Mary given the glad tidings of a son, The miraculous birth of Jesus and his speaking while still an infant in the cradle, His ministry.

Aal ’Imran Verses 42 - 54

وَإِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ وَاصْطَفَاكِ عَلَىٰ نِسَاءِ الْعَالَمِينَ

“And (recall O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) when said the Angels “O’ Mary! Verily, God hath chosen thee and purified1thee and chosen thee above the women of the worlds” (3:42).

يَا مَرْيَمُ اقْنُتِي لِرَبِّكِ وَاسْجُدِي وَارْكَعِي مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ

“O’ Mary! (for this great grace of thy Lord upon thee) be devout unto thy Lord and prostrate thyself and bow thee down (in prayers) with those who bow down (unto Him)” (3:43).

ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنْبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ ۚ وَمَا كُنْتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يُلْقُونَ أَقْلَامَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ يَكْفُلُ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا كُنْتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يَخْتَصِمُونَ

“This is of the news about the (things) unseen which We reveal2unto thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!)’, for thou wast not with them when they did cast their lots with their pens as to which of them should have the charge of Mary; nor wast thou with them when among themselves they disputed3“ (3:44).

إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ

“(Recall) (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) when said the Angels “O’ Mary! Verily, God giveth thee the glad tidings of a Word from Him; whose name shall be Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary4; illustrious5in this world and in the Hereafter and (shall be) of those near (to God”)” (3:45).

وَيُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا وَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ

“And6he shall speak to men (alike when) in cradle7and when aged; and (he shall be) of the righteous ones” (3:46).

قَالَتْ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ ۖ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ اللَّهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ إِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ

“Said8she “O’ My Lord! How can I have a son when, hath not touched me (any) man?” He9said “Even so doth God create whatsoever He willeth; When He decreeth a thing then He only saith unto it BE and it IS10“ (3:47).

وَيُعَلِّمُهُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ

“And11He12will teach13him the Book and the Wisdom, and the Torah and the Evangel14” (3:48).

وَرَسُولًا إِلَىٰ 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 الْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَأُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا تَأْكُلُونَ وَمَا تَدَّخِرُونَ فِي بُيُوتِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“And (appoint him) an Apostle to the children of Israel15(and who will declare) “that now I have come unto you with a sign from your Lord; Out of clay16will I make for you like the figure of a bird, and I will breathe into it, and it shall becomes flying bird by God’s permission; and I shall heal the blind and the leper and will raise the dead to life by God’s permission; and I will declare to you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses; Verily, in this will be a sign for you if ye (indeed) be believers.17“ (3:49).

وَمُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَلِأُحِلَّ لَكُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي حُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَجِئْتُكُمْ بِآيَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ

“And (I come) Confirming that which is before me of the Torah: and to allow you some of that which has been forbidden unto you: And I come unto you with a sign from your Lord: take shelter in God, and obey me” (3:50).

إِنَّ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ ۗ هَٰذَا صِرَاطٌ مُسْتَقِيمٌ

“Verily18God (HE) is my Lord and (also) your Lord: therefore worship (only) Him; This is the Right Path19“ (3:51).

فَلَمَّا أَحَسَّ عِيسَىٰ مِنْهُمُ الْكُفْرَ قَالَ مَنْ أَنْصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنْصَارُ اللَّهِ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ

“And when Jesus perceived disbelief on their part: said he, “Who are (there) to be my helpers towards God?” The disciples20said “We are the helpers (towards) God! We believe in God! and bear thou witness that we are the ‘Muslims’21unto Him” (3:52).

رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا بِمَا أَنْزَلْتَ وَاتَّبَعْنَا الرَّسُولَ فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاهِدِينَ

“(And prayed they22unto God saying) “O’ Our Lord! we believe in what Thou hast sent down and we follow the Apostle (Jesus); record us then with those who bear witness (unto him)” (3:53).

وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ

“And they (the Jews) planned, and God (also) planned and verily, God is the best of planners” (3:54).

Commentary

Verse 42

The distinction conferred upon Mary referred to in this verse, applies to her position among the women of only her own age. It is universally acknowledged by all Muslim scholars that the Holy Prophet had said that Mary was the most blessed or the choicest of the women of her own age, but my daughter Fatimah is the most blessed and the choicest of the women of all ages. None of the non-Shi’a commentators has touched this point in his notes.

