This alongside all the other articles on the stories of the prophets has been taken from Ṣaḥīḥ Qiṣaṣ al Anbiyāʾ (Authentic Stories of the Prophets) by Salim ibn ʿId al Hilali who revised Ibn Kathir’s (Qiṣas al Anbiyāʾ) Stories of the Prophets by removing weak, fabricated, repeated reports and unreliable Isra’ili reports, he only kept the Quran verses, sound hadiths and reports from the Salaf.
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The story of Isa son of Maryam
The birth of Maryam عليها السلام
Maryam in the care of Zakariyya عليه السلام
Allah’s selection of Maryam عليها السلام
The birth of the servant and messenger Isa son of Maryam the virgin chaste woman
The story of Isa son of Maryam, the servant of Allah, His Messenger and the son of His bondwoman
The origin of Isa son of Maryam and his upbringing in childhood and youth and the beginning of revelation to him from Allah
Clarifying the descent of the four scriptures and their times
A brief selection from the reports of Isa عليه السلام
The good news given by Isa عليه السلام of Muhammad ﷺ
Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet
The table spread
The raising of Isa to the heaven and the false claim of crucifixion
The description, character and virtues of Isa عليه السلام
The story of Jurayj
The dispute of the followers of the Messiah
Summary
The story of Isa son of Maryam
This chapter presents Isa son of Maryam عليه السلام as a servant of Allah, His Messenger and the son of His bondwoman, not a son of Allah. The beginning of Surah Al Imran refutes the Christians who claimed that Allah has a child and believed in three hypostases.
Allah made clear that Isa is a servant from His servants whom He created in the womb as He created the rest of the creation, and that He created him without a father just as He created Adam عليه السلام without a father and without a mother. His creation is by the command “Be” and he is.
The chapter follows the story of the birth of Maryam عليها السلام, her upbringing and worship, the miraculous birth of Isa, his early speech and miracles, his call to Tawhid, the dispute of the Jews and Christians about him, his being raised to the heaven and their false claim of crucifixion, his good news about Muhammad ﷺ, and the description of the unlettered Prophet in the Tawrah and the Injil. Along the way it brings many Qur’an verses, sound hadiths and reports from the Salaf that clarify his true status and refute exaggeration and disbelief.
The birth of Maryam عليها السلام
Allah tells in Al Imran that He chose Adam, Nuh, the family of Ibrahim and the family of Imran over the universe. The wife of Imran vowed that whatever was in her womb would be devoted to Allah. When she gave birth and it was a girl, she said that the male is not like the female in serving Bayt al Maqdis.
She named her Maryam, and said that she sought refuge for her and her offspring in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Allah accepted Maryam with a good acceptance, caused her to grow in a good way and placed her under the care of Zakariyya عليه السلام.
From her words the scholars took evidence that it is allowed to name a newborn on the day of birth. Other narrations show that naming on the seventh day is also allowed, such as the hadith of Samurah about the aqiqah.# The narrations mention that every child of Adam is touched by Shaytan when born and cries because of that touch, except Maryam and her son Isa. This is linked to her mother’s supplication “I seek refuge for her and her offspring in You from the accursed Shaytan.” This is established in Sahih Muslim and in Musnad Ahmad and other collections with sound chains and supporting routes.
Maryam in the care of Zakariyya عليه السلام
When Maryam was born and had been suckled and weaned, her mother took her to the devoted worshippers in Bayt al Maqdis. Her father Imran had been their imam, so they disputed about who would be her guardian. Zakariyya عليه السلام, who was their Prophet and according to the stronger report was married to her maternal aunt, wanted to take responsibility for her.
They agreed to draw lots with their pens. Each man threw his pen into the water. Through repeated lots Zakariyya won each time by Allah’s decree, so he became her guardian.
He built for her a noble private place of worship inside the masjid. She devoted herself to worship and service. She became famous among Bani Israil for her devotion and good states. Every time Zakariyya entered upon her he found with her provision that was out of season, such as fruits of summer in winter and fruits of winter in summer.
When he asked her where it came from she said that it was from Allah and that Allah provides for whom He wills without measure. Seeing this, he hoped for a child from himself even though he was very old and his bones were weak. He supplicated, asking Allah for good offspring. His story with the birth of Yahya عليه السلام then follows, as explained in detail in the story of Zakariyya.
Allah’s selection of Maryam عليها السلام
The angels spoke directly to Maryam and told her that Allah had chosen her, purified her and chosen her above the women of the universe.
They commanded her to be devoutly obedient, to prostrate and bow with those who bow. This shows her high rank and the importance of much worship in order to be fit for great honour.
The angels then gave her glad tidings of a “word” from Allah whose name is the Messiah Isa son of Maryam, honoured in this life and the next and among those brought near. He would speak to people in the cradle and in maturity and would be among the righteous. She was amazed, asking how she could have a child when no man had touched her.
The answer was that Allah creates what He wills, and when He decrees a matter He only says to it “Be” and it is. Allah promised to teach Isa the Book, wisdom, the Tawrah and the Injil and to make him a Messenger to Bani Israil, supported with clear signs such as shaping a bird from clay, healing the one born blind and the leper, and reviving the dead by Allah’s permission.
The words “Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the universe” were discussed by the early imams. Some understood them as preference over the women of her time, as in other verses where preference is restricted by context. Others allowed the general sense, that she is the best woman of this universe.
There is a known difference about whether prophethood is ever given to women. Ibn Hazm used the speech of angels and inspiration to the mother of Musa and to Maryam as proof that they were prophetesses.
The majority of Ahl as Sunnah, as transmitted by Abu al Hasan al Ashari and others, hold that prophethood is specific to men. According to this view Maryam’s highest rank is what Allah mentioned in Al Ma idah, that she is a siddiqah, and that she is the best of the siddiqah women.
A number of sound hadiths mention that among the best women of the universe are Maryam bint Imran, Asiyah the wife of Pharaoh, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid and Fatimah bint Muhammad ﷺ. Some narrations mention only Maryam and Asiyah in connection with perfection.
One wording that mentions Maryam then Fatimah then Khadijah then Asiyah in an ordered way is shown to be fabricated, while another wording with all four names joined by “and” is sound. The safest position is not to make a firm detailed ranking between these noble women beyond what the authentic texts clearly indicate.
The birth of Isa son of Maryam the virgin chaste woman
Surah Maryam tells how Maryam withdrew from her family to a place to the east. She placed a screen between herself and them. Allah sent to her Ruh al Qudus, Jibril عليه السلام, who appeared to her as a well formed man.
She sought refuge in the Most Merciful from him if he had any fear of Allah. He told her that he was only a messenger of her Lord to grant her a pure boy. She asked how she could have a boy when no man had touched her and she was not unchaste. He answered that it was easy for Allah, that it had been decreed, and that Allah would make this child a sign for people and a mercy from Him.
Jibril blew into the opening of her garment and the breath reached her body by Allah’s permission, and she conceived Isa عليه السلام. Many of the early Muslims said that she carried him for the normal time of pregnancy and gave birth to him like other women.
Some reports suggest shorter periods, but the stronger understanding is that each stage took place in its usual measure, as in the verse about the stages of creation of the embryo, supported by the hadith of Ibn Masud about the forty day periods.
When childbirth pains drove her to the trunk of a palm tree she was overcome by grief and wished that she had died before this and been forgotten. This shows that wishing for death in a moment of severe trial can occur from a righteous person, though it is not something to seek. She feared the accusations of people, as she was known for worship and chastity and came from a prophetic line.
A voice called her from below, either Jibril or Isa عليهما السلام, telling her not to grieve, that her Lord had placed a stream beneath her, and ordering her to shake the trunk of the palm tree so that fresh ripe dates would fall for her.
She was told to eat and drink and let her eye be comforted, and to vow a fast of silence so that if she saw any person she would say that she had vowed not to speak that day. This shows that in their Sharia fasting included silence along with leaving food and drink, whereas in our Sharia it is disliked to vow total silence for the day.
She came to her people carrying Isa. They were shocked and said that she had done something grave and that her father was not a man of evil nor her mother unchaste. They addressed her as “Sister of Harun”.
The sound hadith of al Mughira ibn Shubah shows that they used to name people after their prophets and righteous men, and that Maryam had a brother named Harun who was known for righteousness. It is a mistake to think she was literally the sister of Musa and Harun, since many generations separate them.
Maryam did not argue. She simply gestured towards Isa. They refused and said how they could speak to a baby in the cradle.
Isa spoke, saying that he was the servant of Allah, that Allah had given him the Book and made him a Prophet, made him blessed wherever he may be, enjoined upon him prayer and zakah so long as he lived, made him dutiful to his mother, and not made him arrogant or miserable. He said that peace was upon him the day he was born, the day he would die and the day he would be raised alive.
His first words affirmed his servitude and denied any claim that he is a son of Allah. By mentioning that he had been given a Book and made a Prophet he cleared his mother of the accusation of immorality, since Allah does not grant prophethood to the child of such a sin. He described his mission of worship, charity and good character, especially towards his mother, who has full right over him as he has no father.
The dispute of the followers of the Messiah
When Allah had narrated Isa’s story and his speech in the cradle He said that this is Isa son of Maryam, the word of truth about whom the people dispute. Those who disbelieve divide into different groups. Some Jews said that he was a child of fornication, and they slandered his mother with a great slander. Some Christians said that he is Allah. Others said that he is the son of Allah. Others said that he is the third of three.
The believers say that he is the servant of Allah and His Messenger, the son of His bondwoman, His word which He cast to Maryam and a spirit from Him.
This is the truth. Many Qur’an verses refute the claim that Allah has a child and explain that everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to Him and will come to Him as a servant. A child only comes from two similar beings, and Allah has no equal, no spouse and no counterpart. He is One, Self Sufficient, who does not beget and is not begotten and there is none like Him.
The chapter brings verses from Surah Maryam, al Anam, al Ikhlas, al Kahf, Yunus, and others which declare that the heavens almost burst, the earth is split and the mountains collapse from the claim that the Most Merciful has taken a child, and that this is nothing but a lie invented without knowledge.
It also refutes those philosophers who spoke about the Necessary Existent and claimed that the first intellect proceeded from Him like a child, as well as Arabs who claimed that the angels are daughters of Allah and that Allah married from the jinn and had children with them. The Qur’an exposes all these beliefs as false and shows that the angels are honoured servants who do not precede Allah in speech and only act on His command.
There are hadiths in which Allah says that the son of Adam abuses Him by attributing to Him a child while He is the One, the Self Sufficient who does not beget and is not begotten. Another hadith mentions that no one is more patient with hurt than Allah, as people ascribe a child to Him while He still grants them safety and provision. Yet Allah gives the wrongdoer time and then seizes him with a painful seizure.
The raising of Isa to the heaven and the false claim of crucifixion
Allah tells that He taught Isa the Book, wisdom, the Tawrah and the Injil and sent him as a Messenger to Bani Israil with clear signs. By Allah’s permission he shaped from clay something like a bird, breathed into it and it became a living bird.
He healed those born blind and lepers and raised the dead by Allah’s permission. He informed people of what they ate and stored in their houses. He confirmed the Tawrah that was before him and made lawful for them some of what had been forbidden. He called them to worship Allah alone as their Lord and his Lord and to follow the straight path.
When Isa sensed disbelief from them he said “Who are my helpers to Allah.” The disciples answered that they were the helpers of Allah, that they believed in Allah and asked to be written among the witnesses.
At the same time the leaders of Bani Israil plotted against him and went to their king seeking his death and crucifixion. Allah saved Isa from them, raised him to Himself and purified him from those who disbelieved.
He placed Isa’s likeness upon another man so that they seized that man and crucified him while thinking that he was Isa. In this both Jews and Christians went astray, the Jews thinking they had killed and crucified him, and many Christians building their belief on that supposed crucifixion. Allah says that they did not kill him or crucify him, but it was made to appear to them. They plotted and Allah plotted, and Allah is the best of plotters.
Allah promised Isa that He would make those who truly follow him above those who disbelieve until the Day of Rising. The closer a group is to the true belief about Isa, the more Allah makes them dominant over those further away.
The Muslims have the most correct belief about him, so in general they are given victory over others. The Christians, despite their excess, are still closer about him than the Jews who deny him and slander his mother, so during the period before Islam the Christians were usually dominant over the Jews.
The origin and upbringing of Isa and the high ground
Reports from the early imams state that Isa was born in Bayt Lahm near Bayt al Maqdis. A report from Wahb ibn Munabbih that he was born in Egypt and that Maryam travelled there with Yusuf the carpenter is not sound, and the hadith about his birth shows that Bayt Lahm is the correct place.
Allah says that He made the son of Maryam and his mother a sign and gave them refuge on a high ground with a stable dwelling and running water. The early generations differed about the exact place meant by this description. It is land that is raised, with a level top for habitation and with springs of water flowing across it.
Many understood it to mean the place near Bayt al Maqdis where Maryam was with Isa and where there was a palm tree and a stream, linked to the verse “Your Lord has placed a stream beneath you.” Reports from Ibn Abbas mention that this stream is like the rivers of Damascus, perhaps in its description, not necessarily in its location.
Clarifying the descent of the four scriptures and their times
Earlier in the Tafsir of the verse “The month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was sent down” it is mentioned that the four major written scriptures were revealed in this month.
Among those narrations is one that the Injil was sent down to Isa son of Maryam عليه السلام in Ramadan. The point here is to link his message and his scripture to the general pattern of revelation in this blessed month.
A brief selection from the reports of Isa عليه السلام
Allah will say to Isa on the Day of Rising to remember His favour upon him and upon his mother. He supported Isa with the Holy Spirit so that he spoke to people in the cradle and in maturity. He taught him the Book, wisdom, the Tawrah and the Injil.
By Allah’s permission Isa shaped from clay something like a bird and breathed into it so that it became a living bird.
He healed the one born blind and the leper and brought out the dead from their graves by Allah’s permission. Allah restrained Bani Israil from harming him when he came with clear signs and they accused him of sorcery. Allah inspired the disciples to believe in Him and His Messenger and they responded that they believed and that they were Muslims.
These miracles were suited to their time, when people of medicine and natural knowledge were respected. Just as Musa عليه السلام was sent with signs that defeated sorcery in a time of skilled sorcerers, and Muhammad ﷺ was sent with the Qur’an in a time of strong language and eloquence, Isa was given miracles in matters that no doctor can do, such as healing those born blind, curing incurable illness and raising the dead. This shows clearly that his miracles come only from Allah.
The good news given by Isa عليه السلام of Muhammad ﷺ
Surah as Saff tells that Isa son of Maryam said to Bani Israil that he was the Messenger of Allah to them, confirming what came before him of the Tawrah and giving good news of a Messenger to come after him whose name is Ahmad. When that Messenger came to them with clear signs many of them said that this was clear magic.
Allah describes such people as the most unjust, since they invent a lie about Allah while they are being called to Islam. He tells that these people want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will complete His light even if the disbelievers dislike it.
Allah then says that He is the One who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth so that it will appear over all religions, even if the polytheists dislike it. He calls the believers to a trade that will save them from painful punishment, that they believe in Allah and His Messenger and strive in His path with their wealth and selves.
He promises that He will forgive their sins, admit them to Gardens beneath which rivers flow and good dwellings in Gardens of lasting stay, and will also give them another favour which they love, help from Allah and a near victory. He commands that good news be given to the believers.
Then Allah tells the believers to be helpers of Allah like the disciples were. When Isa said “Who are my helpers to Allah” the disciples said that they were the helpers of Allah. A group from Bani Israil believed and a group disbelieved.
Allah supported those who believed against their enemy so that they became dominant. The chapter explains that everyone who follows Isa in truth, and especially those who follow the final Prophet whom he foretold, are included in this support.
Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet
Allah describes those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet whom they find written with them in the Tawrah and the Injil. This Prophet commands what is recognised as good and forbids what is wrong.
He makes lawful for them what is pure and good and forbids for them what is filthy. He removes from them their heavy burdens and the chains that were upon them. Those who believe in him, honour him, help him and follow the light that has been sent down with him are the truly successful.
The Prophet ﷺ explained his mention in earlier scriptures. In a hadith he said that he is the supplication of his father Ibrahim, the glad tidings of Isa and that his mother saw, when she was pregnant with him, a light that came from her and lit up the palaces of Busra in Sham.
This report is narrated by Ibn Ishaq in his Sirah, by at Tabari in his Tafsir and by al Hakim, with a good chain. Al Hakim and adh Dhahabi declared it sound, and Salim al Hilali and Shaykh al Albani graded it Hasan in as Silsilah as Sahihah.
