁴

1God did choose Adam and Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of Amran above all people:⁵ 2Offspring, one of the other; and God heareth and knoweth all things. 3Behold! a woman of the family of Amran was with child and said, O my Lord! I do dedicate unto Thee what is in my womb for Thy special service, so accept it from me. For Thou hearest and knowest all things.⁶ 4So when she brought it forth, she said, My Lord! surely I have brought it forth a female. (This she said because only a male child could be dedicated to the temple service under the law of Moses, but God knew best what He had willed.) And the male is not like the female. I name the child Mary and commend her and her offspring into Thy protection from the accursed devil.⁷

5And the Lord accepted her with graciousness; He made her grow in purity and beauty and gave her into the charge of Zacharias.⁸ 6Now Zacharias was a priest who used to burn incense in the temple and exhort people to pray and to glorify God;⁹ his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth:¹⁰ 7And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 8And they had no child because Elisabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years.¹¹

9And everytime Zacharias entered the sanctuary to see Mary, he found her supplied with sustenance. He said, O Mary! Whence comes this to thee? She said, From God, for God provides sustenance to whom He pleases without measure.¹² 10And as he watched and listened to Mary in the sanctuary, Zacharias prayed in a whisper, O Lord! surely my bones are weakened and my head flares with hoariness, and my Lord! I have never been unblest in my prayer to Thee. 11Now I fear what my relatives will do after me, and my wife is barren, so grant me from Thyself an heir.

12Who receives my heritage and the heritage of the children of Jacob, and make him, O my Lord, one in whom thou art well pleased.¹³¹⁴ 13And it came to pass that Zacharias was burning incense in the temple and a multitude of the people were praying without. 14And there appeared to him angels, and they said, God gives thee the good news of a son, whose name shall be John, verifying a word from God.¹⁵ 15He will be honourable and chaste and a prophet and of the goodly company of the righteous. And God has not made any one true to the name John before him.

16Zacharias said, O’ my Lord! how shall I have a son, when my wife is barren and I have grown quite decrepit from age? 17The angels said, So it will be: thy Lord saith, It is easy for Me. I did indeed create thee before when thou hadst been nothing. 18Zacharias said, O my Lord! Give me a sign. He answered, Thy sign shall be that thou shalt speak to no man for three days and three nights except by signs, although thou art not dumb. 19Then Zacharias came out from the sanctuary, and he told people by signs to glorify God in the morning and in the evening.¹⁶

20And God cured the barrenness of Elisabeth, and she bore John that God may annoint him to be the priest of the house of Aaron¹⁷ whom He promised to Israel aforetime. 21So peace on John, the day that he was born, and the day that he will die and the day that he will be raised to life again!

Lord of everything in existence including angels, humans, and animals. ↩
It is customary to say “Âmîn” or “Amen” at the end of this chapter. ↩
Qur’an 1:1-7. ↩
The Qur’anic passages gathered in this narrative are those that bear on Jesus and his teaching. The chapter and verse numbers of each passage are given in the notes, so that the reader may look them up and read the whole context in the Qur’an. These few verses cannot be used to understand the whole Qur’an or Islam. ↩
A Gospel is the life story of Jesus told so as to bring out its significance for faith and history. It is necessarily revelatory and prophetic, since it assesses the significance of Jesus for the past and also for the future, and so differs from a historian’s “life of Jesus.” This narrative is written in the light of the revelation made to the prophet Muhammad. The Qur’an, the collection of revelatory messages received by Muhammad, contains ninety-three verses that refer to Jesus; with those on his mother, on John and on Zachariah, 145 verses bear on his story, and they are gathered in 45 passages on the page of Qur’anic passages. Directly or indirectly they speak of almost every aspect of his story: his family, birth and childhood, the nature of his person and his traditional titles, his miracles and message, the rejection by the Jews, his death and exaltation, and the significance of his work for Jewish history and for the history of the world. In this way the Qur’an gives a fairly complete outline of the life and work of Jesus.

That outline is supplemented here with background material drawn mostly from the New Testament, at times transformed in accordance with the Qur’anic revelation, to form a Gospel of approximately the size of Mark. Extensive notes explain, support and enlarge the picture of Jesus presented in the text, and give references to source passages, mainly from the Qur’an and the New Testament. The aim is to present the Qur’anic Jesus active in his own time and place and among his own people. The results and debates of modern critical research on the New Testament are kept in mind throughout.

A new Gospel is justified in our age. With twenty centuries of history and generations of critical research behind it, the present age is in a better position to assess the significance of the work of Jesus than were the ancient writers of the New Testament. The Gospels of the earliest centuries are indispensable for any such assessment, yet they do not themselves provide the best one. The fact that the four canonical Gospels contradict one another on almost every point, together with the growing recognition of this fact among Christians, calls for a second coming of Gospels and a rediscovery of Jesus. The schools of New Testament scholarship cannot supply a new Gospel. Their work is essentially negative: they can show the inadequacy of an existing Gospel but cannot offer one of their own. A Gospel is a revelatory work rather than a historical one and must spring from revelation, and the ninety-three Qur’anic verses about Jesus offer a revelatory basis for it. ↩
Dedicating the child to service in the temple. ↩
Service at the temple was hosted by males only. ↩
Qur’an 3:33-37. ↩
Qur’an 19:11. ↩
On the Muslim view, the canonical Gospels are not reliable sources for the life and teachings of Jesus. They contain inconsistencies, contradictions, modifications and manipulations concerning his identity, birth, miracles, death and teachings, as anyone can see by setting any one story in a Gospel beside its parallel in another. Their authors are unknown, and none of them claims to be an eyewitness; the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were ascribed to the books later. The Gospels were written in Greek, not in the language of Jesus and his disciples, and decades after the events. No original copy exists, and the copies that survive were made centuries later and differ from one another in many places.

The Qur’an, according to the Muslim belief, is the direct word of God revealed to the prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel, and it has been preserved in its original language. It has been memorised in every generation since the revelation by millions of Muslims, and it was written down by the Companions who witnessed the revelation, some of whose manuscripts are still available. On this view the Qur’an supplies accurate information about the birth, miracles, teachings and relation to God of Jesus, and corrects the errors and inconsistencies found in the Gospels. ↩
Luke 1:5-9. ↩
Qur’an 3:37. ↩
Qur’an 19:3-6. ↩
The Qur’anic expression “the Best of Successors” (21:89) means “You will be there for eternity after all pass away.” ↩
The words “verifying a word from God” can be understood in two ways:

a. “A word from God” may be understood as a promise of God, and “verifying” may be interpreted as “fulfilling.” Then the sense would be that John came in fulfillment of a promise of God, meaning that he was one of the figures whose coming was predicted in the Jewish prophetic tradition.

b. In Qur’an 3:45, Jesus is called “a word from God,” and so we may assume here a reference to Jesus and understand the verse as saying that John came confirming Jesus’ mission.

Both meanings are consistent with the Gospel tradition which presents John as a promised messianic figure (Mark 9:13; 1:6; Matt. 11:14; 17:12) as well as one who comes to prepare the way for Jesus (Luke 1:17, etc). Given the subtlety of the Qur’anic language, it seems likely that both meanings are intended. ↩
Qur’an 3:38-41; 19:7-15; Luke 1:9-25. The word “sammiyya” used in Qur’an 19.7 can mean “namesake,” but in the Qur’an, “name” is more than a word used to refer to a thing or a person: it is something that embodies the character of that thing (cf. Qur’an 2:31-33). Consequently, “sammiyya” means one sharing with a person or thing a name and the character described by that name. Now “John,” in Hebrew Yohanan, means “God favoured him,” and, therefore, the meaning of the Qur’anic verse would be that there was no one before John who was truly favored of God and was so named. ↩
Mark (1:6; 9:13) and Matthew (11:14; 17:12) identify John with Elias, who was believed to return in the last days (Mal. 4:5-6). The Gospel of John; however, expressly and firmly denies this identification (1:19-25). A possible synthesis of the two traditions is provided by Luke, which says that John came “in the spirit and power of Elias” (1:17). To these facts we must add the observation that in the Jewish tradition, especially the Qumran tradition, which is known to influence Christianity greatly, there existed expectation of three messianic figures: a priest of the house of Aaron, a king of the line of David, and a prophet of the category of Moses; moreover, Elias was sometimes believed to return as the (messianic) priest of the house of Aaron, who was to come in the company of the messianic king. (See G. R. Driver, The Judean Scrolls, Schocken Books, New York, 1965, pp. 464-466.) All this seems to suggest the view, taken in this narrative, that John and Jesus corresponded to the figures of the messianic priest and the messianic king, and that we should not take the identification of John the Baptist with Elias made by Mark and Matthew literally, but, like Luke, take it to mean that the Baptist performed the same role that Elias was sometimes believed to perform at his return, namely, the role of the messianic priest. This view is also consistent with the Qur’an, which accepts Jesus as the Messiah (see note 19) and while making a distinction between John and Elias (6:85) does suggest that the Baptist was one of the figures promised to Israel. (See note 15.) ↩

From the Infancy Gospel of James

The Infancy Gospel of James tells of the birth and childhood of Mary. It is not scripture for Muslims or for most Christians. Its earliest manuscript is Papyrus Bodmer V, of the late third or early fourth century, and most scholars place the composition in the second century. Where it agrees with the Qur’an the item is marked green; where the Qur’an is silent it is marked blue; where the sense is uncertain it is marked gold. Summaries are this website’s own, from Mark M. Mattison’s public-domain translation at gospels.net.

Agrees James 4. Mary’s mother, long childless, prays for a child and vows to give it to the Lord’s service.¹⁸
Agrees James 7. At the age of three Mary is brought to the temple, where the priest welcomes her, and she lives there.¹⁹
Agrees James 8. In the temple an angel feeds her.²⁰
Unclear James 9. When she is older the priests decide who will take charge of her by a sign from staffs, and it falls to Joseph.²¹
Beyond the measure James 10. Mary is among the pure young women chosen to spin the thread for the temple veil.²²

These books are weighed by the same measure as the gospels. Whether the Qur’an took its stories from them is answered on Did the Qur’an borrow its stories?

From the commentaries on 3:33-41

What the classical commentators wrote on the verses this section rests on, each given in full and folded away until opened. The same texts, with the other passages, are on the classical commentaries.

al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān (d. 310 AH / 923 CE), about 19,640 words

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 Yāsīn²³ 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)²⁴ 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”.²⁵

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,²⁶ 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).²⁷

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).²⁸

(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 her²⁹ 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),³⁰ 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: ʿImrān³¹ 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,³² 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 Ḥannah³³, together with her mother’s setting her free for the sanctuary (kanīsah)³⁴, 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-ʿAlāʾ³⁵ 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)³⁶, 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!³⁷ 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 sister³⁸, 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 Fāqūdh³⁹ (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-Raḥmān⁴⁰ 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 Zayd⁴¹:

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.

On 3:39

On the interpretation of His words: Then the angels called out to him (3:39)

Abū Jaʿfar⁴² said: The reciters differed over the reading (qirāʾa) of this.

The generality of the reciters of Medina, and some of the people of Kūfa and Baṣra, read it fa-nādat-hu al-malāʾikah (“then the angels called out to him”) in the feminine, with the tāʾ, intending by it the plural “the angels”. The Arabs do likewise with a group of masculine beings when their verbs precede them: they put their verbs in the feminine, and especially so with nouns whose forms carry the mark of the feminine, as in their saying jāʾat al-Ṭalaḥāt (“the Ṭalḥas came”).

A group of the people of Kūfa read it with the yāʾ,⁴³ in the sense of “then Gabriel called out to him”, so they made it masculine according to the interpretation, just as we mentioned a moment ago that they make the verb of a masculine noun feminine on account of its form; so likewise they also make the verb of a feminine noun masculine on account of its form. They relied in that, as I see it, upon a reading which is said to be the reading of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, which is what:

(6945) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, that the reading of Ibn Masʿūd was: Then Gabriel called out to him while he was standing in prayer in the sanctuary.

A group of the people of interpretation likewise interpreted His words “then the angels called out to him” in this way.

Those who said this

(6946) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: “then the angels called out to him”, and that is Gabriel; or: the angels said, and that is Gabriel, “that God gives you glad tidings of John”.

Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone says: How is it permissible, on this interpretation, to say “then the angels called out to him”, when “the angels” is a plural, not a singular? It is said: That is permissible in the speech of the Arabs, in that one reports about a single person in the manner of the plural, as is said in speech: “So-and-so went out on the mules of the post”, when he rode only one mule; and “he rode the ships”, when he rode only one ship. And as is said: “From whom did you hear this report?” and the answer is given: “From the people”, when he heard it only from one man. It has been said that of this kind are His words those to whom the people said: the people have gathered against you (3:173), whereas the speaker was, according to what has been mentioned, a single man; and His words and when harm touches the people (30:33), where “the people” has the meaning of a single one. That is permissible among them in cases where no particular individual is intended.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct position in my view concerning the reading of this is that they are two well-known readings, I mean the tāʾ and the yāʾ, so with whichever of the two the reciter reads, he is correct. That is because there is no difference in the meaning of this arising from the difference of the two readings, and both of them are eloquent among the Arabs. For if by “the angels” Gabriel is meant, as has been related from ʿAbd Allāh, then the feminine in its verb is eloquent in the speech of the Arabs on account of its form, if the verb precedes it, and the masculine is permissible in it on account of its meaning.

And if by it the plural “the angels” is meant, then the feminine is permissible in its verb, when the verb comes before it, on account of its form. That is because the Arabs, when they place the verb before the many of a group, put it in the feminine, saying qālat al-nisāʾ (“the women said”); and the masculine is permissible in its verb, built upon the singular, when its verb precedes it, so one says qāla al-rijāl (“the men said”).

As for the correct position concerning its interpretation, it is to say: God, Majestic is His praise, has reported that the angels called out to him. The apparent sense of that is that it was a group of angels, not a single one, whereas Gabriel is a single one.

It is not permissible to take the interpretation of the Qurʾān on anything other than the most apparent and most prevalent usage of speech on the tongues of the Arabs, rather than the less common, so long as a way to that is found. And no need has compelled us to turn this to the sense of a single one, such that one would need to seek a way out for it through what is obscure in speech and meanings.

What we have said concerning the interpretation of this was said by a group of the people of knowledge, among them Qatādah, al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, ʿIkrimah, Mujāhid and a group besides them. We have mentioned what they said about this in what has gone before.

On the interpretation of His words: while he was standing in prayer in the sanctuary: that God gives you glad tidings of John (3:39)

Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of His words “while he was standing” is: then the angels called out to him in the state of his standing in prayer. So His words “while he was standing” are a report about the time of the angels’ calling out to Zachariah.

His word “praying” (yuṣallī) is in the position of the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) of “standing”, while it is itself in the indicative mood, with the yāʾ.

As for “the sanctuary” (al-miḥrāb), we have already explained its meaning, and that it is the front part of the place of worship.

The reciters differed over the reading of His words “that God gives you glad tidings”.

The generality of the reciters read it anna Allāha with fatḥah on the alif of anna, because “the calling” governs it, with the meaning: then the angels called out to him with that.

Some of the reciters of Kūfa read it inna Allāha yubashshiruka with kasrah on the alif, with the meaning: the angels said: “Indeed God gives you glad tidings”, because calling out is speech. They mentioned that in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh it is: Then the angels called out to him while he was standing in prayer in the sanctuary: O Zachariah, indeed God gives you glad tidings. They said: And once the calling is void of governing His words “O Zachariah”, it is void also of governing inna.

The correct reading in this in our view is “anna Allāha yubashshiruka” with fatḥah on anna, because the calling governs it, with the meaning: then the angels called out to him with that.

The reason adduced by those who read inna with kasrah, namely that ʿAbd Allāh used to read it so, and so they read it so, is no reason at all for them. That is because if ʿAbd Allāh did read it so, he read it, by their own claim, only when the calling of Zachariah had been interposed between inna and His words “then they called out to him”; and when that is interposed between the two, the Arabs then may either make the calling govern anna or annul its governance over it. As for the annulment, it is because it has ceased to govern the one called before it, so they made what follows it go the same way as it in the cessation of its governance. As for making it govern, it is because calling out is a transitive act (fiʿl wāqiʿ) like all other transitive verbs.

As for our reading, the calling of Zachariah with “O Zachariah” is not interposed between anna and His words “then they called out to him”. And when that is not between the two, the eloquent speech of the Arabs, when they put in the accusative by the word nādaytu (“I called”) the name of the one called, and make it fall upon him, is that they make it fall likewise upon anna after it. Even if annulling its governance were permissible, His word “called out to him” (nādat-hu) has fallen upon the pronoun standing for Zachariah, so likewise the correct position is that it should fall upon anna and govern it.

Besides which, that is the widespread reading in the recitation of the cities of Islam, and the anomalous reading is not raised as an objection against the reading of the community, which comes with the force of a proof.

As for His word “gives you glad tidings” (yubashshiruka), the reciters differed over its reading.

The generality of the reciters of Medina and Baṣra read it anna Allāha yubashshiruka with doubling of the shīn and ḍammah on the yāʾ, in the sense of God’s giving Zachariah the glad tidings of the child, from the people’s saying bashsharat fulānan al-bushurāʾ bi-kadhā wa-kadhā (“the bearers of good news gave so-and-so glad tidings of such-and-such”), that is: the good news of the bearers of good news came to him concerning that.

A group of the reciters of Kūfa and others read it anna Allāha yabshuruka with fatḥah on the yāʾ and ḍammah on the shīn without doubling, in the sense: that God gladdens you with a child whom He grants you, from the words of the poet:

I gladdened my household (basharu ʿiyālī) when I saw a letter that came to you from al-Ḥajjāj,⁴⁴ its writing being read aloud.

It has been said that basharta is the dialect of the people of Tihāmah, of Kinānah and others of Quraysh, and that they say basharta fulānan bi-kadhā, fa-anā abshuruhu bashran (“I gladdened so-and-so with such-and-such, so I gladden him with gladdening”) and hal anta bāshirun bi-kadhā? (“are you one who brings gladness with such-and-such?”). The following verse is cited for them in this regard:⁴⁵

And when you see those who hasten eagerly towards lofty deeds, their palms dust-covered in a barren plain,

then help them, and rejoice in that whereby they rejoice (wa-bshar bi-mā bashirū bihi); and when they alight in hardship, alight with them.

When they come to the imperative, the correct form in their speech is without the alif, so one says ibshar fulānan bi-kadhā (“gladden so-and-so with such-and-such”), and they hardly ever say bashshirhu bi-kadhā or abshirhu.

It has been related from Ḥumayd ibn Qays that he used to read “yubshiruka“, with ḍammah on the yāʾ and kasrah on the shīn without doubling. And:

(6947) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, from Muʿādh al-Kūfī, who said: Whoever reads “yubashshiruhum” with doubling, it is from bishārah (the bringing of glad tidings); and whoever reads “yabshuruhum” without doubling, with fatḥah on the yāʾ, it is from surūr (gladness): He gladdens them.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The reading which is the reading in our view in this is ḍammah on the yāʾ and doubling of the shīn, in the sense of the giving of glad tidings (tabshīr). For that is the current language and the widespread speech known among the people, besides which all the reciters of the cities are agreed in reading so of what do you give glad tidings? (15:54) with doubling. And the correct position in all the other parallels to it in the Qurʾān is that they should be like it in the doubling and the ḍammah on the yāʾ.

As for what has been related from Muʿādh al-Kūfī of the distinction between the meaning of the undoubled and the doubled form in this, we have not found the people of knowledge of the speech of the Arabs to know it from any sound source, so there is no meaning in what has been related of that from him. Jarīr ibn ʿAṭiyyah has said:

O Bishr,⁴⁶ radiant joy (al-tabshīr) was rightly due to your face; why were you not angered on our behalf, when you are the commander?

So it is known that by his word al-tabshīr he meant beauty, freshness and gladness, and he said al-tabshīr and did not say al-bishr; thus this makes plain that the meaning of the undoubled and the doubled form in this is one and the same.

(6948) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words “indeed God gives you glad tidings of John”: he said: the angels gave him the glad tidings of that.

As for His word “of John” (bi-Yaḥyā), it is a name whose original form is the pattern yafʿal, from the speaker’s saying ḥayiya fulānun fa-huwa yaḥyā (“so-and-so lived, so he lives”), which is when he lives. So “Yaḥyā” is of the pattern yafʿal from their saying ḥayiya.

It has been said that God, Majestic is His praise, named him this because his name is interpreted: He gave him life through faith.

Those who said this

(6949) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: “that God gives you glad tidings of John”: he says: a servant whom God gave life through faith.

(6950) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from Qatādah, concerning His words “indeed God gives you glad tidings of John”: he said: He was named John (Yaḥyā) only because God gave him life (aḥyāhu) through faith.

On the interpretation of His words: confirming a Word from God (3:39)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by that, Majestic is His praise: that God gives you glad tidings, O Zachariah, of John as a son to you, “confirming a Word from God”, meaning: Jesus son of Mary.

His word “confirming” is in the accusative by way of severance (qaṭʿ)⁴⁷ from “John”, because “confirming” is a descriptive of him, and it is indefinite whereas “John” is not indefinite.

Something close to what we have said about this was said by the people of interpretation.

Those who said this

(6951) 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, who said: The wife of Zachariah said to Mary: “I find that what is in my womb moves towards what is in your womb!” He said: So the wife of Zachariah gave birth to John, and Mary to Jesus, and for this reason He said “confirming a Word from God”: he said: John confirming Jesus.

(6952) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from al-Raqāshī, concerning the words of God “gives you glad tidings of John, confirming a Word from God”: he said: confirming Jesus son of Mary.

(6953) al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the like of it.

(6954) Ibn Bashshār related to us: Sulaymān related to us: Abū Hilāl related to us: Qatādah related to us, concerning His words “confirming a Word from God”: he said: confirming Jesus.

(6955) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: “confirming a Word from God”: he says: confirming Jesus son of Mary, and upon his way and his path.

(6956) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words “confirming a Word from God”: meaning Jesus son of Mary.

(6957) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from Qatādah: “confirming a Word from God”: he says: confirming Jesus son of Mary; he says: upon his way and his path.

(6958) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ: “confirming a Word from God”: he said: He was the first man to confirm Jesus, who is a Word from God and a Spirit.

(6959) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: “confirming a Word from God”: he confirms Jesus.

(6960) I was told on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words “indeed God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming a Word from God”: John was the first to confirm Jesus and to bear witness that he was a Word from God. John was the son of Jesus’s maternal aunt, and he was older than Jesus.

(6961) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Isrāʾīl, from Simāk, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “confirming a Word from God”: he said: Jesus son of Mary is the Word from God; his name is the Messiah.

(6962) al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj informed me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His words “confirming a Word from God”: he said: Jesus and John were the sons of two sisters, and the mother of John used to say to Mary: “I find that what is in my womb bows down to what is in your womb!” That was his confirmation of Jesus: his bowing down in his mother’s womb. He was the first to confirm Jesus and the word of Jesus, and John was older than Jesus.

(6963) 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: “that God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming a Word from God”: he said: the Word which he confirmed is Jesus.

