Topic: Birth

Important Words:

مریم (Mary) was the mother of Jesus. She was probably named after the sister of Moses and Aaron, known as Mariam (later pronunciation Miriam). The word, which is probably a compound one consisting of مر and یم it possesses, in Hebrew, a variety of interpretations, some of them being "bitter sea"; "drop of the sea"; "star of the sea"; "bitterness"; "mistress" or "lady". From two alternative roots Mariam might also mean, "the rebellious", or "the corpulent" (Enc. Bib. under Mary). It also means "exalted" (Cruden’s Concordance). Muslim traditionists ascribe to the word the meaning of "pious worshipper" (Kashshaf).

الرجیم (the rejected) is passive participle from رجم. They say رجمه i.e. he pelted him with stones; he smote and killed him; he drove him away; he cursed him; he boycotted or forsook him; he reviled or abused him. رجم الرجل means, the man said a thing on conjecture. رجم القبر means, he put up a stone at the tomb to serve as a sign. الرجیم means: (1) one whom God has driven away from His presence and mercy, i.e. the one rejected; (2) one whom God has cursed; (3) one who has been forsaken and abandoned; and (4) one who has been pelted with stones (Aqrab & Lane). It also means, one driven away or deprived of all goodness and virtue (Mufradat).

Commentary:

Mary’s mother had made the vow in the hope that she would be blessed with a son whom she would dedicate to the service of God. Instead a daughter was born to her. So she was naturally perplexed.

The words, Allah knew best what she had brought forth, form a parenthetical clause spoken by God whereas the following words, the male was not like the female, may be taken to have been either spoken by God or by Mary’s mother. Most probably they are God’s words and mean as rendered in the text, that the female child she had brought forth was superior to the male child she desired to have. If taken to have been spoken by Mary’s mother, they would mean that the female child she had given birth to could not be like the male child she desired, inasmuch as only a boy was fit to do the special service to which she desired to dedicate him.

The clause, I have named her Mary, contains an implied prayer to God to make the girl as exalted and as good and virtuous as the name Mary, meaning exalted or a pious worshipper, signified.

The words, I commit her and her offspring to Thy protection from Satan, the rejected, offer some difficulty. If Mary’s mother intended her child to be dedicated to the service of God, she must have known that the child would remain unmarried for life. What is, then, the sense in offering prayer for the child’s offspring? The most probable explanation is that God had told her in a vision that her daughter would grow up to womanhood and would have a child, whereupon she prayed that Mary and her child might both be granted God’s protection from Satan, the rejected. In spite of this, however, she appears to have left the future of Mary in God’s hand and dedicated her, as she had originally intended, to the service of God (3:38; 3:45; also Gospel of the Birth of Mary). This must have been an exceptional case, for ordinarily only males were eligible for such dedication. The assumption that Mary’s mother had a vision that her daughter would have a son is not unfounded. It finds mention in the Gospel of Mary (3:5) though perhaps in a somewhat different form.

There was nothing unusual about the prayer of Hanna, Mary’s mother, that Mary and her offspring might be protected from satanic influences. All pious parents are actuated by such a desire for their children and pray that they should grow up to lead good and virtuous lives. But unfortunately this simple and natural prayer of Mary’s mother, coupled with a saying of the Holy Prophet to the effect that Mary and her son Jesus were free from the touch of Satan, has given rise to widespread misunderstanding and has been made the basis of an entirely erroneous and misleading belief among a section of Muslims, besides affording to Christians a welcome excuse for attacking Islam. A section among the latter-day Muslims has come to believe that of all men and women, Jesus and his mother, Mary, alone were immune from the evil influences of Satan.