A similar meaning is narrated from al Irbad ibn Sariyah رضي الله عنه and from Abu Umamah رضي الله عنه. Ahmad, Ibn Saad, at Tabarani and Ibn Hibban and others collected these reports.
Some chains are weak by themselves but they support one another, so the meaning is accepted, that Muhammad ﷺ was the Prophet sought by Ibrahim عليه السلام in his supplication when building the Kaabah and that Isa عليه السلام gave glad tidings of his coming by name.
The table spread
Surah al Ma idah relates that the disciples said “Isa son of Maryam, can your Lord send down to us a table from the heaven.” Isa told them to fear Allah if they were believers. They replied that they wished to eat from it, that their hearts would be at rest, that they would know that he had told them the truth and that they would be among its witnesses.
Isa then supplicated saying “O Allah our Lord, send down to us a table from the heaven that will be a festival for the first of us and the last of us and a sign from You, and provide for us, for You are the best of providers.”
Allah answered that He would send it down to them, but warned that whoever disbelieved afterwards would be punished with a punishment unlike that of any other of the creation. In the Tafsir literature there are detailed narrations from Ibn Abbas and others about how the table descended and how some people behaved, but the main point in this chapter is that this was a great sign and a test for them, and that disbelief after such a clear sign deserves an especially severe punishment.
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The story of Isa son of Maryam
The story of Isa son of Maryam, the servant of Allah and His messenger and the son of His female servant, may the best prayers from Allah be upon him.
Allah the Exalted said in Surah Al Imran, and the beginning of this surah which is eighty three verses was sent down as a refutation of the Christians, upon them are the curses of Allah, those who claimed that Allah has a child. Exalted is Allah above what they say, a very great exaltation.
A delegation from Najran among them came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They began to mention to him the falsehood they were upon of saying that there are three in one in the hypostases, and they claimed that Allah is the third of three, meaning the sacred essence and Isa and Maryam, according to their differing groups.
So Allah the Mighty and Majestic sent down the beginning of this surah. He made clear in it that Isa is a servant from the servants of Allah. He created him and formed him in the womb just as He formed others from the creation, and that He created him without a father just as He created Adam without a father and without a mother.
He said to him “Be” and he was, glory be to Him and exalted is He. He also explained the beginning of the birth of his mother Maryam and how her story was, and how she carried her child Isa عليه السلام.
This is also set out in detail in Surah Maryam, as we will speak about all of that with the help of Allah, His good success and His guidance. (The well known belief among them now is that the hypostases are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This does not go against the fact that they took the Messiah and his mother as two gods apart from Allah. We seek refuge with Allah from their misguidance and disbelief.)(See: al Milal wa an Nihal 2/244.)
Allah, and He is the most truthful of those who speak, said:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَى آدَمَ وَنُوحًا وَآلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَآلَ عِمْرَانَ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ ذُرِّيَّةً بَعْضُهَا مِنْ بَعْضٍ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ إِذْ قَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ عِمْرَانَ رَبِّ إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِي بَطْنِي مُحَرَّرًا فَتَقَبَّلْ مِنِّي إِنَّكَ أَنتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ فَلَمَّا وَضَعَتْهَا قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَضَعْتُهَا أُنثَى وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا وَضَعَتْ وَلَيْسَ الذَّكَرُ كَالْأُنثَى وَإِنِّي سَمَّيْتُهَا مَرْيَمَ وَإِنِّي أُعِيذُهَا بِكَ وَذُرِّيَّتَهَا مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍ وَأَنبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنًا وَكَفَّلَهَا زَكَرِيَّا كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا الْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقًا قَالَ يَا مَرْيَمُ أَنَّى لَكِ هَذَا قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
“Indeed Allah chose Adam and Nuh and the family of Ibrahim and the family of Imran over all the universe. They are descendants, some of them from others, and Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. When the wife of Imran said, “My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb, devoted to Your service, so accept this from me.
Truly You are the All Hearing, the All Knowing.” Then when she gave birth to her, she said, “My Lord, I have given birth to a female,” and Allah knew best what she had given birth to, “and the male is not like the female.
I have named her Maryam, and I seek refuge for her and for her offspring in You from the accursed Shaytan.”
So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance and made her grow in a good way, and He placed her in the care of Zakariyya. Every time Zakariyya entered upon her in the prayer place, he found with her provision. He said, “Maryam, how is this for you?” She said, “It is from Allah. Truly Allah provides for whom He wills without measure.”” (Al Imran 33–37)
Allah the Exalted mentions that He chose Adam عليه السلام, and the chosen ones from his descendants who followed His law and kept to His obedience.
Then He made it more specific and said, “the family of Ibrahim”, so the descendants of Ismail and the descendants of Ishaq enter into that. Then He mentioned the excellence of this pure and good house, the family of Imran. What is meant by this Imran is the father of Maryam عليها السلام.
There is no disagreement that she is from the descendants of Dawud عليه السلام. Her father Imran was the one who led the prayer of Bani Israil in his time. Her mother was one of the women devoted to worship. Zakariyya, the prophet of that time, was the husband of her sister, in the view of the majority, or her maternal aunt according to another view.
The birth of Maryam عليها السلام
Allah the Exalted says: “Then when she gave birth to her, she said, ‘My Lord, I have given birth to a female, and Allah knew best what she had given birth to, and the male is not like the female’.”
It is also recited with the verb pronounced with a dammah on the letter ta, “and Allah knows best what she has given birth to.” (This is the reading of Ibn Amir ad Dimashqi, Shuabah from Asim and Yaqub al Basri. See: an Nashr 2/239.)
“And the male is not like the female” means in serving Bayt al Maqdis, because the people at that time used to vow their children to be servants of Bayt al Maqdis.
And in the hadith of al Hasan from Samurah, raised to the Prophet ﷺ: “Every child is held in pledge by his aqiqah. It is slaughtered for him on the seventh day, and he is named, and his head is shaved.” Imam Ahmad and the compilers of the Sunan narrated this, and at Tirmidhi declared it authentic. (Its wording is: “Every boy is held in pledge by his aqiqah. It is slaughtered for him on the seventh day, he is named and his head is shaved.” Ahmad 1/345, 295, 301, 320; Ibn Abi Shaybah in al Musannaf 11/562/11985; Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad 4/418/2544; at Tabarani in al Kabir 12/167/12933; al Bazzar in his Musnad 3/108–Kashf 2358; al Hakim 2/591; al Bayhaqi 10/186; Ibn Asakir in his Tarikh 18/93. This chain is weak because of Ali ibn Zayd ibn Judan, who is weak. The hadith has other routes and supporting narrations which al Albani gathered, graded and discussed in detail in as Silsilah as Sahihah 6/2984.)
Her saying, “And I seek refuge for her and her offspring in You from the accursed Shaytan,” was answered for her, just as her vow was accepted.
Imam Ahmad narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said: “There is no child that is born but that Shaytan touches him, except Maryam and her son.”
Ahmad also narrated from him, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: “Every newborn of the children of Adam is touched by Shaytan with his finger, except Maryam daughter of Imran and her son Isa.” (Musnad Ahmad 2/288, and its chain is sound.)
Ahmad narrated again that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Every human being whom his mother delivers, Shaytan pokes him in his two sides, except Maryam daughter of Imran and her son Isa. Have you not seen how the baby cries when he falls, how he screams?” They said, “Yes, Messenger of Allah.” He said, “That is when Shaytan pokes him in his sides.” (Musnad Ahmad 2/368, and its chain is authentic according to the conditions of Muslim.)
Ahmad also narrated from him, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: “Every child of Adam, Shaytan stabs him in his side when he is born, except Isa son of Maryam. He went to stab but he stabbed the veil instead.” (Musnad Ahmad 2/523, with a chain according to the conditions of both shaykhs of hadith.)
Maryam in the care of Zakariyya عليه السلام
Allah the Exalted says: “So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance and caused her to grow in a good way, and He placed her in the care of Zakariyya.”
Many of the commentators mention that when her mother had given birth to her, she wrapped her in her cloth and went out with her to the masjid. She handed her over to the devoted worshippers who were staying there.
She was the daughter of their imam and the one who led their prayer, so they disputed about her. It appears that she only gave her to them after she had been suckled and had been cared for in the time when a child needs that.
Then when she handed her over to them, they disputed as to which of them would be her guardian. Zakariyya, who was their prophet at that time, wanted to take her alone because his wife was her sister or her maternal aunt, according to the two sayings.
They disputed with him about that and asked that they should draw lots together. The decree helped him and his lot came out over theirs.
This was because one whose wife is in the place of the mother has more right to her. Allah the Exalted says: “And Allah placed her in the care of Zakariyya,” meaning because he overcame them in the drawing of lots, as He says: “That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you. You were not with them when they cast their pens, to see which of them should be the guardian of Maryam, and you were not with them when they disputed.” (Al Imran 44)
They said that each one of them threw his pen, which he was known by, then they collected them and put them in a place, and they told a boy who had not reached the age of accountability to take out one of them. He took out the pen of Zakariyya عليه السلام. They asked that they draw lots a second time, in another way, by throwing their pens into the river.
The one whose pen went against the flow of the water would be the one who wins. They did that and the pen of Zakariyya went against the flow of the water, while their pens went with the water.
Then they asked that they draw lots a third time, by throwing their pens again into the river. The one whose pen went with the water, while the remaining pens turned around and went up against the water, would be the winner.
They did that, and the pen of Zakariyya was the one that went with the water, and their pens turned upwards against it, so he overcame them. He became her guardian, and he was the most deserving of that in the law and in the decree, for many reasons.
Allah the Exalted said: “Every time Zakariyya entered upon her in the prayer place he found with her provision. He said, ‘Maryam, how is this for you?’ She said, ‘It is from Allah. Truly Allah provides for whom He wills without measure.’”
The commentators said that Zakariyya made for her a noble place in the masjid that no one else entered. She worshipped Allah there and did what she had to do of looking after the masjid when its people came, and she stayed in worship during the nights and the days. She became a byword for worship among Bani Israil and became famous for the noble states and praiseworthy qualities that appeared from her.
The prophet of Allah, Zakariyya, whenever he entered upon her in her place of worship, would find with her strange provision, not in its normal season. He would find fruits of the summer in the winter, and fruits of the winter in the summer.
He would ask her, “How is this for you?” and she would say, “It is from Allah, Allah has provided it for me. Truly Allah provides for whom He wills without measure.”
At that time and in that place, Zakariyya hoped to have a child from himself, even though he was old and had reached a great age. He said:
رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِنْ لَدُنْكَ ذُرِّيَّةً طَيِّبَةً إِنَّكَ سَمِيعُ الدُّعَاءِ
“My Lord, give me from Yourself good offspring. Truly You are the Hearer of supplication.” (Al Imran 38)
Some of them said that he said, “O You who provides Maryam with fruits outside their usual season, give me a child even though it is outside the usual time.” So his story and his case became as we have already set out in his story.
Allah’s selection of Maryam عليها السلام
Allah the Exalted said:
وَإِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ وَاصْطَفَاكِ عَلَى نِسَاءِ الْعَالَمِينَ يَا مَرْيَمُ اقْنُتِي لِرَبِّكِ وَاسْجُدِي وَارْكَعِي مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَنْبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا كُنْتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يُلْقُونَ أَقْلَامَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ يَكْفُلُ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا كُنْتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يَخْتَصِمُونَ إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ وَيُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا وَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ قَالَتْ رَبِّ أَنَّى يَكُونُ لِي وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ قَالَ كَذَلِكِ اللَّهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ إِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ وَيُعَلِّمُهُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ وَرَسُولًا إِلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنِّي قَدْ جِئْتُكُمْ بِآيَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ أَنِّي أَخْلُقُ لَكُمْ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ فَأَنْفُخُ فِيهِ فَيَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَأُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ وَالْأَبْرَصَ وَأُحْيِي الْمَوْتَى بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَأُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا تَأْكُلُونَ وَمَا تَدَّخِرُونَ فِي بُيُوتِكُمْ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَةً لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ وَمُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَلِأُحِلَّ لَكُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي حُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَجِئْتُكُمْ بِآيَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ هَذَا صِرَاطٌ مُسْتَقِيمٌ
“And when the angels said, ‘Maryam, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of all the universe. Maryam, be devoutly obedient to your Lord, prostrate and bow with those who bow.’ That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you. You were not with them when they cast their pens, to see which of them should be the guardian of Maryam, and you were not with them when they disputed.
When the angels said, ‘Maryam, indeed Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him whose name is the Messiah Isa son of Maryam, honoured in this life and in the next, and one of those brought near, and he will speak to people in the cradle and in maturity and he will be among the righteous.’
She said, ‘My Lord, how can I have a child when no man has ever touched me?’ He said, ‘So it will be. Allah creates what He wills.
When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, “Be” and it is. And He will teach him the Book and wisdom and the Tawrah and the Injil, and send him as a messenger to Bani Israil, saying, “I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I make for you out of clay the shape of a bird, then I blow into it and it becomes a bird by Allah’s permission.
I heal the one born blind and the leper, and I bring the dead to life by Allah’s permission, and I tell you what you eat and what you store up in your houses. In that is a sign for you if you are believers.
And as one who confirms that which came before me of the Tawrah, and to make lawful for you some of what was made unlawful for you, and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so be mindful of Allah and obey me. Truly Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.”’ (Al Imran 42–51)
Allah the Exalted mentions that the angels gave Maryam the good tidings that Allah had chosen her from among all the women of the universe of her time, by choosing her so that a child would be created from her without a father. They also gave her glad tidings that he would be a noble prophet.
“And he will speak to people in the cradle” means in his childhood, calling them to worship Allah alone with no partner, and likewise “and in maturity”, which shows that he would live to reach maturity and call to Allah in that stage.
She was ordered to do much worship, obedience, prostration and bowing, so that she would be fit for this honour and would stand up for the duty of thanking for this blessing.
It is said that she used to stand in prayer until her feet cracked. May Allah be pleased with her, have mercy on her and have mercy on her mother and her father.
So the words of the angels, “Maryam, indeed Allah has chosen you” mean He selected you and chose you. “And purified you” means from blameworthy character, and He gave you beautiful attributes. “And chosen you above the women of the universe” may mean the people of her time, like the saying addressed to Musa: “I have chosen you above the people,” and like His saying about Bani Israil: “We chose them, with knowledge, above the universe.”
It is known that Ibrahim عليه السلام is better than Musa, and that Muhammad ﷺ is better than both of them. Likewise this ummah is better than all the nations before it and more in number, stronger in knowledge and purer in actions than Bani Israil and others.
It is also possible that His saying, “and chosen you above the women of the universe,” is to be left in its general sense. Then she would be the best of the women of this universe, those before and those after.
This would be because if she was a prophetess, according to the saying of those who assert prophethood for her, and also for Sarah the mother of Ishaq and the mother of Musa, using as proof the speech of the angels and revelation to the mother of Musa as Ibn Hazm and others claim, then on this view it would not be impossible that Maryam is better than Sarah and the mother of Musa, because of the general wording, “and chosen you above the women of the universe”, as nothing conflicts with it. Allah knows best.
However, on the saying of the majority, as Abu al Hasan al Ashari and others from Ahl as Sunnah wal Jamaah transmitted, that prophethood is specific to men and that there is no prophet among women, then the highest rank of Maryam is that which Allah mentioned: “The Messiah, son of Maryam, is only a messenger. Messengers have passed away before him, and his mother was a siddiqah.” (Al Maidah 75).
According to this, there is no problem in saying that she is the best of the siddiqah women, those known in the ummah before her and after her. Allah knows best.
Imam Ahmad also narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The best women who ride camels are the righteous women of Quraysh.
They are the most tender to their child in his childhood and the best guardians of a husband with what he owns.” Abu Hurayrah said, “Maryam never rode a camel at all.” (Muslim narrated it in his Sahih. Al Musnad of Ahmad 2/269 and 3/275 with a sound chain; Abu Ya‘la 3/395/1169; al Hakim 3/154. The hadith is authentic as al Hakim, adh Dhahabi and al Albani graded. See as Silsilah as Sahihah 2/424.)
Abu Ya‘la al Musili narrated from Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ traced four lines on the ground and said, “Do you know what this is?”
They said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.”
He said, “The best women of the people of the Garden are Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, Fatimah bint Muhammad, Maryam bint Imran and Asiyah bint Muzahim the wife of Pharaoh.” (Musnad Abu Ya‘la 5/2722 with a sound chain.)