(6964) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: The mother of John met the mother of Jesus, the one being pregnant with John and the other pregnant with Jesus, and the wife of Zachariah said: “O Mary, I sense that I am pregnant!” Mary said: “I sense that I too am pregnant!” The wife of Zachariah said: “Then I find that what is in my womb bows down to what is in your womb!” And that is His word “confirming a Word from God”.

(6965) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the words of God “that God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming a Word from God”: he said: confirming Jesus son of Mary.

Abū Jaʿfar said: One of the people of knowledge of the languages of the Arabs from the people of Baṣra⁴⁸ has claimed that the meaning of His words “confirming a Word from God” is “a Book from God”, from the saying of the Arabs anshadanī fulānun kalimata kadhā (“so-and-so recited to me the word of such-and-such”), by which is meant “the poem of such-and-such”; this out of his ignorance of the interpretation of “the Word”, and out of audacity in expounding the Qurʾān by his own opinion.

On the interpretation of His words: and a master (3:39)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His words, Majestic is His praise, “and a master” (sayyid): and one noble in knowledge and worship.

“Master” is in the accusative by conjunction with His word “confirming”.

The interpretation of the speech is: that God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming this, and a master.

Sayyid is of the pattern fayʿil, from the speaker’s saying sāda yasūdu (“he held mastery, he holds mastery”), as:

(6966) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: “and a master”: yes, by God, a master indeed in worship, forbearance, knowledge and scrupulousness.

(6967) Ibn Bashshār related to us: Muslim related to us: Abū Hilāl related to us: Qatādah related to us, concerning His words “and a master”: he said: the master is, and I know of nothing other than that he said: in knowledge and worship.

(6968) I was told on the authority of ʿAmmār, who said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from Qatādah, who said: the master is the forbearing one.

(6969) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Sharīk, from Sālim al-Afṭas, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: “and a master”: he said: the forbearing one.

(6970) al-Muthannā related to me: al-Ḥimmānī related to us: Sharīk related to us, from Sālim, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: “and a master”: he said: the master is the God-fearing one.

(6971) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, from ʿĪsā, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, “and a master”: he said: the master is the one honoured before God.

(6972) al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, saying: al-Raqāshī claimed that the master is the one honoured before God.

(6973) al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us: Hushaym informed us, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, “and a master”: he said: the master is the forbearing, God-fearing one.

(6974) I was told on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words “and a master”: he said: he says: God-fearing, forbearing.

(6975) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, from Sufyān, concerning His words “and a master”: he said: forbearing, God-fearing.

(6976) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, from Ibn Zayd, concerning His words “and a master”: he said: the master is the noble one.

(6977) Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me: Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd related to us, from ʿAbd al-Malik, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, “and a master”: he said: the master is the learned jurist.

(6978) 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 a master”: he said: he says: forbearing, God-fearing.

(6979) al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Abū Bakr, from ʿIkrimah: “and a master”: he said: the master is the one whom anger does not overcome.

On the interpretation of His words: and chaste, and a prophet from among the righteous (3:39)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by that: one who refrains from sexual intercourse with women, from the speaker’s saying ḥaṣirtu min kadhā aḥṣaru (“I was held back from such-and-such”), when he refrains from it. From this is their saying ḥaṣira fulānun fī qirāʾatihi (“so-and-so was stopped short in his recitation”), when he is held back from reciting and is unable to do it. Likewise “the besieging by the enemy” (ḥaṣr al-ʿaduww) is their confining people and preventing them from moving freely. For this reason the one who brings out nothing of his own among his drinking companions is called ḥaṣūr, as al-Akhṭal⁴⁹ said:

And many a drinker, free-spending over the cup, has drunk in my company, neither a ḥaṣūr who holds back, nor one who runs riot (sawwār) in his wine.

It is also related as bi-saʾʾār (“one who leaves dregs”). The one who does not disclose his secret but conceals it is also called ḥaṣūr, because he prevents his secret from appearing, as Jarīr said:

The slanderers have tried hard to trip me into a slip, but they found one restrained (ḥaṣir) with your secret, O Umaym, jealously guarding it.

The root of all of that is one: prevention and confinement.

The like of what we have said about this was said by the people of interpretation.

Those who said this

(6980) Abū Kurayb related to us: Ibn Khalaf related to us: Ḥammād ibn Shuʿayb related to us, from ʿĀṣim, from Zirr, from ʿAbd Allāh,⁵⁰ concerning His words “and a master and chaste”: he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not go in to women.

(6981) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, that he said: Ibn al-ʿĀṣ related to me that he heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Every son of Adam will come on the Day of Resurrection with a sin, except for John son of Zachariah.” He said: Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) lowered his hand to the ground and took up a small stick, then said: “That is because he had nothing of what men have except the like of this stick, and for that reason God named him ‘a master and chaste’.”

(6982) Yūnus related to me: Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ informed us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who said: I heard Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab say: There is no one but will meet God on the Day of Resurrection bearing a sin, except John son of Zachariah; he was chaste (ḥaṣūr), having with him only the like of a thread-end.

(6983) Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Qurashī related to us: ʿUmar ibn Jaʿfar related to us: Shuʿbah related to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: Ibn al-ʿĀṣ, either ʿAbd Allāh or his father, said: There is no one who will meet God but that he bears a sin, except John son of Zachariah. He said: And Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said: “and a master and chaste”: he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not go in to women; and he had with him nothing but the like of the fringe-thread of a garment.

(6984) Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me: Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd related to us, from ʿAbd al-Malik, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, concerning His words “and chaste”: he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who has no desire for women. Then he struck his hand to the ground, took up a date-stone and said: He had with him nothing but the like of this.

(6985) Ibn Bashshār related to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us: Sufyān related to us, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not go in to women.

(6986) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Saʿīd, the like of it.

(6987) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Ḥakkām related to us, from ʿAmr, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Saʿīd, the like of it.

(6988) ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad related to me: Muḥammad ibn Rabīʿah related to us: al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī related to us, from Mujāhid: “and chaste”: he said: the one who does not go in to women.

(6989) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, from ʿĪsā, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, who said: the ḥaṣūr: he does not approach women.

(6990) al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us: Shibl related to us, saying: al-Raqāshī claimed: “the ḥaṣūr” is the one who does not approach women.

(6991) al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us: Hushaym related to us, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk: “the ḥaṣūr” is the one to whom no child is born and who has no seed.

(6992) I was told on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words “and chaste”: he said: he is the one who has no seed.

(6993) Bishr related to us: Suwayd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: “and chaste”: we used to be told that the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not approach women.

(6994) Ibn Bashshār related to us: Sulaymān related to us: Abū Hilāl related to us: Qatādah related to us, concerning His words “and a master and chaste”: he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not go in to women.

(6995) I was told on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, who said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from Qatādah, the like of it.

(6996) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, the like of it.

(6997) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, from Qābūs, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not emit seed.

(6998) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, from Ibn Zayd: “and chaste”: he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not go in to women.

(6999) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: “and chaste”: he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not desire women.

(7000) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan: “and chaste”: he said: he does not approach women.

As for His words “and a prophet from among the righteous”, He means: a messenger from his Lord to his people, informing them on His behalf of His command and His prohibition, His lawful and His unlawful, and conveying to them from Him that with which He sent him to them.

By His words “from among the righteous” He means: from among His righteous prophets.

We have already shown in what has gone before the meaning of “prophethood” and what its root is, with the evidences for that and the proofs indicating the correct position concerning it, in a manner that dispenses with repeating it.

On 3:40

On the interpretation of His words: He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy, when old age has reached me and my wife is barren? (3:40)

Abū Jaʿfar⁵¹ said: He means that Zachariah said, when the angels called out to him “that God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming a Word from God, and a master, and chaste, and a prophet from among the righteous”: “How shall I have a boy, when old age has reached me?”, meaning: one who has reached the age that I have reached has no child born to him; “and my wife is barren”.

“The barren” (ʿāqir) among women is she who does not bear children. From it one says “a barren woman” (imraʾah ʿāqir) and “a barren man” (rajul ʿāqir), as ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl⁵² said:

Wretched indeed would the young man be! If I am one-eyed, childless and a coward too, then what excuse have I in any assembly?

As for “old age” (al-kibar), it is the verbal noun of kabira fa-huwa yakbaru kibaran (“he grew old, so he grows old, with old age”).

It has been said: “old age has reached me”, whereas He said in another place I have reached, from old age (19:8), because whatever has reached you, you have reached it. Its meaning is only: I have grown old; and it is like the saying of the speaker qad balaghanī al-jahd (“exhaustion has reached me”), in the sense: I am in exhaustion.

If someone says: How could Zachariah, who was the prophet of God, say “My Lord, how shall I have a boy, when old age has reached me and my wife is barren?”, when the angels had given him the glad tidings they gave him by the command of God to them? Did he doubt their truthfulness? That is something by which the people of faith in God may not be described, so how then the prophets and the messengers? Or was that from him a denial of the power of his Lord? That is a still greater calamity!

It is said: That was from him (peace be upon him) otherwise than you have supposed; rather, his saying what he said of that was as:

(7001) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: When he heard the call, meaning Zachariah, when he heard the angels’ call with the glad tidings of John, Satan came to him and said to him: “O Zachariah, the voice you heard is not from God; it is only from Satan, mocking you! Had it been from God, He would have revealed it to you as He reveals to you in other matters!” So he doubted on the spot, and said “How shall I have a boy”, a male? He says: from where? “when old age has reached me and my wife is barren”.

(7002) al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Abū Bakr, from ʿIkrimah, who said: Then Satan came to him, wishing to spoil for him the favour of his Lord, and said: “Do you know who called you?” He said: “Yes! The angels of my Lord called me!” He said: “No, rather that was Satan! Had this been from your Lord, He would have kept it hidden to you as you kept your call hidden!” So he said: “My Lord, appoint for me a sign.”

So his saying what he said of that, and his returning to his Lord with the question with which he returned by his words “How shall I have a boy?”, was because of the whispering from Satan that had mingled with his heart, so that it made him imagine that the call he had heard was a call from other than the angels; so he said “My Lord, how shall I have a boy?”, seeking certainty in his affair, so that it might be established for him, by a sign God would show him in that, that it was glad tidings from God upon the tongues of His angels. For this reason he said: “My Lord, appoint for me a sign.”

It is also possible that his saying this was a question from him to his Lord: from what quarter would the child of whom he had been given glad tidings come? From his wife? She is barren. Or from some other woman? In that case it would be otherwise than the manner stated by ʿIkrimah and al-Suddī and those who said the like of what they said.

On the interpretation of His words: He said: Thus does God do what He wills (3:40)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means, Majestic is His praise, by His words “Thus does God”: that is, He is as He has described Himself, that it is easy for Him to create a child from an old man who has despaired of offspring and from a barren woman from whose like childbearing is not hoped for, just as He created you, O Zachariah, before the creation of the child from you, when you were nothing; because He is God, for whom the creation of anything He wishes is not difficult, and for whom the doing of anything He wills is not impossible, because His power is the power which no power resembles; as:

(7003) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said: “Thus does God do what He wills”, and I created you before, when you were nothing.

On 3:41

On the interpretation of His words: He said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41)

Abū Jaʿfar⁵³ said: By this He means, Majestic is His praise, reporting about Zachariah: Zachariah said: My Lord, if this call by which I have been called, and the voice which I have heard, is the voice of Your angels and glad tidings from You to me, then appoint for me a sign – that is, a mark – that it is so, so that there may depart from me what Satan has whispered to me and cast into my heart, namely that it is the voice of something other than the angels, and glad tidings from someone other than You. As:

(7004) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, who said concerning My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41): He said – meaning Zachariah –: O Lord, if this voice is from You, then appoint for me a sign.

We have already shown in what has gone before the meaning of “sign” (āya), and that it is a mark (ʿalāma), in a manner that dispenses with repeating it here.

The scholars of Arabic have differed over the reason the Arabs leave this word without a hamza, when their custom is to give a hamza to every yāʾ that comes after a quiescent alif.

Some of them said: They left it without a hamza because it was originally ayya, and the doubling was heavy for them, so they replaced it with an alif because of the open vowel before the doubled letter, just as they said aymā fulān fa-akhzāhu Allāh (“as for so-and-so, may God disgrace him”).⁵⁴
Others among them said: Rather, it is of the pattern fāʿila with a letter dropped (manqūṣa). They were questioned, and it was said to them: Then why is it that the Arabs form its diminutive as uyayya, and do not say uwayya? They said: That is said just as is said of “Fāṭima”, “this is Fuṭayma”. It was said to them: But they only form the diminutive of fāʿila on the pattern fuʿayla when it is a proper name in the sense of so-and-so, masculine or feminine; as for anything else, it is not their practice to form the diminutive of fāʿila on fuʿayla.⁵⁵
Others said: It is of the pattern faʿla, whose first yāʾ was turned into an alif, as was done with ḥāja (“need”) and qāma (“stature”). It was said to them: The Arabs only do that with triliteral words. And those who rejected this statement of theirs said: Had it been as they say, one would have said for nawāt (“date-stone”) nāya, and for ḥayāt (“life”) ḥāya.

On the interpretation of His words: He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture (3:41)

Abū Jaʿfar said: So God punished him – according to what has been related to us – for his asking for the sign after the angels had addressed him face to face with the glad tidings, and He made his sign, as confirmation that what he had heard from the angels of the glad tidings of John was from God, a sign in his own person. God, Exalted be His mention, thereby combined the mark which he had asked of his Lord, in a manner that made plain to him the truth of the glad tidings, that they were from God, with a purging of him from his slip and from the error of his speech and his request.

The like of what we have said about this was said by a number of the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl).

Those who said this

(7005) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words My Lord, appoint for me a sign. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture (3:41): He was punished with that only because the angels had addressed him face to face with it and given him the glad tidings of John, and he asked for the sign after the angels had spoken to him. So he was seized in his tongue, and he became unable to speak except by what he could signal and indicate; and God, Exalted be His mention, said, as you hear: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture.

(7006) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words that God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming (3:39): He said: The angels addressed him face to face, and he said My Lord, appoint for me a sign. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture – He means, except by signalling; and it was a punishment with which he was punished, since he asked for the sign even though the angels had addressed him face to face with that of which they gave him glad tidings.

(7007) al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words My Lord, appoint for me a sign. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture: He said: It was related to us – and God knows best – that he was punished because the angels had addressed him face to face and given him the glad tidings of John, and he asked for the sign afterwards, so he was seized in his tongue.

(7008) I was told on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, who said: It was related to us – and God knows best – that he was punished because the angels had addressed him face to face and given him the glad tidings of John, saying that God gives you glad tidings of John (3:39); then, after the angels had spoken to him, he asked for the sign, so his tongue was seized and he became unable to speak except by gesture – meaning, he would signal by signs.

(7009) Abū ʿUbayd al-Waṣṣābī related to me: Muḥammad ibn Ḥimyar related to us: Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr related to us, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, concerning His words He said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture: He said: His tongue swelled in his mouth until it filled it; then God released it after three days.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters chose the subjunctive (naṣb) in His words that you shall not speak to people (allā tukallima) only because the meaning of the sentence is: He said: Your sign is that you will not speak to people, in the time to come, for three days. Thus the an is the one that accompanies the future tense, not the one that accompanies nouns and puts them in the accusative. Had the meaning been: Your sign is that you are indeed not speaking to people for three days – that is, that you are in this state for three days – the proper form of the expression would have been the indicative (rafʿ), because an would then have had the sense of the heavy anna lightened. But that was not permissible, because of what I have described, namely that the sense is the other one.

As for “gesture” (ramz), the predominant meaning of it among the Arabs is signalling with the lips, though it is sometimes used of signalling with the eyebrows and the eyes, and that is not common among them. “Ramz” may also be said of hidden speech that is like whispering in a lowered voice; from this is the saying of Juʾayya ibn ʿĀʾidh:⁵⁶

The speech of the champions was a murmur, and a rumbling of theirs like the roar of camels.

From it one says: “So-and-so murmured (ramaza), and he murmurs, yarmizu and yarmuzu, ramzan; and he keeps murmuring, yatarammazu tarammuzan.” And one says: “He struck him a blow and he writhed (irtamaza) from it”, that is, he convulsed in death. The poet said:

I fell from her onto the back of my neck, writhing.

The scholars of interpretation have differed over the meaning that God, Mighty and Majestic, intended in His report about Zachariah in His words Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture, and which of the meanings of “ramz” was intended by it.

Some of them said: What is meant by it is: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by a movement of the lips, without your tongue articulating the speech.

Those who said this

(7010) Abū Kurayb related to us: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us, from al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī, from Mujāhid, concerning His words except by gesture: He said: Moving the lips.

(7011) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning three days except by gesture: He said: His signalling with his lips.

(7012) al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the like of it.

Others said: Rather, God meant by it signalling and indicating.

Those who said this

(7013) Ibn Wakīʿ related to us: my father related to us, from Salama ibn Nubayṭ, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning except by gesture: He said: Indication.

(7014) I was told on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words except by gesture: He said: “Ramz” is that he indicates with his hand or his head and does not speak.

(7015) 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, concerning except by gesture: He said: “Ramz” is that he was seized in his tongue, and he began to speak to people with his hand.

(7016) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salama related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, concerning except by gesture: He said: And “ramz” is indication.

(7017) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words My Lord, appoint for me a sign. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture, the verse: He said: He made his sign that he should not speak to people for three days except by gesture, save that he could remember God. And “ramz” is indication: he would indicate to them.

(7018) al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning except by gesture: except by signalling.

(7019) We were told on the authority of ʿAmmār: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, the like of it.

(7020) Mūsā related to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, concerning except by gesture: He means: indication.

(7021) al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr said concerning except by gesture: except by indication.

(7022) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture: He said: He was held back in his tongue, and he began to signal with his hand to his people: Glorify God morning and evening.

On the interpretation of His words: And remember your Lord much, and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning (3:41)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by this: God, Majestic is His praise, said to Zachariah: O Zachariah, your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture, without any dumbness, infirmity or illness; and remember your Lord much, for you will not be prevented from remembering Him, nor will anything come between you and glorifying Him and the other forms of remembering Him. And indeed:

(7023) al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Abū Maʿshar, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, who said: Had God granted anyone a dispensation to abandon remembrance, He would have granted it to Zachariah, when He said Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture; and remember your Lord much – even so.

As for His words and glorify Him in the evening, He means: magnify your Lord by worshipping Him in the evening.

The “evening” (ʿashiyy) is from the time the sun declines until it sets, as the poet said:⁵⁷

Neither its shade, in the coolness of the forenoon, can you attain, nor its afternoon shadow, in the coolness of the evening, do you taste.

For the afternoon shadow (fayʾ) begins its return only when the sun declines, and it comes to an end with its setting.

As for “the early morning” (ibkār), it is a verbal noun from one’s saying “so-and-so went out early (abkara) on an errand, and he goes out early, yubkiru ibkāran“, and that is when he goes out on it between the rising of dawn and the time of forenoon; that is “ibkār”. One says of it “abkara fulān” and “bakara yabkuru bukūran“. From “ibkār” is the saying of ʿUmar ibn Abī Rabīʿa:

Is it from the people of Nuʿm that you are setting out at morning, departing early?⁵⁸

And from “bukūr” is the saying of Jarīr:

Lo, Salmā has set out early, and her early setting-out is in earnest, and after unity her commander has split the staff.⁵⁹

And from this one says: “The palms bore early (bakara al-nakhl), yabkuru bukūran, and abkara yubkiru ibkāran“; and the “bākūr” of fruits is the first of them to ripen.

The like of what we have said about this was said by the scholars of interpretation.

Those who said this

(7024) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us: ʿĪsā related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning: He said: The early morning is the first part of dawn, and the evening is the declining of the sun until it sets.

(7025) al-Muthannā related to me: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us: Shibl related to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, the like of it.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Baghawī, Maʿālim al-tanzīl (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE), about 5,580 words

On 3:33-34

And His words, Exalted: Indeed God chose Adam and Noah (3:33), to the end of the verse. Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both) said: The Jews said, “We are of the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and we follow their religion,” so God, Exalted, sent down this verse; meaning: God chose these by Islam, while you follow other than the religion of Islam. Chose: that is, selected; it is the iftaʿala form from ṣafwa, which is the pure part of anything. Adam: the father of mankind. And Noah, and the family of Abraham, and the family of ʿImrān. It was said: by the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān He meant Abraham (peace be upon him) and ʿImrān themselves, as in His words, Exalted, and a remnant of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron left behind (2:248), meaning Moses and Aaron.

Others said: the family of Abraham are Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes⁶⁰, and Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was of the family of Abraham (peace be upon him). As for the family of ʿImrān, Muqātil said: he is ʿImrān ibn Yaṣhur ibn Fāhath ibn Lāwī ibn Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him), the father of Moses and Aaron. Al-Ḥasan and Wahb said: he is ʿImrān ibn Ashham ibn Amūn, of the descendants of Solomon son of David (peace be upon them both), the father of Mary and Jesus. And it was said: ʿImrān ibn Māthān. He singled these out for mention only because the prophets and the messengers are all of their lineage. Above the worlds. Descendants: its derivation is from dharaʾa, meaning “he created”; and it was said: from al-dharr (tiny particles), because it is their being drawn out from the loins of Adam like tiny particles. Both children and fathers are called dhurriyya: the sons are dhurriyya because He created them (dharaʾahum), and the fathers are dhurriyya because He created the sons from them. God, Exalted, said: And a sign for them is that We carried their descendants (36:41), that is, their fathers.

Descendants is in the accusative with the sense “and He chose descendants”. Some of them from others: that is, some of them are of the offspring of others; and it was said: some of them from others in mutual support; and it was said: some of them follow the religion of others. And God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

On 3:35

His words, Exalted: When the wife of ʿImrān said (3:35). She is Ḥanna bint Fāqūdhā, the mother of Mary; and ʿImrān is ʿImrān ibn Māthān, not ʿImrān the father of Moses (peace be upon him), for between the two of them lie one thousand and eighty years. The sons of Māthān were the heads of the Children of Israel, their learned men and their kings. And it was said: ʿImrān ibn Ashham.

His words, Exalted: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated: that is, I have made what is in my womb consecrated, as a vow from me to You. So accept it from me; indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. A vow (nadhr) is what a person makes binding upon himself. Consecrated (muḥarraran): that is, set free, devoted purely to God, given over wholly to the worship of God and to the service of the sanctuary⁶¹, with no worldly matter occupying it. Everything that is devoted purely is muḥarrar; one says “I freed (ḥarrartu) the slave” when one has emancipated him and released him from bondage.

Al-Kalbī, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and others said: When the consecrated one was consecrated, he was placed in the sanctuary to tend it, sweep it and serve it, not leaving it until he reached puberty; then he was given the choice: if he wished he stayed, and if he wished he went wherever he pleased. But if he wished to leave after having made his choice, that was not open to him. There was no prophet or learned man but had someone of his line consecrated to the Holy House, and only boys were consecrated; a girl was not fit for it because of the menstruation and impurity that befall her. So the mother of Mary consecrated what was in her womb. The story of that was that Zachariah and ʿImrān had married two sisters: Ashyāʿ bint Fāqūdhā, the mother of John, was married to Zachariah, and Ḥanna bint Fāqūdhā, the mother of Mary, was married to ʿImrān. Children had been withheld from Ḥanna until she grew old, and they were a household who held a place with God. While she was in the shade of a tree she caught sight of a bird feeding a chick, and at that her soul stirred with longing for a child, so she prayed to God to grant her a child and said: “O God, I owe it to You that if You grant me a child, I will give it in charity to the Holy House, so that it will be among its keepers and its servants.” So she conceived Mary and consecrated what was in her womb, not knowing what it was. Her husband said to her: “Woe to you, what have you done? What if what is in your womb is a female, which is not fit for that?” So they both fell into anxiety over it, and ʿImrān died while Ḥanna was pregnant with Mary.