As hinted above, this doctrine is based on a tradition of the Holy Prophet which says: "No child is born but Satan touches it at the time of its birth and makes it cry, except Jesus and his mother Mary" (Bukhari). Unfortunately, this saying of the Holy Prophet has been shorn of its true setting and utterly misunderstood. These words of the Prophet, besides being not strictly relevant as they refer only to the touch of Satan at the time of the birth of a child and not absolutely, were necessitated by the fact that the Jews, out of their enmity towards Jesus, charged him and his mother with the infamous accusation that, God forbid, Mary led an immoral life, and conceived out of legal wedlock, and that consequently Jesus, her son, had an illegal birth. It was to refute this filthy charge that the Holy Prophet uttered the above-quoted words. So this saying of the Prophet is not intended to be general but has only a particular significance with a specific setting. In fact this hadith mentions the names of Jesus and his mother Mary only by way of citing an instance and what is meant is that all mortals born of a woman are likely to come under the influence of Satan except such as possess moral and spiritual qualities like unto those possessed by Mary and her son. The Arabic language is not wanting in instances where a person is named not in his individual capacity, but as representing a class of people (Kashshaf & Manawi). The names of Jesus and Mary have been specifically chosen because of the aspersion upon them by the wicked Jews. Another equally good interpretation is that the words "no child is born" occurring in this hadith are, as hinted above not general but have been used in a restricted sense, signifying not all children absolutely but only such children as were born out of wedlock in the days of Jesus, and the name of Mary has been added because it was her abnormal conception that occasioned such birth of Jesus. Another saying of the Holy Prophet supports this interpretation. Says he, "every child is born in the likeness of Islam; it is only his parents that make him a Christian, a Jew or a Fire-Worshipper" (Bukhari). So the "touch" of Satan referred to in the foregoing hadith cannot be general; it must be taken in a restricted sense.

That Jesus and his mother are not alone in being free from the touch of Satan is clear from a number of Quranic verses and several sayings of the Holy Prophet. To quote only one instance from each, the Quran says: (O Satan,) surely thou shalt have no power over My servants, except such of the erring ones as choose to follow thee (15:43). And the Holy Prophet says: "If a person goes in unto his wife praying, 'O my Lord, keep me away from Satan and so too, keep away the child you grant me', and the wife conceives on such an occasion, the child born will be free from the touch of Satan" (Bukhari).

As for himself personally the Holy Prophet says, "Every one of you has a satan attached to him (who tries to lead him astray) but God has helped me against my satan who has turned Muslim, i.e. obedient and submissive" (Musnad). This means that so far as the Holy Prophet was concerned, Satan had become virtually non-existent. This is certainly a much more exalted position than mere protection against the attack of Satan. Truly has the Prophet remarked, "If Moses and Jesus had been alive, they would have found themselves forced to follow me" (Kathir).

Finally, it may be noted that though Islam declares all Prophets of God to be virtually safe from the influence of Satan, the Bible does not ascribe this protection to Jesus for the New Testament clearly states at a number of places that he was tempted by the Devil for no less than forty days (e.g. Mark 1:12, 13).

19:21.

See 2:118.

Commentary:

The news of a son, however happy in ordinary circumstances, greatly perplexed Mary who was not only as yet unmarried but was also meant to remain so for life. The verse reflects her justified perplexity. It also shows that Jesus had no father, as hinted in Mary’s words, no man has touched me. Having been dedicated to the service of the Temple, Mary could not, consistently with her vow of celibacy, marry. If she was to marry and have children in due course there was no occasion for her to be surprised when the birth of a child was announced to her by the angel in a vision. No normal girl would be surprised if she were told in a vision that a son would be born to her; for she would naturally infer that the promised child would be born to her after marriage. In the Gospel of Mary, the vow of celibacy is clearly referred to. In chapter 5 of the said Gospel we read that when the high priest made a public order that all the virgins living in the temple who had reached their fourteenth year should return home, all the other virgins yielded obed-ience to this command, but "Mary the virgin of the Lord" alone answered that she could not comply with it; and for this refusal of hers she assigned the reason that both she and her parents had devoted her to the service of the Lord, and that she had vowed virginity to the Lord, which vow she was resolved never to break (Gospel of Mary, 5: 4, 5, 6).

Mary’s subsequent marriage with Joseph was thus contrary to the vow and against her own wish. She was, however, compelled by circumstances to marry when found with child. The priests had to arrange her marriage with Joseph in order to avoid scandal. It does not, however, appear from the Gospels how Joseph was prevailed upon to consent, for he was obviously in the dark about her being pregnant at the time of marriage (Matt. 1:18, 19). Presumably some plausible excuse was found to justify the breaking of the vow.