An Nasa’i narrated from Aishah that she said to Fatimah, “Did you notice when you bent over the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and you cried then you laughed?” She said, “He told me that he would die from this illness, so I cried.
Then I bent over him again and he told me that I would be the quickest of his family to join him and that I am the leader of the women of the people of the Garden, except for Maryam bint Imran, so I laughed.”
The basis of this hadith is in the Sahih. This chain is according to the conditions of Muslim and it shows that these two are the best of the four mentioned. (Hasan. An Nasa’i in al Kubra 5/95/8366; Ibn Abi Shaybah in al Musannaf 12/12320; at Tabarani in al Kabir 22/1034; Ibn Hibban 15/6952 with good chains. Its basis is in al Bukhari 3623 and Muslim 2450.)
Likewise is the hadith which Imam Ahmad narrated from Abu Sa‘id that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Fatimah is the leader of the women of the people of the Garden, except for Maryam bint Imran.” (Musnad Ahmad 3/80; Fada’il as Sahabah 2/757/1331; also Abdullah ibn Ahmad in Zawa’id al Musnad 3/80; Ahmad 3/62, 63; at Tirmidhi 3771; Abu Ya‘la 2/395/1169; al Hakim 3/154; all through different routes from Abdur Rahman ibn Abi Nu‘m. The hadith is authentic as al Hakim, adh Dhahabi and Shaykh al Albani graded.)
This shows that Maryam and Fatimah are the best of these four women. It may be that the phrase “except Maryam” means that Maryam is better than Fatimah, or it may be that this exception is used in a different way and that they are equal in virtue.
There is another hadith, if its wording is sound, that points clearly to the first understanding. It is the hadith that Ibn Abbas narrated, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The leader of the women of the people of the Garden is Maryam bint Imran, then Fatimah, then Khadijah, then Asiyah bint Muzahim the wife of Pharaoh.”
If this wording is preserved, with “then” which shows order, it clarifies one of the two possible meanings that appeared in the previous narrations and is then placed ahead of those reports which only used “and” which does not show order or deny it. Allah knows best. (This wording is fabricated. It was narrated by az Zubayr ibn Bakkar in an Nasab as in al Isti‘ab 4/275; at Tabarani in al Kabir 2/7/23; Ibn Asakir in his Tarikh, through Muhammad ibn al Hasan ibn Ziyalah who was declared a liar. See al Majma 9/226; Fath al Bari 7/136.)
This hadith was narrated by Abu Hatim ar Razi from Ibn Abbas, raised to the Prophet, with the names joined by “and” not “then”, and so it differs in chain and wording. Allah knows best. (Sahih. Abu Dawud as in Tuhfat al Ashraf 5/200; at Tabarani in al Kabir 11/328/12179, from ad Darawardi. Shaykh al Albani said in as Silsilah as Sahihah 3/410/1424: this chain is authentic according to the conditions of Muslim. The hadith has other supporting reports there.)
As for the hadith which Ibn Marduyah narrated from Muawiyah ibn Qurrah, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Many men have reached perfection. From women, none reached perfection except three: Maryam bint Imran, Asiyah the wife of Pharaoh and Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, and the virtue of Aishah over women is like the virtue of tharid over the rest of food.”
And the hadith which the group except Abu Dawud narrated from Abu Musa al Ashari that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Many men have reached perfection, and none of the women reached perfection except Asiyah the wife of Pharaoh and Maryam bint Imran, and the virtue of Aishah over the women is like the virtue of tharid over the rest of food.”
This hadith is authentic, as you see. The two shaykhs of hadith agreed upon it. Its wording appears to restrict perfection amongst women to Maryam and Asiyah. It may be that this refers to the women of their times only, because each of them looked after a prophet in his childhood.
Asiyah took care of Musa الكليم عليه السلام and Maryam took care of her own son who is a servant of Allah and His messenger. This does not deny the perfection of other women in this ummah like Khadijah and Fatimah.
Khadijah served the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for fifteen years before the message and more than ten years after it. She was a helper of truth for him with herself and her wealth. May Allah be pleased with her and be pleased with her.
As for Fatimah daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, she was given extra virtue above her sisters because she was afflicted with the death of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and her sisters died in his lifetime.
As for Aishah, she was the most beloved of the wives of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to him, and he did not marry a virgin apart from her. There is no woman in this ummah and in other nations known to be more knowledgeable or more understanding than her.
Allah defended her honour when the people of ifk said about her what they said, and He sent down her innocence from above the seven heavens. She lived after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for nearly fifty years, passing on from him the Qur’an and the Sunnah, giving legal rulings to the Muslims and making peace between those who differed.
She is the most noble of the Mothers of the Believers, even more than Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, who was the mother of his daughters and sons, according to a group of early and later scholars. The safest position is to stop and not give preference between the two.
Their saying that the virtue of Aishah over the women is like the virtue of tharid over other food may be general for those named and those not named, or it may be general for those besides those named. Allah knows best.
The aim here is to mention what relates to Maryam bint Imran عليها السلام. Allah purified her and chose her above the women of the universe.
It is possible that her preference over women is absolute, as was already mentioned. It has been narrated that she will be among the wives of the Prophet ﷺ in the Garden, together with Asiyah bint Muzahim.
We mentioned in our Tafsir that some of the early Muslims said this, and they supported it with His saying about the wives of the Prophet ﷺ: “Devout women, previously married and virgins.” They said that the previously married woman is Asiyah and one of the virgins is Maryam bint Imran. We mentioned this at the end of Surah at Tahrim. Allah knows best. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir 8/215.)
The birth of the servant and messenger Isa son of Maryam the virgin chaste woman
Allah the Exalted says:
وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَرْيَمَ إِذِ انْتَبَذَتْ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا مَكَانًا شَرْقِيًّا فَاتَّخَذَتْ مِنْ دُونِهِمْ حِجَابًا فَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهَا رُوحَنَا فَتَمَثَّلَ لَهَا بَشَرًا سَوِيًّا قَالَتْ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِالرَّحْمَنِ مِنْكَ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَقِيًّا قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَامًا زَكِيًّا قَالَتْ أَنَّى يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا قَالَ كَذَلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ وَلِنَجْعَلَهُ آيَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَرَحْمَةً مِنَّا وَكَانَ أَمْرًا مَقْضِيًّا فَحَمَلَتْهُ فَانْتَبَذَتْ بِهِ مَكَانًا قَصِيًّا فَأَجَاءَهَا الْمَخَاضُ إِلَى جِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ قَالَتْ يَا لَيْتَنِي مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَذَا وَكُنْتُ نَسْيًا مَنْسِيًّا فَنَادَاهَا مِنْ تَحْتِهَا أَلَّا تَحْزَنِي قَدْ جَعَلَ رَبُّكِ تَحْتَكِ سَرِيًّا وَهُزِّي إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا فَكُلِي وَاشْرَبِي وَقَرِّي عَيْنًا فَإِمَّا تَرَيِنَّ مِنَ الْبَشَرِ أَحَدًا فَقُولِي إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لِلرَّحْمَنِ صَوْمًا فَلَنْ أُكَلِّمَ الْيَوْمَ إِنْسِيًّا فَأَتَتْ بِهِ قَوْمَهَا تَحْمِلُهُ قَالُوا يَا مَرْيَمُ لَقَدْ جِئْتِ شَيْئًا فَرِيًّا يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ امْرَأَ سَوْءٍ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمُّكِ بَغِيًّا فَأَشَارَتْ إِلَيْهِ قَالُوا كَيْفَ نُكَلِّمُ مَنْ كَانَ فِي الْمَهْدِ صَبِيًّا قَالَ إِنِّي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ آتَانِيَ الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلَنِي نَبِيًّا وَجَعَلَنِي مُبَارَكًا أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُ وَأَوْصَانِي بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ مَا دُمْتُ حَيًّا وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَتِي وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْنِي جَبَّارًا شَقِيًّا وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيَّ يَوْمَ وُلِدْتُ وَيَوْمَ أَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ أُبْعَثُ حَيًّا ذَلِكَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ قَوْلَ الْحَقِّ الَّذِي فِيهِ يَمْتَرُونَ مَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ أَنْ يَتَّخِذَ مِنْ وَلَدٍ سُبْحَانَهُ إِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ هَذَا صِرَاطٌ مُسْتَقِيمٌ فَاخْتَلَفَ الْأَحْزَابُ مِنْ بَيْنِهِمْ فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ مَشْهَدِ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
“And mention in the Book Maryam, when she withdrew from her family to a place towards the east, and she placed a screen between herself and them.
Then We sent to her Our spirit, and he appeared to her as a well formed man. She said, ‘I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you have any fear of Allah.’
He said, ‘I am only a messenger of your Lord, to grant to you a pure boy.’ She said, ‘How can I have a boy when no man has touched me and I am not unchaste?’
He said, ‘So it will be. Your Lord says, “It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign for the people and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter already decreed.”’ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a distant place. Then the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree.
She said, ‘If only I had died before this and had been forgotten, completely forgotten.’ Then he called her from below her, ‘Do not grieve. Your Lord has made beneath you a stream, and shake towards yourself the trunk of the palm tree.
It will drop upon you fresh ripe dates, so eat and drink and let your eye be comforted. If you see any human being, say, “I have vowed to the Most Merciful a fast, so today I will not speak to any human.”’
Then she came to her people carrying him. They said, ‘Maryam, you have done a strange thing. Sister of Harun, your father was not a bad man, and your mother was not unchaste.’ So she pointed to him. They said, ‘How can we speak to a baby in the cradle?’
He said, ‘I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet, and made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has commanded me with prayer and zakah as long as I live, and to be dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me arrogant or miserable.
And peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I am raised alive.’
That is Isa son of Maryam, the true word about whom they dispute. It is not for Allah to take a child. Glory be to Him. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it ‘Be’ and it is. And indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him.
This is a straight path. But the factions differed among themselves, so woe to those who disbelieve from the witnessing of a tremendous day.” (Maryam 16–37)
Allah the Exalted mentioned this story after the story of Zakariyya, which is like an introduction and preparation for it, just as He mentioned them together in one passage in Surah Al Imran, and as He said in Surah al Anbiya:
وَزَكَرِيَّا إِذْ نَادَى رَبَّهُ رَبِّ لَا تَذَرْنِي فَرْدًا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْوَارِثِينَ فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ يَحْيَى وَأَصْلَحْنَا لَهُ زَوْجَهُ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا وَكَانُوا لَنَا خَاشِعِينَ وَالَّتِي أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ رُوحِنَا وَجَعَلْنَاهَا وَابْنَهَا آيَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ
“And Zakariyya, when he called upon his Lord, ‘My Lord, do not leave me alone, though You are the best of inheritors.’
So We answered him and gave him Yahya, and We made his wife sound. Truly they used to hasten in good deeds, and call upon Us in hope and fear, and they were humble before Us. And the woman who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her from Our spirit and We made her and her son a sign for the universe.” (Al Anbiya 89–91)
We have already mentioned that when Maryam was born, her mother made a vow that she would be devoted to the service of Bayt al Maqdis. Zakariyya, the prophet of that time and the husband of her sister, took on her care.
He made for her a separate place of worship, which was the noble place in the masjid that no one entered except him. When she reached maturity she strove in worship and there was no one like her at that time in different acts of worship.
States appeared upon her for which Zakariyya عليه السلام envied her. The angels spoke to her directly, giving her the glad tidings that Allah had chosen her, and that He would give her a pure son who would be a noble, pure and honoured prophet, supported with signs.
She was amazed at a child coming about without a father, because she had no husband and she was not from those who marry.
The angels told her that Allah is able to do whatever He wills, and that when He decrees a matter He only says to it “Be” and it is.
She accepted that, submitted herself and surrendered to the command of Allah. She knew that there would be a great test for her in this, because the people would speak against her because of it, since they did not know the reality of the matter and only looked at the apparent state without reflection or understanding.
She only went out from the masjid when she had her monthly period or for a necessary need that could not be avoided, such as drawing water or bringing food. Once, on a day when she had gone out for some of her needs, she withdrew alone towards the east of Bayt al Maqdis. Allah sent to her the trustworthy spirit, Jibril عليه السلام.
He appeared to her in the form of a perfect man. When she saw him she said, “I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you have any fear of Allah.” Abu al Aliah said that she knew that the one who fears Allah has restraint.
This refutes the view of those who claimed that there was a well known immoral man among Bani Israil whose name was Taqi, and that she meant him in her words “if you are taqi”. This is a false position without any proof and is from the weakest of sayings.
He said, “I am only a messenger of your Lord.” He spoke to her, “I am only a messenger of your Lord, not a man, but an angel whom Allah has sent to you, to grant you a pure boy,” that is, a pure son.
She said, “How can I have a boy?” meaning, how can I have a son, when “no man has touched me” meaning I have never been married, “and I am not unchaste,” meaning I am not one of those who commit immorality.
He said, “So it will be. Your Lord says, it is easy for Me.” The angel answered her amazement at a child coming from her in that situation, saying, “So it will be.
Your Lord has promised that He will create from you a son, even though you have no husband and you are not unchaste. That is easy for Him.” This is easy for Him and simple in His sight, for He is able to do whatever He wills.
“And so that We may make him a sign for the people and a mercy from Us,” that is, We will make his creation in that state a proof of Our complete power in the different forms of creation. Allah created Adam from neither male nor female.
He created Hawwa from a man without a woman. He created Isa from a woman without a man. He created the rest of creation from a man and a woman.
“And a mercy from Us,” meaning We show mercy through him to the servants, because he calls them to Allah in his childhood and his maturity, in his youth and his older age, that they worship Allah alone with no partner and declare Him to be above taking a companion, a child, partners, equals, opposites or rivals.
“And it is a matter already decreed,” this may be the completion of the words of Jibril to her, meaning that it is a matter that Allah has already decided, written and fixed.
This is the meaning mentioned by Muhammad ibn Ishaq, and Ibn Jarir chose it and did not mention any other. Allah knows best.
It is also possible that His saying, “and it is a matter already decreed,” is a way of referring to the breathing of Jibril into her. Allah said: “And Maryam bint Imran who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into it from Our spirit.”
Many of the early Muslims mentioned that Jibril blew into the opening of her garment and the breath came down to her private part, and she conceived at once just as a woman conceives from the intercourse of her husband.
Those who said that he blew into her mouth, or that the one who was speaking to her was the spirit that entered her through her mouth, are going against what is understood from the different accounts of this story in its different places in the Qur’an.
These accounts show that the one who was sent to her was an angel from among the angels, namely Jibril عليه السلام, and that he breathed into her and did not face her private part.
Rather he breathed into the opening of her garment and the breath went down to her private part and entered it, as Allah said: “so We breathed into it from Our spirit,” which shows that the breath went into it, not into her mouth as was narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, nor into her chest as was narrated by as Suddi with his chain from some of the companions.
Allah said: “So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a distant place.” When Maryam became pregnant she became very distressed by it and knew that many people would talk about her.
Many of the early Muslims mentioned that when the signs of pregnancy appeared on her, the first person to notice was a worshipper of Bani Israil called Yusuf ibn Yaqub the carpenter, who was her cousin.
He was astonished at that, because he knew her piety, chastity and worship, and yet he saw her pregnant and she had no husband.
He spoke to her one day and said, “Maryam, can there be a crop without seed?”
She said, “Yes. Who created the first crop?” Then he said, “Can there be a tree without water or rain?” She said, “Yes. Who created the first tree?”
Then he said, “Can there be a child without a man?” She said, “Yes.
Allah created Adam without a man or a woman.”
Then he said, “Tell me your story.” She said, “Allah gave me the good tidings: ‘A word from Him whose name is the Messiah Isa son of Maryam, honoured in this life and the next and from those brought near, and he will speak to people in the cradle and in maturity and be one of the righteous.’” (Al Imran 45–46)
It is narrated that the same happened with Zakariyya عليه السلام, that he asked her and she answered him in the same way. Allah knows best.
The apparent meaning is that she carried him for nine months, like other women carry and give birth in their usual times. If it had been different the Qur’an would have mentioned it. Ibn Abbas and Ikrimah said that she carried him for eight months, and from Ibn Abbas also that she hardly conceived him before she gave birth to him.
Some of them said that she carried him for nine hours. They tried to support that view with His saying: “So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a distant place.
Then the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree.” The sounder view is that each event follows in order according to its proper measure, like His saying, “And the earth becomes green,” and His saying, “Then We made the drop into a clinging thing, then We made the clinging thing into a lump of flesh, then We made the lump of flesh into bones, and We clothed the bones with flesh, then We brought it forth as another creation.
