3. Aal-i-Imraan

(He) Zachariah (said: My Lord) O my Lord! (Appoint a token for me) regarding my wife's pregnancy. ((The angel) said: The token unto thee) about your wife's pregnancy ((shall be) that thou shalt not speak) will not be able to speak (unto mankind three days) without being dumb (except by signs) by moving your lips, eyebrows, eyes and hands; it is also said: except by writing on the ground. (Remember your Lord) with your tongue and heart (much) in all circumstances, (and praise (Him) in the early hours of night and morning) pray in the morning and at night as you used to do.

(And when the angels) i.e. Gabriel (said: O Mary! Lo! Allah hath chosen thee) with Islam and worship (and made thee pure) from disbelief, the association of partners with Allah and blemishes; it is also said this means: He has saved you from being killed, (and hath preferred you above (all) the women of creation) of your time by the birth of Jesus.

(O Mary! Be obedient to thy Lord) as a token of gratitude to Him; it is also said this means: prolong your prayer as a token of gratitude to your Lord, (prostrate thyself and bow) meaning: and do also prostrate and bow (with those who bow (in worship)) with the people of worship.

(This) which I mentioned of the story of Mary and Zachariah (is of the tidings of things hidden) of the things that were unknown to you, O Muhammad. (We reveal it unto thee (Muhammad)) He says: We send Gabriel with it to you. (Thou wast not present with them) with the Rabbis (when they threw their pens) in the flow of water ((to know) which of them should be the guardian of Mary) to train her, (nor wast thou present with them when they quarrelled (thereupon)) each giving argument for his better claim to be Mary's guardian.

((And remember) when the angels) i.e. Gabriel (said: O Mary! Allah giveth you glad tidings of a Word from Him) of a son who shall come into being by means of a Word from Allah, (whose name is the Messiah) because he travels from one country to another; it is also said: the Messiah means the king, (Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world) he has standing and position amidst people in the life of this world (and the Hereafter) he has standing and position with Allah, (and one of those brought near) unto Allah in the Garden of Eden.

(He will speak unto mankind in his cradle) in the lap of his mother, saying: I am the servant of Allah and His Messiah (and in his manhood) after he reaches 30 years old, saying that he is a prophet, (and he is of the righteous) of the messengers.

(She said: My Lord!) Mary said to Gabriel: O master!: (How can I have a child) how is it possible for me to have a child (when no mortal hath touched me?) lawfully or unlawfully? (He) Gabriel (said: So (it will be)) as I have told you. (Allah createth what He will. If He decreeth a thing) if He wills to create a son from you without a father, (He saith unto it only: Be! and it is) a son without a father.

(And He will teach him the Scripture) the Scriptures of [past] prophets; as it is said: writing (and wisdom) the lawful and the prohibited; as it said this means: the wisdom of the prophets who preceded him, (and the Torah) in the womb of his mother (and the Gospel) after he came out of his mother's womb.

(And will make him a messenger) after the age of thirty (unto the Children of Israel), and when he went to them he said: (Lo! I come unto you with a sign) a token (from your Lord) for my prophethood. They said: what is this sign? He replied: (Lo! I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it) like the breathing of a sleeping person (and it is a bird) flying in the air, (by Allah's leave) by Allah's command. Then he fashioned for them a bat and when it became alive, they said: this is sorcery; do you have another sign? He said: yes, (I heal him who was born blind, and the leper) also, (and I raise the dead, by Allah's leave) by Allah's greatest Name: O Alive, the Eternal. And when he did this, they said: this is sorcery, do you have any other sign? He said: yes, (And I announce unto you what you eat) in the morning and at night (and what you store up in your houses) what you save from your lunch to dinner and from your dinner to the next day's lunch. (Lo! Herein) in that which I have told you (verily is a portent) a sign (for you, if ye are believers) who have faith.