Christians and Jews are both agreed that the birth of Jesus was something out of the ordinary–the Christians holding it as supernatural and the Jews as illegitimate (Jew. Enc.). Even in the family birth register, Jesus’ birth was recorded as such (Talmud). This fact alone should constitute a sufficient proof of Jesus’ birth being out of the ordinary. But it was neither supernatural nor illegitimate. To quote only one medical authority: "Medical men have not ruled out altogether the possibility of natural parthenogenesis of the production of a child by a female, without any relation to a male. Such a statement off-hand appears ridiculous, yet its possibility, from a purely biological standpoint, under certain conditions cannot be disregarded. Dr. Timme calls attention to this possibility as the result of a certain type of tumours, known as arrhenoblastoma (from the Greek words for "male" and "germ") which are occasionally found in the female pelvis or lower body. These tumours are capable of generating male sperm cells. Naturally, if these male sperm cells were alive and active and came in contact with the female’s own egg cell or ovum, conception might occur. There is nothing illogical in this process of reasoning…Dr. Timme states that there are twenty authentic cases reported in Europe in which an arrhenoblastoma had been found to develop male sperm cells…The arrhenoblastoma is a tumour that contains blastodermic cells...These cells are creative structures and are capable of development at any time and the fact, therefore, that arrhenoblas-tomacontaining these "embryonic cells" might create testicular tissue, capable of producing male sperm cells seems scientifically not impossible. If living male sperm cells are produced in a female body by arrhenoblastoma, the possibility of self-fertilization of a woman, even though a virgin, cannot be denied. That is to say, her own body would produce the same result as though sperm cells from a man’s body had been transferred to hers in the more usual way, or by a physician’s aid" (American Medical Journal).

There are cases on record of children having been born without fathers: "A young girl of great moral purity became pregnant without the slightest knowledge of the source… There is a case of pregnancy in an unmarried woman, who successfully resisted an attempt at criminal connection and yet became impreg-nated and gave birth to a perfectly formed female child" (Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by George M. Gould, A.M., M.D., and Walter L. Payle, A.M., M.D., published by W. B. Saunders & Co., London).

Commentary:

The word مثل (case) is used to express resemblance, which may be of different kind and different degrees. Sometimes, the thing likened is equal to that to which it is likened, sometimes the former is superior to the latter, and sometimes the latter is superior to the former. So it is not necessary that the thing likened to another should be equal, or ever similar, to the latter in all respects. The likeness between Adam and Jesus referred to in this verse, may, therefore, not be stretched too far.

In the verse the word 'Adam' primarily stands for man, i.e. the sons of Adam generally. Jesus is thus declared to be like other mortals who have all been created from dust (40:68), and so there can be no divinity about him. If, however, the word 'Adam' be taken to refer to the progenitor of the human race, then the verse would be taken to point to the resemblance between Jesus and Adam in being born without the agency of a male parent. In this case, the fact that Jesus had a mother would not affect the likeness which, as stated above, need not be complete in all respects.

The words, then He said to him, "Be" and he was, show that the command refers not to the birth of Jesus (for the fact of his creation has already been mentioned in the words خلقه i.e. He created him, occurring in the preceding part of the verse), but to his death. The use of the word کن (Be) in relation to death should not sound odd, for, according to the teaching of Islam, death is not the end of life but simply a change, the beginning of a new life. The meaning in this case would be that after having created Jesus and having allowed him the prescribed lease of life in this world, God caused him to die and took his soul away to the next world. The expression, "Be" and he was, may also refer to the creation or birth of Jesus in the sense that, after giving him the human form in the womb of his mother, God said to him "Be", i.e. become quickened with life, whereupon he became alive. Again, the reference may also be to the spiritual life, i.e. after creating Jesus in the form of a man, God called upon him to become a Prophet, which was the ultimate end of his creation, and consequently he became a Prophet. Whatever the interpretation, the verse constitutes a clear refutation of the Christian belief in the divinity of Jesus on the plea of his unusual birth.

As for the creation of man from تراب (dust), we shall give a suitable note when we come to the verses directly dealing with the subject.

33:71; 59:19.

7:190; 16:73; 30:22; 39:7.