The superiority of the position of Lady Fatimah to that of any woman including Mary, the mother of Jesus, is definitely established by the Holy Qur’an in Verse 33:33 by which the purity par excellence of the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt has been universally acknowledged23.

It may be asked how can anyone who has been definitely praised in the Holy Qur’an, be superseded by Lady Fatimah whose mention in the Holy Book of God has not been made openly. The answer is that the praise of Mary if studied duly in the context in which the praise became imperative, the fact will be disclosed. It became essential to praise Mary, to defend her chastity when her becoming the mother of Jesus without a husband, aroused all sorts of blasphemous doubts against her chastity, whereas the chastity of Lady Fatimah was a doubtless and unquestionable fact that there occurred no necessity at all to praise Fatimah, whose purity physical as well as spiritual was already recognized both by the friends and the foes alike.

It is referring to the unique and the matchless position of Fatimah, the great poet Iqbal says: -

“Maryam az ek nisbate Eesa Aziz

Az se nisbat Hazrate Zahra Aziz”

Revered is Mary for only being related to Jesus, for three relationships is Zahra (Fatimah) revered.

“Noore Chushme Rahmatun lil-Aalameen

On Imame Awwaleen wa Aakhareen”

The Beloved Daughter she is of the Mercy unto the worlds (the Holy Prophet) Who is the Leader of the foregone and the subsequent generations.

Banue e On Taj dare Hal’ata

Murtuza, Mushkil Kusha, Shere Khuda.

Wife she is of the one distinguished by Hal-ata (The Holy Imam Ali). God’s Chosen one, The Divine Helper, the Lion of God.

Maadare On Markaze Parkaar e Ishq

Maadare On Karvan Saalaare Ishq.

The Mother of the Pivot of the Divine Love (the Holy Imam Hasan and Husayn). The Mother of the Leader of the Caravan of Love. (Husayn - from whom started the successive line of the other nine Holy Imams - Husayn the Chief of the Martyrs of Karbala. (Dr. Iqbal’s Quran & Iqbal).

Three questions arise: -

1. The justification for the repetition of ‘istafake’?

2. In what sense Mary has been given the superiority over the women of the worlds and How this would be reconciled with the well-known tradition of the Holy Prophet about Syyeda Fatimah Zahra declaring her as the Chief of the ladies of the worlds?

3. Why Mary was honoured by being mentioned by her name as a chosen and a purified lady and Fatimah was not mentioned by her name.

Before answering the questions one by one, the saying of the Fifth Holy Imam Muhammad Ibn Ali Al-Baqir commenting on this passage needs to be viewed: -

He says that God selected ‘thee’ (i.e., Mary) out of the descendants of the prophets; and purified (saved) ‘thee’ (Mary) against fornication, and selected ‘thee’ (Mary) for the birth of Jesus without a male partner. This shows that the distinction mentioned in the verse is in a restricted sense for a definite purpose and not general.

Question 1. The first ‘istefake’ means the selection from the seed of the apostolic lineage which is common to Mary and Fatimah.

Question 2. Mary is only the chosen one to become the mother of a Prophet without a male partner. In this regard there is no match for her, but Fatimah has been honoured to be: -

1. The daughter of the Last Prophet in the seed of Abraham.

2. The wife of an Imam who is next only to the Holy Prophet in all respects as of one and the same Divine Light; and the mother of eleven holy Imams of the same grade and of the same Divine Light with the Last one through whom the Divine will and Justice shall prevail on earth, and the son of Mary, (Jesus) to follow him. In this distinction Fatimah has no match at all.

3. The Jewish accusation against Mary needed an open defence by mentioning her name but in the case of Fatimah there was no such need at all and hence the honour of an absolute purification was conferred not only on her but on every member of the Family of which she is either the daughter, the wife, or the mother24 (referring to Fatimah, her father, her husband and her issues). (A.P.)

(It is to this unique position of Fatimah that Iqbal refers in the first verse quoted above).

Verse 43

Mary enjoined by God to pray along with the praying ones, i.e., to be among those devoted to God.