She said, “If only I had died before this and been forgotten, completely forgotten.” This shows that it is allowed to wish for death in times of great tribulation.
She knew that the people would accuse her and not believe her, but would rather deny her when she came to them with a child in her arms, while she was among them known for worship, devotion and staying in the masjid, cut off there in retreat and devotion, and she came from a family of prophethood and piety. Because of this she suffered grief to the extent that she wished that she had died before this happened or that she had not been created at all.
Allah said: “Then he called her from below her.” It is also recited, “Then he called her from beneath her.”
There are two views about the hidden subject. One is that it was Jibril عليه السلام. This was related by al Awfi from Ibn Abbas. He said that Isa did not speak until she was in the presence of her people. This was also said by Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, Amr ibn Maymun, ad Dahhak, as Suddi and Qatadah. (At Tabari in Jami al Bayan 16/51–52; Abdul Razzaq in his Tafsir 6/2.)
Mujahid, al Hasan, Ibn Zayd and Sa‘id ibn Jubayr in another narration said that it was her son Isa عليه السلام, and Ibn Jarir chose this. (At Tabari 16/52; Abdul Razzaq 6/2.)
His saying, “Do not grieve. Your Lord has made beneath you a stream,” is said by the majority to mean a flowing river, and this is the correct view. There is a hadith about this narrated by at Tabarani, but it is weak. Ibn Jarir chose this and it is the correct one. Al Hasan, ar Rabi ibn Anas, Ibn Aslam and others said that it means her son. (At Tabarani in al Mu‘jam as Saghir 686 from al Bara ibn Azib, raised, with a weak chain, as Shaykh al Albani and the author of Tafsir al Qur’an al Azim 5/286 said. Abdul Razzaq in his Tafsir 6/2–7; at Tabari 16/53; al Hakim 2/373 from Sufyan ath Thawri and Shuabah, from Abu Ishaq as Sabi‘i, from al Bara, stopped, with a sound chain. It has the ruling of being raised. Al Mu‘jam al Kabir 22/12281.)
The story of Isa son of Maryam, the servant of Allah, His Messenger and the son of His bondwoman
The first view is correct, because Allah says:
وَهُزِّي إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا
Shake the trunk of the palm tree towards you, it will drop upon you fresh ripe dates. (Maryam 19:25)
So He mentioned both food and drink. For this reason He then said:
فَكُلِي وَاشْرَبِي وَقَرِّي عَيْنًا
So eat and drink and be at peace of mind. (Maryam 19:26)
It was said that the trunk of the palm tree was dry. It was also said that it was a fruit bearing palm. Allah knows best. It is possible that it was a palm tree, but at that time it had no fruit on it, because his birth was in the winter and that is not the time of fruit. This can be understood from His words, mentioned as a blessing:
تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا
It will drop upon you fresh ripe dates. (Maryam 19:25)
Amr ibn Maymun said that nothing is better for a woman in childbirth than dates and fresh dates. Then he recited this verse.
His words:
فَإِمَّا تَرَيِنَّ مِنَ الْبَشَرِ أَحَدًا فَقُولِي إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لِلرَّحْمَنِ صَوْمًا فَلَنْ أُكَلِّمَ الْيَوْمَ إِنسِيًّا
So if you see any human being, say, “I have vowed a fast to the Most Merciful, so I will not speak today to any person.” (Maryam 19:26)
This is a completion of the words of the one who called her from below her. He said:
فَكُلِي وَاشْرَبِي وَقَرِّي عَيْنًا
“So eat and drink and be at peace of mind.
فَإِمَّا تَرَيِنَّ مِنَ الْبَشَرِ أَحَدًا فَقُولِي
And if you see any human being, then say”
That is, if you see anyone from among the people, then say to him, by the speech of your state and by gesture:
إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لِلرَّحْمَنِ صَوْمًا
“I have vowed to the Most Merciful a fast,” that is, silence.
Fasting, in their Sharia, included remaining silent and refraining from speaking and eating. This was said by Qatadah, as Sudi and Ibn Aslam. The evidence is His words:
فَلَنْ أُكَلِّمَ الْيَوْمَ إِنسِيًّا
So I will not speak today to any person. (Maryam 19:26)
As for our Sharia, it is disliked for a fasting person to keep silent for the whole day until night.
Allah’s words:
فَأَتَتْ بِهِ قَوْمَهَا تَحْمِلُهُ قَالُوا يَا مَرْيَمُ لَقَدْ جِئْتِ شَيْئًا فَرِيًّا يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ امْرَأَ سَوْءٍ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمُّكِ بَغِيًّا
Then she came to her people carrying him. They said, “Maryam, you have certainly done an outrageous thing. Sister of Harun, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste.” (Maryam 19:27–28)
Many of the early generations, who transmitted reports from the People of the Book, mentioned that when they could no longer find her among them, they went out searching for her. They passed by the place where she was staying and saw lights surrounding her. When they faced her, they found a child with her. So they said to her:
يَا مَرْيَمُ لَقَدْ جِئْتِ شَيْئًا فَرِيًّا
“Maryam, you have certainly done an outrageous thing,”
meaning a grave and terrible action.
There is some doubt about what they said, and their words contradict themselves, because the clear wording of the great Qur’an indicates that she came to them herself carrying him, and then they spoke to her.
Ibn Abbas said that this was after she had become pure from her postpartum bleeding and had emerged after forty days.(that is, she had become pure from her postpartum bleeding and appeared among them after forty days, as mentioned in al Bidayah wa an Nihayah 5/289–290)
The point is that when they saw her bringing the child with her and carrying him, they said:
يَا مَرْيَمُ لَقَدْ جِئْتِ شَيْئًا فَرِيًّا
“Maryam, you have certainly done an outrageous thing,”
and “fariyy” is a terrible, ugly deed in action and in speech.
Then they said to her:
يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ
“Sister of Harun.”
It was said that they likened her to a worshipper among the worshippers of that time who was comparable to her in worship and whose name was Harun. It was also said that they likened her to an immoral man in their time whose name was Harun.
This was said by Sa’id ibn Jubayr. It was also said that they meant Harun the brother of Musa, and likened her to him in worship.
Muhammad ibn Kaab al Qurazi made a mistake when he claimed that she was literally the sister of Musa and Harun in lineage, for between them there are long ages which anyone with the least amount of knowledge can see clearly, and this is enough to refute such a monstrous claim.
It seems he was misled because in the Torah it is mentioned that Maryam, the sister of Musa and Harun, beat the drum on the day when Allah saved Musa and his people and drowned Pharaoh and his chiefs, so he assumed that this Maryam is that Maryam. This is utterly false and contradicts the authentic hadith and the clear wording of the Qur’an, as we have explained at length in the Tafsir.
There is an authentic hadith which shows that she did in fact have a brother whose name was Harun. Nothing in the story of her birth and her mother dedicating her indicates that she had no siblings. Allah knows best.
Imam Ahmad narrated from al Mughira ibn Shubah that he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me to Najran. They said, “Tell us what you recite:
يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ
‘Sister of Harun,’
yet Musa came before Isa by such and such a number of years.” Al Mughira said, “So I went back and mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said, ‘Why did you not tell them that the people used to be named after the Prophets and righteous people who were before them’.”
In another wording: “Why did you not tell them that they used to take the names of their righteous ones and their Prophets.” (this hadith is in the Musnad of Ahmad 4/252, and was also recorded by Muslim 2135, at Tirmidhi 3155, and an Nasai in his Tafsir 335)
The point is that they said:
يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ
“Sister of Harun,”
and the hadith shows that she had a brother by blood whose name was Harun, well known for his religion, righteousness and goodness. That is why they said:
مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ امْرَأَ سَوْءٍ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمُّكِ بَغِيًّا
“Your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste,”
meaning you are not from a household whose way is like this, neither your brother, nor your mother, nor your father. So they accused her of the terrible major sin and hurled at her the greatest calamity.
When the situation became tight for her, speech was blocked, and there was no room to speak, reliance upon the Lord of Majesty became greater, and nothing remained but sincerity and full dependence upon Him. So:
فَأَشَارَتْ إِلَيْهِ
She pointed to him,
meaning she indicated: speak to him and address him, for the answer you are looking for is with him, and the speech you are demanding is with him.
At that point some of those arrogant and wretched ones among them said:
كَيْفَ نُكَلِّمُ مَن كَانَ فِي الْمَهْدِ صَبِيًّا
“How can we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child” (Maryam 19:29)
meaning, how can you refer us for an answer to a small child who does not understand speech, and who is still a baby in the cradle, unable even to distinguish between butter and milk. This is nothing from you but mockery and ridicule of us, belittling and despising us, because instead of returning to us with a clear spoken reply, you direct us to one who is in the cradle as a child.
Then:
قَالَ إِنِّي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ آتَانِيَ الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلَنِي نَبِيًّا وَجَعَلَنِي مُبَارَكًا أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُ وَأَوْصَانِي بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ مَا دُمْتُ حَيًّا وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَتِي وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْنِي جَبَّارًا شَقِيًّا وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيَّ يَوْمَ وُلِدتُّ وَيَوْمَ أَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ أُبْعَثُ حَيًّا
He said: “Indeed I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet. He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I live, and to be dutiful to my mother. He has not made me arrogant or miserable. And peace is on me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I will be raised alive.” (Maryam 19:30–33)
These were the first words uttered by Isa son of Maryam. The first thing he said was:
إِنِّي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ
“Indeed I am the servant of Allah,”
so he confessed servitude for his Lord the Exalted, and that Allah is his Lord. In this he purified the Lord’s majesty from the claim of the wrongdoers who said that he is the son of Allah. Rather he is His servant and His Messenger and the son of His bondwoman.
Then he acquitted his mother of what the ignorant ones had attributed to her, of what they had thrown at her and accused her of on his account, by his words:
آتَانِيَ الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلَنِي نَبِيًّا
“He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet,”
because Allah does not grant prophethood to one who is as they claimed, may Allah curse and disgrace them. Allah says:
وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَى مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَانًا عَظِيمًا
And because of their disbelief and their saying against Maryam a tremendous slander. (an Nisa 4:156)
This is because a group of the Jews at that time claimed that she carried him by way of fornication during her menses. May Allah curse them. Allah acquitted her of that and informed that she was a truthful woman, and made her son a Prophet who was sent, one of the great Messengers of firm resolve.
For this reason he said:
وَجَعَلَنِي مُبَارَكًا أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُ
“He has made me blessed wherever I may be,”
because wherever he was he called people to the worship of Allah alone with no partner, and he purified Allah’s majesty from any defect or fault, such as taking a son or partner. Exalted and sanctified is He.
وَأَوْصَانِي بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ مَا دُمْتُ حَيًّا
“He has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I live,”
and these are the duties of the servants in fulfilling the right of the Most Mighty, the Most Praiseworthy, by prayer, and doing good to creation by zakah. Zakah includes purifying souls from evil traits and purifying wealth by spending on those in need among the different types, feeding guests, spending on wives, slaves and relatives, and all other ways of obedience and nearness to Allah.
Then he said:
وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَتِي وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْنِي جَبَّارًا شَقِيًّا
“And to be dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me arrogant or miserable,”
that is, He has made me dutiful towards my mother, and her right over me is even more emphasised because all my lineage goes back purely to her, as I have no father other than her. Glory be to the One who created the creation and formed it, and gave each being its guidance.
وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْنِي جَبَّارًا شَقِيًّا
“And He has not made me arrogant or miserable,”
meaning I am not harsh or hard, and no word or action comes from me that opposes the command of Allah and His obedience.
وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيَّ يَوْمَ وُلِدتُّ وَيَوْمَ أَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ أُبْعَثُ حَيًّا
“And peace is on me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I will be raised alive,”
and these three points were mentioned earlier in the story of Yahya ibn Zakariyya عليهما السلام.
When Allah had mentioned his story clearly, explained his case, and laid it out and clarified it, He said:
ذَلِكَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ قَوْلَ الْحَقِّ الَّذِي فِيهِ يَمْتَرُونَ مَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ أَنْ يَتَّخِذَ مِنْ وَلَدٍ سُبْحَانَهُ إِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
That is Isa, son of Maryam, the word of truth about which they are in doubt. It is not befitting for Allah to take a son. Glory be to Him. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is. (Maryam 19:34–35)
Just as Allah said, after mentioning his story and what happened to him in Al Imran:
ذَلِكَ نَتْلُوهُ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَى عِنْدَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ خَلَقَهُ مِنْ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُنْ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ فَمَنْ حَاجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ فَقُلْ تَعَالَوْا نَدْعُ أَبْنَاءَنَا وَأَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَنِسَاءَنَا وَنِسَاءَكُمْ وَأَنْفُسَنَا وَأَنْفُسَكُمْ ثُمَّ نَبْتَهِلْ فَنَجْعَلْ لَعْنَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَاذِبِينَ إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ ۖ وَمَا مِنْ إِلَهٍ إِلَّا اللَّهُ ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِالْمُفْسِدِينَ
These are the verses that We recite to you, and the wise reminder. The example of Isa in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him “Be” and he was. The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among those who doubt.
Then whoever disputes with you about him after what has come to you of knowledge, say, “Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then let us make earnest supplication and place the curse of Allah upon the liars.”
Surely this is the true story, and there is no god but Allah, and indeed Allah is the Mighty, the Wise. But if they turn away, then surely Allah is All Knowing of those who spread corruption. (Al Imran 3:58–63)
For this reason, when the delegation of Najran came, and they were sixty riders whose affair went back to fourteen of them, and the leadership of all of them went back to three who were their nobles and chiefs, namely al Aqib, as Sayyid, and Abu Harithah ibn Alqamah, they began to argue about the case of the Messiah.
So Allah revealed the beginning of Al Imran about that, clarified the case of the Messiah, and the beginning of the creation of his mother before him. He commanded His Messenger to challenge them to mutual supplication if they did not respond to him and follow him.
When they saw their eyes and ears, they backed away and refused to enter into that mutual invocation, and instead turned to peace and an agreement.
The one of them who was called al Aqib Abd al Masih said, “O group of Christians, you know that Muhammad is a Prophet sent, and that he has brought you clear judgement concerning your companion. You know that no Prophet ever invoked Allah against a people in this way but that none of their elders remained and none of their young survived.
If you refuse except to stay with your religion and remain on what you are saying about your companion, then conclude a truce with the man and return to your land.” So they asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to write a treaty upon them for payment of jizyah and to send with them a trustworthy man, and he sent with them Abu Ubaydah ibn al Jarrah. This has been explained in Tafsir Al Imran, and we have expanded this story in the Prophet’s biography. (see Tafsir al Quran al Azim 2/66–72, and al Bidayah wa an Nihayah 3/664)
The purpose is that Allah the Exalted clarified the matter of the Messiah and said to His Messenger:
ذَلِكَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ قَوْلَ الْحَقِّ الَّذِي فِيهِ يَمْتَرُونَ
That is Isa, son of Maryam, the word of truth about which they are in doubt,
meaning that he is a created servant from amongst the servants of Allah, created from a woman from amongst His creation. For this reason He said:
مَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ أَنْ يَتَّخِذَ مِنْ وَلَدٍ سُبْحَانَهُ ۚ إِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
It is not befitting for Allah to take a son. Glory be to Him. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is. (Maryam 19:35)
That is, nothing is difficult for Him, nothing weighs Him down or tires Him. Rather He is the All Powerful, the One who does whatever He wills.
إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
His command, when He wills a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be,” and it is. (Yasin 36:82)
His words:
وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ ۚ هَذَا صِرَاطٌ مُسْتَقِيمٌ
Indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path. (Maryam 19:36)
This is a completion of the words of Isa to them in the cradle. He informed them that Allah is his Lord and their Lord, his God and their God, and that this is the straight path.
Allah the Exalted said:
فَاخْتَلَفَ الْأَحْزَابُ مِنْ بَيْنِهِمْ ۖ فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ مَشْهَدِ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
But the factions differed among themselves, so woe to those who disbelieved from the witnessing of a great day. (Maryam 19:37)
That is, the people of that time and those after them differed about him. Some of the Jews said that he was the child of fornication. They remained upon their disbelief and stubbornness. Others went to another extreme of disbelief and said that he is Allah. Others said that he is the son of Allah.