On 3:36

Then when she gave birth to her (3:36): that is, when she bore her, behold, she was a girl. The pronoun in His words “gave birth to her” refers back to the thing vowed, not to what was born, and for that reason it is feminine. She said, that is Ḥanna, who had been hoping it would be a boy, My Lord, I have given birth to her, a female, by way of apology to God, Mighty and Majestic. And God knew best what she had given birth to, with the tāʾ unvowelled (waḍaʿat), as a statement from God, Mighty and Majestic; this is the reading of the generality. Ibn ʿĀmir, Abū Bakr and Yaʿqūb read waḍaʿtu with the tāʾ vowelled with ḍamma, making it part of the speech of the mother of Mary⁶². And the male is not like the female in the service of the sanctuary and of the worshippers in it, because of her nakedness that must be covered, her weakness, and the menstruation and post-natal bleeding that come upon her. And I have named her Mary; Mary in their language means “the worshipper” and “the servant”. Mary was the most beautiful of women of her time and the best of them. And I seek refuge for her: I guard her and place her under protection, with You, and for her offspring, her children, from the accursed Satan. Al-shayṭān is the one driven away and cursed, and al-rajīm is the one pelted with shooting stars.

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Malīḥī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nuʿaymī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us: Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl informed us: Abū al-Yamān informed us: Shuʿayb informed us, from al-Zuhrī: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab related to me, who said: Abū Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “There is no child of Adam born but Satan touches him when he is born, so that the infant cries out screaming from the touch of Satan, except Mary and her son.” Then Abū Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) would say: “And I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from the accursed Satan.”

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Malīḥī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nuʿaymī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us: Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl informed us: Abū al-Yamān informed us: Shuʿayb informed us, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every child of Adam, Satan pokes in his side with his finger when he is born, except Jesus son of Mary: he went to poke, but poked the veil.”

On 3:37

His words: So her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance (3:37): that is, God accepted Mary from Ḥanna in place of the consecrated boy. Taqabbala has the sense of “he accepted and was pleased with”; and qabūl is the verbal noun of qabila, yaqbalu, qabūlan, on the pattern of walūʿ and wazūʿ, and none other than these three has come in this form. And it was said: the meaning of the acceptance is taking charge of her upbringing and attending to her affairs. And He made her grow with a goodly growth: its meaning is, He made her grow, and she grew with a goodly growth. And it was said: this is a verbal noun not matching the wording of the verb, and likewise His words so her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance; the like of it is common, as when you say “I spoke speech (takallamtu kalāman)”. Juwaybir said, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both): So her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance, that is, He led her along the path of the blessed; and He made her grow with a goodly growth, meaning He fashioned her frame evenly, with neither excess nor deficiency, so that she would grow in a day what a new-born grows in a year. And He made Zachariah her guardian. The people of the historical reports said: When Ḥanna gave birth to Mary she took her, wrapped her in a cloth and carried her to the sanctuary, and set her down before the learned men, the sons of Aaron, who in those days had charge of the Holy House as the doorkeepers have charge of the Kaʿba. She said to them: “Take this one who has been vowed.” The learned men vied with one another over her, because she was the daughter of their leader and the master of their sacrifice. Zachariah said to them: “I have the best right of you to her: her maternal aunt is with me.” The learned men said to him: “We will not do that; for if she were to be left to the person with the best right to her, she would be left to the mother who bore her. Rather we shall cast lots over her, and she shall be with the one whose lot comes out.” So they went off, twenty-nine men, to a flowing river—al-Suddī said: it is the river Jordan—and threw their pens into the water, on the understanding that whoever’s pen stood firm in the water and rose up, he would have the best right to her.

And it was said: on each pen was the name of one of them.

And it was said: they were engaged in writing the Torah, so they threw the pens that were in their hands into the water, and Zachariah’s pen stood upright and rose above the water, while their pens went down and sank in the river. This was said by Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and a group.

And it was said: Zachariah’s pen ran upwards to the top of the water, while their pens ran with the flow of the water.

Al-Suddī and a group said: Rather, Zachariah’s pen stood fixed and stood up above the water as though it were in clay, while their pens ran with the current of the water and the water carried them off. So Zachariah won the lot and the draw against them. Zachariah was the head of the learned men and their prophet, and that is His words, Exalted: And He made Zachariah her guardian. Ḥamza, al-Kisāʾī and ʿĀṣim read with the fāʾ doubled (kaffalahā), so that Zachariah is in the position of the accusative, that is, God entrusted her to Zachariah and joined her to him by the lot; and the others read it without doubling (kafalahā), so that Zachariah is in the position of the nominative, that is, Zachariah took her to himself and took charge of her affairs. He is Zachariah ibn Ādhan ibn Muslim ibn Ṣadūq, of the descendants of Solomon son of David (peace be upon them both).

Ḥamza, al-Kisāʾī and Ḥafṣ from ʿĀṣim read Zakariyyā shortened (without the final hamza), while the others lengthen it (Zakariyyāʾ).

When Zachariah had taken Mary to himself he built a house for her and sought a wet-nurse for her. Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: He joined her to her maternal aunt, the mother of John, until, when she grew up and reached the age of womanhood, he built for her a chamber (miḥrāb) in the sanctuary, and its door was set in the middle of it, so that it could be climbed to only by a ladder, like the door of the Kaʿba, and no one but he went up to her. He used to bring her her food, her drink and her oil every day. Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the chamber: by the miḥrāb he meant the room; the miḥrāb is the most honoured of places of sitting and the foremost of them, and so it is in the mosque; the mosque too is called a miḥrāb. Al-Mubarrid said: a miḥrāb is only something that is ascended to by a step. Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas said: Whenever Zachariah went out he would lock seven doors upon her, and when he entered her room he found with her provision, that is, fruit out of its season: the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer. He said, “O Mary, whence (annā) is this for you?” Abū ʿUbayda said: its meaning is “from where (min ayna) is this for you?” Some objected to him and said: its meaning is “from which direction is this for you?”, because annā is for asking about the direction, while ayna is for asking about the place. She said, “It is from God”: that is, from the pickings of the Garden. Al-Ḥasan said: When Mary was born she never took a breast at all; her provision used to come to her from the Garden, and Zachariah would say to her, “Whence is this for you?” and she would say, “It is from God.” She spoke while she was a small child. Indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: Then a time of dearth struck the Children of Israel while she was in that condition, until Zachariah grew too weak to bear the burden of her. So he went out to the Children of Israel and said: “O Children of Israel, you know, by God, that I have grown old in years and have become too weak to bear the burden of Mary daughter of ʿImrān; so which of you will take charge of her after me?” They said: “By God, we are hard pressed, and the drought has struck us as you see.” They passed her back and forth among themselves, then found no escape from bearing her, so they cast lots over her with the pens, and the lot fell on a carpenter of the Children of Israel called Joseph son of Jacob (Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb), who was Mary’s cousin, and he bore the charge of her. Mary saw in his face how heavy that burden was upon him, and said to him: “O Joseph, think well of God, for God will provide for us.” So Joseph began to receive provision 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 in the sanctuary God caused it to increase. Then Zachariah would enter upon her and see with her a surplus of provision beyond the measure of what Joseph brought her, and he would say: “O Mary, whence is this for you?” She said: “It is from God; indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning.”

The people of the historical reports said: When Zachariah saw that, he said: “Surely He who has the power to bring Mary fruit out of its season, without any means, has the power to make my wife fit and to grant me a child out of its season, in old age.” So he came to hope for a child; and that was because his household had died out, and Zachariah had grown old and had despaired of a child.

On 3:38-39

God, Exalted, said: There (3:38), that is, at that point, Zachariah called upon his Lord: he entered the chamber, shut the door and prayed secretly to his Lord. He said, “My Lord,” that is, O my Lord, “grant me,” give me, “from You,” that is, from what is with You, “a goodly offspring,” that is, a blessed, God-fearing, righteous and pleasing child. Dhurriyya can be singular or plural, masculine or feminine, and here it is singular, by the evidence of His words, Mighty and Majestic: so grant me from You an heir (19:5). He said ṭayyiba (in the feminine) only because the word dhurriyya is feminine in form. “Indeed You are the Hearer of prayer”: that is, the One who hears it; and it was said: the One who answers it, as in His words, Exalted: Indeed I have believed in your Lord, so hear me (36:25), that is, answer me.

So the angels called to him (3:39). Ḥamza and al-Kisāʾī read fa-nādāhu with a yāʾ, and the others with a tāʾ (fa-nādat-hu). Whoever read with the tāʾ did so because the word malāʾika is feminine in form and because of the plural, along with the fact that when the verb of males precedes them and they are a group, the feminine is the better in it, as in His words, Exalted: The Bedouin said (qālat al-aʿrāb, 49:14). From Ibrāhīm it is reported that he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may God be pleased with them both) used to make the angels masculine in the Qur’an. Abū ʿUbayda said: We think ʿAbd Allāh chose that only in opposition to the polytheists in their saying that the angels are the daughters of God, Exalted. Al-Shaʿbī related that Ibn Masʿūd (may God be pleased with him) said: When you differ over the tāʾ and the yāʾ, make it a yāʾ and make the Qur’an masculine.

By the angels here he meant Gabriel (peace be upon him) alone, as in His words, Exalted, in Sūrat al-Naḥl, He sends down the angels, meaning Gabriel, with the spirit, that is, with the revelation (16:2). It is permissible in Arabic to speak of one person with the wording of the plural, as in their saying “I heard this news from the people”, when one has heard it only from one person. Parallel to it are His words, Exalted: those to whom the people said (3:173), meaning Nuʿaym ibn Masʿūd, “Indeed the people,” meaning Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb. Al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Salama said: When the speaker is a chief, it is permissible to speak of him in the plural because his companions are gathered with him; and Gabriel (peace be upon him) was the chief of the angels, and he was seldom sent without a company with him, so it proceeded on that basis.

His words, Exalted: while he was standing in prayer in the chamber, that is, in the sanctuary. That is because Zachariah was the great learned man who offered the sacrifice: he would open the door of the altar, and they would not enter until he gave them permission to enter. So while he was standing in prayer in the chamber—that is, in the sanctuary, praying beside the altar, while the people were waiting for him to give them permission to enter—suddenly there was a young man wearing white garments, and he was frightened by him. He called to him—and he was Gabriel (peace be upon him)—”O Zachariah, indeed God gives you glad tidings.” Ibn ʿĀmir and Ḥamza read inna Allāha with kasra on the alif, on the assumption of an implied “saying”, its implicit form being: the angels called to him and said, “Indeed God gives you glad tidings”; and the others read with fatḥa (anna), making the call fall upon it, as though He said: the angels called to him that God gives you glad tidings. Ḥamza read yabshuruka, and the whole of this class of words, without doubling throughout the Qur’an, except His words so of what do you give glad tidings (15:54), for they agreed on doubling it; al-Kisāʾī agreed with him here in the two places, and in Subḥān (Sūrat al-Isrāʾ), al-Kahf and ʿAyn Sīn Qāf (Sūrat al-Shūrā); and Ibn Kathīr and Abū ʿAmr agreed in ʿAyn Sīn Qāf; and the rest read with doubling. Whoever reads with doubling, it is from bashshara, yubashshiru, tabshīran, and that is the most eloquent of the dialects and the purest. The evidence for the doubling is His words, Exalted: so give glad tidings to My servants (39:17), and We gave him glad tidings of Isaac (37:112), they said, “We give you glad tidings in truth” (15:55), and other verses. Whoever reads without doubling, it is from bashara, yabshuru, which is the dialect of Tihāma, and Ibn Masʿūd (may God be pleased with him) read it so. Of John (Yaḥyā): it is a name that does not take the genitive ending, because it is definite and because of the augment at its beginning, like Yazīd and Yaʿmur; its plural is Yaḥyawna, like Mūsawna and ʿĪsawna. They differed as to why he was named Yaḥyā. Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both) said: because God gave life (aḥyā) by him to the barrenness of his mother. Qatāda said: because God, Exalted, gave life to his heart by faith. And it was said: because God, Exalted, gave him life through obedience, so that he neither disobeyed nor intended any disobedience. Confirming, in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier, a word from God, meaning Jesus (peace be upon him). Jesus was named the word of God because God, Exalted, said to him “Be,” without a father, and he was; so the name “word” fell upon him because by it he came to be. And it was said: he was named a word because guidance is found through him as guidance is found through the speech of God, Exalted. And it was said: it is God’s glad tidings to Mary of Jesus (peace be upon him) by His speech upon the tongue of Gabriel (peace be upon him). And it was said: because God, Exalted, had informed the prophets by His speech in His books that He would create a prophet without a father, so He named him a word because he came about through that promise. John (peace be upon him) was the first to believe in Jesus (peace be upon him) and to confirm him; John (peace be upon him) was older than Jesus by six months, and the two were sons of maternal aunts (cousins); then John was killed before Jesus (peace be upon him) was raised up. Abū ʿUbayda said: a word from God, that is, a book from God and His signs; the Arabs say “recite to me the word of so-and-so”, meaning his ode.

His words, Exalted: and a master (sayyid): the pattern faʿīl from sāda, yasūdu; he is the chief who is followed and whose word is final. Al-Mufaḍḍal said: He meant a master in religion. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: the sayyid is the one of good character. Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said: the sayyid is the one who obeys his Lord, Mighty and Majestic. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said: the sayyid is the jurist and scholar. Qatāda said: a master in knowledge, worship and scrupulousness. And it was said: the forbearing one whom nothing angers. Mujāhid said: the one honoured by God, Exalted. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: the sayyid is the God-fearing one. Sufyān al-Thawrī said: the one who does not envy. And it was said: the one who surpasses his people in all the qualities of goodness. And it was said: he is the one content with what God has apportioned to him. And it was said: the generous one. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Who is your master, O Banū Salama?” They said: “Al-Jadd ibn Qays, though we hold him to be miserly.” He said: “And what disease is worse than miserliness? Rather, your master is ʿAmr ibn al-Jamūḥ.”

His words, Exalted: and chaste (ḥaṣūr), and a prophet from among the righteous. Ḥaṣūr derives from ḥaṣr, which is confinement. The ḥaṣūr, in the view of Ibn Masʿūd (may God be pleased with him), Ibn ʿAbbās, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and Qatāda (may God be pleased with them), ʿAṭāʾ and al-Ḥasan, is the one who does not go in to women and does not approach them; on this view it is the pattern faʿūl in the sense of fāʿil, meaning that he confines himself from desires. And it was said: he is the poor man who has no property, so that ḥaṣūr is in the sense of maḥṣūr, meaning one kept from women. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said: he had something like the fringe of a garment⁶³, and in spite of that he married, so as to lower his gaze the more. There is another view on it: that the ḥaṣūr is the one who abstains from intercourse while having the ability for it. A group preferred this view for two reasons: the first, because the words came by way of praise, and this is nearer to deserving praise; and the second, that it is further from attributing a defect to the prophets.

On 3:40

His words, Exalted: He said, “My Lord” (3:40), that is, “O my master”; he said it to Gabriel (peace be upon him)—this is the view of al-Kalbī and a group. And it was said: he said it to God, Mighty and Majestic. “How can there be,” whence can there be, “for me a boy,” that is, a son, “when old age has reached me.” This is an instance of inversion, that is, “when I have reached old age and grown old”, as one says “exhaustion has reached me”, meaning “I am in exhaustion”. And it was said: its meaning is, old age has come upon me, overtaken me and weakened me. Al-Kalbī said: On the day Zachariah was given the glad tidings of the child he was ninety-two years old; and it was said: ninety-nine years old. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said, from Ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both): He was one hundred and twenty years old, and his wife was ninety-eight years old; and that is His words, Exalted: “and my wife is barren,” that is, sterile and does not bear children. One says “a barren man” and “a barren woman” (ʿāqir); and ʿaqura, with ḍamma on the qāf, yaʿqiru, ʿuqran and ʿuqāratan. He said, “Thus does God do what He wills”. If it is asked: why did Zachariah say, after God, Exalted, had promised him, “How can there be for me a boy?” Was he doubting the promise of God and His power? It is answered: when Zachariah heard the call of the angels, Satan came to him and said: “O Zachariah, the voice you heard is not from God; it is only from Satan. Had it been from God He would have revealed it to you as He reveals to you in all other matters.” So he said that to repel the whispering. This was said by ʿIkrima and al-Suddī. There is another answer: that he did not doubt the promise of God; he only wondered about the manner of it, that is, how will that be?

On 3:41-42

His words, Exalted: He said, “My Lord, appoint for me a sign” (3:41), that is, a mark by which I may know the time of my wife’s conceiving, so that I may increase in worship out of gratitude to You. He said, “Your sign is that you shall not speak to people,” you shall refrain from speech, “for three days,” and devote yourself wholly to My worship. It is not that He held his tongue from speech; rather it is a prohibition of speech while he was sound and whole, as He said in Sūrat Maryam, verse 10: that you shall not speak to people for three nights, being sound (19:10). His words, Exalted, indicate this: and glorify in the evening and the early morning; so He commanded him to remembrance and forbade him speaking to people.

Most of the commentators said: his tongue was tied from speaking with people for three days. Qatāda said: his tongue was withheld from speech as a punishment for him for asking for the sign after the angels had addressed him face to face, so he was unable to speak for three days. His words except by gesture (ramz): that is, by signalling; and signalling may be with the tongue, with the eye and with the hand. His signalling was with the index finger. Al-Farrāʾ said: the ramz may be with the tongue without making it clear, which is the faint sound resembling a whisper. ʿAṭāʾ said: by it He meant fasting for three days, because when they fasted they did not speak except by gesture. And remember your Lord much, and glorify in the evening and the early morning. It was said: what is meant by glorification is the prayer. The evening (ʿashiyy) is the time between the declining of the sun and its setting; from this the noon and afternoon prayers are called the two prayers of the evening. The early morning (ibkār) is the time between the dawn prayer and the forenoon.

His words, Exalted: And when the angels said (3:42), meaning Gabriel, “O Mary, indeed God has chosen you,” selected you, “and purified you.” It was said: from the touch of men; and it was said: from menstruation and post-natal bleeding—al-Suddī said: Mary did not menstruate; and it was said: from sins. “And chosen you above the women of the worlds.” It was said: above the people of her own time; and it was said: above all the women of the worlds, in that she gave birth without a father, and that happened to none of the women; and it was said: by consecration in the sanctuary, for no female had been consecrated.

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Malīḥī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nuʿaymī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us: Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl informed us: Aḥmad ibn Rajāʾ informed us: al-Naḍr informed us, from Hishām: my father informed us, who said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar say: I heard ʿAlī (may God be pleased with him) say: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The best of its women is Mary daughter of ʿImrān, and the best of its women is Khadīja (may God be pleased with them both).” Wakīʿ and Abū Muʿāwiya related it from Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, and Wakīʿ pointed to the heaven and the earth⁶⁴.

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Malīḥī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nuʿaymī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us: Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl informed us: Ādam informed us: Shuʿba informed us, from ʿAmr ibn Murra, from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Many among men attained perfection, but none among women attained perfection except Mary daughter of ʿImrān and Āsiya the wife of Pharaoh; and the superiority of ʿĀʾisha over women is like the superiority of tharīd⁶⁵ over all other food.”

Abū Saʿīd ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭāhirī informed us: my grandfather ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Bazzār informed us: Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā al-ʿUdhāfirī informed us: Isḥāq al-Dayrī informed us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatāda, from Anas (may God be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Sufficient for you among the women of the worlds are Mary daughter of ʿImrān, Khadīja bint Khuwaylid, Fāṭima daughter of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and Āsiya the wife of Pharaoh.”

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān (d. 671 AH / 1273 CE), about 10,230 words

On 3:33

His words, Exalted: Indeed God chose Adam and Noah (3:33). “Chose” (iṣṭafā) means selected; this has already been discussed in al-Baqarah, as has the derivation of the name Adam and his patronymic (kunyah). The implied sense is: indeed God chose their religion, which is the religion of Islam, the governed noun (muḍāf) having been omitted. Al-Zajjāj said: He chose them for prophethood above the people of their age. And Noah: it has been said that the name is derived from nāḥa yanūḥu (to wail), and that it is a foreign name, but one that is declined because it consists of three letters. He is the elder of the messengers and the first messenger whom God sent to the people of the earth after Adam (peace be upon him), with the prohibition of marrying daughters, sisters, paternal aunts, maternal aunts and the other kinswomen. Whoever among the historians has said that Idrīs⁶⁶ came before him has erred, as will be explained in al-Aʿrāf, if God Exalted wills.

His words, Exalted: and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān above the worlds (3:33). The meaning of “family” (āl) and to whom the term applies has already been treated exhaustively in al-Baqarah. In al-Bukhārī it is related from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: “The family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān” are the believers from the family of Abraham, the family of ʿImrān, the family of Yāsīn and the family of Muḥammad; God Exalted says: Indeed the people with the best claim to Abraham are those who followed him, and this Prophet, and those who believe; and God is the Protector of the believers (3:68). It has been said that the family of Abraham are Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and that Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is of the family of Abraham. It has been said that the family of Abraham is Abraham himself, and likewise the family of ʿImrān, and of this kind are His words, Exalted: and a remnant of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron left behind (2:248). In the ḥadīth: “He has indeed been given one of the pipes of the family of David.”⁶⁷ The poet said:

Weep not for any dead one after a dead one whom ʿAlī and ʿAbbās and the family of Abū Bakr loved.⁶⁸

Another said:

He suffers from the remembrance of the family of Laylā what the snake-bitten man suffers when the reckoned days come round.⁶⁹

He meant: from the remembrance of Laylā herself. It has been said that the family of ʿImrān is the family of Abraham, as He said: descendants, one of another (3:34). It has been said that what is meant is Jesus, because his mother was the daughter of ʿImrān. And it has been said that it is ʿImrān himself, as we have mentioned. Muqātil said: he is ʿImrān the father of Moses and Aaron, who is ʿImrān ibn Yaṣhar ibn Fāhāth ibn Lāwā ibn Yaʿqūb. Al-Kalbī said: he is ʿImrān the father of Mary, who was of the descendants of Solomon (peace be upon him). Al-Suhaylī recorded: ʿImrān ibn Mātān, and his wife was Ḥannah (with a nūn). These were singled out for mention from among the prophets because the prophets and messengers, every last one of them, are of their lineage. The name ʿImrān is not fully declined because it ends in an added alif and nūn. The meaning of His words above the worlds is: above the people of their own age, according to the commentators. Al-Tirmidhī al-Ḥakīm Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī said: above all created beings without exception. It has been said that above the worlds means above all created beings altogether until the Day of the Trumpet, because these were messengers and prophets and so the elect of creation; as for Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), his rank went beyond mere election, because he is a beloved one and a mercy. God Exalted said: And We did not send you except as a mercy to the worlds (21:107). The messengers were created for mercy, whereas Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was created as a mercy in himself; for this reason he became a security for creation, for when God sent him, creation became safe from the punishment until the blowing of the Trumpet. The other prophets did not occupy this station, and therefore he (peace be upon him) said: “I am a mercy bestowed as a gift,” informing that he in himself is a mercy to creation from God. His word “bestowed as a gift” (muhdāh) means a gift from God to creation.

