Al Islam

c. 6:152; 19:33; 29:9; 31:15; 46:16. (close)

d. 19:34. (close)

1746. During the first few centuries of its life Islam made very rapid progress. Large numbers of people from every religion—especially from Christianity—entered its fold. They brought with them their erroneous beliefs about Jesus. As they had not imbibed fully the true spirit of Islamic teachings, their false ideas and beliefs subsequently found their way into Muslim religious literature with the result that subsequently they came to form part of Muslim beliefs. All these beliefs had been invented to invest Jesus with an extraordinary personality—a personality much above human level. It is these foolish beliefs about Jesus that the Qur’an seeks to demolish in the present Surah. By instituting a comparison between Yahya and Jesus, this Surah and the Surah Al-e-‘Imran mean to suggest that there was nothing in Jesus which distinguished him from other Divine Messengers. See "The Larger Edition of the Commentary," pp. 1565. (close)

1747. It seems relevant and necessary to mention, as a prelude to the somewhat detailed account of Jesus’s fatherless birth as given in the next several verses, some facts related about Mary in the Qur’an and the New Testament. The New Testament sheds practically no light on the life of Mary before she became pregnant. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke give an extremely brief and discursive description of her circumstances before the above important event took place while Mark and John are completely silent over it. According to Matthew, Mary, on being married to Joseph, was found to be with child. Joseph intended secretly to put her away but was refrained from taking this extreme step by an angel saying to him in a dream, 'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife' (Matt. 1:‌19, 20). The Qur’an, however, gives a much more detailed account of Mary’s family, the circumstances that attended her birth, the vow of her mother, of her being dedicated to the service of the Church and lastly of her having conceived Jesus (3:36, 37, 48). The present Surah, however, gives a still more detailed account of Mary having conceived Jesus and of what happened to her and to Jesus after his birth and after he was commissioned with Divine mission, thus providing all necessary details about Mary that have any bearing on the important subject of Prophethood which was about to be transferred from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael and which forms the principal thesis of the present Surah. Special mention has been made here of 'an eastern place' in the verse, in order, perhaps to point to the time-honoured customs of the Jews to hold the East sacred. Both the Jews and the Christians hold the East in special respect. They build their places of worship facing the East. (close)

a. 3:43. (close)

1748. For the different meanings of Ruh see 712. (close)

1749. The expression signifies that the Divine glad tidings about the birth of a great son was not conveyed to Mary in the form of spoken words which she could hear; it took the form of a dream or vision. In a vision an angel came to her in the form of a healthy man and conveyed to her the Divine Message about the birth of a son. So it was no spirit that had entered Mary’s body, but only an angel appeared to her in a vision in the form of a man. (close)

1750. As is apparent from the previous verse it was a mere vision which Mary had seen; and it generally happens that when a person sees a thing in a vision which he does not like in his waking state, he does not like it either when he sees it in a vision. When Mary saw the angel standing before her in the form of a man she, being a virtuous young woman, was naturally frightened and perplexed as she would have been frightened and perplexed if she had seen him near her in her state of wakefulness, and it is, therefore, quite natural that she sought Divine protection from him. (close)

1751. The word 'messenger' shows that the angel was only the bearer of a Divine message and that he had not come to give Mary a son but only the glad tidings about the birth of a son. Who does not know that it is God Who can bestow a son and not an angel? An angel’s mission is confined only to conveying the wish and decree of God. (close)

b. 3:46. (close)

c. 3:48; 19:9. (close)

1752. 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 on different occasions. Sometimes his feelings and talk in the dream are subject to and under the effect of the dream 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 normal 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 was given to her 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 was 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.

Whereas the words, no man has touched me, show that Mary thought that the glad tidings meant that she would have a child without contracting a legal marriage, otherwise there was no sense in her denial to have known any man in a married state, the words, neither have I been unchaste, refer to her denial to have known any man outside legal wedlock. In her reply to the angel she seemed to be thinking 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 Qur’an think, then there was no occasion for her to express any surprise. (close)

a. 3:41, 48; 19:22; 51:31. (close)

1753. The expression, that We may make him a Sign unto men, implies the fatherless birth of Jesus which was indeed a great Sign for the Israelites. It pointed to the impending transition of Prophethood from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael and constituted a warning to the Israelites that they had become spiritually so corrupt and morally so degenerate that no male among them was fit enough to become the father of a Prophet of God. It is in this sense that Jesus has also been spoken of as 'a Sign of the Hour' in the Qur’an (43:62), i.e. a Sign of the time when Prophethood was to have passed from the Israelites to the Ishmaelites. (close)

1754. The expression, and it is a thing decreed, means that God had decreed that a fatherless son would be born to Mary and that this Divine decree was irrevocable. The Qur’an has used two words Qadar and Qada’ to express the sense of Divine decree. The former word means designing or determining, while the latter means decreeing. When a scheme or plan is only designed to be put into execution, it is called Qadar, and when it is decreed by God that it should be carried into effect, it is named Qada’. The fatherless birth of Jesus was a Qada’ (decree) of God. (close)