Verse 44

‘Al-Ghaib’, i.e., things unseen, mystic, spiritual, something unknown or unknowable through the sources of the corrupted and tampered extracts of the scriptures like the books of the Jews and the Christians. A knowledge that could come only through some mystic source like the revelation. Nothing could be received from such unreliable records with any certainty of the information being correct or incorrect. The Holy Prophet could not have known about what happened about the contest for the honour of receiving the charge of Mary. But for the revelation he could not have known the event with the vividness he gives as if he was by the side of those who cast the lots. This signifies that the knowledge that the Holy Prophet possessed was not that which he learned from any source other than the direct revelation from God.

It is related from the Fifth Holy Imam Muhammad al Baqir that as casting was done for Lady Mary, the mother of Jesus, and a similar casting was done for Abdullah son of Abdul Muttalib the grandfather of the Holy Prophet. Abdul-Muttalib had nine sons, he had vowed that if the 10th son is born, he would sacrifice him in the name of God. When Abdullah was born to Abdul Muttalib, he was the 10^th son and Abdul Muttalib decided to sacrifice his new son in whose seed The Holy Prophet had to be born. The people somehow made Abdul Muttalib agree to cast lots to sacrifice camels in the place of the baby Abdullah. The lot began with the camels, but the lot fell in the name of Abdullah. Ten more camels were added to the number of the camels and yet the lot fell to Abdullah. Every time the lot fell to Abdullah ten more camels were added to the number of the animals. At last, the lot with too camels fell to the animals and Abdullah had to be spared from being sacrificed but Abdul-Muttalib was reluctant and said that he would cast the lots again. Thrice the lot was cast and all the three times the lot fell to the camels. Then Abdul Muttalib said that he was satisfied that God wants the baby Abdullah to be spared from the sacrifice. The Holy Prophet used to say ‘I am the son of the two sacrifices’, i.e., Ismail son of Abraham and Abdullah son of Abdul Muttalib.

Here is a clear assertion of the fact that God informs His Prophet of the unseen event, unknown to him through the common means of knowledge, and it does not contradict with the passage which asserts that the Prophets, do not know the unseen and what is not obtainable through the usual common means of knowledge. Those passages indicate that prophets do not know of their own accord. Here and in many similar passages assertion is made that God informs his prophets of the unseen and they know through revelation as much as He wills. Otherwise the statement of the prophets regarding the unseen genetic process in the past and the unseen events and the situations that are going to take place in the world hereafter, should not be known to them, though all come under the category of ‘Ghaib’ i.e., the unseen.

This points out that not only in the case of the events unobtainable by ordinary means, the Holy Prophet depended on revelation but in the ordinary routine also he depended on what is revealed to him. (A.P.)

Verse 45

‘Kalimah’, i.e., word25.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad has been called ‘Zikr’, i.e., a Reminder or a Sermon26.

‘Al-Masih’ - The title of Jesus - meaning the Anointed, i.e., the Divinely Blessed.

The Ahmadi commentator purposefully interprets the word ‘Masih’ as the one who travels much. This is only to establish the Ahmadi contention about Jesus, that he, after escaping the crucifixion, travelled to Kashmir.

Since there is no mention of the name of Jesus’ father in the Holy Qur’an, a commentator wants to assign a father to Jesus to deny his immaculate birth. Since a modem claimant to Christhood was an ordinary man born of ordinary parents, instead of scrutinising his claim in view of the heavenly excellence of the True Christ, the reverse course of a negative approach to the question has been adopted, i.e., of bringing down Jesus to the level of the claimant, for the claimant can by no means be raised to the divine height of the True Jesus, and thus Jesus having an immaculate birth, of a virgin mother is denied.

As said before there are some who do not relish any miracle being wrought by any prophet or any chosen one of God because some hero of theirs could not enact any such things in support of his own assumption.

If God’s power is also to be limited by man’s reasoning, what could be said about the advent of Adam and Eve without both father and mother. In the same course of their own logic the deniers of miracles might one day find a father for God also, denying the essential existence of a ‘Wajib al-Wajood’, i.e., the ultimate cause of the causes.