It is said that He chose Adam by five things: the first, that He created him with His hand in the finest form by His power; the second, that He taught him all the names; the third, that He commanded the angels to prostrate to him; the fourth, that He settled him in the Garden; and the fifth, that He made him the father of mankind. He chose Noah by five things: the first, that He made him the father of mankind, because all the people were drowned and his descendants became the ones who remained; the second, that He prolonged his life, and it is said, “Blessed is he whose life is long and whose work is good”; the third, that He answered his prayer against the unbelievers and for the believers; the fourth, that He carried him in the Ark; and the fifth, that he was the first to abrogate sacred laws, for before that the marrying of maternal and paternal aunts had not been forbidden. He chose Abraham by five things: the first, that He made him the father of the prophets, for it is related that a thousand prophets issued from his loins from his time until the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); the second, that He took him as an intimate friend (khalīl); the third, that He delivered him from the fire; the fourth, that He made him a leader (imām) for mankind; and the fifth, that He tried him with the words and granted him success until he fulfilled them. Then He said: and the family of ʿImrān. If ʿImrān is the father of Moses and Aaron, then He chose the two of them above the worlds in that He sent down manna and quails upon their people, and that was granted to none of the prophets in the world. And if he is the father of Mary, then He chose Mary for him with the birth of Jesus without a father, and that was granted to no one in the world. And God knows best.

On 3:34

His words, Exalted: descendants, one of another; and God is Hearing, Knowing (3:34). The meaning of “descendants” (dhurriyyah) and its derivation have already been discussed in al-Baqarah. It is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl); al-Akhfash said: that is, in the state of some of them being from others, meaning descendants some of whom are of the offspring of others. The Kufans: it is accusative by severance (qaṭʿ). Al-Zajjāj: it is a substitute (badal), that is, He chose descendants one of another. The meaning of “one of another” is: in mutual support in religion, as He said: The hypocrite men and the hypocrite women are one of another (9:67), meaning in misguidance; so said al-Ḥasan and Qatādah. It has been said: in being chosen, elected and given prophethood. And it has been said that what is meant by it is procreation, and this is the weakest of these views.

On 3:35-36

This passage contains eight questions (masāʾil).

The first: His words, Exalted: When the wife of ʿImrān said (3:35). Abū ʿUbaydah said: “when” (idh) is redundant. Muḥammad ibn Yazīd said: the implied sense is “remember when”. Al-Zajjāj said: the meaning is “and He chose the family of ʿImrān when the wife of ʿImrān said”. She is Ḥannah (with undotted ḥāʾ and nūn), daughter of Fāqūd ibn Qunbul, the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus (peace be upon him). It is not an Arabic name, and Ḥannah is not known in Arabic as a woman’s name. In Arabic there is Abū Ḥannah al-Badrī, who is also called Abū Ḥabbah (with a bāʾ with a single dot), which is more correct; his name was ʿĀmir. There is also Dayr Ḥannah (the Monastery of Ḥannah) in Syria, and another monastery which is likewise so called.⁷⁰ Abū Nuwās said:

O Monastery of Ḥannah among the little hermit-cells of al-Ukayrāḥ, who is it that sobers up after you? For I am not the sober one.⁷¹

Ḥabbah is common among the Arabs; among them are Abū Ḥabbah al-Anṣārī, and Abū al-Sanābil ibn Baʿkak, who is mentioned in the ḥadīth of Subayʿah,⁷² Ḥabbah. Khannah with dotted khāʾ is not known except for the daughter of Yaḥyā ibn Aktham the judge, who was the mother of Muḥammad ibn Naṣr; and Jannah (with jīm) is not known except for Abū Jannah, the maternal uncle of the poet Dhū al-Rummah. All of this is from the book of Ibn Mākūlā.⁷³

The second: His words, Exalted: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated (3:35). The meaning of the vow (nadhr) has already been discussed, and that it binds the servant only by his binding himself to it. It is said that when she became pregnant she said: “If God delivers me and I give birth to what is in my womb, I shall make it consecrated.” The meaning of to You is: to Your worship. Consecrated (muḥarraran) is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl). It has been said that it is an adjective qualifying an omitted object, that is: “I have vowed to You what is in my womb as a consecrated boy.” But the first is preferable from the standpoint of exegesis, of the context of the speech and of grammatical analysis. As for the grammatical analysis, putting the adjective in the place of the noun it qualifies is not permissible in some positions, while it is permissible figuratively in others. As for the exegesis, it has been said that the reason for the wife of ʿImrān saying this was that she was an old woman who did not bear children, and they were a household that held a high place with God; she was beneath a tree and caught sight of a bird feeding its chick, and her soul was stirred by this, so she prayed to her Lord to grant her a child, and she vowed that if she gave birth she would make her child consecrated, that is, freed and devoted purely to God Exalted, a servant of the church, confined to it and set apart for the worship of God Exalted. This was permissible in their law, and it was incumbent upon their children to obey them. So when she gave birth to Mary she said: My Lord, I have given birth to a female (3:36), meaning that a female is not fit for the service of the church; it was said, because of the menstruation and impurity that befall her; and it was said, because she is not fit to mix with men. She had been hoping for a male, and that is why she consecrated it.
The third: Ibn al-ʿArabī said: “There is no disagreement that a vow could not attach to the unborn child of the wife of ʿImrān, since she was a free woman; and had his wife been a slave-woman, there is no disagreement that a vow by a person concerning his own child is not valid, whatever his condition may be: if the one making the vow is a slave, no pronouncement has been established in his favour on the matter, and if he is free, his child cannot validly be his property; and the same holds for a woman. So what sense can the vow have here? Its meaning is only (and God knows best) that a person desires his child for the companionship, support and consolation he gives; this woman sought a child for companionship with it and to find rest in it, and when God Exalted bestowed it upon her, she vowed that her own share of companionship with it was relinquished and that it was dedicated to the service of God Exalted. This is the vow of the free-born among the righteous. By it she meant: consecrated from my side, freed from the bondage of this world and its occupations.” A man of the Sufis once said to his mother: “Mother, leave me to God, that I may devote myself to His worship and learn knowledge.” She said: “Yes.” He went away until he had gained insight, then returned to her and knocked at the door. She said: “Who is it?” He said to her: “Your son so-and-so.” She said: “We have left you to God, and we shall not take you back.”
The fourth: His words, Exalted: consecrated (muḥarraran) is taken from freedom (ḥurriyyah), which is the opposite of bondage; from this comes taḥrīr al-kitāb, the “freeing” of a written text, which is clearing it of confusion and corruption. Khuṣayf related from ʿIkrimah and Mujāhid that the consecrated one is he who is purely for God, Mighty and Majestic, with nothing of the affairs of this world mixed in. This is well known in the language, that everything pure is called ḥurr, and muḥarrar has the same meaning. Dhū al-Rummah said:

And the earring hangs from the free (smooth) part behind her ear; the cord of her neck is long and far from it, so it swings to and fro.⁷⁴

And ṭīn ḥurr is pure clay with no sand in it; and “so-and-so spent a free night (laylah ḥurrah)” is said when her husband did not attain to her on the first night, whereas if he had his way with her it is a “grey night” (laylah shaybāʾ).

The fifth: His words, Exalted: So when she gave birth to her she said: My Lord, I have given birth to a female (3:36). Ibn ʿAbbās said: she only said this because none but males were accepted in fulfilment of a vow, yet God accepted Mary. A female is a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl), or, if you wish, a substitute (badal). It was said that she reared her until she grew up and only then sent her; this was related by Ashhab from Mālik. And it was said that she wrapped her in her swaddling cloth and sent her to the temple, so fulfilling her vow and relinquishing her. Perhaps the veiling of women among them was not as it was in the early days of Islam; for in al-Bukhārī and Muslim it is related that a black woman used to sweep the mosque in the time of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and she died, to the end of the ḥadīth.
The sixth: His words, Exalted: and God knows best what she gave birth to (3:36). According to the reading of those who read waḍaʿtu, with a ḍammah on the tāʾ, it is part of her own speech, and the discourse is continuous. This is the reading of Abū Bakr⁷⁵ and Ibn ʿĀmir, and it carries the sense of submission to God, humility, and declaring Him exalted above anything being hidden from Him. She did not say it by way of informing, because God’s knowledge of all things is already established in the soul of the believer; she said it only by way of magnifying God Exalted and declaring Him transcendent. According to the reading of the majority, it is the speech of God, Mighty and Majestic, brought forward, its proper place being later, after and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from the accursed Satan (3:36), “and God knows best what she gave birth to”; so said al-Mahdawī. Makkī said: it is information from God Exalted to us by way of confirmation, so He said: and God knows best what the mother of Mary gave birth to, whether she said it or did not say it. This is strengthened by the fact that had it been the speech of the mother of Mary, the proper form of the speech would have been “and You know best what I have given birth to”, because she addressed Him at the beginning of her speech with her words My Lord, I have given birth to a female. It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās bi-mā waḍaʿti, with a kasrah on the tāʾ, that is, this was said to her.
The seventh: His words, Exalted: and the male is not like the female (3:36). Some of the Shāfiʿīs have used this as evidence that a woman who willingly complies with her husband in intercourse during the daytime of Ramaḍān is not equal to him in the obligation of expiation upon her. Ibn al-ʿArabī said: this is heedlessness on their part, for this is a report about the law of those before us, and they do not hold that to be binding; and this righteous woman intended by her words only what the evidence of her situation and the conclusion of her speech testify to, namely that she had vowed the service of the temple in respect of her child, and when she saw that it was a female, who was not fit for it and who was something to be concealed (ʿawrah), she excused herself to her Lord for the child having come to her contrary to what she had intended for it. The name Maryam is not fully declined because it is feminine and definite, and it is also foreign; so said al-Naḥḥās. And God Exalted knows best.
The eighth: His words, Exalted: and I have named her Mary (3:36), meaning “the servant of the Lord” in their language.

And I seek refuge for her in You, meaning Mary.

And for her offspring, meaning Jesus. This shows that “offspring” (dhurriyyah) may apply to a single child in particular. In the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim it is related from Abū Hurayrah that he said: the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “There is no newborn that is born but that Satan pricks it, so that it begins its life crying from the prick of Satan, except the son of Mary and his mother.” Then Abū Hurayrah said: recite if you wish: and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from the accursed Satan (3:36). Our scholars said: this ḥadīth conveys that God Exalted answered the prayer of the mother of Mary, for Satan pricks all the children of Adam, even the prophets and the saints, except Mary and her son. Qatādah said: every newborn is stabbed by Satan in its side when it is born, except Jesus and his mother; a veil was placed between them, so the stab struck the veil and nothing of it reached them. Our scholars said: were it not so, the special distinction of the two of them would be void. It does not follow from this that Satan’s prick necessarily entails the misguidance and seduction of the one touched, for that is a corrupt supposition: how often has Satan assailed the prophets and the saints with all kinds of corruption and seduction, and yet God protected them from what Satan sought, as He Exalted said: Indeed, over My servants you have no authority (15:42). This is so even though every single one of the children of Adam has had a companion (qarīn) from among the devils assigned to him, as the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said; so Mary and her son, though protected from his prick, were not protected from his clinging to them and keeping them company. And God knows best.

On 3:37-38

His words, Exalted: So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance (3:37). The meaning is: He led her along the path of the blessed; this is from Ibn ʿAbbās. Some said: the meaning of acceptance (taqabbul) is taking charge of her upbringing and attending to her affairs. Al-Ḥasan said: the meaning of acceptance is that He never once punished her for a single hour of night or day.

And He made her grow with a good growth: meaning He fashioned her constitution evenly, without excess or deficiency, so that she grew in a day what another child grows in a whole year. “Acceptance” (qabūl) and “growth” (nabāt) are verbal nouns formed on a pattern other than that of their verbs, the regular forms being taqabbulan and inbātan. The poet said:

Ingratitude, after you turned death away from me, and after your gift of the hundred grazing camels?

He meant “after your giving” (iʿṭāʾika). But when He said He made her grow (anbatahā), it pointed to nabata (she grew), just as Imruʾ al-Qays said:

So we came to fair terms and our speech grew gentle; I broke her in, and she who had been refractory was tamed, and how tamed!

The verbal noun of dhallat is properly dhull, but he referred it back to the sense of adhlaltu (I tamed); and so it is with everything of this kind that comes before you. The meaning of taqabbala and qabila is one and the same, so the sense is: her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance. Parallel to it is the saying of Ruʾbah:

And I have coiled myself with the coiling of the ḥiḍb, the viper,

because the meaning of taṭawwaytu and inṭawaytu is one. Like it is the saying of al-Quṭāmī:

The best of an affair is that which you meet head-on, not that you should go chasing after it in pursuit,

because tatabbaʿtu and ittabaʿtu are one. And in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: “and He sent down (anzala) the angels, a sending down (tanzīlan)” (25:25), because the meaning of nazzala and anzala is one. Al-Mufaḍḍal said: its meaning is “and He made her grow, so she grew with a good growth”. But having regard to the meaning is preferable, as we have mentioned. The basic form of qabūl is with a ḍammah, because it is a verbal noun like dukhūl and khurūj; the fatḥah occurs in a few words only, such as walūʿ and wazūʿ, these three and no others; so said Abū ʿAmr, al-Kisāʾī and the leading authorities. Al-Zajjāj permitted bi-qubūl, with a ḍammah on the qāf, according to the basic form.

His words, Exalted: and He put her in the care of Zachariah (3:37), that is, He joined her to him. Abū ʿUbaydah: he undertook responsibility for attending to her. The Kufans read kaffalahā with doubling, so that it is transitive to two objects, the implied sense being “and her Lord put her in the care of Zachariah”, that is, He imposed her guardianship upon him, decreed that for him and made it easy for him. In the codex of Ubayy it is wa-akfalahā, and the hamzah is like the doubling in making the verb transitive. Moreover, before it come so her Lord accepted her and He made her grow, where the Exalted reports of Himself what He did with her, so kaffalahā with doubling follows on from that. The rest read it without doubling, attributing the verb to Zachariah. God Exalted thus reported that it was He who took charge of her guardianship and attendance upon her, as is indicated by His words: which of them should take charge of Mary (3:44). Makkī said: and this is the preferred choice, because the doubled form comes back to the undoubled one, since when God Exalted entrusted her to Zachariah’s care, Zachariah took charge of her by God’s command, and since when Zachariah took charge of her it was by the will and power of God; on this basis the two readings merge into one another. ʿAmr ibn Mūsā related from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr and Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī wa-kafilahā, with a kasrah on the fāʾ. Al-Akhfash said: one says kafala yakfulu and kafila yakfilu, but I have not heard kafula, though it has been mentioned. Mujāhid read fa-taqabbalhā, with the lām vowelless, as a petition and request; rabbahā in the accusative, as a vocative in a construct phrase; wa-anbithā, with the tāʾ vowelless; wa-kaffilhā, with the lām vowelless; and Zakariyyāʾa, with lengthening and in the accusative.⁷⁶ Ḥafṣ, Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī read Zakariyyā without lengthening or hamzah, while the rest lengthened it and gave it a hamzah. Al-Farrāʾ said: the people of the Ḥijāz both lengthen Zakariyyāʾ and shorten it, while the people of Najd drop the alif from it and decline it fully, saying Zakariyy. Al-Akhfash said: there are four dialectal forms of it: the lengthened and the shortened; Zakariyy, with doubled yāʾ and full declension; and Zakarin, with “I saw Zakariyyā“. Abū Ḥātim said: Zakariyy without full declension, because it is foreign; but this is an error, because whatever has a yāʾ like this is fully declined, like kursiyy and Yaḥyā; whereas Zakariyyāʾ, in both the lengthened and the shortened forms, is not fully declined, because it contains the feminine alif together with foreignness and definiteness.

His words, Exalted: Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the sanctuary, he found provision with her (3:37), up to His words indeed You are the Hearer of prayer (3:38). This contains four questions.

The first: His words, Exalted: Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the sanctuary. The sanctuary (miḥrāb) in the language is the most honoured place in a sitting-room; a fuller explanation of it will come in the sūrah of Mary. It has come in a report that she was in an upper chamber to which Zachariah used to ascend by a ladder. Waḍḍāḥ al-Yaman said:

The mistress of a miḥrāb: when I come to her, I do not reach her until I climb a ladder,

that is, the mistress of an upper chamber. Abū Ṣāliḥ related from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: the wife of ʿImrān conceived after she had grown old, and she vowed what was in her womb as consecrated. ʿImrān said to her: “Woe to you! What have you done? What if it is a female?” And they were both grieved at that. Then ʿImrān died while Ḥannah was pregnant, and she gave birth to a female, and God accepted her with a good acceptance. Only boys used to be consecrated, so the rabbis cast lots for her with the pens with which they wrote the revelation, as will be related. Zachariah took charge of her and took a place for her, and when she grew older he made a sanctuary for her to which one could ascend only by a ladder. He hired a wet-nurse for her, and he used to lock a door upon her, and no one entered upon her but Zachariah, until she grew up. When she menstruated he would take her out to his house, where she stayed with her maternal aunt, for her maternal aunt was the wife of Zachariah, according to al-Kalbī. Muqātil said: it was her sister who was the wife of Zachariah. When she became pure from her menstruation and had washed, he returned her to the sanctuary. Some said: she did not menstruate at all, and was kept pure from menstruation. Whenever Zachariah entered upon her he would find with her the fruit of winter in the height of summer and the fruit of summer in winter, so he said: “O Mary, from where do you have this?” She said: “It is from God.” It was at that point that Zachariah conceived the hope of a child, and said: “He who brings her this is able to grant me a child.” The meaning of annā is “from where” (min ayna); so said Abū ʿUbaydah. Al-Naḥḥās said: there is some looseness in this, because ayna asks about places, while annā asks about ways and directions; the meaning is: from which of the ways and from which of the directions do you have this? Al-Kumayt distinguished between the two when he said:

How, and from where, has rapture come back to you, from a quarter where there is neither youthful passion nor misgiving?

Whenever (kullamā) is in the accusative, governed by he found, that is, at every entering.

Indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning (3:37): it was said that this is part of Mary’s speech, and it may also be a fresh sentence. This was the occasion of Zachariah’s prayer and his asking for a child.

The second: His words, Exalted: There Zachariah called upon his Lord (3:38). Hunālika (there) is in the position of the accusative, because it is an adverb used of both time and place, its basic use being for place. Al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Salamah said: hunālika is used of time and hunāka of place, though the one may be put in the place of the other.

Grant me: give me.

From Yourself (min ladunka): from You.

A good offspring: that is, righteous progeny. “Offspring” (dhurriyyah) can be one or many, male or female, and here it is one, as is shown by His words so grant me from Yourself an heir (19:5), and He did not say “heirs”. Good (ṭayyibah) was made feminine only because the word dhurriyyah is feminine in form, like the poet’s words:

Your father is a caliph, whom another bore, and you are a caliph: that is perfection,

where he made “bore” feminine because the word khalīfah is feminine in form. It is related in the ḥadīth of Anas that he said: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Any man who dies and leaves a good offspring, God grants him the like of the reward of their works without diminishing anything from their rewards.” The derivation of dhurriyyah has already been given in al-Baqarah.

Good: that is, righteous and blessed.

Indeed You are the Hearer of prayer: that is, the One who accepts it; and of this kind is “God hears (samiʿa) him who praises Him”.

The third: this verse indicates the seeking of children, which is the practice (sunnah) of the messengers and the truthful. God Exalted said: And We sent messengers before you and appointed for them wives and offspring (13:38). In the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim it is related from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ that he said: ʿUthmān wished to devote himself to celibacy, but the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade him; had he permitted him that, we would have had ourselves castrated. Ibn Mājah recorded from ʿĀʾishah that she said: the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Marriage is of my practice, and whoever does not act according to my practice is not of me. Marry, for I shall outnumber the nations by you. Whoever has the means, let him marry; and whoever cannot find them, let him keep to fasting, for it is a castration (wijāʾ) for him.”⁷⁷ In this is a refutation of one of the ignorant among the Sufis, who said: “He who seeks children is a fool”, not knowing that he himself is the dullard and the bungler. God Exalted said, reporting of Abraham the Intimate Friend: and grant me a tongue of truthfulness among the later generations (26:84); and He said: And those who say: Our Lord, grant us from our wives and our offspring the comfort of our eyes (25:74). Al-Bukhārī gave a chapter heading on this: “The chapter on seeking children”. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Abū Ṭalḥah when his son died: “Did you consummate tonight?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “May God bless the two of you in what remains of your night.” He said: and she conceived. In al-Bukhārī: Sufyān said: a man of the Anṣār said: “I saw nine children, all of whom had learnt the Qurʾan by heart.” He also gave the chapter heading: “The chapter on praying for many children together with blessing”, and cited the ḥadīth of Anas ibn Mālik, who said: Umm Sulaym said: “O Messenger of God, Anas is your servant; pray to God for him.” He said: “O God, increase his wealth and his children, and bless him in what You have given him.” And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “O God, forgive Abū Salamah, raise his rank among the rightly guided, and be his successor among his descendants who remain.” Al-Bukhārī and Muslim recorded it. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Marry the fertile and loving woman, for I shall outnumber the nations by you.” Abū Dāwūd recorded it. The reports to this effect are many; they urge the seeking of children and commend it, for the benefit a person hopes for from them in his life and after his death. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When one of you dies, his works are cut off except from three”, and he mentioned “or a righteous child who prays for him.” Even if there were no ḥadīth but this one, it would be sufficient.
The fourth: once this is established, it is incumbent upon a person to beseech his Creator for the guidance of his child and his wife, for success to be granted to them both, and guidance, righteousness, chastity and care, and that they be helpers to him in his religion and his worldly life, so that his benefit from them may be great in this world and the next. Do you not see the words of Zachariah: and make him, my Lord, well-pleasing (19:6), and his words: a good offspring; and His words: grant us from our wives and our offspring the comfort of our eyes (25:74). And the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed for Anas, saying: “O God, increase his wealth and his children, and bless him in it.” Al-Bukhārī and Muslim recorded it, and that suffices you.