The believers said that he is the servant of Allah and His Messenger, the son of His bondwoman, His word which He cast to Maryam, and a spirit from Him. These are the ones who are saved, rewarded, eternally successful and aided. Whoever opposes them in any of these qualities is among the disbelievers, astray and ignorant. The Most High has threatened them with His words:
فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ مَشْهَدِ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
So woe to those who disbelieved from the witnessing of a great day. (Maryam 19:37)
Al Bukhari narrated from Ubadah ibn as Samit that the Prophet ﷺ said:
He also said, in the chapter explaining that Allah is exalted above having a child and above what the wrongdoers say about Him:
وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَلَدًا لَقَدْ جِئْتُمْ شَيْئًا إِدًّا تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنْشَقُّ الْأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ الْجِبَالُ هَدًّا أَنْ دَعَوْا لِلرَّحْمَنِ وَلَدًا وَمَا يَنْبَغِي لِلرَّحْمَنِ أَنْ يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا إِنْ كُلُّ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ إِلَّا آتِي الرَّحْمَنِ عَبْدًا لَقَدْ أَحْصَاهُمْ وَعَدَّهُمْ عَدًّا وَكُلُّهُمْ آتِيهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَرْدًا
They say, “The Most Merciful has taken a son.” You have indeed brought something monstrous. The heavens are almost torn apart by it, the earth is split asunder, and the mountains collapse in ruin, that they ascribe a son to the Most Merciful. It is not befitting for the Most Merciful to take a son.
There is none in the heavens and the earth but that he comes to the Most Merciful as a servant. He has already enumerated them and counted them fully. Every one of them will come to Him on the Day of Resurrection alone. (Maryam 19:88–95)
So He clarified that it does not befit Him to have a child, because He is the Creator of everything and its Owner, and everything is poor before Him, humble and lowly to Him. All inhabitants of the heavens and the earth are His servants. He is their Lord. There is no god but He, and no Lord besides Him.
He says:
وَجَعَلُوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ الْجِنَّ وَخَلَقَهُمْ وَخَرَقُوا لَهُ بَنِينَ وَبَنَاتٍ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ أَنَّى يَكُونُ لَهُ وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ تَكُنْ لَهُ صَاحِبَةٌ ۖ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ ذَلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ ۖ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ فَاعْبُدُوهُ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَكِيلٌ لَا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ ۖ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ
They ascribe to Allah partners of the jinn, although He created them, and they falsely attribute to Him sons and daughters without knowledge. Glory be to Him and exalted is He above what they describe. The Originator of the heavens and the earth. How could He have a child when He has no spouse, and He created everything, and He is Knowing of all things.
That is Allah, your Lord, there is no god but He, the Creator of all things, so worship Him, and He is Disposer of all things. Vision does not encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision, and He is the Subtle, the All Aware. (al An am 6:100–103)
He clarified that He created everything. How then could He have a child, when a child only comes from two things which are alike, and Allah has no equal, no likeness, no peer. He has no spouse, and so cannot have a child. As He says:
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
Say, “He is Allah, One. Allah, the Self Sufficient. He neither begets nor is born, and there is none like unto Him.” (al Ikhlas 112:1–4)
He affirms that He is One, with no equal in His Essence, His attributes or His actions.
الصَّمَدُ
“The Self Sufficient,”
meaning the Lord whose knowledge, wisdom, mercy and all His attributes are complete.
لَمْ يَلِدْ
“He neither begets,”
meaning no child has come from Him,
وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
“nor is born,”
meaning He did not come forth from anything before Him.
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
“And there is none like unto Him,”
meaning there is no equal, no counterpart, no match. He denied any equal that is lesser, and any equal that is higher, and any equal at the same level.
So it is impossible that He should have a child, since a child only comes from two things that are equal or similar. Exalted is Allah far above that.
He, blessed and exalted, says:
يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَّ ۚ إِنَّمَا الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَكَلِمَتُهُ أَلْقَاهَا إِلَى مَرْيَمَ وَرُوحٌ مِنْهُ ۖ فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ۖ وَلَا تَقُولُوا ثَلَاثَةٌ ۚ انْتَهُوا خَيْرًا لَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا اللَّهُ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۖ سُبْحَانَهُ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ ۘ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ وَكِيلًا لَنْ يَسْتَنْكِفَ الْمَسِيحُ أَنْ يَكُونَ عَبْدًا لِلَّهِ وَلَا الْمَلَائِكَةُ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ ۚ وَمَنْ يَسْتَنْكِفْ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهِ وَيَسْتَكْبِرْ فَسَيَحْشُرُهُمْ إِلَيْهِ جَمِيعًا فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَيُوَفِّيهِمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَيَزِيدُهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ۖ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ اسْتَنْكَفُوا وَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فَيُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا وَلَا يَجِدُونَ لَهُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا
O People of the Book, do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, is only a Messenger of Allah and His word which He cast to Maryam, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His Messengers, and do not say “Three.” Stop, that is better for you.
Allah is only One God, glory be to Him that He should have a child. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and Allah is sufficient as a Disposer of affairs.
The Messiah will never disdain to be a servant of Allah, nor will the angels who are near. Whoever disdains His worship and is arrogant, He will gather them all to Himself.
As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, He will pay them their rewards in full and increase them from His favour. As for those who disdain and are arrogant, He will punish them with a painful punishment, and they will not find for themselves besides Allah any protector or helper. (an Nisa 4:171–173)
Here Allah forbids the People of the Book, and those who resemble them, from excess and exaggeration in religion, which is going beyond the proper limit. The Christians, may Allah’s curse be upon them, went to excess and exaggerated regarding the Messiah until they went beyond the boundary.
The duty upon them was to believe that he is the servant of Allah and His Messenger, the son of His bondwoman, the pure virgin who guarded her chastity. Allah sent the angel Jibril to her and he blew into her from the command of Allah a breath by which she conceived her son Isa عليه السلام.
That which met her from the angel is the spirit attributed to Allah as an honour and dignity. It is one of the created things of Allah, just as He says “the House of Allah”, “the she camel of Allah” and “the servant of Allah”. Likewise “the spirit of Allah” is attributed to Him as honour and dignity. Isa was given that title because he came into being by that spirit without a father. It is also the word by which he was created and brought into existence, as Allah says:
إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَى عِنْدَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ ۚ خَلَقَهُ مِنْ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
The example of Isa in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him “Be,” and he was. (Al Imran 3:59)
He also says:
وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا ۗ سُبْحَانَهُ ۖ بَلْ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ كُلٌّ لَهُ قَانِتُونَ بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
They say, “Allah has taken a child.” Glory be to Him. Rather to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. All are devoutly obedient to Him. The Originator of the heavens and the earth, and when He decrees a matter, He only says to it “Be,” and it is. (al Baqarah 2:116–117)
He also says:
وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ عُزَيْرٌ ابْنُ اللَّهِ ۖ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَى الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ اللَّهِ ۖ ذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُمْ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ ۖ يُضَاهِئُونَ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ ۚ قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ ۚ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ
The Jews say, “Uzayr is the son of Allah,” and the Christians say, “The Messiah is the son of Allah.” That is what they say with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before. May Allah fight them, how are they turned away. (at Tawbah 9:30)
Allah informs that the Jews and Christians, may they both have the curse of Allah, each group claimed an enormity about Allah and asserted that He has a child.
Exalted is Allah above what they say. He informs that they have no proof for what they claim and fabricate, nothing but mere words and imitation of those who preceded them in this misguided statement. Their hearts are alike.
This is because the philosophers, may Allah’s curse be upon them, claimed that the first intellect proceeded from the Necessary Existent whom they call the First Cause and the First Origin.
From that first intellect there proceeded a second intellect, a soul and a sphere, then from that second there proceeded in the same way, until the intellects became ten, the souls nine and the spheres nine, according to false considerations they mentioned and cold choices they put forward. To expand the discussion with them and show their ignorance and lack of sound reasoning has its own place.
Likewise some of the idolaters of the Arabs claimed, in their ignorance, that the angels are daughters of Allah and that He married from the noble jinn women and from that the angels were born. Exalted is Allah above what they say and far removed from the partners they ascribe to Him. He says:
وَجَعَلُوا الْمَلَائِكَةَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ عِبَادُ الرَّحْمَنِ إِنَاثًا ۚ أَشَهِدُوا خَلْقَهُمْ ۚ سَتُكْتَبُ شَهَادَتُهُمْ وَيُسْأَلُونَ
They made the angels, who are servants of the Most Merciful, females. Did they witness their creation. Their testimony will be written down and they will be questioned. (az Zukhruf 43:19)
He also says:
فَاسْتَفْتِهِمْ أَلِرَبِّكَ الْبَنَاتُ وَلَهُمُ الْبَنُونَ أَمْ خَلَقْنَا الْمَلَائِكَةَ إِنَاثًا وَهُمْ شَاهِدُونَ أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ مِنْ إِفْكِهِمْ لَيَقُولُونَ وَلَدَ اللَّهُ ۗ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ أَصْطَفَى الْبَنَاتِ عَلَى الْبَنِينَ مَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ أَمْ لَكُمْ سُلْطَانٌ مُبِينٌ فَأْتُوا بِكِتَابِكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ وَجَعَلُوا بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ الْجِنَّةِ نَسَبًا ۚ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمَتِ الْجِنَّةُ إِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ إِلَّا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ
So ask them, does your Lord have daughters while they have sons. Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses. No indeed, it is from their lying that they say, “Allah has begotten,” and they are truly liars.
Has He chosen daughters instead of sons. What is wrong with you, how do you judge. Will you not remember. Or do you have clear authority. Then bring your book if you are truthful. They have set up a kinship between Him and the jinn, but the jinn know very well that they will be brought before Him. Glory be to Allah above what they describe, except for the sincere servants of Allah. (as Saffat 37:149–160)
He says:
وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَلَدًا سُبْحَانَهُ ۚ بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُكْرَمُونَ لَا يَسْبِقُونَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ وَهُمْ بِأَمْرِهِ يَعْمَلُونَ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يَشْفَعُونَ إِلَّا لِمَنْ ارْتَضَى ۖ وَهُمْ مِنْ خَشْيَتِهِ مُشْفِقُونَ وَمَنْ يَقُلْ مِنْهُمْ إِنِّي إِلَهٌ مِنْ دُونِهِ فَذَلِكَ نَجْزِيهِ جَهَنَّمَ ۚ كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الظَّالِمِينَ
They say, “The Most Merciful has taken a son.” Glory be to Him, rather they are honoured servants. They do not precede Him in speech and they act only by His command.
He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they do not intercede except for one with whom He is pleased, and they are fearful out of awe of Him. Whoever among them says, “Indeed I am a god besides Him,” that one We will repay with Hell. Thus do We repay the wrongdoers. (al Anbiya 21:26–29)
He says, at the beginning of Surat al Kahf, which is Makkan:
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ عِوَجًا قَيِّمًا لِيُنْذِرَ بَأْسًا شَدِيدًا مِنْ لَدُنْهُ وَيُبَشِّرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا مَاكِثِينَ فِيهِ أَبَدًا وَيُنْذِرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ وَلَا لِآبَائِهِمْ ۚ كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ ۚ إِنْ يَقُولُونَ إِلَّا كَذِبًا
Praise be to Allah who has sent down the Book to His servant and has not placed in it any crookedness. Straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him, and to give good news to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward, in which they will remain for ever, and to warn those who say “Allah has taken a child.”
They have no knowledge of it, nor did their forefathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths, they say nothing but a lie. (al Kahf 18:1–5)
He says:
قَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا ۗ سُبْحَانَهُ ۖ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ ۖ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ إِنْ عِنْدَكُمْ مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ بِهَذَا ۚ أَتَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ قُلْ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ لَا يُفْلِحُونَ مَتَاعٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُهُمْ ثُمَّ نُذِيقُهُمُ الْعَذَابَ الشَّدِيدَ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ
They say, “Allah has taken a child.” Glory be to Him. He is the Self Sufficient. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. You have no proof for this. Do you say about Allah what you do not know.
Say, “Indeed those who invent a lie against Allah will not succeed, a small enjoyment in this world, then to Us is their return and We will make them taste the severe punishment because they used to disbelieve.” (Yunus 10:68–70)
These noble Makkan verses include a refutation of all groups of disbelievers, among philosophers, the idolaters of the Arabs, the Jews and the Christians, who claimed and asserted without any knowledge that Allah has a child. Exalted and high is Allah above what the wrongdoers and transgressors say.
Because the Christians, may the continuous curse of Allah be upon them until the Day of Rising, are among the most famous of those who made this claim, they are frequently mentioned in the Qur’an in order to refute them and show their contradictions, their little knowledge and their great ignorance.
Their statements in disbelief are varied, because falsehood is many branched, full of variety and contradiction, whereas truth does not differ or sway. Allah says:
وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِنْدِ غَيْرِ اللَّهِ لَوَجَدُوا فِيهِ اخْتِلَافًا كَثِيرًا
If it had been from other than Allah, they would have found in it much contradiction. (an Nisa 4:82)
This shows that truth is one and consistent, whereas falsehood differs and fluctuates.
A group among them in their misguidance and ignorance claimed that the Messiah is Allah the Exalted. Another group said that he is the son of Allah. Another said that he is the third of three. Exalted is Allah.
Allah says in Surat al Ma idah:
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ ۗ قُلْ فَمَنْ يَمْلِكُ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا إِنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يُهْلِكَ الْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ۗ وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا ۚ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is the Messiah son of Maryam. Say, “Then who could prevent Allah at all if He wanted to destroy the Messiah son of Maryam, his mother and everyone on earth.”
To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. He creates what He wills, and Allah is Powerful over everything. (al Ma idah 5:17)
He informs of their disbelief and ignorance and clarifies that He is the Creator, able to do all things, Lord and Owner and God of everything.
He says at the end of the same surah:
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ ۖ وَقَالَ الْمَسِيحُ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ ۖ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنْصَارٍ لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثَةٍ ۘ وَمَا مِنْ إِلَهٍ إِلَّا إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۚ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَنْتَهُوا عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ لَيَمَسَّنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ أَفَلَا يَتُوبُونَ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ مَا الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ ۚ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ ۖ وَأُمُّهُ صِدِّيقَةٌ ۖ كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ الطَّعَامَ ۗ انْظُرْ كَيْفَ نُبَيِّنُ لَهُمُ الْآيَاتِ ثُمَّ انْظُرْ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ
They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is the Messiah son of Maryam. But the Messiah said, “O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates anything with Allah, Allah has forbidden the Garden for him and his refuge is the Fire, and the wrongdoers will have no helpers.”
They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is the third of three, while there is no god but One God. If they do not stop what they say, a painful punishment will surely afflict those of them who disbelieve. Will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
The Messiah son of Maryam was only a Messenger; Messengers passed away before him. His mother was a truthful woman. They both used to eat food. Look how We make the signs clear for them, then look how they are turned away. (al Ma idah 5:72–75)
Allah judged their disbelief both in His decree and in His law. He informs that this came from them even though the Messenger sent to them, Isa son of Maryam, had clearly told them that he is a servant who is owned, created and formed in the womb, calling to the worship of Allah alone with no partner, and threatening them, if they opposed that, with the Fire and with loss of the Abode of stability, and with disgrace, humiliation and shame in the Hereafter. For this reason He said:
إِنَّهُ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ ۖ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنْصَارٍ
Whoever associates anything with Allah, Allah has forbidden the Garden for him and his refuge is the Fire, and the wrongdoers will have no helpers. (al Ma idah 5:72)
Jarir and others said that His words:
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثَةٍ ۘ
“They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is the third of three,”
refer to their saying about the three hypostases, the hypostasis of the Father, the hypostasis of the Son and the hypostasis of the Word proceeding from the Father and the Son, with differences among them between the Melkites, the Jacobites and the Nestorians.
May Allah’s curse be upon them all. We will describe their differing in this and their three councils in the time of Constantine son of Constans, which was three hundred years after the Messiah and three hundred years before the sending of Muhammad ﷺ.
Allah then says:
وَمَا مِنْ إِلَهٍ إِلَّا إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۚ
There is no god but One God,
meaning there is no god except Allah alone, without partner, equal, peer, spouse or child. Then He threatens and warns them:
وَإِنْ لَمْ يَنْتَهُوا عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ لَيَمَسَّنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
If they do not stop what they say, a painful punishment will surely afflict those of them who disbelieve. (al Ma idah 5:73)
Then, by His mercy and gentleness, He invites them to repent and seek forgiveness from these grave matters which deserve the Fire. He says:
أَفَلَا يَتُوبُونَ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
Will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. (al Ma idah 5:74)
Then He clarifies the state of the Messiah and his mother, that he is a servant and Messenger, and that his mother is a truthful woman, not an immoral woman as the Jews say. In this is proof that she is not a Prophet, as a group of our scholars claimed.