Important Words:

رقیبا (Watcher) is derived from رقب. They say رقبه i.e. he watched him; or guarded him; or waited for him; or he kept or preserved it. رقیبis one of God’s attributes meaning, Watcher, Guardian, Keeper; One from Whom nothing is hidden.رقیب also means, an observer; a spy (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The words نفس واحدة (single soul) may signify: (1) Adam; or (2) man and woman taken together, because when two things jointly perform one function, they may be spoken of as one. For instance, 2:62 speaks of one food, while it consisted of manna and quails; or (3) man and woman taken individually, because mankind may be said to have been created from one "single soul" in the sense that each and every individual is created from the seed of man who is "one soul" and is also born of woman who is likewise "one soul".

The expression, and created therefrom its mate, does not mean that woman was created out of the body of man but that she belonged to the same kind and species as man, having the same nature and the same propensities. The meaning of this expression becomes clear when elsewhere we read in the Quran: And Allah has made for you mates from among yourselves (16:73); and He has made for you pairs of your own selves, and of the cattle also pairs (42:12). This means that, like other human beings, a wife was provided for Adam from his own species. And just as other men’s wives are not created from their ribs, so was the wife of Adam not created out of his ribs; and just as our wives have been made from ourselves in the sense that they are of the same kind as ourselves, so was the wife of Adam created from his rib in the sense that she belonged to the same race as Adam did. The preposition من (from) which has given rise to this misconception has been used in the Quran not only about Adam but about other men as well (e.g. 4:60; 9:128; 10:3; 62:3, 4), and in both cases it should mean the same thing, i.e. belonging to the same kind or species. The Quran lends no support whatever to the view that Eve was actually created from the rib of Adam, as is clear from the following verses: We have created you in pairs (78:9); And of everything have We created pairs (51:50), which means that, just as God created a mate for every living thing, so did He make one for Adam. He did not need to depart from this law in respect of Adam and to create a female for him out of his own body.

The idea of Eve having been created out of the rib of Adam seems to have arisen from a saying of the Holy Prophet to the effect "Women have been created from a rib, and surely, the most crooked part of a rib is the highest part thereof. If you set yourself to straighten it, you will break it" (Bukhari, ch. on Nikah). This hadith is, however, an argument against the above view rather than in favour of it, for it makes no mention of Eve, and speaks of all women, and it is clear that every woman has not been created from a rib.

The expression "created from a rib" is evidently figurative and must not be taken literally. What it means is only that, like unto a rib, there is a sort of crookedness in the nature of woman and that this very crookedness lends charm to her. An analogous Quranic expression, viz.: خلق الانسان من عجل i.e. "man is made of (lit. from) haste" (21:38) helps to illustrate the point. These words clearly do not mean that man has been created out of a substance called عجل or haste. They mean only that man is hasty by nature. The above view has been supported by Majma‘ul Bihar, Bahrul-Muhit and Sirajul-Wahhaj, which all agree that in the above hadith the Arabic word ضلع means a certain crookedness of manners, the word itself meaning crookedness.

In fact, this hadith refers to a certain peculiarity of woman, viz. her affectation of displeasure and coquetry. This "crookedness" has been spoken of in the hadith as the highest or the best trait in her character, and those, who take affectation of anger on her part as an expression of her real anger and begin to deal harshly with her for that reason, in fact destroy woman’s most attractive and winning feature.

The verse places "the fear of God", side by side with "respect for the ties of relationship", thus emphasizing the importance of good treatment of relatives, on which the Quran lays so much stress. The Holy Prophet used to recite this verse when delivering a marriage sermon in order to remind the parties of their duties to one another.

3:41.

Commentary:

Besides the rendering given in the text the words ولم اکن بدعائک رب شقیا may mean, "since Thou hast called me and hast made me a Prophet and Thy blessings and favours have covered me, I have never been unsuccessful in achieving my object."

3:41; 21:91.

3:39; 21:90.

Important Words:

عاقراً (barren) is derived from عقر. They say عقرہ i.e. he wounded him; he wounded him much. عقر الابل means, he cut the feet of the camel. عقر النخلة means, he cut the upper part of the palm-tree so that it dried up and ceased to yield fruit. عقرت المرأةmeans, the woman became barren. عاقر is used both for man and woman and applied to a woman means, barren; that does not conceive or has ceased to conceive; and applied to a man it means, barren; that has no offspring born to him. (Lane & Aqrab).