On 3:39

His words, Exalted: Then the angels called to him (3:39). Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī read fa-nādāhu, with an alif, in the masculine, and they pronounce it with imālah because its origin is a yāʾ and because it is the fourth letter. With the alif is also the reading of Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn Masʿūd, and it is the choice of Abū ʿUbayd. It is related from Jarīr, from Mughīrah, from Ibrāhīm, who said: ʿAbd Allāh used to make “the angels” masculine throughout the Qurʾan. Abū ʿUbayd said: we consider that he chose this in opposition to the polytheists, because they said that the angels are the daughters of God. Al-Naḥḥās said: this is an argument from which nothing follows, because the Arabs say both qālat al-rijāl and qāla al-rijāl, and likewise with al-nisāʾ; and how could the Qurʾan be used as an argument against them in this way? If it were permissible to argue against them from the Qurʾan by this, it would be permissible for them to argue from His words, Exalted: and when the angels said (qālat) (3:42). Rather, the argument against them lies in His words, Mighty and Majestic: Did they witness their creation? (43:19), that is, they did not witness it, so how can they say that they are females? Thus it is known that this is mere conjecture and caprice. As for fa-nādāhu, it is permissible on the basis of treating the plural as masculine, and nādat-hu on the basis of treating the collective as feminine. Makkī said: the angels are among rational beings in broken plurals, yet in taking the feminine they are treated like non-rational beings; you say hiya al-rijāl (“they” in the feminine singular, “the men”), hiya al-judhūʿ (the trunks), hiya al-jimāl (the camels), and qālat al-aʿrāb (the Bedouin said, with a feminine verb). This is strengthened by His words and when the angels said (qālat); and He has used the masculine in another place, saying: and the angels stretching out their hands (6:93), and this is by consensus. And He Exalted said: and the angels enter upon them from every gate (13:23). So both the feminine and the masculine treatment of this plural are good. Al-Suddī said: it was Gabriel alone who called to him, and so it is in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd. In the revelation there is He sends down the angels with the Spirit of His command (16:2), meaning Gabriel, the Spirit being the revelation. It is permissible in Arabic to speak of a single individual with a plural expression; and in the revelation there comes those to whom the people said (3:173), meaning Nuʿaym ibn Masʿūd, as will be explained. And it has been said that all the angels called to him, and this is the more evident meaning, that is, the call came from their direction.

His words, Exalted: while he was standing praying in the sanctuary: God gives you glad tidings (3:39). While he was standing (wa-huwa qāʾimun) is subject and predicate, and praying (yuṣallī) is in the position of the nominative; or, if you wish, it is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier of the pronoun. That God (anna Allāha) means “with the news that God”. Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī read inna,⁷⁸ that is, “they said: indeed God”, the call being taken in the sense of speech. Yubashshiruka with doubling is the reading of the people of Medina. Ḥamzah read yabshuruka without doubling, and so too Ḥumayd ibn al-Qays al-Makkī, except that he gave the shīn a kasrah, the yāʾ a ḍammah, and left the bāʾ undoubled. Al-Akhfash said: they are three dialectal forms with one meaning. The evidence for the first, which is the reading of the majority, is that whatever occurs in the Qurʾan of this root as a past tense or imperative verb has the doubled form, as in His words, Exalted: so give glad tidings to My servants (39:17), so give him glad tidings of forgiveness (36:11), so We gave her glad tidings of Isaac (11:71), they said: We give you glad tidings in truth (15:55). As for the second, which is the reading of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, it is from bashara yabshuru, and it is the dialect of Tihāmah; of this is the saying of the poet:

I gave my household glad tidings (basharta) when I saw a letter that had come to you from al-Ḥajjāj, its writing being read aloud.

Another said:

And when you see those stretching out eagerly towards bounty, their hands dust-covered, on a barren plain,

then help them, and rejoice (ibshar) in what they rejoice in (bashirū); and when they alight in a place of hardship, alight there too.

As for the third, it is from abshara yubshiru ibshāran; the poet said:

O Umm ʿAmr, rejoice (abshirī) at the glad tidings: a swift death and locusts clustered thick.⁷⁹

His words, Exalted: of John (3:39). His name in the former scripture was Ḥayyā; and the name of Sarah, the wife of Abraham (peace be upon him), was Yasārah, whose interpretation in Arabic is “she does not bear children”. When she was given the glad tidings of Isaac she was called Sārah, Gabriel (peace be upon him) having named her so. She said: “O Abraham, why has a letter been taken away from my name?” Abraham put this to Gabriel (peace be upon them both), and he said: “That letter has been added to the name of a son of hers who is one of the best of the prophets; his name was Ḥayy, and he has been named Yaḥyā.” Al-Naqqāsh mentioned this. Qatādah said: he was named Yaḥyā because God Exalted gave him life (aḥyāhu) through faith and prophethood. Some said: he was so named because God Exalted gave life to the people through him by guidance. Muqātil said: his name was derived from the name of God Exalted, Ḥayy (the Living), so he was named Yaḥyā. And it has been said: because God gave life through him to the womb of his mother.

Confirming a word from God (3:39): meaning Jesus, according to most of the commentators. Jesus was called a word because he came to be by the word of God Exalted, which is “Be”, and so he came to be without a father. Abū al-Sammāl al-ʿAdawī read bi-kilmah, with a kasrah on the kāf and the lām vowelless, throughout the Qurʾan; it is an eloquent dialectal form, like kitf and fakhdh. It has been said that he was called a word because people are guided by him as they are guided by the speech of God Exalted. Abū ʿUbayd said: the meaning of a word from God is “a book from God”; he said: the Arabs say “he recited to me a kalimah“, meaning a poem, as it is related that al-Ḥuwaydirah⁸⁰ was mentioned to Ḥassān, and he said: “May God curse his kalimah“, meaning his poem. Other views besides these have been stated, but the first view is the best known and the majority of the scholars hold it. John was the first to believe in Jesus (peace be upon them both) and to confirm him. John was older than Jesus by three years, or, it is said, by six months, and they were the sons of two sisters.⁸¹ When Zachariah heard his testimony he rose and went to Jesus and clasped him to himself while he was still in his swaddling clothes. Al-Ṭabarī mentioned that when Mary conceived Jesus, her sister also conceived John; her sister came to visit her and said: “O Mary, have you perceived that I am pregnant?” Mary said to her: “Have you yourself perceived that I am pregnant?” She said to her: “And indeed I feel that what is in my womb bows down to what is in your womb.” That is because it is related that she felt her unborn child fall forward with its head towards the belly of Mary. Al-Suddī said: that is the meaning of the words confirming a word from God. Confirming is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier.

And a lord (sayyidan): the lord (sayyid) is he who rules over his people and whose word is final; its original form is saywid, and one says “so-and-so is more lordly (aswad) than so-and-so”, an elative (afʿal) form from siyādah. In this is an indication that it is permissible to call a human being sayyid, just as it is permissible to call him mighty (ʿazīz) or noble (karīm). Likewise it is related from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said to the Banū Qurayẓah: “Rise for your lord (sayyid).” In al-Bukhārī and Muslim it is related that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said of al-Ḥasan: “Indeed this son of mine is a lord (sayyid), and perhaps God will make peace through him between two great factions of the Muslims.” And so it was: when ʿAlī (may God be pleased with him) was killed, more than forty thousand pledged allegiance to him, together with many who had held back from his father and many who had broken their pledge to him, and he remained for about seven months caliph over Iraq and the lands of Khurāsān beyond it. Then he marched against Muʿāwiyah with the people of the Ḥijāz and Iraq, and Muʿāwiyah marched against him with the people of Syria. When the two hosts came in sight of one another at a place called Maskin, in the land of the Sawād in the district of al-Anbār, al-Ḥasan was averse to fighting, knowing that neither of the two parties would prevail until most of the other had perished, and so the Muslims would perish. He therefore surrendered the authority to Muʿāwiyah upon conditions that he stipulated against him, among them that the authority should pass to him after Muʿāwiyah; and Muʿāwiyah bound himself to all of that. Thus the word of the Prophet (peace be upon him), “Indeed this son of mine is a lord”, proved true, and there is none more lordly than one whom God Exalted and His Messenger have made a lord. Qatādah said concerning His words, Exalted, and a lord: in knowledge and worship. Ibn Jubayr and al-Ḍaḥḥāk: in knowledge and piety. Mujāhid: the lord is the noble one. Ibn Zayd: he whom anger does not overcome. Al-Zajjāj said: the lord is he who surpasses his peers in every kind of good; and this is comprehensive. Al-Kisāʾī said: the sayyid among goats is the aged one; and in the ḥadīth: “A two-year-old of the sheep is better than the aged (sayyid) of the goats.” The poet said:

It is all one to him whether it be a yearling ewe that came near him so that he might slaughter it for the guest, or an aged goat.

And chaste (ḥaṣūran): its origin is from ḥaṣr, which is confinement; ḥaṣaranī al-shayʾ and aḥṣaranī mean “the thing confined me”. Ibn Mayyādah said:

Laylā’s forsaking is not that she has grown distant from you, nor that occupations have confined (aḥṣarat) you.

A ḥaṣūr she-camel is one with a narrow teat-orifice. The ḥaṣūr is one who does not go in to women, as though he held back from them, just as one says “a ḥaṣūr man” or “a ḥaṣīr man” of one who withholds his contribution and does not put out what boon-companions put out. One says: “the people drank and so-and-so was ḥaṣira towards them”, that is, he was niggardly; this is from Abū ʿAmr. Al-Akhṭal said:

Many a drinker, open-handed with the cup, has been my boon companion, neither a niggard (ḥaṣūr) nor, over the wine, a brawler.

In the revelation there is and We have made Hell for the unbelievers a ḥaṣīr (17:8), that is, a prison. The ḥaṣīr also means the king, because he is screened off. Labīd said:

And many a lordly host, thick of neck, as though they were jinn standing at the gate of the king (al-ḥaṣīr).

So John (peace be upon him) is ḥaṣūr, the faʿūl pattern in the sense of mafʿūl, one who does not go in to women, as though he were kept back from what is found in men; this is from Ibn Masʿūd and others. The faʿūl pattern in the sense of mafʿūl is frequent in the language; among its instances is ḥalūb in the sense of maḥlūbah (a milch-camel). The poet said:

Among them are forty-two milch-camels (ḥalūbah), black as the hidden wing-feathers of the jet-black raven.

Ibn Masʿūd also said, and Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn Jubayr, Qatādah, ʿAṭāʾ, Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, al-Ḥasan, al-Suddī and Ibn Zayd: he is one who restrains himself from women and does not approach them though he has the ability. This is the most correct of the views, for two reasons. The first is that it is praise and commendation of him, and commendation is, as a rule, only for an acquired act, not for a natural disposition. The second is that faʿūl in the language is one of the forms of the active participle, as the poet said:

A great striker (ḍarūb) with the blade of the sword at the legs of their fat camels when they lack provisions; indeed you are the one who slaughters.⁸²

So the meaning is that he confines himself from the desires. Perhaps this was his law; as for our law, it is marriage, as has been stated above. It has been said that the ḥaṣūr is the impotent man who has no member with which marital relations are possible for him and who does not emit; this is from Ibn ʿAbbās as well, and from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab and al-Ḍaḥḥāk. Abū Ṣāliḥ related from Abū Hurayrah that he said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Every son of Adam will meet God with a sin he has committed, for which He will punish him if He wills or show him mercy, except John the son of Zachariah, for he was a lord, chaste, and a prophet from among the righteous.” Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reached down with his hand to a speck on the ground, picked it up and said: “His member was like this speck.” And it has been said that its meaning is: one who restrains himself from acts of disobedience to God, Mighty and Majestic. And a prophet from among the righteous (3:39): al-Zajjāj said: the righteous man is he who renders to God what He has made obligatory upon him, and to people their rights.

On 3:40

He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy, when old age has already reached me and my wife is barren? He said: Thus God does what He wills (3:40). It has been said that “Lord” here is Gabriel, that is, he said to Gabriel: “My lord”, meaning “O my master”, “how shall I have a boy?”, meaning a child; this is the view of al-Kalbī. Some said: his word My Lord means God Exalted. Annā has the meaning of “how”, and it is in the position of the accusative as an adverb. There are two aspects to the meaning of this question. The first is that he asked whether he would have the child while he and his wife remained in their present condition, or whether they would be restored to the condition of those who beget. The second is that he asked whether he would be granted the child from his barren wife or from another. And it has been said that the meaning is: by what merit do I deserve this, when I and my wife are in this condition? — by way of humility. It is related that between his prayer and the time at which he was given the glad tidings there were forty years, and that on the day he was given the glad tidings he was ninety years old and his wife was near him in age. Ibn ʿAbbās and al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: on the day he was given the glad tidings he was a hundred and twenty years old and his wife was ninety-eight years old; hence his words and my wife is barren, that is, sterile, she does not bear children. One says “a barren (ʿāqir) man” and “a barren woman”, one in whom barrenness is manifest. One says ʿaqurat and ʿaqura (with a ḍammah on the qāf in both), taʿquru ʿuqran, “she became barren”, like ḥasunat taḥsunu ḥusnan; this is from Abū Zayd; and also ʿuqārah. The active participles from faʿula are on the pattern faʿīlah: one says ʿaẓumat fa-hiya ʿaẓīmah and ẓarufat fa-hiya ẓarīfah. ʿĀqir is used only because what is meant by it is “one possessed of barrenness”, by way of attribution (nasab); had it been on the basis of the verb, one would have said ʿaqurat fa-hiya ʿaqīrah, as though there were in her a ʿuqr, that is, an advanced age which prevents her from bearing children. Al-ʿāqir is also the great sand-hill that grows nothing. Al-ʿuqr is also the dower of a woman when she has been had on the basis of a mistaken belief of lawfulness (shubhah). The “egg of the ʿuqr“: they claimed it is the egg of the cock, because it lays a single egg in its lifetime, elongated in shape. ʿUqr al-nār is also the middle of the fire and the greater part of it. ʿUqr al-ḥawḍ is the back of the watering-trough, where the camels stand when they come to drink; one says ʿuqr and ʿuqur, like ʿusr and ʿusur, and the plural is aʿqār; so it is a word of several meanings (mushtarak). The kāf in His words thus (ka-dhālika) is in the position of the accusative, that is, “God does what He wills in the like of that way”. Ghulām (boy) is derived from ghulmah, which is intensity of desire for intercourse; ightalama al-faḥl ghulmatan means “the stallion was roused by the lust to cover”. Laylā al-Akhyaliyyah said:

There cured her of the incurable disease that was in her a youth (ghulām) who, when he brandished the spear-shaft, gave it drink.

The ghulām is one whose moustache has just sprouted; he is in the state of ghulūmah or ghulūmiyyah, and the plural is ghilmah and ghilmān. It is said that al-ghaylam is the young man, and also the young woman. Al-ghaylam is also the male tortoise, and al-Ghaylam is a place. Ightalama al-baḥr means the sea raged and its waves dashed against one another.

On 3:41

It contains three matters.

His words, Exalted: He said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41). “Appoint” (jaʿala) here has the meaning of “make into” (ṣayyara), because it governs two objects, and “for me” is in the position of the second object. When he was given the glad tidings of the child, and this was not remote to him in respect of the power of God, Exalted, he asked for a sign, that is, a mark, by which he might know the soundness of this matter and that it was from God, Exalted; so God, Exalted, punished him by afflicting him with silence from speaking to people, for asking for a sign after the angels had addressed him face to face. This is what most of the commentators said. They said: and likewise, even if it was not a muteness arising from illness or the like, there is in any case some punishment in it. Ibn Zayd said: When the wife of Zachariah (peace be upon him) conceived John by him, he became unable to speak to anyone, while at the same time he could recite the Torah and remember God, Exalted; but when he wished to converse with anyone he could not manage it.
The second: His words, Exalted: except by gesture (3:41). Gesture (ramz) in the language is signalling with the two lips, and it may be used of signalling with the eyebrows, the eyes and the hands; its root meaning is movement. It was said: he asked for that sign as an increase of reassurance. The meaning is: complete the blessing by appointing for me a sign, that sign being an additional blessing and honour; so it was said to him: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days (3:41), that is, you will be prevented from speaking for three nights. The proof of this view is His words, Exalted, after the glad tidings of the angels to him: and I created you before, when you were nothing (19:9), that is, I brought you into being by My power, and likewise I shall bring the child into being for you. Al-Naḥḥās preferred this view and said: the statement of Qatādah that Zachariah was punished by the withholding of speech is a view to be shunned, because God, Mighty and Majestic, did not inform us that he sinned nor that He forbade him this; the position on it is that the meaning is: appoint for me a mark that indicates the existence of the child, since that was hidden from me. “Gesture” (ramzan) is in the accusative as a discontinuous exception (istithnāʾ munqaṭiʿ), so said al-Akhfash. Al-Kisāʾī said: ramaza, yarmuzu and yarmizu. It was also read “illā ramazan” with a fatḥah on the mīm, and “rumuzan” with a ḍammah on it and a ḍammah on the rāʾ, the singular being ramzah.
The third: In this verse is proof that a gesture takes the place of speech, and that is found in much of the Sunnah. The most emphatic of gestures is that by which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) judged in the case of the black slave-woman, when he said to her: “Where is God?” and she pointed with her head to heaven, and he said: “Set her free, for she is a believer.” Thus he allowed by gesture Islam, which is the foundation of religion, which protects blood and property, by which Paradise is merited and by which one is saved from the Fire; and he ruled that she was a believer just as one rules by the speech of one who utters that. So a gesture must be operative in all the rest of religion, and this is the view of the generality of the jurists. Ibn al-Qāsim related from Mālik that when a mute person signals divorce it is binding on him. Al-Shāfiʿī said concerning a man who falls ill and whose tongue becomes impaired that he is like the mute with regard to taking back a wife and divorce. Abū Ḥanīfah said: that is permissible when his gesture is understood, but if there is doubt about it, it is void; and this is not by analogy (qiyās) but by juristic preference (istiḥsān). Analogy in all this would be that it is void, because he does not speak and his gesture is not intelligible. Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Baṭṭāl said: what led Abū Ḥanīfah to say this is only that he did not know the Sunnah reports which have come allowing gestures in various rulings of religion; and perhaps al-Bukhārī, by his chapter heading “Chapter on Gesture in Divorce and Other Matters”, intended a refutation of him. ʿAṭāʾ said: by His words “that you shall not speak to people” He meant fasting for three days; they, when they fasted, would not speak except by gesture. But this is far-fetched. And God knows best.
The fourth: Some of those who permit the abrogation (naskh) of the Qurʾān by the Sunnah said: Zachariah (peace be upon him) was prevented from speaking while he was capable of it, and this is abrogated by his words (peace be upon him): “There is no silence for a day until night.” Most of the scholars hold that it is not abrogated, and that Zachariah was only prevented from speaking by an affliction that came upon him and prevented him from it, that affliction being the inability to speak while in sound health; thus said the commentators. Many of the scholars held that “There is no silence for a day until night” only means silence from the remembrance of God; as for silence from idle chatter and what has no benefit in it, silence from that is good.

His words, Exalted: And remember your Lord much, and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning (3:41). He commanded him not to abandon remembrance within himself despite the tying of his tongue, according to the first view. The meaning of remembrance (dhikr) has already been given in al-Baqarah. Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī said: Had anyone been granted a dispensation to abandon remembrance, Zachariah would have been granted it, by the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture; and remember your Lord much (3:41); and a man in battle would have been granted it, by the words of God, Mighty and Majestic: When you meet a host, stand firm and remember God much (8:45). Al-Ṭabarī mentioned it. “And glorify” means pray; the prayer was called subḥah because of the declaring of God, Exalted, free of evil which it contains. “The evening” (al-ʿashī) is the plural of ʿashiyyah; and it was said that it is a singular. It is from the time the sun declines until it sets, according to Mujāhid. In the Muwaṭṭaʾ, from al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, who said: I never found people other than praying the noon prayer in the evening (ʿashī). “And the early morning” (al-ibkār) is from the rising of dawn until the time of the forenoon.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE), about 4,100 words

On 3:33-34

God, Exalted, informs that He chose these households above all the people of the earth. He chose Adam (peace be upon him): He created him with His hand, breathed into him of His spirit, made His angels prostrate to him, taught him the names of all things, and settled him in the Garden, then sent him down from it, for the wisdom He had in that.

And He chose Noah (peace be upon him), and made him the first messenger whom He sent to the people of the earth, when people had worshipped idols and had associated in the religion of God that for which He had sent down no authority. And He took vengeance for him when his time among his people had grown long, as he called them to God night and day, in secret and openly, and that only increased them in flight; so he prayed against them, and God drowned them to the last man, and none of them was saved except whoever followed him in the religion with which God had sent him.

And He chose the family of Abraham, among whom is the master of mankind and the Seal of the Prophets absolutely, Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him); and the family of ʿImrān. What is meant by this ʿImrān is the father of Mary daughter of ʿImrān, the mother of Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon them). Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār (may God have mercy on him) said: He is ʿImrān ibn Yāshim ibn Amūn ibn Mīshā ibn Ḥizqiyā ibn Aḥrīq ibn Yūtham ibn ʿAzāriyā ibn Amṣiyā ibn Yāwish ibn Ajrīhū ibn Yāzim ibn Yahfāshāṭ ibn Inshā ibn Abiyyān ibn Rukhayʿam ibn Sulaymān (Solomon) ibn Dāwūd (David)⁸³ (peace be upon them both). So Jesus (peace be upon him) is of the progeny of Abraham, as its explanation will come in Sūrat al-Anʿām, God willing, and in Him is our trust.

On 3:35-36

This wife of ʿImrān is the mother of Mary daughter of ʿImrān (peace be upon her), and she is Ḥannah bint Fāqūdh. Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: She was a woman who did not conceive. One day she saw a bird feeding its chick, and she longed for a child, so she prayed to God, Mighty and Majestic, to grant her a child, and God answered her prayer. Her husband lay with her and she conceived by him, and when she was certain of the pregnancy she vowed it to be consecrated (3:35), that is, devoted purely and set free for worship and for the service of the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis). So she said: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated; so accept it from me. Indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing (3:35), that is: the Hearer of my supplication, the Knower of my intention. She did not know whether what was in her womb was male or female. And when she delivered her, she said: My Lord, I have delivered a female, and God knows best what she delivered (3:36). It is read with the tāʾ vowelled with ḍammah (waḍaʿtu, “what I delivered”), as the tāʾ of the first person, so that this is part of the completion of her speech; and it is read with the tāʾ unvowelled (waḍaʿat, “what she delivered”), so that it is the speech of God, Mighty and Majestic. And the male is not like the female (3:36), that is, in strength and endurance in worship and in the service of the Farthest Mosque (al-Masjid al-Aqṣā). And I have named her Mary (3:36): in this is proof of the permissibility of naming on the day of birth, as is apparent from the context, because it is the law of those before us, and it has been related as approved; and by that the Sunnah is established from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), where he said: “A child was born to me tonight, and I have named him with the name of my father Abraham.” The two of them recorded it.⁸⁴ Likewise it is established in both of them that Anas ibn Mālik took his brother, when his mother gave birth to him, to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and he rubbed his palate with chewed dates (taḥnīk) and named him ʿAbd Allāh. And in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: that a man said: O Messenger of God, a child has been born to me, so what shall I name him? He said: “The name of your child is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.” It is also established in the Ṣaḥīḥ that when Abū Usayd came to him with his son so that he might rub his palate, he became distracted from him, and his father ordered him to be taken back to their house; and when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) remembered, in the gathering, he named him al-Mundhir.

As for the ḥadīth of Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, from Samurah ibn Jundub, that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every boy is held in pledge by his ʿaqīqah: it is slaughtered for him on his seventh day, and he is named, and his head is shaved”, Aḥmad and the authors of the Sunan related it, and al-Tirmidhī graded it sound (ṣaḥīḥ) with this wording; and it is also related as “and he is smeared with blood” (yudammā), though the former is more firmly established and better preserved. And God knows best. Likewise what al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār related in the Book of Genealogy: that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the ʿaqīqah for his son Ibrāhīm on his seventh day and named him Ibrāhīm. Its chain is not established, and it contradicts what is in the Ṣaḥīḥ; and were it sound, it would be interpreted as meaning that he made his name public on that day. And God knows best.

