al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr, by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE). Al-Suyūṭī’s collection of every transmitted report on each verse, drawn from the ḥadīth collections and the early commentaries, many of them otherwise lost.
Part 1 of 3: the commentary on The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64). The parts follow the order of the verses; this one covers 3:33-35 to 3:46-47.
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)1 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).2
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.3
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.4
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.5
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 Jirjīs6 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.
On 3:42-45
His words, Exalted: And when the angels said: O Mary, indeed God has chosen you (3:42), and the following verses
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, concerning His words Indeed God has chosen you and purified you, and chosen you above the women of the worlds (3:42), that he said: Abū Hurayrah used to relate from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: “The best women who ever rode camels are the women of Quraysh: the most tender towards a child in its infancy, and the most careful of a husband in what his hand possesses.” Abū Hurayrah said: And Mary daughter of ʿImrān never rode a camel. The two Shaykhs7 recorded it without the verse.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Mardawayh recorded from ʿAlī: 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 Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid.”8
Al-Ḥākim recorded, and declared it sound (ṣaḥīḥ), from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The most excellent of the women of the worlds are Khadījah, Fāṭimah, Mary and Āsiyah the wife of Pharaoh.”
Ibn Mardawayh recorded from Anas, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Indeed God has chosen four above the women of the worlds: Āsiyah daughter of Muzāḥim, Mary daughter of ʿImrān, Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid and Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad.”
Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī, who declared it sound, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Ḥākim recorded from Anas that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Sufficient for you among the women of the worlds are Mary daughter of ʿImrān, Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid, Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad and Āsiyah the wife of Pharaoh.”
Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded it from al-Ḥasan as a mursal report.9
Ibn Abī Shaybah, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Abū Mūsā, 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 Āsiyah the wife of Pharaoh; and the excellence of ʿĀʾishah over women is like the excellence of tharīd over other food.”10
Ibn Abī Shaybah and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Fāṭimah (may God be pleased with her), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: “You are the mistress of the women of the people of Paradise, except for Mary the Virgin (al-Batūl).”
Ibn Jarīr recorded from ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Khadījah was given excellence over the women of my community just as Mary was given excellence over the women of the worlds.”
Ibn ʿAsākir recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The mistress of the women of the people of Paradise is Mary daughter of ʿImrān, then Fāṭimah, then Khadījah, then Āsiyah the wife of Pharaoh.”
Ibn ʿAsākir recorded, by way of Muqātil, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Four women are the mistresses of their world: Mary daughter of ʿImrān, Āsiyah daughter of Muzāḥim, Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid and Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad; and the most excellent of them in her world is Fāṭimah.”
Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Fāṭimah is the mistress of the women of the worlds after Mary daughter of ʿImrān, Āsiyah the wife of Pharaoh and Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid.”
Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded from Makḥūl, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The best women who ever rode camels are the women of Quraysh: the most tender towards a child in its infancy, and the most careful of a husband in what his hand possesses. And had I known that Mary daughter of ʿImrān ever rode a camel, I would not have preferred anyone above her.”
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Mujāhid, concerning His words Indeed God has chosen you and purified you (3:42), that he said: He made you pure in faith.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from al-Suddī: and purified you (3:42) — he said: from menstruation; and chosen you above the women of the worlds (3:42) — he said: above the women of that age in which they were living.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Mary was confined in the sanctuary (al-kanīsah), and with her in the sanctuary was a youth named Joseph, whose mother and father had dedicated him as a votary to be confined there, so the two of them were in the sanctuary together. Whenever Mary’s water and Joseph’s water ran out, they would take their two jars and set off for the wilderness in which the water was; they would fill them and then return. In the midst of that the angels would come to Mary: O Mary, indeed God has chosen you and purified you, and chosen you above the women of the worlds (3:42). When Zachariah heard that he said: The daughter of ʿImrān has a great matter in store indeed.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Mujāhid: O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord (3:43) — he said: Prolong the standing still, meaning standing in prayer.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Mujāhid, who said: When it was said to her be devoutly obedient to your Lord (3:43), she stood until her feet swelled.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from al-Awzāʿī, who said: Mary used to stand in prayer until pus flowed from her feet.
Ibn ʿAsākir recorded from Ibn Saʿīd, who said: Mary used to pray until her feet swelled.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: be devoutly obedient to your Lord (3:43) — he said: Be sincere.
He recorded from Qatādah: be devoutly obedient to your Lord (3:43) — he said: Obey your Lord.
Ibn Abī Dāwūd recorded in al-Maṣāḥif from Ibn Masʿūd that he used to recite: “and bow and prostrate among those who prostrate”.11
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Qatādah, concerning His words and you were not with them (3:44): meaning Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by way of al-ʿAwfī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words and you were not with them when they cast their pens as to which of them should take charge of Mary (3:44), that he said: When Mary (peace be upon her) was placed in the sanctuary, the people of the place of prayer, who used to write down the revelation, cast lots for her; they cast lots with their pens as to which of them should take charge of her. So God said to Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him): and you were not with them when they cast their pens as to which of them should take charge of Mary, and you were not with them when they disputed (3:44).