ولیا (successor) is derived from ولی. They say ولی الرجل i.e. he helped the man; he made friends with him; he loved him. ولی فلاناًmeans, he followed such a one immediately without anyone intervening between them ولی means, a friend; beloved one, helper, master; successor or inheritor etc. (Aqrab). See also 2:108.

Commentary:

In view of the different meanings of the word ولی (successor) given under "Important Words" above, Zachariah’s prayer was for such a son as should prove his true successor and should propagate his mission and inherit the spiritual blessings that God had bestowed on the House of Israel.

3:39.

Commentary:

The prayer of Zachariah is complete in every respect and possesses all the ingredients of a successful prayer. A successful prayer should be offered with fervour and in humility. The supplicant should confess his own weakness and helplessness. He should have firm faith in the power of God to accept his prayers. Zachariah’s prayer fulfils all these conditions. He prays to God in words full of extreme pathos. He invokes Divine mercy by referring to his extreme old age and to the barrenness of his wife. He prays fervently and in all humility. He asks for no worldly gains. He prays only for a righteous heir. He felt that righteousness had altogether disappeared from his family and his relations had consigned God to oblivion. He knew that the House of Israel was about to be deprived forever of the boon of prophethood but still he had not despaired of God’s mercy. He hoped that something yet might happen which should save his people and the House of Israel from utter spiritual ruin. He was extremely anxious that the Israelites might not reject the last Israelite Prophet and might still avert the impending wrath of God. This was Zachariah’s wish which he expressed in words full of pathos. He prayed that an heir be born to him who might warn the Israelites to take heed and not to deprive themselves of the light of prophethood by rejecting their own last Prophet. It appears from the Bible that the whole mission of Yahya for whose birth Zachariah had so fervently prayed consisted in preparing the way for Jesus. He says:

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire (Matt. 3:11).

Yahya tried his utmost to make the task of Jesus easy and to prepare the Jews to accept him. But his efforts proved vain. He himself was imprisoned and murdered. His people rejected him as well as his great successor, Jesus. They even sought to kill the latter on the cross. Zachariah’s prayer was only partly fulfilled as Divine decree had also to be implemented. So Yahya was born to Zachariah in fulfilment of his prayer but he (Yahya) failed to soften the hearts of his people. They did not believe in Jesus and thus could not avert the wrath of God and became deprived forever of the light of prophethood which was the real object of Zachariah’s prayer. The Divine will prevailed and prophethood became transferred from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael.

3:40; 21:91.

19:66.

Important Words:

سمیا (of that name) is derived from سمی. They say سما و سمی الرجل زیداً i.e. he named the man Zaid. سما means, it became high. سموت الیه ببصری means, I raised my eye towards him. سمی means, competitor or contender for superiority, in eminence or glory or excellence; a like or an equal; a namesake of another. ھو سمیک means, he is thy namesake or he is thy equal or like (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

The two words غلام and یحیٰی used in this verse are very significant. The word غلام signifies three periods of one’s life i.e. childhood, youth and middle age. Applied to Yahya or John it embodied a prophecy that he shall not die in childhood but shall grow up to be a young man before the eyes of his father and shall live up to middle age and so it actually came to pass. Yahya lived up to middle age and then was killed by the order of Herod to satisfy the wish of a dancing girl. The word یحییٰ literally meaning, "he lives" or "he shall live," also implied a great prophecy, viz. that he will die the death of a martyr and thus will become immortalized. Of the martyrs the Quran says: Say not of those who are killed in the cause of Allah that they are dead; nay they are living; only you perceive not (2:155). Again it says: Think not of those who have been slain in the cause of Allah as dead. Nay, they are living in the presence of their Lord and are granted gifts from Him(3:170). Thus those who are killed in the way of God get everlasting life and so did Yahya or John. His ministry terminated in his imprisonment in the fortress of Machaerus, where he was executed by the order of Herod Antipas (Matt. 14:10 & 11). See also 3:40.