His words, informing of the mother of Mary, that she said: And I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36), that is: she sought refuge for her with God, Mighty and Majestic, from the evil of Satan, and she sought refuge for her offspring, namely her son Jesus (peace be upon him). And God answered her in that, as ʿAbd al-Razzāq said: Maʿmar informed us, from al-Zuhrī, from Ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Hurayrah (may God be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “There is no newborn that is born but Satan touches it when it is born, so that it begins by crying out from his touching it, 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 (3:36). The two of them recorded it from the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-Razzāq. Ibn Jarīr related it from Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj, from Baqiyyah, from al-Zubaydī, from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), with similar wording. And he related it from the ḥadīth of Qays, 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 but Satan has squeezed it, one squeeze or two, except Jesus son of Mary, and Mary.” Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) recited: And I seek refuge for her with You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36).

And from the ḥadīth of al-ʿAlāʾ, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah. Muslim related it from Abū al-Ṭāhir, from Ibn Wahb, from ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, from Abū Yūnus, from Abū Hurayrah. Wahb also related it, from Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, from ʿAjlān the client (mawlā) of al-Mishmaʿall, from Abū Hurayrah. Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related it, from Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), with the substance of the ḥadīth. And thus al-Layth ibn Saʿd related it, from Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Hurmuz al-Aʿraj, who said: Abū Hurayrah said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every child of Adam, Satan pierces in his side when his mother gives birth to him, except Jesus son of Mary: he went to pierce him, and pierced the veil.”

On 3:37

Our Lord informs that He accepted her from her mother as a votive offering (nadhīrah), and that He caused her to grow in a goodly growth (3:37), that is: He made her of comely form and delightful appearance, eased for her the means of acceptance, and joined her with the righteous among His servants, learning from them goodness, knowledge and religion. For this reason He said: and Zachariah took charge of her (wa-kafalahā Zakariyyā) (3:37); and in one reading, and He gave Zachariah charge of her (wa-kaffalahā Zakariyyā), with the fāʾ doubled and Zakariyyā in the accusative as the object, that is: He made him her guardian.

Ibn Isḥāq said: That was only because she was an orphan. Others mentioned that the Children of Israel were struck by a year of drought, and Zachariah took charge of Mary because of that. There is no contradiction between the two statements. And God knows best.

God only decreed that Zachariah be her guardian for her felicity, that she might draw from him abundant beneficial knowledge and righteous action; and because he was the husband of her maternal aunt, according to what Ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Jarīr and others mentioned. And it was said: the husband of her sister, as occurs in the Ṣaḥīḥ: “and there were John and Jesus, and they are the sons of two sisters (maternal cousins)”. This may also be applied loosely to what Ibn Isḥāq mentioned. On this basis, she was in the custody of her maternal aunt. It is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ruled, concerning ʿUmārah bint Ḥamzah, that she be in the custody of her maternal aunt, the wife of Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, and he said: “The maternal aunt is in the position of the mother.”

Then He, Exalted, informed of her eminence and her majesty in the place of her worship, saying: Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the sanctuary, he found provision with her (3:37). Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, al-Ḍaḥḥāk, Qatādah, al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, ʿAṭiyyah al-ʿAwfī, al-Suddī and al-Shaʿbī said: meaning he found with her the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer. And from Mujāhid: he found provision with her, that is, knowledge; or he said: scrolls containing knowledge. Ibn Abī Ḥātim related it; the first is more correct, and in it is proof of the miracles (karāmāt) of the saints (awliyāʾ). In the Sunnah there are many parallels to this. So when Zachariah saw this with her, he said: O Mary, whence is this for you? (3:37), that is, he says: from where do you have this? She said: It is from God. Indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning (3:37).

The ḥāfiẓ Abū Yaʿlā said: Sahl ibn Zanjalah related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Lahīʿah related to us, from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir: that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) remained for days without tasting food, until that became hard upon him. He went round the houses of his wives and found nothing with any one of them. So he came to Fāṭimah and said: “O my daughter, have you anything I might eat, for I am hungry?” She said: No, by God, may my father and mother be your ransom. When he had left her, a neighbour of hers sent her two loaves and a piece of meat. She took it from her and put it in a bowl of hers, and said: By God, I shall certainly prefer the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) with this over myself and those with me; and they were all in need of a filling meal. So she sent Ḥasan or Ḥusayn to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and he returned to her, and she said to him: May my father and mother be your ransom, God has brought something, and I have put it aside for you. He said: “Bring it here, my daughter.” She said: So I brought him the bowl. She uncovered the bowl, and behold, it was full of bread and meat. When she looked at it she was astonished, and knew that it was a blessing from God; so she praised God and invoked blessings upon His Prophet, and set it before the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). When he saw it he praised God and said: “From where do you have this, my daughter?” She said: O my father, It is from God. Indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning (3:37). So he praised God and said: “Praise be to God who has made you, my daughter, like the mistress of the women of the Children of Israel; for whenever God provided her with something and she was asked about it, she would say: It is from God. Indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning (3:37).” Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for ʿAlī; then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) ate, and ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn ate, and all the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the people of his household, all of them, until they were full. She said: And the bowl remained as it was, and I gave generously from what remained of it to all the neighbours, and God placed in it blessing and abundant good.

On 3:38-41

When Zachariah (peace be upon him) saw that God, Exalted, was providing Mary (peace be upon her) with the fruit of winter in summer and the fruit of summer in winter, he then yearned for a child, even though he was an aged old man whose bones had weakened and grown feeble and whose head was aflame with white hair, and even though his wife was, in addition to that, old and barren; yet despite all this he asked his Lord and called upon Him with a secret call, and said: My Lord, grant me from Yourself (3:38), that is, from Your presence, a goodly offspring (3:38), that is, a righteous child; indeed You are the Hearer of supplication (3:38).

God, Exalted, said: So the angels called to him while he was standing in prayer in the sanctuary (3:39), that is: the angels addressed him directly, with an address they made him hear, while he was standing praying in the sanctuary of his worship, the place of his seclusion, and the seat of his intimate converse and his prayer. Then He informed of what the angels announced to him: that God gives you glad tidings of John (3:39), that is, of a child who will come into being for you from your loins, whose name is John (Yaḥyā). Qatādah and others said: He was named Yaḥyā only because God, Exalted, gave him life (aḥyāhu) through faith.

His words: confirming a Word from God (3:39). Al-ʿAwfī and others related from Ibn ʿAbbās, and al-Ḥasan, Qatādah, ʿIkrimah, Mujāhid, Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, al-Suddī, al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, al-Ḍaḥḥāk and others said concerning this verse, confirming a Word from God: that is, Jesus son of Mary. Al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas said: He was the first to believe in Jesus son of Mary. Qatādah said: and upon his way and his path. Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His words confirming a Word from God: John and Jesus were the sons of two sisters, and the mother of John used to say to Mary: I feel that what is in my womb prostrates to what is in your womb. That is his confirmation of Jesus: his confirming him while in his mother’s womb; and he was the first to believe in Jesus, and the Word of God is Jesus, and he was older than Jesus (peace be upon him). And thus al-Suddī said too.

His words: and a master (sayyid) (3:39). Abū al-ʿĀliyah, al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, Qatādah, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and others said: the wise one. Qatādah said: a master in knowledge and worship. Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Thawrī and al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: the master is the wise, God-fearing one. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said: he is the jurist, the learned one. ʿAṭiyyah said: the master in his character and his religion. ʿIkrimah said: he is the one whom anger does not overcome. Ibn Zayd said: he is the noble one. Mujāhid and others said: he is the one honoured before God, Mighty and Majestic.

His words: and chaste (ḥaṣūr) (3:39). It is related from Ibn Masʿūd, Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ and ʿAṭiyyah al-ʿAwfī that they said: He is the one who does not go in to women. And from Abū al-ʿĀliyah and al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: he is the one to whom no child is born. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: he is the one who has no child and no seminal fluid.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: My father related to us: Yaḥyā ibn al-Mughīrah related to us: Jarīr informed us, from Qābūs, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the ḥaṣūr: the one who does not emit seminal fluid. Ibn Abī Ḥātim related concerning this a very strange (gharīb) ḥadīth, saying: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ghālib al-Baghdādī related to us: Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān related to me: ʿUbādah, meaning Ibn al-ʿAwwām, related to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from Ibn al-ʿĀṣ (he did not know whether ʿAbd Allāh or ʿAmr), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) concerning His words and a master and chaste (3:39): he said: Then he took up something from the ground and said: “His member was like this.”

Then Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: Aḥmad ibn Sinān related to us: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān related to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī, that he heard Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, saying: There is none of God’s creation who will not meet Him with a sin, except John son of Zachariah. Then Saʿīd recited: and a master and chaste (3:39); then he took something from the ground and said: The ḥaṣūr is one whose member was like this, and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān indicated with the tip of his index finger. This is mawqūf⁸⁵, and it is stronger in chain than the marfūʿ; indeed there is doubt about the soundness of the marfūʿ. And God, Glorified and Exalted, knows best.

The Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said in his book al-Shifāʾ: Know that God’s praise of John, Exalted is He, that he was chaste, is not as some of them have said, that he was impotent or had no member; rather the skilled exegetes and the critical scholars have rejected this and said: this is a deficiency and a defect, and it is unbefitting the prophets (peace be upon them). Its meaning is only that he was protected from sins, that is, he did not commit them, as though he were restrained from them. And it was said: restraining himself from desires. And it was said: he had no desire for women.

It has become clear to you from this that the inability to have marital relations is a deficiency; the merit lies only in the desire’s being present and then subdued, either by striving, as with Jesus, or by God’s, Mighty and Majestic, sufficing one, as with John (peace be upon him). Then it is truly, for one who is given the capacity for it, fulfils the obligation in it, and is not distracted by it from his Lord, a lofty degree; and that is the degree of our Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), whom the great number of them did not distract from the worship of his Lord; rather it increased him in worship, through his guarding their chastity, his maintaining them, his earning for them and his guiding them. Indeed he declared that it was not among his own worldly portions, even if it was among the worldly portions of others, saying: “Made beloved to me of your world…”⁸⁶

This is his wording. The point is that He praised John as being ḥaṣūr, not in the sense that he did not go in to women; rather its meaning, as he and others have said, is that he was protected from indecencies and filthy acts. That does not preclude his marrying lawful women, going in to them and begetting children by them. Indeed the existence of progeny for him may be understood from the foregoing supplication of Zachariah, where he said: grant me from Yourself a goodly offspring (3:38), as though he said: a child who will have offspring, progeny and descendants. And God, Glorified and Exalted, knows best.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: My father related to us: ʿĪsā ibn Ḥammād Zughbah and Muḥammad ibn Salamah al-Murādī related to us; they both said: Ḥajjāj related to us, from Salmān ibn al-Qamarī, from al-Layth ibn Saʿd, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān, from al-Qaʿqāʿ, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every son of Adam will meet God with a sin he has committed, for which He will punish him, if He wills, or show him mercy, except John son of Zachariah, for he was a master and chaste and a prophet from among the righteous.” Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reached down to a speck on the ground, took it, and said: “His member was like this speck.”

His words: and a prophet from among the righteous (3:39). This is a second glad tiding, of the prophethood of John, after the glad tiding of his birth, and it is higher than the first, like His words, Exalted, to the mother of Moses: We shall surely return him to you and make him one of the messengers (28:7). When Zachariah (peace be upon him) was certain of this glad tiding, he began to wonder at the coming into being of a child from him after old age: He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy when old age has overtaken me and my wife is barren? He said (3:40), that is, the angel: Thus; God does what He wills (3:40), that is: such is the command of God, mighty; nothing incapacitates Him and no matter is too great for Him.

He said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41), that is, a token by which I may know of the coming into being of the child from me. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture (3:41), that is, by signalling, unable to utter speech, even though you are sound and healthy, as in His words: three nights, though sound (19:10). Then he was commanded to abundant remembrance, thanksgiving and glorification in this state, so He said: And remember your Lord much, and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning (3:41). Another portion of the elaboration of this subject will come at the beginning of Sūrat Maryam, God willing, Exalted is He.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

Tanwīr al-Miqbās, Tanwīr al-miqbās min tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās (d. compiler d. 817 AH / 1414 CE), about 2,880 words

On 3:33-64

3:33. This verse was revealed when the Jews said: We are upon the religion of Adam, Muslims. So God sent down Indeed God chose Adam: He elected Adam for Islam; and Noah: for Islam; and the family of Abraham: the children of Abraham, for Islam; and the family of ʿImrān: Moses and Aaron, for Islam; above the worlds: the people of their age. And it is said that ʿImrān was not the father of Moses and Aaron.

3:34. Offspring, one from another: some of them upon the religion of others, and some of them born of others; and God is All-Hearing: of the saying of the Jews, “We are the sons of God and His beloved ones, upon His religion”; All-Knowing: of their punishment, and of who is upon His religion.

3:35. And remember, O Muḥammad, when the wife of ʿImrān said: Ḥannah, the mother of Mary; My Lord, I have vowed to You: I have made over to You; what is in my womb, consecrated: as a servant for the sanctuary of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis); so accept it from me; indeed You are the All-Hearing: of supplication; the All-Knowing: of the answer, and of what is in my womb.

3:36. Then when she delivered her: gave birth to her, and behold, she was a girl; she said: My Lord, I have delivered her, a female: I have given birth to her, a girl; and God knows best what she delivered: what she gave birth to; and the male is not: in service and in the matter of nakedness (ʿawra); like the female: like the girl; and I have named her Mary, and I seek refuge for her with You: I place her under Your protection and guard her by You; and her offspring: if she should have offspring; from Satan the accursed: the damned.

3:37. So her Lord accepted her with a gracious acceptance: that is, He dealt graciously with her, so that He accepted her in place of a boy; and made her grow in a goodly growth: He nourished her in worship, through the years and the months and the days and the hours, with a goodly nourishment; and Zachariah took charge of her: he took her to himself to raise her; whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the sanctuary: meaning her chamber in which she used to worship; he found with her provision: the fruit of winter in summer, such as sugar-cane, and the fruit of summer in winter, such as grapes; he said: O Mary, whence comes this to you?: from where do you have this, out of its season?; She said: It is from God: Gabriel brought it to me; indeed God provides for whom He wills: He gives to whom He wills, in its season and out of its season; without reckoning: without measure and without stint.

3:38. There: at that; Zachariah prayed: and hoped; to his Lord; he said: My Lord, grant me: give me; from Yourself: from Your presence; a goodly offspring: a righteous child; indeed You are the Hearer of prayer: the Answerer of prayer.

3:39. Then the angels called him: meaning Gabriel; while he stood praying in the sanctuary: in the place of worship; that God gives you glad tidings of John: of a son to be named John; confirming a Word from God: Jesus son of Mary, that he comes to be by a word from God, created without a father; and a master: forbearing in the face of ignorance; and chaste: he had no desire for women; and a prophet from among the righteous: from among the messengers.

3:40. He said: My Lord: Zachariah said to Gabriel: O my master; how shall I have a boy: from where shall I have a child; when old age has reached me: when old age has overtaken me; and my wife is barren: sterile, she does not bear; He said: Gabriel; Thus: as I have told you; God does what He wills: as He wills.

3:41. He said: Zachariah; My Lord: that is, O my Lord; appoint for me a sign: a mark of my wife’s pregnancy; He said: Your sign: your mark of your wife’s pregnancy; is that you shall not speak to people: you will not be able to speak to people; for three days: without being dumb; except by gesture: except by a movement of the lips, the eyebrows, the eyes and the hands; and it is said, except by writing on the ground; and remember your Lord: with the tongue and the heart; much: in every state; and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning: pray in the morning and in the evening as you used to pray.

3:42. And when the angels said: meaning Gabriel; O Mary, indeed God has chosen you: it is said, He elected you for Islam and worship; and purified you: from unbelief, polytheism and impurities; and it is said, He saved you from being killed; and chosen you: elected you; above the women of the worlds: the women of your age, by the birth of Jesus.

3:43. O Mary, be devout to your Lord: obey your Lord, in gratitude for that; and it is said, prolong the standing in prayer, in gratitude to your Lord; and prostrate and bow: its meaning is, bow and prostrate, by bowing and prostrating; with those who bow: with the people of prayer.

3:44. That: this which I have related of the account of Mary and Zachariah; is of the tidings of the unseen: of the reports of what is hidden from you, O Muḥammad; which We reveal to you: He says, We send Gabriel to you with it; and you were not with them: meaning with the rabbis; when they cast their pens: into the running water; as to which of them should take charge: should take; of Mary: to raise her; and you were not with them: in their presence; when they disputed: argued with proofs over the raising of Mary.

3:45. When the angels said: meaning Gabriel; O Mary, indeed God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him: of a son who will come to be by a word from God, created; whose name is the Messiah: he is called the Messiah because he travels (yasīḥ) through the lands; and it is said, the Messiah means the king; Jesus son of Mary, eminent in this world: he has rank and station in this world among people; and the Hereafter: and in the Hereafter, with God, he has rank and station; and of those brought near: to God, in the Garden of Eden.

3:46. And he will speak to people in the cradle: in the lap, at forty days old: “I am the servant of God and His Messiah”; and in maturity: after thirty years, with prophethood; and of the righteous: of the messengers.

3:47. She said: My Lord: Mary said to Gabriel: O my master; how shall I have a child: from where shall I have a boy, a child; when no man has touched me: neither lawfully nor unlawfully; He said: Gabriel; Thus: as I have told you; God creates what He wills: as He wills; when He decrees a matter: when He wills to create a child from you without a father; He only says to it, Be, and it is: a child without a father.

3:48. And He will teach him the Book: the books of the prophets; and it is said, writing; and the Wisdom: the lawful and the unlawful; and it is said, the wisdom of the prophets before him; and the Torah: in his mother’s womb; and the Gospel: after his coming forth from his mother’s womb.

3:49. And a messenger: after thirty years; to the Children of Israel: and when he came to them he said: I have come to you with a sign: with a mark; from your Lord: of my prophethood. They said: And what is the mark? He said: I create: I fashion; for you from clay the likeness of a bird: the semblance of a bird; then I breathe into it: like the breathing of a sleeper; and it becomes a bird: it turns into a bird that flies between heaven and earth; by God’s leave: by God’s command. So he fashioned for them a bat, and they said: This is sorcery; have you anything else? He said: Yes. And I heal: I make sound; the blind from birth: he who has never ceased to be blind; and the leper: likewise; and I give life to the dead by God’s leave: by the greatest name of God, “O Living, O Self-Subsisting”. When he had done that, they said: This is sorcery; have you anything else? He said: Yes. And I inform you: I tell you; of what you eat: morning and evening; and what you store up: what you put away from the morning meal for the evening meal, and from the evening meal for the morning meal; in your houses. Indeed in that: in what I have told you; is a sign: a mark; for you: of my prophethood; if you are believers: assenting.

3:50. And confirming: and I have come to you in agreement, in the profession of God’s oneness, in religion; what was before me of the Torah: what was before me of the Torah and the rest of the scriptures; and to make lawful for you: to grant you licence and make clear to you; some of that which: the making lawful of some of that which; was forbidden to you: such as the flesh of camels, the fat of cattle and sheep, the Sabbath, and other things. And I have come to you with a sign: with a mark; from your Lord; so fear God: so be in awe of God in what He has commanded you, and turn to Him in repentance; and obey me: and follow my command and my religion.

3:51. Indeed God is my Lord: He is my Lord; and your Lord, so worship Him: so declare Him One; this: the profession of His oneness; is a straight path: an upright religion with which He is pleased, and it is Islam.

3:52. Then when he perceived: knew; Jesus, from them, unbelief: and saw from them killing, when they wanted to kill him; and it is said, “he perceived” means he heard from them the repetition of unbelief; he said: Jesus; Who are my helpers: who are my supporters; towards God: with God, against His enemies; the disciples said: his chosen ones, the fullers (al-qaṣṣārūn), and they were twelve men; We are the helpers of God: your supporters, with God, against His enemies; we believe in God, and bear witness: know, you, O Jesus; that we are Muslims: acknowledging God with worship and the profession of His oneness.

3:53. Our Lord: O our Lord; we believe in what You have sent down: of the Book, meaning the Gospel; and we follow the Messenger: the religion of the Messenger, Jesus; so write us down among the witnesses: so make us among the foremost, the first ones, who bore witness before us; and it is said, so make us of the community of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

3:54. And they schemed: they intended, meaning the Jews, the killing of Jesus; and God schemed: God intended the killing of their companion Qaṭyānūs⁸⁷; and God is the best of schemers: the strongest of those who intend; and it is said, the most excellent of those who contrive.

3:55. When God said: O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you: this is an advancing and a postponing in the order of words; He says: I am going to raise you; to Myself, and purify you: deliver you; from those who disbelieve: in you; and make those who follow you: who follow your religion; above those who disbelieve: in proof and in victory; until the Day of Resurrection: then I am going to take you, seizing you in death after the descent; and it is said, taking your heart away from love of this world; then to Me is your return: after death; and I shall judge between you: I shall decide between you; in that wherein you: in religion; used to differ: used to dispute.

3:56. As for those who disbelieve: in God and His Messenger Muḥammad, and in Jesus; I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world: by the sword and the poll-tax (jizya); and the Hereafter: by the Fire; and they shall have no helpers: none to ward off from them the punishment of God in this world and the Hereafter.

3:57. And as for those who believe: in God, the Book, and the Messenger Muḥammad, and in Jesus; and do righteous deeds: between themselves and their Lord, sincerely; He will pay them in full: He will give them in abundance; their rewards: their recompense in the Garden on the Day of Resurrection; and God does not love the wrongdoers: the polytheists, for their wrongdoing and their polytheism.

3:58. That: which I have related, O Muḥammad, of the account of Jesus; We recite to you: We send down Gabriel to you with it; of the signs: He says, of the verses of the Qur’an, with command and prohibition; and the wise Reminder: the one made firm with the lawful and the unlawful; and it is said, in agreement with the Torah and the Gospel; and it is said, the Preserved Tablet.

3:59. Then He made clear the creation of Jesus without a father, because of the words of the delegation of the Banū Najrān: “Bring us a proof from the Qur’an for your claim that Jesus is not the son of God.” So God said: Indeed the likeness of Jesus: the likeness of the creation of Jesus; with God: without a father; is as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust: without father or mother; then He said to him: to Jesus; Be, and he was: a child without a father.

3:60. The truth: it is the true report; from your Lord: that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner; so do not be of the doubters: of those who doubt what I have made clear to you of the creation of Jesus without a father.

3:61. Then He mentioned the dispute of the delegation of the Banū Najrān with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), after it had been made clear to them that his likeness with God is as the likeness of Adam; they said: It is not as you say, that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner. So God said: Then whoever argues with you concerning him: whoever disputes with you concerning him, concerning Jesus; after what has come to you of knowledge: of the clear exposition that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner; say: Come, let us call our sons: let us bring out our sons; and your sons: bring out, you, your sons; and our women: let us bring out our women; and your women: bring out, you, your women; and ourselves: let us come out ourselves; and yourselves: come out, you, yourselves; then let us pray earnestly: let us humbly implore and strive in supplication; and invoke: and lay; the curse of God: in what is between us; upon the liars: against God concerning Jesus.