His words:
كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ الطَّعَامَ
“They both used to eat food,”
is an indirect expression hinting at what comes out of them after digestion, as it comes out from others. One who is like this, how could he be a god. Exalted is Allah above what they say and their ignorance.
As Sudi and others said, His words:
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثَةٍ ۘ
“They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is the third of three,”
refer to their claim that Isa and his mother are two gods with Allah, as Allah explains their disbelief in this at the end of this noble surah:
وَإِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ أَأَنْتَ قُلْتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَ إِلَهَيْنِ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ ۚ إِنْ كُنْتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ ۚ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلَّا مَا أَمَرْتَنِي بِهِ أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ ۚ وَكُنْتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَأَنْتَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ ۖ وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
When Allah will say, “Isa son of Maryam, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah.’” He will say, “Glory be to You. It is not for me to say what I have no right to say. If I had said it, You would certainly have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself.
Indeed You are the Knower of all unseen. I only said to them what You commanded me, that ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord,’ and I was a witness over them so long as I remained among them.
When You took me up, You were the One watching over them, and You are Witness over all things. If You punish them, they are Your servants, and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise.” (al Ma idah 5:116–118)
Allah informs that He will question Isa son of Maryam عليه السلام on the Day of Rising, as an honour for him and as rebuke and blame for those who worshipped him and lied about him, claiming that he is the son of Allah, or that he is Allah, or that he is His partner. Exalted is Allah above what they say. Allah questions him even though He knows that Isa never uttered what He asks him about, but in order to rebuke those who lied about him. He says to him:
أَأَنْتَ قُلْتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَ إِلَهَيْنِ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
“Did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah’.”
He replies:
سُبْحَانَكَ
“Glory be to You,”
meaning You are far above having a partner with You.
مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ
“It is not for me to say what I have no right to say,”
meaning no one deserves this but You.
إِنْ كُنْتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ ۚ
“If I had said it, You would certainly have known it.”
تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ
“You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed You are the Knower of all unseen,”
and this is the highest level of good manners in speaking and answering.
Isa continues:
مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلَّا مَا أَمَرْتَنِي بِهِ
“I only said to them what You commanded me,”
meaning I did not say anything to them except what You commanded me when You sent me to them and revealed to me the Book which was recited to them. Then he explains what he said:
أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ
“Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord,”
meaning my Creator and your Creator, my Provider and your Provider.
وَكُنْتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ
“And I was a witness over them so long as I remained among them,”
فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي
“When You took me,”
meaning when You raised me up to Yourself when they wanted to kill and crucify me, so You had mercy on me, saved me from them and cast my likeness upon one of them so that they took vengeance upon him instead of me.
فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْ
“When You took me, You were the One watching over them,”
وَأَنْتَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
“and You are Witness over all things.”
Then, turning the judgement over to the Lord the Exalted and declaring himself free from the Christians, he says:
إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ
“If You punish them, they are Your servants,”
meaning they deserve that,
وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
“and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise,”
and this turning the matter over to His will, with a conditional clause, does not imply that it will happen. For this reason he ends with “the Mighty, the Wise” and does not say “the Forgiving, the Merciful.”
We mentioned in the Tafsir what Imam Ahmad narrated from Abu Dharr that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited this noble verse for an entire night until morning:
إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ ۖ وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
“If You punish them, they are Your servants, and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise,”
and he said, “I asked my Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, for intercession for my ummah, and He granted it to me. It will reach, if Allah wills, those of them who do not associate anything with Allah.” (this hadith is sound due to its supporting chains. Ahmad narrated it 5/149–156 and 170 and 177, Ibn Abi Shaybah in al Musannaf 2/477, an Nasai in al Mujtaba 2/177 and in his Tafsir 181, Ibn Majah 1350, al Bazzar in his Musnad 730 Kashf, at Tahawi in Sharh Maani al Athar 1/347, Ibn Nasr al Marwazi in Qiyam al Layl page 63 Mukhtasar, al Hakim 1/241, al Bayhaqi 3/14, and al Baghawi in Sharh as Sunnah 915 and others, with a chain that is sound by other routes. It also has a supporting narration from Abu Hurayrah with similar wording in Sahih Muslim 199, and another from Aishah with similar wording in Jami at Tirmidhi 448, in ash Shamail 277, and in al Baghawi 914 with a sound chain)
Allah says:
وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاءَ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ لَوْ أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نَتَّخِذَ لَهْوًا لَاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِنْ لَدُنَّا إِنْ كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ ۚ وَلَكُمُ الْوَيْلُ مِمَّا تَصِفُونَ وَلَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَمَنْ عِنْدَهُ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهِ وَلَا يَسْتَحْسِرُونَ يُسَبِّحُونَ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ لَا يَفْتُرُونَ
We did not create the heaven and the earth and what is between them as those who play. If We had wanted to take some amusement We could have taken it from what is with Us, if We were to do so. Rather We hurl the truth against falsehood and it crushes it, and suddenly it vanishes. Woe to you for what you describe. To Him belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth, and those who are with Him are not too proud to worship Him and they do not weary. They glorify Him night and day without slacking. (al Anbiya 21:16–20)
He also says:
لَوْ أَرَادَ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا لَاصْطَفَى مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ ۖ هُوَ اللَّهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ ۖ يُكَوِّرُ اللَّيْلَ عَلَى النَّهَارِ وَيُكَوِّرُ النَّهَارَ عَلَى اللَّيْلِ ۖ وَسَخَّرَ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ ۖ كُلٌّ يَجْرِي لِأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ۗ أَلَا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفَّارُ
If Allah had wanted to take a child He could have chosen from what He creates whatever He willed. Glory be to Him. He is Allah, the One, the Subduer. He created the heavens and the earth with truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night. He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running for a stated term. Indeed He is the Mighty, the Oft Forgiving. (az Zumar 39:4–5)
He says:
قُلْ إِنْ كَانَ لِلرَّحْمَنِ وَلَدٌ فَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْعَابِدِينَ سُبْحَانَ رَبِّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ
Say, “If the Most Merciful had a child, then I would be the first of the worshippers,” Glory be to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, Lord of the Throne, above what they describe. (az Zukhruf 43:81–82)
He also says:
وَقُلِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَرِيكٌ فِي الْمُلْكِ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلِيٌّ مِنَ الذُّلِّ ۖ وَكَبِّرْهُ تَكْبِيرًا
And say, “Praise be to Allah who has not taken a child, and who has no partner in the dominion, nor any protector out of weakness, and magnify Him with great magnification.” (al Isra 17:111)
He says:
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
Say, “He is Allah, One. Allah, the Self Sufficient. He neither begets nor is born, and there is none like unto Him.” (al Ikhlas 112:1–4)
It is established authentically that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
«يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: شَتَمَنِي ابْنُ آدَمَ وَمَا يَنْبَغِي لَهُ ذَلِكَ، يُزْعِمُ أَنَّ لِي وَلَدًا، وَأَنَا الْأَحَدُ الصَّمَدُ الَّذِي لَمْ أَلِدْ وَلَمْ أُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لِي كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ»
“Allah the Exalted says, ‘The son of Adam abuses Me, and it is not proper for him to do that. He claims that I have a child, while I am the One, the Self Sufficient, who neither begets nor is born, and there is none like unto Me’.”(recorded by al Bukhari 3193)
And it is also established authentically that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
«لَا أَحَدَ أَصْبَرُ عَلَى أَذًى سَمِعَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ، يَدَّعُونَ لَهُ وَلَدًا، ثُمَّ يُعَافِيهِمْ وَيَرْزُقُهُمْ»
“No one is more patient with the hurt he hears than Allah. They ascribe a child to Him, then He still grants them wellbeing and provides for them.”(recorded by al Bukhari 7378 and Muslim 2804)
And it is authentically established from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said:
«إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَيُمْلِي لِلظَّالِمِ حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذَهُ لَمْ يُفْلِتْهُ»
“Allah surely gives the wrongdoer time, but when He seizes him He does not let him go,”
then he recited:
وَكَذَلِكَ أَخْذُ رَبِّكَ إِذَا أَخَذَ الْقُرَى وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ ۚ إِنَّ أَخْذَهُ أَلِيمٌ شَدِيدٌ
Such is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are wrongdoing. Indeed His seizure is painful, severe. (Hud 11:102)(this hadith is recorded by al Bukhari 4686 and Muslim 2583)
Also His words:
وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ أَمْلَيْتُ لَهَا وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُهَا ۖ وَإِلَيَّ الْمَصِيرُ
How many a town I granted respite though it was wrongdoing, then I seized it, and to Me is the return. (al Hajj 22:48)
And His words:
نُمَتِّعُهُمْ قَلِيلًا ثُمَّ نَضْطَرُّهُمْ إِلَى عَذَابٍ غَلِيظٍ
We grant them a brief enjoyment, then We drive them by force to a harsh punishment. (Luqman 31:24)
And His words:
قُلْ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ لَا يُفْلِحُونَ مَتَاعٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُهُمْ ثُمَّ نُذِيقُهُمُ الْعَذَابَ الشَّدِيدَ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ
Say, “Indeed those who invent a lie about Allah will not succeed, a small enjoyment in this world, then to Us is their return, then We shall make them taste the severe punishment because they used to disbelieve.” (Yunus 10:69–70)
And His words:
فَمَهِّلِ الْكَافِرِينَ أَمْهِلْهُمْ رُوَيْدًا
So leave the disbelievers, give them respite for a while. (at Tariq 86:17)
The origin of Isa son of Maryam and his upbringing in childhood and youth and the beginning of revelation to him from Allah
We mentioned earlier that he was born in Bayt Lahm, near Bayt al Maqdis, and Wahb ibn Munabbih claimed that he was born in Egypt and that Maryam travelled with Yusuf ibn Ya qub the carpenter while she was riding a donkey with nothing between her and the saddle.
This is not authentic, and the hadith mentioned earlier is proof that his birth was in Bayt Lahm as we said. Anything that contradicts that is false.
Allah says:
وَجَعَلْنَا ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُ آيَةً وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَى رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ
We made the son of Maryam and his mother a sign, and We gave them refuge on a high ground, a place of rest and flowing water. (al Mu minun 23:50)
The early generations and the commentators differed about this high ground which Allah described as a place of rest and flowing water. This is a unique description, that it is a raised place of land with a level top upon which one can settle, wide in its height, and with all that elevation it has springs of running water across its surface.
It was said that this is the place where the Messiah was born, the palm tree in Bayt al Maqdis, because of His words:
فَنَادَاهَا مِنْ تَحْتِهَا أَلَّا تَحْزَنِي ۖ قَدْ جَعَلَ رَبُّكِ تَحْتَكِ سَرِيًّا
Then he called her from below her, “Do not grieve, your Lord has placed a stream beneath you.” (Maryam 19:24)
The majority of the early generations said that this stream is a small river. There is a report from Ibn Abbas, with a good chain, that he said it is the rivers of Damascus, perhaps meaning that the description of that place is like the rivers of Damascus.
Clarifying the descent of the four scriptures and their times
We mentioned in the Tafsir, under His words:
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ
The month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was sent down. (al Baqarah 2:185)
the hadiths which speak about that, among them that the Injil was sent down to Isa son of Maryam عليه السلام in the month of Ramadan.
A brief selection from the reports of Isa عليه السلام
Allah the Exalted, the most truthful of speakers, says:
إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ اذْكُرْ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَى وَالِدَتِكَ ۖ إِذْ أَيَّدْتُكَ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ تُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا ۖ وَإِذْ عَلَّمْتُكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ ۖ وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِي فَتَنْفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَتُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ وَالْأَبْرَصَ بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ الْمَوْتَى بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَإِذْ كَفَفْتُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَنْكَ إِذْ جِئْتَهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ وَإِذْ أَوْحَيْتُ إِلَى الْحَوَارِيِّينَ أَنْ آمِنُوا بِي وَبِرَسُولِي ۖ قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّنَا مُسْلِمُونَ
When Allah will say, “Isa son of Maryam, remember My favour upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Holy Spirit so that you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity, and when I taught you the Book and wisdom and the Torah and the Injil, and when you formed from clay something like the shape of a bird with My permission.
Then you breathed into it and it became a bird with My permission, and you healed the blind from birth and the leper with My permission, and when you brought forth the dead with My permission, and when I restrained the Children of Israel from you when you came to them with clear proofs and those who disbelieved among them said, ‘This is nothing but obvious magic.’ And when I inspired the disciples, ‘Believe in Me and My Messenger,’ they said, ‘We believe, so bear witness that we are Muslims.’” (al Ma idah 5:110–111)
Allah reminds him of His favour and kindness to him in that He created him without a father, but from a mother without a man, making him a sign for people and proof of the perfection of His power, then sending him as a Messenger after that.
He also reminds him of His favour upon his mother, in choosing and selecting her for this tremendous blessing and establishing proof of her innocence from what the ignorant accused her of. He says:
إِذْ أَيَّدْتُكَ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ
“When I supported you with the Holy Spirit,”
meaning Jibril, by sending his spirit to his mother and by joining him to Isa in his mission and defending him from those who disbelieved in him.
تُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا
“You spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity,”
that is, you call people to Allah in your infancy in the cradle and in your adulthood.
وَإِذْ عَلَّمْتُكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ
“And when I taught you the Book and wisdom,”
meaning writing and understanding, as mentioned clearly by some of the early generations.
وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ
“and the Torah and the Injil.”
His words:
وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِي
“And when you formed from clay something like the shape of a bird with My permission,”
meaning you shaped it and fashioned it from clay in the shape of a bird, by Allah’s command to you.
فَتَنْفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِي
“then you breathed into it and it became a bird with My permission,”
He repeats “with My permission” to make clear that this happens only by His command, so no false impression remains.
His words:
وَتُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ
“and you healed the blind from birth,”
some of the early generations said this is the one who is born blind, and no scholar of medicine has any way to treat him.
وَالْأَبْرَصَ
“and the leper,”
the one whose disease is without cure, whose leprosy has become a chronic disease.
وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ الْمَوْتَى بِإِذْنِي
“and when you brought forth the dead with My permission,”
meaning you brought them out of their graves alive, by My leave. We mentioned what shows that this happened many times, in what is sufficient.
His words:
وَإِذْ كَفَفْتُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَنْكَ
“And when I restrained the Children of Israel from you,”
when they wanted to crucify him, so Allah raised him to Himself and saved him from among them, keeping his noble self safe from harm and destruction.
His words:
وَإِذْ أَوْحَيْتُ إِلَى الْحَوَارِيِّينَ أَنْ آمِنُوا بِي وَبِرَسُولِي
“And when I inspired the disciples, ‘Believe in Me and in My Messenger,’”
it was said that this inspiration was an inspiration of guidance, meaning that Allah guided them and directed them to this belief, as He says:
وَأَوْحَى رَبُّكَ إِلَى النَّحْلِ
Your Lord inspired the bees. (an Nahl 16:68)
and:
وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّ مُوسَى أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ
We inspired the mother of Musa, “Breastfeed him.” (al Qasas 28:7)
It was also said that this inspiration was by means of the Messenger and that Allah granted their hearts success to accept the truth. For this reason they responded saying:
قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّنَا مُسْلِمُونَ
“They said, ‘We believe, so bear witness that we are Muslims,’”
and this is among Allah’s favours upon His servant and Messenger Isa son of Maryam, that He made for him supporters and helpers who supported him, calling with him to the worship of Allah alone with no partner, just as He says to His servant Muhammad ﷺ:
هُوَ الَّذِي أَيَّدَكَ بِنَصْرِهِ وَبِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ ۚ لَوْ أَنْفَقْتَ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا مَا أَلَّفْتَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ أَلَّفَ بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
He is the One who supported you with His help and with the believers, and He united their hearts. If you had spent everything on earth you could not have united their hearts, but Allah united them. Surely He is Mighty, Wise. (al Anfal 8:62–63)
He also says:
وَيُعَلِّمُهُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ وَرَسُولًا إِلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنِّي قَدْ جِئْتُكُمْ بِآيَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ أَنِّي أَخْلُقُ لَكُمْ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ فَأَنْفُخُ فِيهِ فَيَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَأُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ وَالْأَبْرَصَ ۖ وَأُحْيِي الْمَوْتَى بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَأُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا تَأْكُلُونَ وَمَا تَدَّخِرُونَ فِي بُيُوتِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَةً لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ وَمُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ ۖ وَلِأُحِلَّ لَكُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي حُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَجِئْتُكُمْ بِآيَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ ۖ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ ۚ هَذَا صِرَاطٌ مُسْتَقِيمٌ فَلَمَّا أَحَسَّ عِيسَى مِنْهُمُ الْكُفْرَ قَالَ مَنْ أَنْصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنْصَارُ اللَّهِ ۖ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا بِمَا أَنْزَلْتَ وَاتَّبَعْنَا الرَّسُولَ فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاهِدِينَ وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ
And He will teach him the Book and wisdom and the Torah and the Injil, and as a Messenger to the Children of Israel: “I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that I create for you from clay something in the shape of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird by Allah’s permission. I heal the blind from birth and the leper and I give life to the dead by Allah’s permission. I tell you what you eat and what you store in your houses.