The words, We have not made anyone before him of that name, do not mean that there had lived before him no man whose name was John. From the Bible it appears that there had been several persons before him who were called John. (II Kings 25:23; I Chronicles 3:15; Ezra 8:12). Nor does the verse mean that John was peerless and was unequalled in every respect. He himself confesses that "there cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose" (Mark 1:7). The verse only signifies that in some respects Yahya had no equal, i.e. he enjoyed a partial superiority in some respects over other Israelite Prophets. Abraham, Moses and Jesus were Prophets of much higher spiritual status than John, the Baptist, who had come only to prepare the way for Jesus (Mark 1:3). Yahya was peerless only in this respect that he was the first Prophet to come as a precursor and harbinger to another Prophet—Jesus. And he was peerless in this respect also that he was the first Prophet who came with the power and spirit of another Prophet—Elias.

3:41; 21:91.

Important Words:

عتیا (extreme limit) is derived from عتا which means, he behaved proudly and was immoderate and inordinate; he was excessively proud or corrupt; he became advanced in age. عتت الریح means, the wind blew fiercely. The Quranic expression وقد بلغت من الکبر عتیا means, And I have reached the extreme degree of old age, or hardness and dryness in the joints and the bones like dry wood. The word also signifies that state of extreme old age which is incurable (Mufradat, Lane & Aqrab).

The word غلام as stated above (v.8) implied that Zachariah would see his son grow before his eyes and that he would also be able to train and educate him. The glad tidings was indeed a source of great comfort but at the same time it was a surprise for a man who had reached such an advanced old age as Zachariah.

The words, How shall I have a son, do not express despair. V.5 above shows that Zachariah had not despaired of God’s mercy. On the contrary he had perfect faith in the power of God to grant him a son. Moreover, a true believer never despairs of God’s mercy. "None despairs of Allah’s mercy save the unbelieving people", says the Quran (12:88). The verse only expresses Zachariah’s innocent and spontaneous surprise at the greatness of the favour which God was about to bestow upon him. Every person situated as Zachariah was would be naturally surprised at the unusual glad tidings that he had received.

3:41, 48; 19:22; 51:31.

Commentary:

The words, and indeed I created thee before, when thou wast nothing, primarily refer to the spiritual creation of Zachariah rather than to his physical creation. There seems to be no point in referring to an ordinary everyday physical phenomenon of the creation of one individual. If God had intended to refer to the phenomenon of physical creation, He would have referred to the creation of the whole universe and not to the creation of Zachariah alone. In fact, the present verse is an answer to the surprise of Zachariah expressed in the previous verses. Zachariah was promised the birth of a son in his extreme old age. The son was not to be an ordinary one but was to be possessed of great spiritual powers and to be peerless in respect of certain spiritual qualities. So the reference here is to the spiritual birth of Zachariah and to his great moral qualities.

The word "he" in the expression "he said", refers to the angel who brought the glad tidings to Zachariah. In verse 8 Zachariah is mentioned as having been addressed by God; in the present verse, however, he is described as having been addressed by one angel while in 3:40 it is stated that several angels called to him. These three statements seem to be mutually contradictory and the critics of Islam like Wherry have not failed to represent this fact as such. But in reality there is no such contradiction. According to the Quran when a Divine revelation of exceptional importance descends upon a Prophet of God, a number of angels, in accordance with the nature of its importance, are made to accompany it for its safeguarding (35:2) but only one angel representing all of them and on their behalf is entrusted with the duty to convey the Divine revelation to the Prophet. Thus the speaking of one angel means the speaking of all of them and therefore to say that one or many angels spoke to a Prophet makes no difference. Similarly, there is no contradiction in the words "God said" or "the angels said", because angels only speak to a Prophet as God’s representatives and as His servants convey to him the Divine Message.

3:46.

Commentary:

The word 'Messenger' shows that the angel was only the bearer of a Divine Message and the message or glad tidings which he brought was about the birth of a great son to Mary. So he had come not to give Mary a son but only the glad tidings about the birth of a son.

The expression لاھب لک only signifies that the angel had appeared to Mary to give her the certain and sure tidings about the birth of a son. The glad tidings was so certain of being fulfilled that it seemed as if the son had already been given to her. This is what the angel had conveyed to Mary because who does not know that it is God Who bestows a son and not an angel. An angel’s mission is confined only to conveying the wish and decree of God.