‘Minal Muqarrabeen27‘ wherein it is clearly asserted the inclusion of a group of the righteous ones preceding the Holy Prophet in the rank of those who are foremost in their submission and the others nearer to God, along with a small number of these righteous ones who follow the Holy Prophet which means the inclusion of all their ‘Ausia’, i.e., their vicegerents, preceding the Holy Prophet who are greater in number in comparison to the post-prophetic period which is confined to the holy number of Fourteen. (A.P.)

Verse 46

One of the commentators, does not regard the speaking of Jesus while a Baby in the cradle as any miracle. He somehow wants to deny Jesus even the least extraordinary gift from God because no such grace of God could ever be assigned to some self-made Christ. First of all the prattling of a child in the cradle can never be called or compared to the speaking of a fully grown human being, even drat of an apostle of God. Secondly, if the event was that of the ordinary speaking of a child, there was no necessity of its being mentioned at all. Does any ordinary thing which always takes place in the usual course of the nature need any special mention at all, connected with a specially distinguished gift from God and the life of a prophet from Him.

The old age refers to the second advent of Jesus when he would naturally be in an advanced age in which it would be practically an impossibility for the individual to talk with the same sense of prophetic wisdom. It means the divine gift would uniformly continue irrespective of the peculiarities of the changing age.

Besides his usual way of denying the prophets in general and Christ in particular, of any miracles attached to their lives, the Ahmadi commentator’s note here is an insult to the Holy Qur’an as the Word of God, and to the literary world. It is very surprising that he should betray his dishonesty so openly and ridiculously reducing him to open vulgarity. He could easily say that he did not believe in the Qur’an. It would have been considered decent and fair on his part if he had openly confessed his disbelief in what the Holy Qur’an asserts, saying: - ‘This is what the Holy Qur’an says, and I do not believe in it’ instead of such a vulgar distortion of the facts.

‘Be Kalimatin’ ...28

Verse 47

‘Anna’ - the wonder or surprise expressed by Mary is similar to that of Zachariah in Verse 40.

‘Lum Yamsas ni’ - Clearly indicates that the prophecy or the tidings about the birth of Jesus was given in her virginity, and the event was definitely meant to take place without the agency of any male partner to Mary, i.e., something against the ordinary natural course, necessary for a virgin to become a mother.

The Ahmadi commentator in his search for some room or other to accommodate his denial of miracles and to deny Jesus in his immaculate virgin birth, starts arguing saying that the Holy Qur’an does not mention the name of Mary’s husband. Why Holy Qur’an does not mention the name of Mary’s husband and why such an argument is advanced, the reason is given in the note to the preceding verse. The Ahmadi commentator starts contending that Mary had other children also. Mary’s having other sons is yet to be proved. And if Mary had to bear one son through the ordinary natural course to serve the object of God, there could be no purpose in the announcement of the birth beforehand even that in the state of her virginity unless it was to avoid the natural scare on the part of the Lady in her suddenly passing from virginity to motherhood without the natural causative factor of her union with a husband. And where was the necessity at all of expressing the event if that was the ordinary matter of the natural course, as an ease for the Lord to effect it, unless there was the necessity to counter the surprise or the apprehension against its possibility.

Again, what could be said of the angel saying in Verses 19:17-22 that he would give the virgin the boy which clearly means that the gift is not from the ordinary natural course but from High above. A perverted mind determined to some purposeful corruption in a statement, will never fail to argue in some way or the other, to justify its stand and will always be in a perpetual search for occasions to play its role.

However, the context shows beyond doubt that ‘Anna’ here also means ‘Hom’ and there is no room for ‘when’. According to the Islamic tradition, Mary the virgin mother of Jesus, did not meet any male before or after the birth of Jesus and she remained a virgin in the sense, till her departure from this world, refer to 66:12 which clearly declares that she had been kept away from sexual intercourse and the birth of Jesus had been by a miraculous process of the flow of the Holy Spirit into her womb.

The Ahmadi view of Mary having children other than Jesus is based on the four canonical gospels, which are unauthentic and a baseless folklore and is of no value in the face of the revealed statement of the Holy Qur’an.

‘Kazalika Yaqluqu ma Yasha’ i.e. ‘This is how createth (the Lord) as He willeth. Here is a brief reference to the process of creation in which the principal active factor is His Will and His Command. Hazrat Ali explains that God’s saying ‘Kun’ i.e., Be, is not the sound effecting the ear, not a voice to be heard. His Word is, His Work done by Him.