In that is surely a sign for you, if you are believers. And I confirm what came before me of the Torah, and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you, and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear Allah and obey me. Surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.”
When Isa sensed disbelief from them he said, “Who are my helpers towards Allah.” The disciples said, “We are the helpers of Allah.
We believe in Allah, so bear witness that we are Muslims. Our Lord, we believe in what You sent down and we followed the Messenger, so write us among the witnesses.” They plotted and Allah plotted, and Allah is the best of plotters. (Al Imran 3:48–54)
The miracle of every Prophet in his time was suited to the people of that time. They said that Musa عليه السلام came at a time when sorcerers were many and skilled, so Allah sent him with signs that amazed the eyes and humbled necks. Because the sorcerers knew the limits of sorcery and what it could reach, when they saw with their own eyes this overwhelming matter that could only come from one whom Allah supports and through whose hands He brings forth the extraordinary as a confirmation, they submitted quickly without hesitation.
Likewise Isa son of Maryam was sent at a time when people of nature based medicine and so called wisdom were prominent. Allah gave him miracles which they could not perform and could not conceive of, and how could any of creation give sight to one who was blind from birth, or heal a leper, or one with a chronic illness, or raise a dead person from his grave. Every person knows that this is a miracle that proves the truth of the one through whom it appears and the power of the One who sent him.
Similarly Muhammad ﷺ was sent at a time when eloquent speakers and masters of language were many. Allah revealed to him the great Qur’an, which falsehood cannot approach from in front of it or from behind it, a revelation from One who is All Wise, Praiseworthy, whose wording is miraculous. He challenged humans and jinn to bring something like it, ten surahs like it, or even one surah like it, and he declared that they would never be able to do so in the present or the future:
فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَنْ تَفْعَلُوا
If you do not do it, and you will never do it. (al Baqarah 2:24)
This is because it is the speech of the Creator the Exalted. Nothing resembles Him, neither in His Essence, nor His attributes, nor His actions.
The point is that when Isa عليه السلام brought clear proofs and signs, most of them persisted in disbelief, misguidance, stubbornness and rebellion. Then a righteous group stood forward to support him, to follow him and advise him.
This was when the Children of Israel sought to harm him and carried tales about him to one of the kings of that time, who decided to kill and crucify him. Allah saved him from them, raised him to Himself from among them and cast his likeness upon one of his companions, so they captured him and killed and crucified him, believing that he was Isa, while they were mistaken and opposing the truth.
Many Christians accepted what they claimed and both groups are wrong in this. Allah says:
وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ
They plotted and Allah plotted, and Allah is the best of plotters. (Al Imran 3:54)
The good news given by Isa عليه السلام of Muhammad ﷺ
Allah says:
وَإِذْ قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَمُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولٍ يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِي اسْمُهُ أَحْمَدُ ۖ فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ قَالُوا هَذَا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَى عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ وَهُوَ يُدْعَى إِلَى الْإِسْلَامِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا هَلْ أَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَى تِجَارَةٍ تُنْجِيكُمْ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَتُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ ۚ ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ يَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَيُدْخِلْكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ وَمَسَاكِنَ طَيِّبَةً فِي جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ ۚ ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ وَأُخْرَى تُحِبُّونَهَا ۖ نَصْرٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌ قَرِيبٌ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا أَنْصَارَ اللَّهِ ۖ كَمَا قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ لِلْحَوَارِيِّينَ مَنْ أَنْصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنْصَارُ اللَّهِ ۖ فَآمَنَتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَكَفَرَتْ طَائِفَةٌ ۖ فَأَيَّدْنَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا عَلَى عَدُوِّهِمْ فَأَصْبَحُوا ظَاهِرِينَ
And when Isa son of Maryam said, “O Children of Israel, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you, confirming what is before me of the Torah, and giving good news of a Messenger to come after me whose name is Ahmad.”
But when he came to them with clear signs they said, “This is clear magic.” Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah while he is being called to Islam. Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.
They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light even if the disbelievers dislike it. He is the One who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religion, even if the polytheists dislike it.
O you who believe, shall I show you a trade that will save you from a painful punishment. You believe in Allah and His Messenger and strive in the path of Allah with your wealth and your selves. That is better for you, if you only knew.
He will forgive your sins for you and admit you to Gardens beneath which rivers flow and pleasant dwellings in Gardens of lasting stay.
That is the great triumph. And yet another favour that you love, help from Allah and a near victory, and give good news to the believers. O you who believe, be helpers of Allah, just as Isa son of Maryam said to the disciples, “Who are my helpers towards Allah.”
The disciples said, “We are the helpers of Allah.” Then a group from the Children of Israel believed and a group disbelieved. So We supported those who believed against their enemy and they became uppermost. (as Saff 61:6–14)
Thus Isa عليه السلام was the last of the Messengers sent to the Children of Israel. He stood among them as a preacher and gave them glad tidings of the final Messenger who would come after him, mentioning his noble name and describing him so that they would recognise him and follow him when they saw him, as an establishment of proof against them and as a favour from Allah to them.
Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet
قال الله تعالى
الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الرَّسُولَ النَّبِيَّ الْأُمِّيَّ الَّذِي يَجِدُونَهُ مَكْتُوبًا عِندَهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَالْإِنجِيلِ يَأْمُرُهُم بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالْأَغْلَالَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ فَالَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا بِهِ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ وَاتَّبَعُوا النُّورَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ مَعَهُ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
“Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet whom they find written with them in the Tawrah and the Injil, who commands them to what is recognised as right and forbids them from what is wrong, who makes good things lawful for them and makes filthy things unlawful for them, and relieves them of their burden and the chains that were upon them.
So those who believe in him, honour him, help him, and follow the light that has been sent down with him, they are the ones who are successful.”(al Araf 157)
Muhammad ibn Ishaq narrated from some of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that they said: “Messenger of Allah, tell us about yourself.”
He said: “I am the supplication of my father Ibrahim, the glad tidings of Isa, and my mother saw, when she was pregnant with me, as if a light came out of her that lit up the palaces of Busra in the land of Sham.” (Hasan. It was narrated by Ibn Ishaq in as Sirah 1/175, and by at Tabari in Jami al Bayan 1/number 2079 through his route, and by al Hakim 2/600, with a good chain. Al Hakim and adh Dhahabi declared it authentic, and the author and our shaykh al Imam al Albani considered it Hasan in as Sahihah 1545.)
This has been narrated with similar wording from al Irbad ibn Sariyah عليه السلام (Hasan because of supporting routes. It was narrated by Ahmad 4/127, Ibn Saad 1/71, at Tabarani in al Kabir 18/number 629 and 630, at Tabari in Jami al Bayan 1/number 2077 and 2078, and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih 14/number 6404 with a weak chain, but it is supported by what comes before and after.) and from Abu Umamah. It was narrated by Ahmad 5/262, Ibn Saad 1/71, and at Tabarani in al Kabir 8/number 7729 with a good chain, as al Haythami said in Majma az Zawaid 8/225, and as al Albani graded in as Sahihah 1925.)
and from Abu Umamah عليه السلام from the Prophet ﷺ, and in it is: “I am the supplication of my father Ibrahim and the glad tidings of Isa.”
This is because when Ibrahim عليه السلام built the Kaabah he said
رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ
“Our Lord, raise up among them a messenger from themselves.”(al Baqarah 129)
When prophethood among the children of Israil came at last to Isa عليه السلام he stood among them as a preacher and informed them that prophethood had been cut off from them and that after him it would be in the Arab unlettered Prophet, the last one.
So he is Ahmad, and he is Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al Muttalib ibn Hashim, from the offspring of Ismail ibn Ibrahim al Khalil عليه السلام, the best of the prophets absolutely.
Allah the Exalted said about what was said to those to whom Isa عليه السلام was sent
فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ قَالُوا هَذَا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ
“When he came to them with clear signs they said, ‘This is clear magic.’”(as Saff 6)
The pronoun may go back to Isa عليه السلام, and it may go back to Muhammad ﷺ.
Then Allah the Exalted urged His believing servants to help the religion of Islam and its people and to help His Prophet, support him and assist him in establishing the religion and spreading the call. He said
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا كُونُوا أَنصَارَ اللَّهِ كَمَا قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ لِلْحَوَارِيِّينَ مَنْ أَنصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنصَارُ اللَّهِ فَآمَنَت طَّائِفَةٌ مِّنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَكَفَرَت طَّائِفَةٌ فَأَيَّدْنَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا عَلَى عَدُوِّهِمْ فَأَصْبَحُوا ظَاهِرِينَ
“Believers, be helpers of Allah, just as Isa son of Maryam said to the disciples, ‘Who are my helpers for Allah?’
The disciples said, ‘We are the helpers of Allah.’ So a group of the children of Israil believed and a group disbelieved, and We supported those who believed against their enemy so they became dominant.”(as Saff 14)
That is, when Isa ibn Maryam عليه السلام called the children of Israil and others to Allah, some of them believed and some disbelieved.
Among those who believed in him, as a number of the people of history and biography and tafsir have mentioned, were the people of Antioch, all of them. He sent to them three messengers, one of them being Simon as Safa, and they believed and responded.
These are not the people mentioned in Surah Ya Sin, as has already been clarified earlier in the story of the people of the town.
Others from the children of Israil disbelieved, and they are the majority of the Jews. So Allah supported those who believed against those who disbelieved afterwards, and they became manifest over them, prevailing. This is as He said
إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ
“When Allah said, ‘Isa, I am taking you and raising you to Me, and purifying you from those who disbelieve, and making those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection.’” (Al Imran 55)
So everyone who is closer to him in belief is usually more dominant over those below him. Since the saying of the Muslims about him is the truth without doubt, that he is a servant of Allah and His messenger, they are dominant over the Christians who went to excess about him and exaggerated and raised him above the station Allah gave him.
And since the Christians are, in general, closer than the Jews to the correct understanding about him, upon them are the curses of Allah, the Christians were dominant over the Jews during the period of interruption until the coming of Islam and its people. Allah knows best.
The table spread
Allah the Exalted said
إِذْ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ هَلْ يَسْتَطِيعُ رَبُّكَ أَن يُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْنَا مَائِدَةً مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ قَالَ اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ قَالُوا نُرِيدُ أَن نَّأْكُلَ مِنْهَا وَتَطْمَئِنَّ قُلُوبُنَا وَنَعْلَمَ أَن قَدْ صَدَقْتَنَا وَنَكُونَ عَلَيْهَا مِنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَا أَنزِلْ عَلَيْنَا مَائِدَةً مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ تَكُونُ لَنَا عِيدًا لِأَوَّلِنَا وَآخِرِنَا وَآيَةً مِّنكَ وَارْزُقْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ قَالَ اللَّهُ إِنِّي مُنَزِّلُهَا عَلَيْكُمْ فَمَن يَكْفُرْ بَعْدُ مِنكُمْ فَإِنِّي أُعَذِّبُهُ عَذَابًا لَّا أُعَذِّبُهُ أَحَدًا مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ
“When the disciples said, ‘Isa son of Maryam, can your Lord send down to us a table from the heaven?’ He said, ‘Fear Allah if you are believers.’ They said, ‘We want to eat from it, and for our hearts to be at rest, and to know that you have told us the truth, and to be among those who witness it.’
Isa son of Maryam said, ‘O Allah, our Lord, send down to us a table from the heaven that will be a festival for the first of us and the last of us and a sign from You, and provide for us, for You are the best of providers.’ Allah said, ‘I am sending it down to you, but whoever among you disbelieves afterwards, I will punish him with a punishment that I will not inflict on anyone among all beings.’”(al Maidah 112–115)
We have mentioned in the tafsir the narrations that have come about the descent of the table from Ibn Abbas, Salman al Farisi, Ammar ibn Yasir and others among the Salaf.
Their general meaning is that Isa عليه السلام commanded the disciples to fast for thirty days, and when they had completed them they asked Isa to request that a table be sent down to them from the heaven so that they could eat from it and so that their hearts would be at rest that Allah had accepted their fast and answered their request, and that it would be a festival for them on which they would break their fast, and that it would be sufficient for the first of them and the last of them, for rich and poor alike.
Isa عليه السلام counselled them and feared that they would not give thanks for it and would not fulfil its due conditions. They did not desist from their request, so he went to his place of prayer, put on a coarse woollen garment, stood placing his feet together, bowed his head and let his eyes flow with tears, humbling himself to Allah in supplication that they would be answered.
Allah the Exalted sent down the table from the heaven while the people were looking. It descended between two clouds and drew nearer little by little. Whenever it came nearer Isa عليه السلام would ask his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, to make it mercy and not punishment, and to make it blessing and safety. It continued to descend until it settled in front of Isa عليه السلام, and it was covered with a cloth. Isa stood up to uncover it while saying, “In the name of Allah, the best of providers.”
On it were seven fish and seven loaves, and it is said there was vinegar, and it is said there were pomegranates and fruits. It had a tremendous fragrance. Allah said to it, “Be,” and it was. Then he ordered them to eat from it.
They said, “We will not eat from it until you eat from it.”
He said, “You were the ones who began by asking for it.”
They refused to start, so he ordered the poor, the needy, the sick and those who suffered chronic illness, about one thousand three hundred people, to eat from it. All those who had any deformity or affliction or long lasting illness were cured.
The people regretted that they had not eaten from it when they saw the state of those people after they had been healed.
It is said that it used to descend once every day, and the people would eat from it. The last of them to eat would find it as the first had found it, until it was said that around seven thousand would eat from it. Then it would come down one day and not the next, just as the she camel of Salih عليه السلام would give them milk one day and the next day they would drink from their own animals.
Then Allah commanded Isa عليه السلام to restrict it to the poor and needy and not to give from it to the rich. That was hard for many people and their hypocrites spoke evil about that, so the table was taken up completely and those who spoke about it were transformed into pigs.
The majority of scholars hold that it did descend, as these narrations indicate and as is understood from the apparent meaning of the Qur’an, especially His saying, “I am sending it down to you,” as Ibn Jarir has explained, and Allah knows best. (As in Jami al Bayan 7/87–88.)
The raising of Isa to the heaven and the false claim of crucifixion
Allah the Exalted said
وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فِيمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ
“They schemed, and Allah schemed, and Allah is the best of those who scheme. When Allah said, ‘Isa, I am taking you and raising you to Me, and purifying you from those who disbelieve, and making those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is your return, and I will judge between you about what you used to differ in.’”(Al Imran 54–55)
And He the Exalted said
فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَاقَهُمْ وَكُفْرِهِم بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَقَتْلِهِمُ الْأَنبِيَاءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ ۚ بَلْ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهَا بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَانًا عَظِيمًا وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ۖ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا بَل رَّفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا وَإِن مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا
“So because they broke their covenant and disbelieved in the signs of Allah and killed the prophets without right, and said, ‘Our hearts are wrapped,’ rather Allah has sealed them because of their disbelief, so they believe only a little.
And because of their disbelief and their uttering against Maryam a monstrous slander, and their saying, ‘We have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, the messenger of Allah’ while they did not kill him and did not crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them.
Those who differ about him are in doubt about him. They have no knowledge of him except following conjecture, and they certainly did not kill him. Rather Allah raised him up to Himself, and Allah is Mighty, Wise.
There is none of the people of the Book except that he will surely believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them.” (an Nisa 155–159)
So He informed that He raised him to the heaven after He caused him to sleep, according to the sound view that cannot be opposed, and He rescued him from those Jews who intended to harm him. They had carried tales about him to some of the disbelieving kings of that time, and he ordered that he be killed and crucified.