3:62. Indeed this: which I have related, O Muḥammad, of the account of Jesus and of the delegation of the Banū Najrān; is the true narrative: the true report, that Jesus was not God, nor His son, nor His partner; and there is no god but God: without child and without partner; and indeed God is the Mighty: in vengeance against him who does not believe in Him; the Wise: God commanded that none other than He be worshipped; and it is said, the Judge (al-ḥakam): He decreed against them the mutual cursing (mulāʿana), but they turned away from it and did not go out to the mutual cursing with the Prophet (upon him be blessings and peace), because they knew that they were liars and that Muḥammad was a truthful prophet, sent, whose description and attributes are in their scripture.

3:63. So God said: Then if they turn away: from your call to the mutual cursing with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); then indeed God is All-Knowing of the corrupters: of the Christians of the Banū Najrān.

3:64. Then He called them to the profession of God’s oneness and said: Say: O People of the Book, come to a word: “There is no god but God”; equitable: just; between us and you, that we worship none but God: that we declare none One but God; and associate nothing with Him: of created beings; and that none of us take others as lords: that none of us obey any of the chiefs in disobedience to God; besides God. But they refused that too, so God said: Then if they turn away: turn aside and withdraw from the profession of God’s oneness; then say: Bear witness: know, you; that we are Muslims: acknowledging Him with worship and the profession of His oneness.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Jalālayn, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (d. 864 AH / 1459 CE and 911 AH / 1505 CE), about 1,030 words

On 3:33

Truly God chose (3:33), selected, Adam and Noah and the House of Abraham and the House of ʿImrān, meaning the two of them themselves, above the worlds, by making the prophets of their progeny.

On 3:34

Progeny, one of them from (3:34), the offspring of, another of them; and God is Hearing, Knowing.

On 3:35

Remember when the wife of ʿImrān said (3:35) – she was Ḥannah – when she had grown old and longed for a child, and so prayed to God, and then felt that she was with child: O my Lord, truly I have vowed that I shall make to You what is in my womb, consecrated, set free, devoted wholly, clear of the preoccupations of this world, for the service of Your Holy House; so accept it from me. Truly You are the Hearing of supplication, the Knowing of intentions. And ʿImrān died while she was pregnant.

On 3:36

And when she gave birth to her (3:36), bearing her as a girl, when she had been hoping it would be a boy, since none but boys were consecrated, she said, by way of excuse, My Lord, I have given birth to a female – and God knows best, that is, He is well aware of, what she gave birth to: a parenthetical clause from His speech, Exalted; and in one reading with the tāʾ vowelled with ḍamma⁸⁸ – and the male that I asked for is not like the female that I have been given, because he is intended for service, whereas she is not fit for it owing to her weakness, her being ʿawra (something to be screened from view), and what befalls her of menstruation and the like; and I have named her Mary, and I commend her to Your protection, and her offspring, her children, from Satan the accursed, the outcast. And in the ḥadīth⁸⁹.

On 3:37

So her Lord accepted her (3:37), that is, He accepted Mary from her mother, with a goodly acceptance, and made her grow with a goodly growth: He brought her up with a goodly constitution, so that she grew in a day as a newborn grows in a year. Her mother brought her to the rabbis, the custodians of the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis), and said: “Here, take this one who was vowed.” They competed for her, because she was the daughter of their leader (imām). Zachariah said: “I have the better right to her, because her maternal aunt is with me.” They said: “No, not until we cast lots.” So they set off – they were twenty-nine – to the river Jordan and cast in their pens, agreeing that the one whose pen held firm in the water and rose to the surface would have the better right to her. Zachariah’s pen held firm, so he took her and built for her a chamber in the sanctuary (masjid) with a ladder, which none but he climbed up to her. He would bring her her food, her drink and her oil, and he would find with her the fruit of summer in winter and the fruit of winter in summer, as He, Exalted, said: and Zachariah took charge of her, he took her into his care; and in one reading with the doubled consonant (kaffalahā) and with “Zachariah” in the accusative, both in its lengthened form (Zakariyyāʾ) and in its shortened form (Zakariyyā), the agent being God⁹⁰. Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the sanctuary (miḥrāb), the chamber, which is the noblest of sitting-places, he found provision with her. He said: O Mary, whence, from where, have you this? She said – while she was still small – It is from God: He brings it to me from Paradise. Truly God provides for whom He wills without reckoning: ample provision, with no account to render.

On 3:38

There (3:38), that is, when Zachariah saw that, and knew that the One who is able to bring a thing outside its season is able to bring a child in old age – and the people of his house had died out – Zachariah called upon his Lord, when he entered the sanctuary to pray in the depth of the night. He said: My Lord, grant me from Yourself, from Your presence, a goodly offspring, a righteous child; truly You are the Hearer, the Answerer, of supplication.

On 3:39

Then the angels called to him (3:39), that is, Gabriel, while he was standing praying in the sanctuary, that is, the place of worship, that, that is, “saying that”; and in one reading with kasra (inna), with “saying” understood: God gives you good tidings – read with the doubled consonant (yubashshiruka) and without it (yabshuruka) – of John, confirming a Word that is from God, that is, Jesus, that he is the Spirit of God; he was named “a Word” because he was created by the word “Be”; and a lord, one who is followed, and chaste, kept away from women, and a prophet from among the righteous. It is related that he never committed a sin nor ever contemplated one.

On 3:40

He said: My Lord, how (3:40), in what way, shall I have a boy, a child, when old age has overtaken me, that is, I have reached the limit of age, a hundred and twenty years, and my wife is barren, she having reached ninety-eight years? He said: The matter is so, God’s creating a boy from the two of you; God does what He wills: nothing renders Him incapable of it. And in order to make manifest this tremendous power, he was inspired to ask the question so that it might be answered with this; and because his soul yearned for the speedy coming of what he had been given tidings of.

On 3:41

He said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41), that is, a token of my wife’s pregnancy. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people: [your sign] for it is that you shall not speak to people, that is, that you refrain from speaking to them – unlike the remembrance of God, Exalted – for three days, that is, together with their nights, except by signal, by gesture; and remember your Lord much, and glorify, pray, in the evening and the early morning, the latter parts of the day and its first parts.

Read this commentary with the other passages on its own page.

al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE), about 7,020 words

On 3:33-35

His words, Exalted: Indeed God chose Adam (3:33), the verses.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted, by way of ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān above the worlds (3:33). He said: They are the believers from the family of Abraham, the family of ʿImrān, the family of Yāsīn and the family of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Qatādah, concerning the verse, who said: God mentioned the people of two righteous houses and two righteous men, and He preferred them above the worlds; and Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was of the family of Abraham.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Ḥasan, concerning the verse, who said: God preferred them above the worlds by prophethood, above all mankind; they were the prophets, the God-fearing, the ones chosen for their Lord.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Qatādah, concerning His words: descendants, some of them from others (3:34). He said: In intention, in deed, in sincerity and in the affirmation of God’s oneness (tawḥīd).

Ibn Saʿd and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, from his father, from his grandfather, that ʿAlī said to al-Ḥasan: Stand up and address the people. He said: I stand in awe of you, that I should speak while I see you. So he withdrew from him to a place where he could hear his words without being seen by him. Al-Ḥasan stood up, praised God and extolled Him, spoke, and then came down; and ʿAlī (may God be pleased with him) said: descendants, some of them from others; and God is Hearing, Knowing (3:34).

Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: Indeed God chose (3:33), meaning: He selected from among mankind for His message, Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham (3:33), meaning Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and the family of ʿImrān above the worlds (3:33), meaning: He selected them for prophethood and messengership above the people of that age; so they are descendants, some of them from others, for all of these are of the descendants of Adam, then of the descendants of Noah, then of the descendants of Abraham. When the wife of ʿImrān (3:35) ibn Māthān—her name was Ḥannah bint Fāqūdh, and she was the mother of Mary—said: My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated (3:35). That was because Ḥannah, the mother of Mary, had ceased from child-bearing and menstruation. Then one day, while she was in the shade of a tree, she looked at a bird feeding its chick, and her soul stirred with longing for a child, so she prayed to God to grant her a child, and she menstruated that very hour. When she became pure her husband came to her, and when she was certain that she was with child she said: If God delivers me and I give birth to what is in my womb, I shall surely make it consecrated (muḥarrar). The Banū Māthān were of the kings of the Children of Israel, of the line of David. The consecrated one does not work for this world and does not marry, but devotes himself to the work of the hereafter, worshipping God, Exalted, and being in the service of the church; and in that age only boys were consecrated. So she said to her husband: There is no kind among the kind of the prophets but there is among them a consecrated one, except us; and I have made what is in my womb a dedicated offering (nadhīrah). She means: I have vowed to make it for God; and that is the consecrated one. Her husband said: What if what is in your womb is a female—and the female is a thing to be kept hidden (ʿawrah)—what will you do then? She was grieved at that, and said thereupon: 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), meaning: accept from me what I have vowed to You. Then when she gave birth to her, she said: My Lord, I have given birth to a female—and God knew best what she had given birth to—and the male is not like the female (3:36), for the female is a thing to be kept hidden. Then she said: and I have named her Mary (3:36), and such was her name with God; and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36), meaning: the cursed one. God answered her, and so Satan did not come near her, nor her offspring, Jesus. Ibn ʿAbbās said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every child of Adam, Satan gets at him: he pricks him with his finger when he falls to the earth, and it is because of that that he cries out at birth—except for Mary and her son; Iblīs did not reach them.” Ibn ʿAbbās said: When she gave birth to her, Ḥannah, the mother of Mary, feared that a female would not be accepted as consecrated, so she wrapped her in a cloth and placed her in the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis)⁹¹ with the reciters (qurrāʾ). The reciters cast lots over her—because she was the daughter of their imam, and the imam of the reciters was of the descendants of Aaron—as to which of them should take her. Zachariah, who was the head of the learned men (aḥbār), said: I will take her, and I am the most entitled of them to her; her maternal aunt is with me—meaning the mother of John. The reciters said: Even if there were among the people one in greater need of her than you, were she to be left to the person most entitled to her, she would be left to her father; but she is consecrated, so we shall cast lots over her, and whoever’s lot comes out is the most entitled to her. So they drew lots three times with their pens, with which they wrote the revelation, as to which of them should take charge of Mary (3:44), meaning: which of them should take her into his keeping. Zachariah won the draw against them. The drawing of lots with their pens was that they gathered them in one place and then covered them, and said to one of the servants of the Holy House, from among the boys who had not yet reached puberty: Put in your hand and take out one of the pens. He put in his hand and took out the pen of Zachariah. They said: We are not satisfied; rather we shall throw the pens into the water, and whoever’s pen comes out in the current of the water and then rises up, he shall take charge of her. So they threw their pens into the river Jordan, and the pen of Zachariah rose up in the current of the water. They said: We shall draw a third time: whoever’s pen flows along with the water, he shall take charge of her. They threw their pens, and the pen of Zachariah flowed along with the water while their pens rose up in the current of the water. Zachariah thereupon took her into his keeping, and that is His word: and Zachariah took charge of her (3:37), meaning: he took her into his keeping. Then He said: So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance and made her grow with a good growth (3:37), meaning: He brought her up with a good upbringing, in worship of and obedience to her Lord, until she grew up. Zachariah built for her a sanctuary (miḥrāb) in the Holy House and set its door in the middle of the wall, so that one could climb up to her only by a ladder.

He had hired a wet-nurse for her, and when two full years had passed she was weaned and began to move about. He would lock the door upon her and keep the key with him, trusting it to no one; no one but he brought her what she needed, until she reached maturity.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from ʿIkrimah, who said: The name of Mary’s mother was Ḥannah.

Al-Ḥākim transmitted from Abū Hurayrah, who said: Ḥannah gave birth to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated (3:35). He said: She had vowed to place it in the church to devote itself to worship there, and she had hoped that it would be a male.

Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the verse, who said: She vowed to make it consecrated for worship.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Mujāhid, concerning His words: consecrated (3:35). He said: A servant for the house of worship (bīʿah).

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted, by another route, from Mujāhid, concerning His words: consecrated (3:35). He said: Purely devoted, with nothing of the affairs of this world mixed in with him.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Qatādah, concerning the verse, who said: The wife of ʿImrān consecrated to God what was in her womb. They used to consecrate only males, and the consecrated one, when he was consecrated, was placed in the church and did not leave it; he attended to it and swept it. That could not be done with a woman because of the hurt that befalls her, and so it was then that she said: and the male is not like the female (3:36).

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: consecrated (3:35). He said: She made him over to God and to the church, so that nothing should come between him and worship.

Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: In the time of the Children of Israel, when a woman bore a boy she would suckle him and raise him, until, when he was strong enough for service, she handed him over to those who studied the scriptures and said: This one is consecrated to you; he will serve you.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from ʿIkrimah, who said: 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 owe You a vow of thanksgiving: if You grant me a child, I shall give it in charity to the Holy House, so that it shall be among its custodians and servants. Then when she gave birth to her, she said: My Lord, I have given birth to a female—and God knew best what she had given birth to—and the male is not like the female (3:36), meaning: in respect of menstruation, and it is not fitting for a woman to be among men. Then the mother of Mary went out carrying her in her cloth to the sons of the priest (kāhin), the son of Aaron the brother of Moses—he said: in those days they held charge over the Holy House as the doorkeepers hold charge over the Kaʿbah—and she said to them: Here, take this dedicated offering, for I have consecrated her; she is my daughter, and no menstruating woman may enter the church, and I will not take her back to my house. They said: This is the daughter of our imam—for ʿImrān used to lead them in prayer. Zachariah said: Hand her over to me, for her maternal aunt is my wife. They said: We are not content with that. That was when they cast lots over her with the pens with which they wrote the Torah; Zachariah won the draw against them, and so he took charge of her.

Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās that he used to recite: “and God knows best what you have given birth to” (wa-llāhu aʿlamu bi-mā waḍaʿti).⁹²

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Ḍaḥḥāk that he recited: “what I have given birth to” (bi-mā waḍaʿtu), with the tāʾ vowelled with ḍammah.⁹³

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd that he used to recite it: “what I have given birth to” (bi-mā waḍaʿtu), with the tāʾ vowelled with ḍammah.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad transmitted, in the additions (zawāʾid) to al-Zuhd, from Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn: “and God knows best what I have given birth to” (wa-llāhu aʿlamu bi-mā waḍaʿtu). He said: By way of complaint to the Lord, Blessed and Exalted.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from al-Aswad that he used to recite it: and God knew best what she had given birth to (3:36), with the ʿayn vowelled with fatḥah (waḍaʿat).

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from Ibrāhīm that he used to recite it: and God knew best what she had given birth to (3:36), with the ʿayn vowelled with fatḥah.

On 3:36

His words, Exalted: and I seek refuge for her in You (3:36), the verse.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “There is no new-born child that is born but that Satan touches him when he is born, so that he cries out screaming from Satan’s touching him—except Mary and her son.” Then Abū Hurayrah would say: Recite, if you wish: and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36).

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—transmitted from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every new-born of the children of Adam receives a prick from Satan, and it is from that that the infant cries out at birth—except for Mary bint ʿImrān and her son; for her mother said when she gave birth to her: and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36), and so a veil was set up before the two of them, and he pricked the veil.”

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “There is no new-born child that is born but that Satan has squeezed him once or twice—except Jesus son of Mary, and Mary.” Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) recited: and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36).

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: No new-born was ever born but that he cried out at birth, except the Messiah son of Mary; Satan was not given power over him and did not assail him.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: When Jesus (peace be upon him) was born, the devils came to Iblīs and said: The idols have this morning had their heads turned upside down. He said: This is some new happening. Stay where you are. Then he flew until he had traversed the two horizons of the earth and found nothing; then he went to the seas and could find nothing; then he flew again, and found that Jesus had been born beside the manger of a donkey, and behold, the angels had surrounded him on every side. So he returned to them and said: A prophet was born last night. No female ever conceived or gave 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 by way of frivolity and haste.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from Qatādah, concerning His words: and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36). He said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every one of the children of Adam, Satan has pricked in his side, except Jesus son of Mary and his mother; a veil was placed between the two of them and him, so the prick struck the veil and nothing penetrated through to them.” And it was mentioned 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 mentioned to us that Jesus used to walk upon the sea as he walked upon the land, because of the certainty and sincerity that God had given him.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from al-Rabīʿ: and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36). He said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every human being, Satan has pricked 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 said, in the course of praising his Lord: And He gave me and my mother refuge from Satan the accursed, so he had no way against us.”

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Had she not said: and I seek refuge for her in You, and for her offspring, from Satan the accursed (3:36), she would then have had no offspring.

On 3:37

His words, Exalted: So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance (3:37), the verse.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from Ibn Jurayj, concerning His words: So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance (3:37). He said: He accepted from her mother what she had intended for her for the church, and rewarded her for it. and made her grow with a good growth (3:37). He said: She grew up on the nourishment of God.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from al-Rabīʿ: and Zachariah took charge of her (3:37). He said: He took her into his care.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Zachariah took charge of her, and he went in to her in the sanctuary (miḥrāb) and found with her provision: grapes in a basket, out of their season. He said: Whence have you this? She said: It is from God; indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning (3:37). He said: He who provides you with grapes out of their season is surely able to provide me with a child from a barren, aged, childless woman. There and then Zachariah called upon his Lord, and when he was given the good tidings of John he said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people (3:41). He said: Your tongue shall be tied, without any illness, while you are sound.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ādam, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan transmitted from Mujāhid: and Zachariah took charge of her (3:37). He said: He won the lot against them with his pen.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Qatādah, who said: Mary was the daughter of their chief and their imam, and their learned men (aḥbār) contended with one another over her, so they cast lots for her with their arrows as to which of them should take charge of her. Zachariah was the husband of her maternal aunt, so he took charge of her, and she was with him and he fostered her.

Al-Bayhaqī transmitted in his Sunan from Ibn Masʿūd, Ibn ʿAbbās and a number of the Companions, that when those who used to write the Torah were brought a person to be consecrated, they would cast lots over him as to which of them should take him and teach him. Zachariah was the most excellent of them in those days, and he was among them, and the sister of Mary’s mother was his wife. So when they were brought her, Zachariah said to them: I am the most entitled of you to her; her sister is my wife. But they refused, and they went out to the river Jordan and threw in their pens, with which they used to write, to see whose pen would stand upright, so that he should take charge of her. The pens were carried along, but the pen of Zachariah stood upright on its two ends, as though it were in clay; so he took the girl.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: and Zachariah took charge of her (3:37). He said: He placed her with him in his sanctuary.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd that he recited: and he made Zachariah take charge of her (wa-kaffalahā), with doubling of the consonant, and “Zakariyyāʾa” lengthened, in the accusative, with hamzah.⁹⁴

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: he found with her provision (3:37). He said: A basket in which were grapes out of their season.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted, from Ibn Jarīr, from Mujāhid: he found with her provision (3:37). He said: Grapes out of their time.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted, by another route, from Mujāhid: he found with her provision (3:37). He said: The fruit of summer in winter, and the fruit of winter in summer.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted, by another route, from Mujāhid: he found with her provision (3:37). He said: Knowledge.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: he found with her provision (3:37). He said: He found with her the fruits of Paradise: the fruit of summer in winter, and the fruit of winter in summer.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: he found with her provision (3:37). He said: Fresh fruit at a time when fruit was not to be found with anyone.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Abū Mālik: Whence (annā) (3:37), meaning: from where?

He transmitted from al-Ḍaḥḥāk: Whence have you this? (3:37). He says: Who brought you this?

Abū Yaʿlā transmitted from Jābir that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) passed some days without tasting food, until that became hard upon him. He went round the dwellings of his wives and found nothing with any one of them. So he came to Fāṭimah and said: “My little daughter, have you anything I may eat? For I am hungry.” She said: No, by God. When he had gone out from her, a neighbour of hers sent her two loaves of bread and a piece of meat. She took it from her and put it in a bowl of hers, and said: By God, I shall surely prefer the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) with this over myself and those who are with me—and they were all in need of a filling meal. So she sent Ḥasan or Ḥusayn to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and he came back to her, and she said to him: May my father and mother be your ransom, God has brought something which I have put away for you. He said: “Bring the bowl here, my little daughter.” She uncovered the bowl, and behold, it was full of bread and meat. When she looked at it she was astounded, and she knew that it was a blessing from God; so she praised God and set it before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When he saw it he praised God and said: “From where have you this, my little daughter?” She said: Father, father, it is from God; indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning. He praised God, then said: “Praise be to God, who has made you like the mistress of the women of the Children of Israel; for whenever God provided her with provision and she was asked about it, she would say: It is from God; indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning (3:37).”

On 3:38

His words, Exalted: There and then Zachariah called upon his Lord (3:38), the verse.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted 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: He who brings this to Mary out of its season is able to provide me with a child. That was when he called upon his Lord.

Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from al-Ḥasan, who said: When Zachariah found with Mary the fruit of winter in summer and the fruit of summer in winter—Gabriel used to bring it to her—he said to her: Whence have you this, out of its season? She said: This is provision from God; God brings it to me; indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning. Then Zachariah conceived the hope of a child, and said: He who brought Mary this fruit out of its season is surely able to make my wife fit to bear for me and to grant me a child by her. Thereupon Zachariah called upon his Lord, and that was when three nights remained of al-Muḥarram. Zachariah rose and performed the major ablution, then implored God earnestly in supplication, saying: O You who provide Mary with the fruits of summer in winter and the fruits of winter in summer, grant me from Yourself (3:38), meaning: from You, goodly offspring (3:38), meaning: God-fearing.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Suddī: goodly offspring (3:38). He says: Blessed.

On 3:39

His words, Exalted: Then the angels called him (3:39).

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Suddī: Then the angels called him (3:39). He said: Gabriel.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād, who said: In the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: “Then Gabriel called him while he was standing in prayer in the sanctuary” (fa-nādāhu Jibrīl).

Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Mardawayh transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd, who said: Make the angels masculine. Then he recited: Indeed those who do not believe in the hereafter name the angels with the names of females (53:27). And he used to recite it: “Then the angels called him” (fa-nādāhu al-malāʾikah), with the masculine verb.

Al-Khaṭīb transmitted in his Tārīkh from Ibn Masʿūd that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited: Then the angels called him (3:39), with the yāʾ.⁹⁵

Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from Ibrāhīm, who said: ʿAbd Allāh used to make the angels masculine in the Qurʾan.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd transmitted from ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd that he recited: Then the angels called him (3:39) with the tāʾ; that God (anna Llāha) with the alif vowelled with fatḥah; and gives you good tidings (yubashshiruka) with the doubled consonant.

His words, Exalted: while he was standing in prayer (3:39).

Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Thābit, who said: Prayer is the service of God on earth; had God known of anything more excellent than prayer, He would not have said: Then the angels called him while he was standing in prayer (3:39).

His words, Exalted: in the sanctuary (3:39).

Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from al-Suddī: the sanctuary (al-miḥrāb) (3:39): the place of prayer.

Al-Ṭabarānī and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan transmitted from Ibn ʿAmr that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Beware of these altars (madhābiḥ)”—meaning the prayer-niches (maḥārīb).

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted in the Muṣannaf from Mūsā al-Juhanī, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “My community will continue in good so long as they do not adopt in their mosques altars like the altars of the Christians.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd, who said: Beware of these prayer-niches.