In this sense every creature is the outcome of His creative word or the manifestation of the imperative word ‘Kun’ - i.e., ‘BE.’ Hence every creature is the Word of God. The difference between word and word is in regard to the comprehensiveness in presenting His attitude and excellence - Vide our notes. (A.P.)

Verse 48

‘Yu’allimuhul Kitab’ - i.e. He (alone i.e., God Himself) will teach him (Jesus) the Book and Wisdom, and Torah (The Law) and the Evangel. A question arises as to when did Jesus receive the education promised in this verse. It cannot but be unquestionably acknowledged that Jesus was sent into this world with the knowledge of the Book, Wisdom, and the knowledge of Torah and the Evangel. If Jesus the forerunner of the Holy Prophet had his knowledge and wisdom with him from his very conception, what about the Holy Prophet? Could it be reasonably imagined that the Holy Prophet Muhammad whose advent had been continuously promised by God from ages long before the advent of Jesus, and even before the prophecy about Jesus’ advent was made, or at least as early as the days of Moses (Deut. 18/15, 18/19) about whom Jesus himself declares designating him as the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, be an ignorant being like any one of us and earn his knowledge through the agency of mortals like us:

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; (Deut 18/15)

“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. (Deut 18/18)

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I mil require it of him.’’ (Deut. 18/19).

To have any such imagination would be betraying our own imaginative power and every common sense. Can there be any sense in any report about the Holy Prophet’s getting frightened at the sight of the Messenger Angel on the Mount Hira, his returning home mortally scared, his being consoled or encouraged by his wife lady Khadija, and the worst of all, his being introduced to his own apostleship by Waraqa bin Nawfil, a Jewish convert to Christianity, and his being informed that what he (the Holy Prophet) saw was the Angel and not a devil. (God save us from such satanic straying).

Refer to 55:1-4 i.e., it was the Beneficent God alone and none else that taught (the Book) to the Holy Prophet who has been designated as a MAN meaning the ideal or divinely perfected model man to be copied by everyone desirous to be a real human. It will suffice here to quote what the Holy Prophet himself says: -

“Kunto Nabiyan wa Adama Bainal Ma al-Wat teen”

i.e., I was a prophet when Adam was yet amidst water and the clay

(i.e., when Adam had not yet been fashioned - or given a physical form). - Hadith

This verse is a sufficient and a silencing reply to every one’s doubts about the miraculous personality of Jesus, the apostle of God, who was born as a miracle, to live a godly life against the Jewish hypocrisy and corruption, and to bear the glad tidings of the advent of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, the last of the Apostles of God, who had to be the Final Warner to mankind conveying the Final Word of God, the Holy Qur’an. The attention of the reader is invited to Verse 19:29. This verse presents Jesus as a ‘Muta’allim’, i.e., a student, who was taught the Book of Wisdom, the Torah and Evangel by the Divine Agency and sent to the children of Israel as an apostle, whereas the Last Prophet is presented as one sent by God to those born of women ‘Ummi’ as an apostle to recite to them God’s signs, to purify them and then to teach them. It includes all who have been born of women not only of the children of Israel, the Arabs or the Persians or any other people. This includes all the prophets who have been sent with the limited mission, even Jesus himself who himself says: “I have yet many things to say unto you” Etc., John 16/12 (A.P.)

Verse 49

‘Rasoolan ila Bani Israel’ - i.e., an apostle to the children of Israel, i.e., the Jews. The same position has been claimed by Jesus in Math. 15/22-24:

“And, behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me O’ Lord, thou son of David’, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.’

“But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us.

“But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

“Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me.

“But he answered and said: It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.’’ Math, 15/22

Jesus also commanded his disciples to go only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel:29

“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”30

The miracle of turning of two toy birds into real ones is an event of Jesus’ boyhood. Once when Jesus was still a boy, playing with two toy-birds and it was a Sabbath day. The Jews complained to Joseph. When Joseph approached Jesus to rebuke him, Jesus let the toy-birds loose commanding them to fly away, and off they flew, and the whole crowd was stunned with wonder.31 There are many such miracles wrought by Jesus.