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from ʿIkrimah, concerning His words when they cast their pens as to which of them should take charge of Mary (3:44), that he said: They cast their pens into the water, and they were carried off with the current, but Zachariah’s pen rose up against it; so Zachariah took charge of her.
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from al-Rabīʿ, who said: They cast their pens — he means their staves — towards the current of the water, and Zachariah’s staff went against the current of the water, and so he won the lot over them.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn Jurayj, who said: their pens (3:44) — he said: those with which they used to write the Torah.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd recorded the like of it from Mujāhid.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from ʿAṭāʾ: their pens (3:44), meaning: their lot-arrows (qidāḥ).
Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When God had granted John to Zachariah and he had reached three years of age, God gave Mary the glad tidings of Jesus. While she was in the prayer-niche (miḥrāb) the angels said — and it was Gabriel alone — O Mary, indeed God has chosen you and purified you (3:42) from indecency, and chosen you, meaning: and selected you, above the women of the worlds: the world of her own community. O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord (3:43), meaning: pray to your Lord. He says: stand still before your Lord in prayer with long standing; and she used to stand until her feet swelled. and prostrate and bow with those who bow (3:43), meaning: with those who pray, with the reciters of the Holy House.12 God says to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): That is of the tidings of the unseen which We reveal to you (3:44), meaning: by way of the tiding of the unseen in the story of Zachariah, John and Mary; and you were not with them, meaning: in their presence, when they cast their pens for the guardianship of Mary. Then He said: O Muḥammad — informing him of the story of Jesus — When the angels said: O Mary, indeed God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, eminent in this world (3:45), meaning: having a firm standing with God in this world, and among those brought near (3:45) in the Hereafter; and he will speak to the people in the cradle (3:46), meaning: in swaddling clothes, and in maturity (3:46): and he will speak to them as a man of mature age when he has reached his full strength, before he is raised up to heaven; and among the righteous (3:46), meaning: among the messengers.
Isḥāq ibn Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir recorded from Wahb, who said: When Mary’s pregnancy had become established and Gabriel had given her the glad tidings, she trusted in God’s honouring of her and was at rest; her soul was at ease and her resolve grew strong. With her among those dedicated to the sanctuary was a son of her maternal uncle called Joseph. He used to serve her from behind the curtain, speak with her and hand her things from behind the curtain. He was the first to notice her pregnancy, and it troubled him and grieved him; he feared from it a calamity he had no strength to withstand, and he did not know from where Mary had been approached. It distracted him from attending to his own affairs and his own works, for he was a devout and wise man. Before Mary drew the curtain over herself she used to be with him, and he had grown up with her. Whenever Mary’s water and Joseph’s water ran out, they would take their two jars and set off for the wilderness in which the water was; they would fill their two jars and then return to the sanctuary, while the angels came to Mary with the glad tidings: O Mary, indeed God has chosen you and purified you (3:42); and Joseph would marvel at what he heard. When Mary’s pregnancy became evident to Joseph, something concerning her fell into his heart, until he was almost led into temptation. But when he was about to suspect her in his heart, he remembered how God had purified her and chosen her, and what God had promised her mother, that He would protect her and her offspring from the accursed Satan, and what he had heard of the words of the angels: O Mary, indeed God has chosen you and purified you (3:42). So he recalled the excellences with which God had favoured her, and he said: Zachariah has secured her in the prayer-niche so that no one enters upon her, and Satan has no way to reach her; so from where is this? Then, when he saw how her colour had changed and her belly was showing, it weighed heavily upon him, and he hinted at it to her, saying: O Mary, can there be a crop without seed? She said: Yes. He said: And how is that? She said: God created the first seed without any plant, and He made the first crop grow without any seed. Perhaps you will say: He was not able to create the first crop except by means of seed? And perhaps you will say: Had He not sought the help of seed for it, it would have overcome Him, so that He could neither create it nor make it grow? Joseph said: I take refuge with God from saying that. You have spoken truly, and you have spoken with light and wisdom. Just as He was able to create the first crop and make it grow without seed, He is able to make a crop without seed. But tell me: do trees grow without water or rain? She said: Do you not know that the seed, the crop, the water, the rain and the trees have one Creator? Perhaps you will say: Were it not for the water and the rain, He would not be able to make the trees grow? He said: I take refuge with God from saying that; you have spoken truly. Then tell me: can there be a child and a pregnancy without a male? She said: Yes. He said: And how is that? She said: Do you not know that God created Adam and his wife Eve without any pregnancy, and without female or male? He said: Indeed so. Then tell me your news. She said: God has given me the glad tidings of a Word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary (3:45), up to His words and among the righteous (3:46). So Joseph knew that this was a matter from God, by reason of some good He intended for Mary, and he kept silent about her. She remained in that state until the pangs of birth seized her, whereupon she was called: Go out from the prayer-niche. So she went out.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Qatādah, concerning His words When the angels said: O Mary, indeed God gives you glad tidings (3:45), that he said: The angels addressed her with that face to face.
Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him (3:45), that he said: Jesus is the Word from God.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: None of the prophets had two names except Jesus and Muḥammad (peace be upon them both).
Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Ibrāhīm, who said: the Messiah (3:45): the veracious one (al-ṣiddīq).
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Saʿīd, who said: He was called the Messiah only because he was anointed (musiḥa) with blessing.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Thaqafī that Jesus was a wanderer (sāʾiḥ), and for that reason he was called the Messiah: he would pass the evening in one land and the morning in another; and that he never married until he was raised up.
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Qatādah, concerning His words and among those brought near (3:45): He says: and among those brought near to God on the Day of Resurrection.
On 3:46-47
His words, Exalted: and he will speak to the people in the cradle (3:46)
Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded, by way of Ibn Jurayj, who said: It reached me from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: The cradle is the infant’s resting-place during his suckling.
Al-Bukhārī and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “None spoke in the cradle except three. Jesus. And there was among the Children of Israel a man called Jurayj. He was praying when his mother came to him and called him, and he said: Shall I answer her, or go on praying? So she said: O God, do not let him die until You have shown him the faces of the harlots. Jurayj was in his hermitage when a woman presented herself to him and spoke to him, but he refused. So she went to a shepherd and gave herself to him, and she bore a boy, and she said: It is Jurayj’s. They came to him, broke down his hermitage, brought him down and reviled him. He performed ablution and prayed, then he came to the boy and said: Who is your father, O boy? He said: The shepherd. They said to him: We shall build your hermitage of gold. He said: No; only of clay. And there was a woman among the Children of Israel suckling a son of hers, when a man of fine appearance rode past her, and she said: O God, make my son like him. He left her breast and turned towards the rider and said: O God, do not make me like him. Then he turned back to her breast and sucked it. Then a slave-girl was brought past, being dragged along and made sport of, and she said: O God, do not make my son like this one. He left her breast and said: O God, make me like her. She said: Why is that? He said: The rider is a tyrant among tyrants; while as for this slave-girl, they say to her: You have committed adultery, and she says: God is sufficient for me; and they say: You have stolen, and she says: God is sufficient for me.”
Abū al-Shaykh and al-Ḥākim, who declared it sound, recorded from Abū Hurayrah (may God be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “None spoke in the cradle except Jesus, the witness of Joseph, the companion of Jurayj, and the son of Pharaoh’s hairdresser.”13
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Jarīr recorded from Qatādah: and he will speak to the people in the cradle and in maturity (3:46) — he said: He speaks to them as a small child and as a grown man.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, by way of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās: and in maturity (3:46) — he said: at the age of a man of mature years (kahl).
ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Mujāhid, who said: The man of mature years (kahl) is the forbearing one.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, who said: The man of mature years is one who has reached the utmost of forbearance.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Abū Zayd, concerning the verse, who said: Jesus has already spoken to them in the cradle, and he will speak to them when he kills the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), and on that day he will be a man of mature years.
Ibn Jarīr recorded from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: He said: Thus God creates what He wills (3:47): He does what He intends, and creates what He wills, whether human or other than human; when He decrees a matter, He only says to it “Be”, and it is (3:47): of whatever He wills and however He wills, and so it is as He intended.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=aldur-almanthoor). Nothing is abridged: every opinion, every report with its chain of transmission, every verse of poetry and every grammatical note is translated. Qur’anic quotations are in bold; the translator’s own notes are confined to the numbered footnotes and identify names, terms and variant readings only. A second translator has not checked the rendering, and the Arabic is linked so that any passage can be compared. The modern editors’ apparatus is not part of the classical text and is not translated.
The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64): all commentaries · Part 2 → · The classical commentaries
Notes
- 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. ↩
- al-Bukhārī and Muslim. ↩
- That is, the best of the women of her age, and the best of the women of this age. ↩
- A report in which a Successor relates directly from the Prophet without naming the Companion between them. ↩
- Tharīd: bread crumbled into meat broth, the most esteemed dish of the Arabs. ↩
- A variant reading (qirāʾa) of 3:43, whose standard text reads “and prostrate and bow with those who bow”. ↩
- Bayt al-Maqdis, the Temple in Jerusalem. ↩
- The witness of Joseph is the infant who testified to his innocence (12:26); the companion of Jurayj is the infant in the preceding report; the son of Pharaoh’s hairdresser is the infant who spoke to encourage his mother, the hairdresser of Pharaoh’s daughter, as she was martyred for her faith. ↩