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted from Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, who said: The Companions of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: Among the signs of the Hour is that altars will be adopted in the mosques—meaning the arched recesses (ṭāqāt).

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted from Abū Dharr, who said: Among the signs of the Hour is that altars will be adopted in the mosques.

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted from ʿAlī that he disapproved of prayer in the arched recess (ṭāq).

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted from Ibrāhīm that he used to disapprove of prayer in the arched recess.

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted from Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, who said: Do not adopt altars in the mosques.

Ibn Abī Shaybah transmitted from Kaʿb that he disapproved of altars in the mosque.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Muʿādh al-Kūfī, who said: Whoever recites gives good tidings (yubashshiru) (42:23) with the doubled consonant, it is from the giving of good tidings (bishārah); and whoever recites yabshuru, lightened, with the yāʾ vowelled with fatḥah, it is from gladness (surūr).

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from Qatādah, who said: The angels addressed him with that face to face, and gave him the good tidings of John.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Qatādah: that God gives you good tidings of John (3:39). He said: He was named John (Yaḥyā) only because God gave him life (aḥyāhu) through faith.

Ibn ʿAdī, al-Dāraquṭnī in al-Afrād, al-Bayhaqī and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd, as a report raised to the Prophet (marfūʿ): “God created Pharaoh in his mother’s womb an unbeliever, and He created John son of Zachariah in his mother’s womb a believer.”

Al-Firyābī, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: confirming a Word from God (3:39). He said: Jesus son of Mary; and “the Word” means: he came into being by a word from God.

Aḥmad in al-Zuhd and Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Mujāhid, who said: The wife of Zachariah said to Mary: I feel that the one in my womb is stirring towards the one in your womb. Then the wife of Zachariah gave birth to John, and Mary to Jesus; and that is His word: confirming a Word from God (3:39). He said: John confirmed Jesus.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His words: confirming a Word from God (3:39). He said: John was the first to confirm Jesus and to bear witness that he was a Word from God. He said: John was the son of Jesus’ maternal aunt, and he was older than Jesus.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Qatādah: confirming a Word from God (3:39). He says: Confirming Jesus, and following his way and his path.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted, by way of Ibn Jurayj, from Ibn ʿAbbās: confirming a Word from God (3:39). He said: Jesus and John were the sons of two sisters, and the mother of John used to say to Mary: I feel that the one in my womb is prostrating to the one in your womb. That was his confirmation of Jesus: his prostration in his mother’s womb. He was the first to confirm Jesus, and Jesus spoke to him; and John was older than Jesus.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from al-Suddī, who said: The mother of John met the mother of Jesus, the one pregnant with John and the other pregnant with Jesus, and the wife of Zachariah said: I have felt what is in my womb prostrating to what is in your womb. That is His word: confirming a Word from God (3:39).

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: and a chief (sayyid) (3:39). He said: Forbearing, God-fearing.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Mujāhid, who said: The chief is the one who is noble in God’s sight.

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in Dhamm al-ghaḍab and Ibn Jarīr transmitted from ʿIkrimah, who said: The chief is the one whom anger does not overcome.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, who said: The chief is the learned jurist.

Aḥmad in al-Zuhd and al-Kharāʾiṭī in Makārim al-akhlāq transmitted from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: The chief is the one of good character, and the chaste one (ḥaṣūr) is the one who is kept back from women.

Aḥmad and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan transmitted from Mujāhid, who said: The chaste one is the one who does not go in to women.

Aḥmad in al-Zuhd transmitted from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: A herald called out from heaven that John son of Zachariah is the chief of those whom women have borne, and that Jirjīs⁹⁶ is the chief of the martyrs.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: and a chief and chaste (3:39). He said: The chief is the forbearing one, and the chaste one is the one who does not go in to women.

Ibn Abī Shaybah and Aḥmad in al-Zuhd transmitted from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: The chief is the forbearing one, and the chaste one is the one who does not go in to women.

Aḥmad in al-Zuhd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The chaste one is the one who does not emit seminal fluid.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The chaste one is the one who does not approach women. The wording of Ibn al-Mundhir is: the impotent (ʿinnīn).

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “There is no servant who meets God but that he bears a sin, except John son of Zachariah, for God says: and a chief and chaste (3:39).” He said: “And his member was only like the fringe-thread of a garment,” and he pointed with a fingertip.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad in al-Zuhd and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted it by another route from Ibn ʿAmr, as a report stopping at him (mawqūf); and it is stronger in its chain of transmission than the one raised to the Prophet.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every son of Adam meets God with a sin he has committed, for which He punishes him if He wills or shows him mercy, except John son of Zachariah, for he was a chief and chaste and a prophet from among the righteous.” Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reached down to a speck on the ground, picked it up and said: “His member was like this speck.”

Al-Ṭabarānī transmitted from Abū Umāmah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Four have been cursed in this world and the hereafter, and the angels have said Amen: a man whom God made male who makes himself effeminate and imitates women; a woman whom God made female who makes herself masculine and imitates men; one who leads the blind astray; and a man who is chaste (ḥaṣūr)—and God made no one chaste except John son of Zachariah.”

Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, from one of them, who raised the ḥadīth to the Prophet: “God and the angels have cursed a man who makes himself chaste after John son of Zachariah.”

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, concerning His words: and chaste (3:39). He said: He did not desire women. Then he struck his hand to the ground, picked up a date-stone and said: He had nothing but the like of this.

Al-Ṭastī transmitted in his Masāʾil from Ibn ʿAbbās that Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq asked him about His words: and chaste (3:39). He said: The one who does not go in to women. He said: And do the Arabs know that? He said: Yes; have you not heard the words of the poet:

Chaste, keeping back from obscenity, he bids the people to the doing of good works and to earnest striving.

On 3:40-41

His words, Exalted: He said: My Lord (3:40), the verse.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Suddī, who said: When Zachariah heard the call, Satan came to him and said to him: O Zachariah, the voice that you heard is not from God; it is only from Satan, to mock you. Had it been from God, He would have revealed it to you as He reveals to you in other matters. So he doubted on the spot, and said: How can I have a boy (3:40).

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from ʿIkrimah, who said: Satan came to him, wishing to spoil for him the favour of his Lord, and said: Do you know who called you? He said: Yes; the angels of my Lord called me. He said: Nay, that was Satan. Had this been from your Lord, He would have conveyed it to you in secret, just as you made your call in secret. So he said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41).

His words, Exalted: and my wife is barren (3:40).

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Shuʿayb al-Jabāʾī, who said: The name of John’s mother was Ashyaʿ.

His words, Exalted: He said: Thus (3:40), the verse.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from al-Suddī, concerning His words: Thus (3:40), meaning: so it is; and concerning His words: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41). He said: Zachariah said: My Lord, if this voice is from You, then appoint for me a sign.

Ibn al-Mundhir transmitted from Ibn Jurayj: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41). He said: Of the conception of him.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Qatādah, concerning His words: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days (3:41). He said: He was punished with that only because the angels had addressed him with that face to face and given him the good tidings of John, yet he asked for a sign after the angels had spoken to him; so he was seized in his tongue.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, who said: His tongue was tied, without any illness.

He transmitted from al-Suddī, who said: His tongue was tied for three days and three nights.

Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, who said: His tongue swelled in his mouth until it filled it and prevented him from speaking; then God released it after three days.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: except by signs (ramz) (3:41). He said: Signalling with the two lips.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr transmitted from Mujāhid: except by signs (3:41). He said: His gesturing with his lips.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: except by signs (3:41). He said: Gesture.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: The sign (ramz) is that he should gesture with his hand or his head without speaking.

Ibn Jarīr transmitted, by way of al-ʿAwfī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The sign was that he was seized in his tongue, and so he began to speak to the people with his hand.

Al-Ṭastī in his Masāʾil and Ibn al-Anbārī in al-Waqf wa-l-ibtidāʾ transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās that Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq asked him about His words: except by signs (3:41). He said: Gesturing with the hand and nodding with the head. He said: And do the Arabs know that? He said: Yes; have you not heard the words of the poet:

In heaven there is none, apart from the All-Merciful, to whom one may signal in appeal—to Him alone—and on earth there is no refuge.

Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Abū Nuʿaym transmitted from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said: Had God granted anyone a dispensation to leave off remembrance (dhikr), He would have granted it to Zachariah, where He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by signs; and remember your Lord much (3:41). And had He granted anyone a dispensation to leave off remembrance, He would have granted it to those who fight in the way of God; God said: O you who believe, when you meet a company, stand firm and remember God much (8:45).

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Mujāhid, concerning His words: and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning (3:41). He said: The evening (ʿashiyy) is from the declining of the sun until it sets, and the early morning (ibkār) is the first of the dawn.

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al-Saʿdī, Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī tafsīr kalām al-Mannān (d. 1376 AH / 1956 CE), about 1,230 words

On 3:33-34

God, Exalted, has among His servants chosen ones whom He selects and singles out, and upon whom He bestows lofty virtues, sublime qualities, beneficial knowledge, righteous deeds and distinctions of many kinds. So He mentioned these great households and the perfect men they contained, men who attained the attributes of perfection, and that excellence and goodness ran on in succession through their offspring, embracing both their males and their females. This is among the greatest of His favours and the finest of the places where His generosity and bounty alight. And God is Hearing, Knowing (3:34): He knows who deserves favour and preferment, and so He places His favour where His wisdom requires.

On 3:35

When He had established the greatness of these households, He mentioned the story of Mary and her son Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him): how the two of them descended from these excellent households, how their circumstances passed from one state to another from the beginning of their affair to its end, and how the wife of ʿImrān said, imploring her Lord and drawing near to Him by this act of devotion which He loves, an act which contains the veneration of His House and constant attendance upon His obedience: I have vowed to You what is in my womb, consecrated, that is, as a servant of the house of worship that was thronged with worshippers; so accept it from me, that is, this deed: make it founded upon faith and sincerity and fruitful in goodness and reward; indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing (3:35).

On 3:36

Then when she delivered her, she said: My Lord, I have delivered a female, and God knew best what she delivered, and the male is not like the female (3:36). It is as though in these words there is a kind of imploring on her part and a brokenness of spirit, since her vow had been made on the basis that the child would be a male, from whom would come the strength, the service and the discharge of that duty which come from people of strength, whereas a female is otherwise.

On 3:37

So God mended her heart and God accepted her vow, and this female became more complete and more perfect than many males, indeed than most of them, and through her were achieved purposes greater than those achieved through a male. For this reason He said: So her Lord accepted her with a goodly acceptance and made her grow with a goodly growth, that is, she was reared with a wonderful upbringing, religious, moral and refined, by which her circumstances were perfected, her words and deeds were made sound, and her perfection grew within her. God made Zachariah easy for her as a guardian, and it is one of God’s favours upon a servant that He appoints as the one who undertakes his upbringing someone from among the perfect and the righteous.

Then God, Exalted, honoured Mary and Zachariah, in that He made easy for Mary provision that came without toil or weariness; it was rather a miraculous favour (karāma) with which God honoured her, since whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the sanctuary, which is the place of worship (in which there is an indication of the abundance of her prayer and her constant attendance in her sanctuary), he found provision with her, wholesome and ready prepared. He said: From where does this come to you? She said: It is from God; indeed God provides for whom He wills without reckoning (3:37).

On 3:38

When Zachariah saw this state, and God’s kindness and gentleness towards her, it reminded him to ask God, Exalted, for the gift of a child at the very time when he despaired of it, and so he said: My Lord, grant me from Yourself a goodly offspring; indeed You are the Hearer of supplication (3:38).

On 3:39

Then the angels called to him while he was standing in prayer in the sanctuary: God gives you glad tidings of John, confirming a word from God, whose name, that is, the word which is from God, is Jesus son of Mary. So the glad tidings of this noble prophet included glad tidings of Jesus son of Mary, the confirmation of him and the testimony to his messengership. This word from God is a noble word with which God singled out Jesus son of Mary; otherwise it is one of the whole body of His words by which He brings creatures into being, as He, Exalted, said: Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him Be, and he was (3:59).

And His words: and a master and chaste, that is, this one of whom glad tidings are given, John, is a master among the most excellent and noble of the messengers. As for ḥaṣūr (chaste), it was said that it means one who has no children born to him and no desire for women; and it was said that it means one who is protected and guarded from sins and harmful desires, and this is the more fitting of the two meanings. And a prophet from among the righteous (3:39), those who have reached the highest summit of righteousness.

On 3:40

He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy when old age has reached me and my wife is barren? These are two obstacles, so by what means, my Lord, shall this come about for me in the face of what contradicts it? He said: Thus; God does what He wills (3:40). For just as His wisdom requires that affairs run by their known causes, so He may break through that, because He is the Doer of what He intends, to whose power the causes have submitted and in which His will and His intent take effect; so no cause can defy His power, however great in strength it may be.

On 3:41

He said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign, so that joy and gladness may be obtained, even though I, my Lord, am certain of what You have told me; but the soul rejoices and the heart finds rest in the first tokens of mercy and kindness. He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture, and during this period remember your Lord much and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning (3:41), the beginning of the day and its end. So he was prevented from speech during this period, and there was in this a fitting correspondence to the coming of a child from between an aged old man and a barren woman; and his being unable to address human beings while his tongue ran freely with the remembrance and glorification of God was a further sign. Then at that point joy and gladness came to him, and he thanked God and multiplied his remembrance and glorification in the evenings and the early mornings.

This newborn was one of the blessings of Mary daughter of ʿImrān upon Zachariah, for the favour God had bestowed upon her of that wholesome provision which came without reckoning reminded him and stirred him to imploring and asking. God, Exalted, is the One who graciously grants both the cause and the thing caused, but He decrees beloved things at the hands of those whom He loves, so that God may raise their rank and magnify their reward.

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Contents · Section 2 →

Notes

Qur’an 3:35: the wife of Amran vows what is in her womb to God. The Qur’an gives the vow; the book adds the years of barrenness and names her parents Joachim and Anna. ↩
Qur’an 3:37: her Lord accepted her graciously and made her grow in purity. The Qur’an gives no age. ↩
Qur’an 3:37: each time Zechariah entered the sanctuary he found food with her, and she said it was from God. ↩
Qur’an 3:44 says those concerned cast their pens to decide who would take charge of Mary, and 3:37 puts her in Zechariah’s charge. The way of deciding is alike; the guardian differs. The Qur’an does not name Joseph. ↩
Not in the Qur’an, which is silent. Compare Luke 1:26-27, which says nothing of it either. ↩
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. ↩
Abū Jaʿfar is al-Ṭabarī’s own name of address (kunya); the phrase “Abū Jaʿfar said” marks the commentator’s own voice. ↩
That is, fa-nādāhu, “then he called out to him”, the reading of Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī. ↩
al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī, the Umayyad governor of Iraq (d. 95/714). ↩
The lines are by ʿAbd Qays ibn Khufāf al-Burjumī, from his counsel to his son. ↩
Bishr ibn Marwān, the Umayyad governor of Iraq (d. 75/694), to whom Jarīr addressed this poem. ↩
In the terminology of the Kūfan grammarians which al-Ṭabarī uses, qaṭʿ denotes the accusative of the circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl). ↩
Abū ʿUbaydah Maʿmar ibn al-Muthannā (d. c. 210/825), in his Majāz al-Qurʾān. ↩
Ghiyāth ibn Ghawth al-Akhṭal (d. c. 92/710), the Christian poet of Taghlib and panegyrist of the Umayyads. ↩
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd. ↩
Abū Jaʿfar is al-Ṭabarī’s own name of address (kunya); the phrase “Abū Jaʿfar said” marks the commentator’s own voice. ↩
ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl (d. c. 10/631), chief of the Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿah and a celebrated warrior-poet; he lost an eye at the battle of Fayf al-Rīḥ and was childless. ↩
Abū Jaʿfar is al-Ṭabarī himself, speaking in his own voice. ↩
That is, aymā for ammā with the doubled mīm: the doubling is resolved into a long vowel, as the first group claims happened in āya. ↩
The holders of this view are al-Kisāʾī and his followers; those who questioned them are al-Farrāʾ and his followers. ↩
Juʾayya ibn ʿĀʾidh al-Naṣrī, a pre-Islamic poet of the Hawāzin. ↩
The poet is Ḥumayd ibn Thawr al-Hilālī, describing a shade-tree (sarḥa) whose shade is jealously guarded. ↩
Nuʿm was a woman of the Quraysh clan of Jumaḥ whom ʿUmar ibn Abī Rabīʿa often celebrated in his verse; this is the opening hemistich of his best-known ode. ↩
“Splitting the staff” is a proverbial expression for breaking away from the group; “her commander” is the one whose counsel she follows, her husband or her father. ↩
The asbāṭ, the twelve sons of Jacob and their descendants. ↩
Al-kanīsa: here the house of worship of the Children of Israel, the Temple in Jerusalem. ↩
That is, “and God knows best what I have given birth to”. ↩
That is, his member was small and he was impotent. ↩
That is, “the best of the women of its world”, Wakīʿ indicating by his gesture that the pronoun refers to the world of each one’s age. ↩
A dish of bread sopped in broth, prized by the Arabs. ↩
Idrīs is the prophet commonly identified with the biblical Enoch. ↩
Said by the Prophet of the Companion Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī on account of the beauty of his recitation; “the family of David” here means David himself. ↩
A line of elegy for the Prophet by Arākah ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Thaqafī; “the family of Abū Bakr” means Abū Bakr himself, the three names standing for all the believers. ↩
The ʿidād is the recurrence of the pain of a snakebite when a year, or a counted number of days, has passed since the bite. ↩
Dayr Ḥannah at al-Ḥīrah in Iraq. ↩
Al-Ukayrāḥ: small domed cells inhabited by monks, where the Christians went out for their festivals. ↩
Subayʿah bint al-Ḥārith al-Aslamiyyah, whose husband Saʿd ibn Khawlah died while she was pregnant; when she gave birth a few nights later, Abū al-Sanābil told her she could not remarry until four months and ten days had passed, and the Prophet ruled that she was free to marry. ↩
Ibn Mākūlā (d. c. 475/1082), author of al-Ikmāl, a work distinguishing names that are written alike. ↩
That is, she is long-necked, so the earring hangs clear and sways. ↩
Abū Bakr Shuʿbah ibn ʿAyyāsh, the transmitter of the reading of ʿĀṣim. ↩
That is, Mujāhid read the whole clause as Ḥannah’s prayer: “So accept her, O her Lord, and make her grow, and entrust her to Zachariah.” ↩
Wijāʾ is the crushing of the veins of the testicles so as to remove sexual desire, akin to gelding; the Prophet meant that fasting cuts off desire as the wijāʾ does. ↩
Other sources give Ibn ʿĀmir and Ḥamzah as the readers of inna with kasrah, the rest reading anna with fatḥah. ↩
Addressed to the hyena, whose by-name is Umm ʿĀmir; the poet altered it to Umm ʿAmr for the metre. The Arabs would say to the hyena: “Rejoice at clustered locusts and many slain men.” ↩
The diminutive of al-Ḥādirah, the by-name of the pre-Islamic poet Quṭbah ibn Miḥṣan. ↩
Literally “sons of a maternal aunt”, that is, maternal cousins. ↩
By Abū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, praising a generous man who hamstrings his fat camels for guests in hard times. ↩
This is the line of the kings of Judah as given in the Bible: Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon and Josiah, with the names altered in Arabic transmission. ↩
“The two of them” (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) is Ibn Kathīr’s regular way of saying that a ḥadīth is found in both Ṣaḥīḥ collections. ↩
A report whose chain stops at a Companion rather than reaching the Prophet; the marfūʿ is the version attributed to the Prophet himself. ↩
The full ḥadīth reads: “Made beloved to me of your world are women and perfume, and the coolness of my eye has been placed in prayer”, related by Aḥmad and al-Nasāʾī from Anas. ↩
The name given in this commentary to the man upon whom the likeness of Jesus was cast and who was killed in his place; it is spelt variously in the manuscripts (Qaṭyānūs, Ṭaṭyānūs). ↩
waḍaʿtu, “what I have given birth to”, making the words part of her own speech. ↩
The ḥadīth alluded to is that related by al-Bukhārī and Muslim: “There is no newborn but Satan touches it when it is born, so that it cries out screaming from his touch, except Mary and her son.” ↩
That is, “and He made Zachariah her guardian”. ↩
The Temple in Jerusalem. ↩
A variant reading (qirāʾa) of 3:36 with the verb in the second person feminine, making the words God’s address to Mary’s mother rather than a comment within the narrative. ↩
That is, in the first person, so that the clause becomes part of the mother’s own words: “and God knows best what I have given birth to.” ↩
In this reading the verb is causative, kaffalahā, ‘He (God) made Zachariah her guardian’, with Zakariyyāʾ as its object; in the other reading, kafalahā, Zachariah is the subject: ‘Zachariah took charge of her’. ↩
That is, the masculine form fa-nādāhu, as against the feminine fa-nādat-hu written with tāʾ. ↩
St George, honoured in Islamic tradition as a martyr of the generation after Jesus. ↩

Section 1: The family of Amran, Zacharias and John

The Opening

From the Infancy Gospel of James

From the commentaries on 3:33-41

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)

On 3:34

On the interpretation of His words: descendants, one from another; and God is Hearing, Knowing (3:34)

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)

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)

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)

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)

On the interpretation of His words: and Zachariah took charge of her (3:37)

Those who said this

On the interpretation of His words: Whenever Zachariah entered upon her in the prayer-chamber he found provision with her (3:37)

Those who said this

Those who said this

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)

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)

On 3:39

On the interpretation of His words: Then the angels called out to him (3:39)

Those who said this

On the interpretation of His words: while he was standing in prayer in the sanctuary: that God gives you glad tidings of John (3:39)

Those who said this

On the interpretation of His words: confirming a Word from God (3:39)

Those who said this

On the interpretation of His words: and a master (3:39)

On the interpretation of His words: and chaste, and a prophet from among the righteous (3:39)

Those who said this

On 3:40

On the interpretation of His words: He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy, when old age has reached me and my wife is barren? (3:40)

On the interpretation of His words: He said: Thus does God do what He wills (3:40)

On 3:41

On the interpretation of His words: He said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign (3:41)

On the interpretation of His words: He said: Your sign is that you shall not speak to people for three days except by gesture (3:41)

Those who said this

Those who said this

Those who said this

On the interpretation of His words: And remember your Lord much, and glorify Him in the evening and the early morning (3:41)

Those who said this

On 3:33-34

On 3:35

On 3:36

On 3:37

On 3:38-39

On 3:40

On 3:41-42

On 3:33

On 3:34

On 3:35-36

On 3:37-38

On 3:39

On 3:40

On 3:41

On 3:33-34

On 3:35-36

On 3:37

On 3:38-41

On 3:33-64

On 3:33

On 3:34

On 3:35

On 3:36

On 3:37

On 3:38

On 3:39

On 3:40

On 3:41

On 3:33-35

His words, Exalted: Indeed God chose Adam (3:33), the verses.

On 3:36

His words, Exalted: and I seek refuge for her in You (3:36), the verse.

On 3:37

His words, Exalted: So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance (3:37), the verse.

On 3:38

His words, Exalted: There and then Zachariah called upon his Lord (3:38), the verse.