It is stated that once Jesus, in his boyhood in a dyer’s house dipped all the clothes which had to be dyed in the different colours, in one potful of indigo colour. The dyer being shocked at the action, raised shouts of anger and agony. Jesus said “why dost thou get perturbed? I shall get you the clothes out of this same pot, in any colour you want” and he brought each cloth from the same pot of indigo, dyed in the various colours as the dyer went on desiring each of it to be dyed into (F.A.) Jesus curing the lepers and raising the dead with the permission of God, has been reported by the Christian as well as the Muslim authorities:32

“And as he entered into a certain village there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off”

“And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus Master, have mercy on us”

“And when he saw them, he said unto them Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed”33

“He said unto them Give place: for the maid is not dead hut sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

“But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand and the maid arose”34

Whatever be their position with our brethren of the Christian church, it cannot be denied that the received Gospels do not give whole of the life-reading of Jesus, and books of the Old and the New Testaments contain nothing but the collection of some distracted bits of distorted scriptural writings by different persons of different ages, based wholly upon the memory of the people and also upon the folklore which can never be free from the dominating influences of bias, pride and prejudice of the various religious sects, the Jewish and the Christian camps which were ever hostile to each other, each throwing dust upon the other and each group coining the worst blasphemies to paint and present the other, in the worst form possible, glorifying themselves and their own heroes with all sorts of fabricated fabulous legends of their own righteousness. Hence simply because any miracle or event the like of it is not to be found in the Old or the New Testament, it can never be reasonably rejected.

The miracle of turning water into wine for a marriage party is said to be the first miracle of Jesus. First of all, no sensible man or woman can ever imagine that an apostle of God supplying a nasty, demoralising stuff as wine, even that as a miracle which infers as a direct act of God. The use of the spirituous liquor may not have been forbidden by the law prevalent then but to provide it by a miracle is nothing short of commencing its use for all times for whatever the All-Wise Providence deemed as good for use, it can never be declared by anyone else as bad. The Christian missionaries preaching temperance now will obviously be against the expressed will of their god.

Secondly, it is unimaginable that an apostle of God like Jesus to rebuke and address his own mother as reported: “Woman what have Ito do with thee?” It is surprising how the people of the Christian Church swallow such unbecoming legends of Jewish folklore about their god. In view of these and many such unbelievable damaging tales diametrically opposed to the holy personality of the great Prophet Jesus, one has to helplessly declare that the books of the Old and the New Testaments are an admixture of true and false stories. It is the Holy Qur’an, the traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the Holy Imams that present the Holy Apostle Jesus as the Holy Spirit of God and an infallible apostle of the Lord.

Now as regards working of miracles something should essentially be said. It is not that Jesus alone was vested with such powers. Every apostle of God was armed with this power to convince the people in the primitive stages when logical arguments could not effectively appeal to the yet to be developed human intellect.

Jesus particularly had to necessarily show miracle after miracle to earn the confidence of his people in his really being an apostle of God, for two reasons: -

1. A man of a mysterious birth, which was deemed suspicious by his people as a whole, could never have expected to be listened to, by any section of the people; much less to be believed in, as an apostle of God.

2. His people believed more in witchcraft than in any other kind of appeal to their intellect or reasoning.

Whereas the Holy Prophet, though possessing the power to work any of the miracles wrought by any of his predecessor apostles of God, needed the least to resort to miracles, for it is no glory or greatness to force a belief or canvass confidence in one’s personality by something beyond reasoning. The Holy Prophet had: -

1. The unquestionable nobility of his birth in the direct line of the great Prophet, Prophet Abraham.

2. The stamp of his matchless and ideal character, conduct, truthfulness, and trustworthiness which have earned for him the voluntary title of ‘Al-Ameen’, i.e., the Trusted, even before the regular start of his ministry.

3. He had been granted a perpetual miracle, the Holy Book revealed to him, which was an open and ever current challenge for all times to the world of human intellect as a whole:

وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

“And if ye be in doubt concerning that which we reveal unto our slave (Muhammad), then produce a surah of the like thereof, and call your witnesses beside Allah if ye be truthful” (2:23).

فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَنْ تَفْعَلُوا فَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ ۖ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَ

“And if ye do it not-and ye can never do it-then guard yourselves against the Fire prepared for disbelievers, whose fuel are men and stones” (2:24).