They surrounded him in a house in Bayt al Maqdis. When the time came for them to enter, Allah cast his likeness on one of those present with him and raised Isa عليه السلام through an opening in the house to the heaven.
The soldiers entered and found that young man on whom his likeness had been cast. They took him, thinking that he was Isa, killed him and crucified him, putting thorns on his head in humiliation.
The generality of the Jews and Christians who had not witnessed what happened accepted from the Jews that it was Isa who had been crucified, and because of that they went far into misguidance.
Allah informed through His saying
وَإِن مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ
“There is none of the people of the Book except that he will surely believe in him before his death,”(an Nisa 159)
that this will be after his descent to the earth at the end of time, before the Hour comes, for he will descend and kill the pig, break the cross and abolish the jizyah, and he will accept nothing but Islam.
We have explained that with the ahadith that have been mentioned when interpreting this noble verse in Surah an Nisa, and we have cited it in full in Kitab al Fitan wal Malahim, in the chapter on the Masih ad Dajjal, where we mentioned what has come about the descent of the true Masih from the Lord of Majesty to kill the Masih ad Dajjal the liar who calls to misguidance.
Now comes what has been mentioned in the narrations concerning the description of his being raised to the heaven.
Ibn Abi Hatim narrated, from Ibn Abbas, that he said: When Allah wanted to raise Isa to the heaven he went out to his companions, and in the house there were twelve men from the disciples.
He came to them from a spring in the house, and his head was dripping with water. He said: “Among you there is someone who will disbelieve in me twelve times after he has believed in me. Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him and be killed in my place and will be with me in my level?”
A young man from among the youngest of them stood up and said, “I will.”
He said to him, “Sit,” then repeated it to them, and the youth stood up and said, “I will.”
He said to him, “Sit,” then repeated it again, and the youth stood up and said, “I will.”
He said, “You will be that one.”
So his likeness was cast upon him and Isa was raised from an opening in the house to the heaven.
The pursuers from the Jews came, took the one on whom the likeness had been cast and killed him, then crucified him. Some of them disbelieved in him twelve times after they had believed in him. They split into three groups.
One group said, “Allah was with us as long as He willed, then He went up to the heaven.” These are the Jacobites.
Another group said, “The son of Allah was with us as long as he willed, then Allah raised him to Himself.” These are the Nestorians.
A third group said, “The servant of Allah and His messenger was with us as long as Allah willed, then Allah raised him to Himself.” These are the Muslims.
The two disbelieving groups supported each other against the Muslim one and killed them. Islam remained hidden until Allah sent Muhammad ﷺ. Ibn Abbas said, “This is His saying, ‘So We supported those who believed against their enemy, and they became dominant.’”(as Saff 14)(This chain to Ibn Abbas is authentic according to the conditions of Muslim.)
Al Hasan al Basri said: “The age of Isa on the day he was raised was thirty four years.”
In the hadith it is mentioned: “The people of the Garden will enter it hairless, beardless, with their eyes lined with kohl, at the age of thirty three.” (Hasan with its supporting narrations. It was narrated by Ahmad 2/295 and 343 and 415, at Tabarani in al Awsat number 5418 and in as Saghir number 809 with a weak chain because of Ali ibn Zaid ibn Judan who had poor memory. It has a supporting narration from al Miqdam ibn Madikarib which was narrated by at Tabarani in al Kabir 20/663 and 664 and in Musnad ash Shamiyyin number 1839, and by al Bayhaqi in al Bath 421 and 422, with a chain that is good in supporting narrations.
There is another supporting narration from Muadh ibn Jabal which was narrated by at Tirmidhi number 2545, Ahmad 5/243 and al Bayhaqi 423, with a chain that is good in supporting narrations. There is also another supporting narration from Abu Hurayrah with similar wording which was narrated by at Tirmidhi number 2539 with a chain that is good in supporting narrations. In sum, the hadith is Hasan when all that is gathered.)
And in another hadith: “On the age of Isa, and the beauty of Yusuf.” (Hasan because of supporting narrations. It was narrated by Ibn Abi ad Dunya as mentioned in al Bidayah wan Nihayah 10/574, and by Abu Nuaym in Hilyat al Awliya 3/56, and by al Bayhaqi in al Bath 418, with a weak chain. It is supported by the hadith of al Miqdam already mentioned.)
The description, character and virtues of Isa عليه السلام
Allah the Exalted said
مَّا الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُ صِدِّيقَةٌ
“The Messiah son of Maryam is only a messenger; messengers have passed away before him, and his mother is a sincere woman.”(al Maidah 75)
It is said that he was called al Masih because he used to travel through the earth, passing over it, and his journeying through it while remaining firm upon his religion in that time of trials, due to the intense rejection of the Jews and what they fabricated about him and about his mother عليها السلام.
It is also said that he was called al Masih because the soles of his feet were smooth.
Allah the Exalted said
وَقَفَّيْنَا عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِم بِعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْإِنجِيلَ
“We followed them up with Isa son of Maryam, confirming what was before him of the Tawrah, and We gave him the Injil.”(al Maidah 46)
And He said
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَقَفَّيْنَا مِن بَعْدِهِ بِالرُّسُلِ ۖ وَآتَيْنَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَيَّدْنَاهُ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ
“We certainly gave Musa the Book and sent messengers one after another after him, and We gave Isa son of Maryam the clear signs and supported him with the Holy Spirit.”(al Baqarah 87)
The verses about him are very many.
It has already preceded from al Bukhari and Muslim that “There is no new born except that Satan pokes him in his side when he is born, and he cries because of Satan’s poke, except Maryam and her son. Satan went to poke, but he poked the veil.”
And it has already preceded the hadith of Ubadah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: “Whoever testifies that there is no god but Allah alone with no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and that Isa is the servant of Allah and His messenger and His word which He cast to Maryam and a spirit from Him, and that the Garden is true and the Fire is true, Allah will enter him into the Garden upon whatever deeds he had.”
Al Bukhari and Muslim narrated from Abu Musa that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When a man educates his slave woman well, teaches her well, then frees her and marries her, he has two rewards. A man from the people of the Book who believes in his own prophet and then believes in me will have two rewards. And a slave who fears his Lord and obeys his masters will have two rewards.”
Al Bukhari narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said: “On the night I was taken on the night journey I met Musa.” He said, and he described him: “He was a brown man, of medium height, with curly hair, as if he were from the men of Shanua.
I met Isa, and the Prophet ﷺ described him, saying, ‘He is of medium build, with a reddish complexion, as if he has just come out of a bathhouse.’ And I saw Ibrahim, and I am the one of his children who most resembles him.”
Then he said: Ibn Umar narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: “I saw Musa and Isa and Ibrahim. As for Isa, he is of medium build, with a reddish complexion and a broad chest. As for Musa, he is brown, stout, with straight hair, as if he were from the men of az Zutt.”
Allah’s prayers and peace be upon them all.
Abdullah ibn Umar said: The Prophet ﷺ mentioned the Dajjal one day in the midst of the people and said: “Allah is not one eyed. The Dajjal is blind in his right eye, as if his eye is a floating grape.
I saw him in my sleep last night near the Kabah, and I saw a brown man, the best of brown men I have seen, his hair hanging between his shoulders, smooth, water dripping from his head, leaning on the shoulders of two men while circumambulating the House. I said, ‘Who is this?’ They said, ‘This is the Messiah son of Maryam.’
Then I saw another man, curly, blind in the right eye, as the one eyed person most resembling Ibn Qatan, leaning on the shoulders of a man, circumambulating the House. I said, ‘Who is this?’ They said, ‘This is the Messiah ad Dajjal.’”
Az Zuhri said: Ibn Qatan was a man from Khuzaah who perished in the time of Jahiliyyah.
Thus Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him clarified the description of the two Messiahs, the Messiah of guidance and the Messiah of misguidance, so that this one would be recognised when he descends and the believers would believe in him, and that other one would be recognised and the monotheists would beware of him.
Al Bukhari narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Isa son of Maryam saw a man stealing and said to him, ‘Did you steal?’ He said, ‘No, by the One there is no god but Him.’ Isa said, ‘I believe in Allah and I deny my eyes.’”
This shows a pure nature, as he gave precedence to the man’s oath and assumed that no one would swear a false oath by the greatness of Allah over what he saw with his own eyes, so he accepted his excuse and blamed himself, saying, “I believe in Allah, that is, I believe what you have sworn, and I regard my eyes as mistaken because of your oath.”
كَمَا بَدَأْنَا أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُّعِيدُهُ وَعْدًا عَلَيْنَا ۚ إِنَّا كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ
Al Bukhari also narrated from Ibn Abbas that he heard Umar on the minbar saying: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians exaggerated in praising Isa son of Maryam. I am only a servant, so say, “The servant of Allah and His messenger.”’
The story of Jurayj
They said, ‘We will build your hermitage for you with gold.’ He said, ‘No, only with clay.’
Al Bukhari narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said: “I am the closest of the people to Isa son of Maryam in this life and in the next life. The prophets are half brothers; their mothers are different but their religion is one, and there is no prophet between me and him.”
Ahmad narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The prophets are half brothers, their mothers are various, and their religion is one, and I am the closest of people to Isa son of Maryam, because there is no prophet between me and him.
He will certainly descend, so when you see him recognise him. He is a medium built man, between red and white, with straight hair, as if his head is dripping although it is not wet, wearing two garments dyed with saffron.” (That is, two garments with yellow colour.)
“He will break the cross, kill the pig and abolish the jizyah. Allah will abolish all religions in his time except Islam. Allah will destroy in his time the Messiah ad Dajjal the liar. Safety will spread over the earth until camels graze with lions, and leopards with cattle and wolves with sheep, and children will play with snakes and they will not harm them. He will remain for as long as Allah wills, then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.”
Ahmad then narrated from Abu Hurayrah with similar wording, and said: “He will remain forty years, then he will die and the Muslims will pray over him.” (In al Musnad 2/463 with a chain authentic according to the conditions of al Bukhari and Muslim.)
Isa عليه السلام will descend, as has been explained in the Book of Fitan, in the chapter on the Dajjal. He will descend by the white minaret to the east of Damascus at the time when the Fajr prayer has been established. The leader of the Muslims will say to him, “Come forward, Spirit of Allah, and lead us in prayer.”
He will say, “No, some of you are leaders over others as an honour from Allah for this community,” and in one wording he will say to him, “The prayer was established for you,” so he will pray behind that Muslim leader.
Then he will mount and the Muslims with him will go out seeking the Dajjal. He will overtake him at the gate of Ludd and kill him with his noble hand. (Authentic. It was narrated by Ahmad 2/437, Abu Dawud 4324, Ibn Hibban in his Sahih 15/number 6822, al Hakim 2/595 and others with an authentic chain. Al Hakim, adh Dhahabi, Ibn Hajar and al Albani all graded it authentic.)
We mentioned that our hope became strong when that eastern minaret of Damascus was built from white stones, funded from the wealth of the Christians when they burned what was around it from the old building and other things.
Isa ibn Maryam عليه السلام will descend upon it and kill the pig, break the cross and accept nothing from anyone but Islam. He will come out from the path of ar Rawha as a pilgrim or performing umrah or both. He will remain forty years, then die and be buried.
Al Bukhari narrated from Salman that he said: “The period between Isa and Muhammad ﷺ was six hundred years.”
Qatadah said: “Five hundred and sixty years.”
It is said: “Five hundred and forty.”
Ad Dahhak said: “Four hundred and something.”
The famous view is six hundred years. Some say “six hundred and twenty lunar years, which correspond to six hundred solar years,” and Allah knows best.
A number of people have mentioned that the Injil was transmitted from him by four men: Luke, Matthew, Mark and John. Between these four Gospels there is much difference from one copy to another, with many additions, omissions and distortions and changes.
Of these four, two actually met the Messiah and saw him, Matthew and John, and two were companions of those companions, Mark and Luke, and Allah knows best.
Ash Shaykh Shihab ad Din al Qarafi mentioned in his book ar Radd ala an Nasara some lines of poetry composed by one of the Muslims refuting them in their claim that the Messiah was crucified and in their acceptance of that from the Jews while claiming that he is the son of Allah, far exalted is Allah above what they say. He said
I am amazed about the Messiah among the Christians, and to which father they relate him.
They handed him over to the Jews and said, after they killed him, that they crucified him.
If what they say is right and truthful, where was his Lord when they took his son as a captive of enemies?
Did He accept what they did, or was He angered by it?
If He was pleased, then thank them and praise them, for they acted according to His pleasure.
And if He was angered, then leave them and worship them, for they overcame Him.
The dispute of the followers of the Messiah
The companions of the Messiah Isa عليه السلام differed after he was raised to the heaven, as Ibn Abbas and other Imams of the Salaf said, regarding whom we have already quoted when explaining His saying, “So We supported those who believed against their enemy, and they became dominant.”(as Saff 14)
Ibn Abbas and others said: Some of them said, “He was among us as a servant of Allah and His messenger, then Allah raised him to the heaven.”
Others said, “He is Allah.”
Others said, “He is the son of Allah.”
The first is the truth, and the last two statements are enormous disbelief, as Allah said
فَاخْتَلَفَ الْأَحْزَابُ مِن بَيْنِهِمْ ۖ فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِن مَّشْهَدِ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
“The parties differed among themselves, so woe to those who disbelieve from witnessing a tremendous day.”(Maryam 37)
They also differed regarding transmitting the Gospels into four Gospels, varying between additions and omissions, alteration and corruption. Then after the Messiah by three hundred years the tremendous calamity and great tribulation occurred.
The four patriarchs and all the bishops, priests, deacons and monks all differed about the Messiah with many differing statements that cannot be counted or precisely listed.
They gathered and took their case to the king Constantine, the builder of Constantinople. That was the first council. The king sided with the statement of the biggest group who agreed upon one of the doctrines, so they became known as the Melkites, and he suppressed the others and drove them away.
The group that followed Abdullah ibn Arius, who had remained firm upon the belief that Isa is a servant among the servants of Allah and a messenger among His messengers, withdrew and settled in the deserts and wildernesses. They built hermitages, monasteries and cells, were content with a small livelihood, and did not mix with those sects.
The Melkites built huge churches. They took the buildings of the Greeks and changed their directions so that their prayer niches turned to the east after they had been to the north in the direction of the pole star. They built the church at Bethlehem on the place of the Messiah’s birth and Constantine’s mother Helena built the church of the Holy Sepulchre over the grave of the one who was crucified, and they accept from the Jews that this was the Messiah, and these and those have disbelieved.
They laid down canons and rules, some of which contradicted the ancient laws of the Tawrah, and they made lawful things which are forbidden by the explicit text of the Tawrah, such as the pig.
They pray towards the east, while the Messiah never prayed except towards the Rock of Bayt al Maqdis, as did all the prophets after Musa, and Muhammad ﷺ also prayed towards it for sixteen or seventeen months after his migration to Madinah, then was turned towards the Kaabah built by Ibrahim al Khalil عليه السلام.
They filled their churches with images, though there had been no images before. They composed the creed which their children, women and men memorise, which they call the “Statement of Faith”, while in truth it is the greatest disbelief and betrayal.
All three groups, the Melkites, the Nestorians who follow Nestorius of the second council, and the Jacobites who follow Yaqub al Baradaii of the third council, hold this creed while differing in how they interpret it.
I will quote it, and the one who quotes disbelief is not a disbeliever thereby, so as to expose what is in it of weak wording and of much disbelief and corruption that necessarily leads the one who believes it to the Fire with blazing flames. They say:
“We believe in one God, Lord of all, Creator of the heavens and the earth, of all things seen and unseen; and in one Lord, Isa the Messiah, the only son of God, born from the Father before all ages, light from light, true God from true God, born not created, equal to the Father in essence, by whom everything came to be.
For our sake, we people, and for our salvation, he came down from the heaven and took flesh from the Holy Spirit and from Mary the virgin, and became man. He was crucified in the time of Pilate the Nabatean, suffered and was buried, and rose on the third day as in the books, and ascended to the heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again with his body to judge the living and the dead, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
“And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who is worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the prophets.
“And in one universal holy apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and we await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. Amen.”
This is a written pact of conciliation upon disbelief, a treaty upon associating partners with Allah and a reconciliation between the contradictions of the Christians, may Allah disgrace them. The Messiah Isa son of Maryam عليه السلام is free of it and of them, and so are we. Allah said
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
“Guide us to the straight path, the path of those You have blessed, not of those who incur anger, and not of those who are astray.”(al Fatihah 6–7)