3:48; 19:9.

Commentary:

The incident referred to in this and the preceding verses took place in a vision, and in a vision or dream a person experiences different kinds of sensations at different occasions. Sometimes his feelings and talk in the dream are subject to and under the effect of the dream that he sees while at another time they are not, and he feels and talks as he would feel and talk if he were awake. For example, if in a dream a person is glad over the death of his son, his feelings will be regarded as under the effect of the dream because in his state of wakefulness no sane person would be glad over the death of his son. So if the words spoken by Mary when she saw the angel in her vision were under the effect of the vision, then they would signify that when the glad tidings were given to her about the birth of a son she had a pleasant surprise whether God would work such a miracle as to give her—a virgin—a son. But if the words be regarded as a natural expression on her part when the tidings of the birth of a son were given to her then they would signify that she was completely perplexed and horror-struck at the thought that a son should be born to her—a virgin. In the former case hers would be a very pleasant surprise at the great favour that God was going to do her and in the latter case it would be an expression of bewilderment indicating the horrified state of her mind.

The words 'no man has touched me' show that Mary thought that the glad tidings about the birth of a son to her meant that the child would be born to her without contracting a regular marriage, otherwise there was no sense in her denying having known any man. The words, 'neither have I been unchaste' show that whereas in the previous clause she had denied having known any man lawfully i.e. in a married state, these words refer to her denial of having known any person unlawfully i.e. outside legal wedlock. In her reply to the angel she seemed to be thinking of the circumstances of her life in the Temple and of her vow of celibacy which obviated the possibility of her having any offspring. If she thought that the promise made in the preceding verse referred to the birth of a son as a result of her conjugal relations in some future time, as some commentators of the Quran think, then there was no occasion for her to express any surprise.

32:8-9.

Important Words:

سلالة (extract) is derived from سل (salla). They say سل الشیء i.e. he drew out the thing or he drew it out from another thing gently. سلالة means, what is or becomes drawn forth from a thing. سلالة الشیء means, an extract of a thing; the clear or pure part or the choice, the best or most excellent part of a thing; the sperma genitalis of a man; the water that is drawn from the back; progeny (Lane & Aqrab).

طین (clay) is derived from طان. They say طانه i.e. he plastered it with clay or mud. طانه اللّٰه علی الخیر means, God created him with a good natural disposition. طین means, clay, mud, earth, mould, soil (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

With this verse begins a description of the process of creation of the noblest handiwork of God—man, from the earliest stage when he lies dormant in the form of dust. The inorganic constituents of the earth through a subtle process of change become converted into the germ of life by way of food which a human being eats.

77:21.

15:30; 38:73.

Important Words:

روحه (His spirit). روح is derived from راح, which means, he was brisk, lively, active; it became cool and pleasant. روحmeans, soul or spirit; the subtle substance in man which is the principle of vitality and of sensation, and of voluntary motion; the breath of life; Divine revelation or inspiration; the Quran; angel; joy and happiness; mercy (Lane). See also 4:172 & 16:3.

Commentary:

روح or spirit in the verse may signify the divine soul, or spirit, or that subtle and incomprehensible thing in man which distinguishes him from, and establishes his superiority over, the animal kingdom and invests him, so to say, with Divine attributes. The word, as given under "Important Words," may here also signify Divine revelation, particularly the Quran. The verse signifies that after the physical development of the embryo becomes complete in the womb, it receives a soul; or the meaning may be that, after the spiritual development of a man becomes complete, he receives Divine revelation.

4:32; 42:38.

13:7; 41:44.

Important Words:

اللمم (minor faults) is derived from لم. They say ألم بالقوم او علی المقوم i.e. he came to the people and alighted at their abode temporarily as a guest. ألممت بکذا means, I appreciated it without committing it. ألم also means, he visited covertly or in a light, slight or hasty manner or rarely. لمم means, a chance leaning towards evil; a temporary and light lapse; a rare slight offence, a passing evil idea which flashes across the mind and leaves no impression on it. The root word possesses the sense of temporariness, haste and infrequency and of doing a thing unintentionally. A chance, unintentional look at a woman has also been called اللمم by some authorities (Lane & Aqrab).