4. His mission was to call unto the way of the Lord, not by the force of wonder-striking performances but by wisdom and sweet speech, appealing to the good sense of reasoning intellect:

دْعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ ۖ وَجَادِلْهُمْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ ضَلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ ۖ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ

“Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and reason with them in the best way Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who go aright” (16:125).

Otherwise, whenever necessary, the Holy Prophet and his immediate successors, the Holy Imams, could work any miracle, or the miracles of the kind shown by the other apostles of God, and they actually did work such miracles as and when they deemed desirable. There are innumerable miracles which the Holy Prophet and the Holy Imams worked.

The Ahmadi commentator consistently interprets every miracle of every prophet into a parable or a figure and advances arguments of his own, extending sometimes to pages together.

It is absurd to say that God sent a person of such a unique calibre who did not know reading or writing, to remain ignorant for forty years. The tradition of such a nature, if there be any, should be thrown away as invalid in the face of the Holy Qur’an and reasoning, in the same way as we have rejected the biblical tradition that Mary had children other than Jesus. The Holy Qur’an clearly declares that ‘Rahman’, i.e., the Beneficent Lord Himself taught the ‘Rahmantun lil Aalameen’ (i.e., the Mercy unto the worlds) i.e., the Holy Prophet Muhammad, in the process of the creation itself, giving him at the same time the power or the faculty of reception and expression35.

We hardly need to refute the Ahmadi commentator’s distorting effort to deny the miracles given to Jesus, by God. The point to be noted here is that though the ultimate agent and authority, in whatever form takes place in the realm of creation and legislation, is God the Absolute, yet it is allowed to attribute action to the secondary or the subordinate agencies which have been empowered by Him. It is not incorrect, neither a blasphemy on the part of Jesus to say, ‘I create for you a bird’ and ‘I cure the dumb and leper’, ‘I bring the dead to life’ by His permission. On the other hand, to deny any creatures of the quality or the properties or of the power granted to it by God, is blasphemy. God has given honey the curative property36. Where is the wonder if it gives curative property to the dust (Khake-Shifa) of the grave of a devotee of His, Husayn, who has surrendered his all in His way. The only question is to find out from the authentic source, what has been given to whom, by Him. (A.P.).

Verse 50

Indicate that Jesus had no new message other than what had already been delivered by Moses. He had come to renew faith in the only true God.

Jesus, confirming the previous revelations, asserts the exercise of his own authority to repeal some of the prohibitory orders and restrictions already imposed on them. This shows that Jesus had actually repealed some of the laws of Torah but in the present Bible, is narrated that Jesus said that mountains may move but not a word from the Torah (the Law) shall be removed:

However, the present gospels fail to show any legislation confirming or repealing the previous laws while Qur’an asserts Jesus as a Law-giver Prophet. Thus, Jesus’s expectance of obedience from the people itself suggests that he had some orders or laws for them other titan what they already had. Furthermore, Jesus’ suggesting the right path to be adhered to, is not in adhering to a particular rule or legislation but in obeying God, in the compliance of the laws issued by Him. Hence, whoever obeys the laws laid down by the succeeding prophets has actually obeyed the preceding ones, and whoever adheres to what is laid down by the preceding ones discarding those of the succeeding one, has rejected all (i.e., rejected the preceding one also). The same is true of the orders of the prophets, the Last one is to be taken and the same is the case with the carrying out of the orders of God. If one obeys Him throughout his life but disobeys or revolts against His orders in the last moment of his life, he Will be branded with curse as ‘Iblees’ was done. On the contrary if one concludes or closes his life in obedience to Him, his past life will be washed off by the closing repentance of the reformed individual. (A.P.)

Verse 52

‘Kufr’ or the disbelief on the part of the Jews as a result of which they had determined to kill Jesus. ‘Hawari’ (i.e., Witness) refers to the disciples of Jesus who usually dressed in white garments or referring to the purity of their heart or those who were deputed by Jesus to go and preach the purity of faith in God and to give the bath of Baptism to the converts.

