3. Aal-i-Imraan

When they said ‘We only worship idols out of our love for God that they might bring us close to Him’ the following was revealed Say O Muhammad (s) ‘If you love God follow me and God will love you meaning that He will reward you and forgive you your sins; God is Forgiving as regards the sins committed previously by one who now follows me; Merciful to him.

Say to them ‘Obey God and the Messenger’ as regards the belief in the Oneness of God which he enjoins upon you. But if they turn their backs if they object to obedience God loves not the disbelievers meaning that He will chastise them the third person pronominalisation ‘they’ is replaced by the overt noun ‘the disbelievers’.

Lo! God preferred He has chosen Adam and Noah and the House of Abraham and the House of ‘Imrān meaning He preferred their selves sc. Abraham and ‘Imrān above the worlds by making prophethood reside in them and their progeny

the seed of one offspring from another of them; God is Hearer Knower.

And when she gave birth to her a girl and she had been hoping for a boy since only males were consecrated to the service of God she said apologetically ‘O Lord I have given birth to a female’ — and God knew very well what she had given birth to a parenthetical statement constituting God’s speech a variant reading for wada‘at ‘she gave birth’ has wada‘tu ‘I gave birth’ making these Hanna’s words sc. ‘and God knows very well what I have given birth to’; the male that she had asked for is not as the female that was bestowed upon her because he is designed for the service of God while she would not be suitable on account of her lesser physical ability her private parts the effects of menstruation on her and so on. ‘And I have named her Mary and commend her to You with her seed her children to protect them from the accursed the outcast Satan’. In a hadīth it is stated ‘Every new-born is touched by Satan and begins life by crying except for Mary and her son’ as reported by the two Shaykhs Bukhārī and Muslim.

Her Lord accepted the child that is He received Mary from her mother with gracious acceptance and made her grow excellently He made her grow up with excellent character. She would grow in a day by as much as a new-born grew during a year. Her mother took her to the priests the keepers of the Holy House of Jerusalem and said ‘This here before you is the dedication I offered’. They competed for guardianship of her because she was the daughter of their religious leader at which point Zachariah said ‘I am most worthy of her for her maternal aunt lives with me’. The others said ‘No not until we have cast lots’. Thus all twenty nine of them departed to the River Jordan where they cast their quills agreeing that the one whose quill remained fast and floated to the surface of the water would be most worthy of being guardian over her. Zachariah’s quill remained fast and surfaced. He took charge of her and built for her a gallery-room with a ladder in the temple and none apart from him went up to her. He used to bring her food drink and oil and would find her with summer fruits in winter and winter fruits in summer just as God says and Zachariah took charge of her he took her to him a variant reading of kafalahā ‘he took charge of her’ is kaffalahā ‘He God gave Zachariah charge of her’ with Zakariyyā’ or Zakariyyā in the accusative and ‘God’ as the subject of the verb. Whenever Zachariah went into the sanctuary that is the room the most noble seat in the temple where she was he found her with provisions. ‘O Mary’ he said ‘Whence comes this to you?’ She still very young said ‘From God He sends it to me from Paradise’ ‘Truly God provides abundant provision for whomever He will without reckoning’ without consequence.

Then when Zachariah had seen this and realised that the One with power to bring something about in other than its natural time is able to bring about a child in old age and with those of his family line all deceased Zachariah prayed to his Lord when he entered the sanctuary to pray in the middle of the night saying ‘Lord bestow upon me from You a goodly offspring a righteous son verily You are the Hearer of You are the One Who answers supplication’.

And the angels namely Gabriel called to him standing in the sanctuary in the temple at worship that anna means bi-anna; a variant reading has inna implying a direct speech statement ‘God gives you good tidings read yubashshiruka or yubshiruka of John who shall confirm a Word being from God namely Jesus that he is God’s Spirit; he is referred to as God’s ‘Word’ because he was created through the word kun ‘Be’; a lord with a following and one chaste forbidden from women and a prophet of the righteous’ it is said that he never sinned and never so intended.

He said ‘My Lord! How shall I have a boy a son when old age has overtaken me that is after I have reached extreme old age 120 years old; and my wife is barren?’ having reached the age of 98. He said ‘So it the matter will be’ with God creating a boy from both of you. ‘God does what He will’ nothing can prevent Him therefrom and in order to manifest this great power he was inspired with the question so that he would be answered through it this great power. And when his soul longed for the swift fulfilment of that of which good tidings had been given