‘Man Ansari’ This corroborates with the identical event of the ‘Dawate Asheera’... where like Jesus, Muhammad, the Last Prophet of God, when he too felt the adamance of the people, invited the men, the leaders of the Quraysh, asking them as to who among them would like to undertake to help him in his mission to be his heir, his brother, his assistant, the executor of his will and to succeed him as his vicegerent after him, to which none responded but Ali whom the Holy Prophet, then and there declared to be his Heir, his Brother, his Assistant, the Executor of his will and his Successor after him, and Ali also proved faithful and true to his undertaking throughout his life.

Here the devoted disciples pray to God to be included with the witnesses. In the passage 11:17 Qur’an declares next to the Holy Prophet the presence of a witness who is of him (the Holy Prophet), which cannot be but Ali who has been presented in the Qur’an in the verse 3:61 regarding the Historic ‘Mubahila,’ as identical with the Holy Prophet where the Holy Prophet had declared ‘Ali is of me and I am of Ali’ to the extent Bukhari puts this in the headlines when he deals with Ali’s testimony to his unique status (vide Sahih Bukhari Chap. Manaqib). (A.P.)

Verse 54

‘Makr’ means gaining an object against another contestant for it, through a device not known to the opponent or a device or plan used by one to gain an object contested for, which did not strike the other contestant. The device may be for an evil purpose, in which case it is condemnable and if that be a wholesome purpose, it is natural and commendable. The Jews devised to kill Jesus and God through His own device rescued him.

A similar but unsuccessful attempt was made by the hypocrites on the life of the Holy Prophet on his return journey from ‘Tabuk’ and also on his return after the Hajjat ul-Wida but the evil device was divinely frustrated. (A.P.)

Hozaifa the trusted companion of the Holy Prophet knew the names of the members of the plot to kill the Holy Prophet. Many prominent companions of the Holy Prophet used to repeatedly ask Hozaifa if their name was there in the list of the hypocrites, the members of the plot. (A.P.)

• 1. Includes the clearing of the doubts or the Jewish allegations against her, through the Holy Qur’an and through the Holy Prophet See note. 362, 363
• 2. The knowledge which the Holy Prophet possessed was that which was revealed to him by the Lord and not acquired from anyone in this World. Refer to: 53: 3; 53:4.
• 3. Refer to: 3:38; 19:8; 66:12; 4:171.
• 4. Note Jesus is called by God Himself as the son of the Virgin Mary as he was given birth without a male partner to his mother.
• 5. Prominent.
• 6. Refer to: 5:110; 19:29; 19:30.
• 7. While still a baby, as a miracle.
• 8. Refer to: 3:40; 66:12; 19:17-22.
• 9. God.
• 10. Comes into existence.
• 11. Refer to: 5:110.
• 12. God.
• 13. This indicates that the apostles are taught by God Himself and not by anyone else.
• 14. Ar. ‘Injeel’ - The Scripture given to Jesus. Refer to: 5:110.
• 15. Refer to: Math 22/26
• 16. Refer to: 2:260.
• 17. Note: If Jesus an apostle sent only to a part of mankind, the children of Israel, could work out such miracles, what power the last of the apostles of God sent to mankind as a whole, should possess and what is that he could not do - All the miracles given to the other apostles were in totality given to the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Let the materialist note.
• 18. Jesus preached only the unity of God and so did the ancient Scriptures - not Trinity. James 2/19, John 20/17, Tim 2/5, 17, Jude 25, Ed 2/3, Duet 6/4, Ed 6/3, Is 44/6, Jer 10/10, Isa 42/8 44/8, Math 19/17, Mark 12/29. Refer to: 61:14.
• 19. To God - to salvation.
• 20. The puritans - true believers.
• 21. Those who have Submitted themselves (to God).
• 22. Faithful devotees of God.
• 23. PR. Mishkatul-Masabih-Babul-Manqib.
• 24. Vide 33:33.
• 25. Refer to Verse 3:39.
• 26. Refer to Verse 65:10 (M.S., U.B., and S.).
• 27. Refer to: 56:10-14.
• 28. See note to Verse 39. (A.P.)
• 29. Math. 10/5
• 30. Math 10/5.
• 31. B.H. Vol. II.
• 32. (M.S.) Luke 17/12 and Math. (24 & 25).
• 33. Luke 17/12-14.
• 34. Math. 9/24 and 25.
• 35. Refer to: 55:1-4.
• 36. Refer to: 16:68.