Thus, exalted is He, recounted the story of Mary and the Messiah in two chapters of the Quran. One of them is Meccan, revealed at the very dawn of the mission together with the surahs that lay down the fundamentals of the faith—namely Surah Kaf-Ha-Ya-ʿAyn-Sad (Maryam). The other is Medinan, sent down after the command to migrate and to fight, and for that reason it includes the debate with the People of the Scripture and the challenge of mutual imprecation (mubāhala) with them, just as their combat is mentioned in Surah Barāʾah.

In the Meccan surah He relates that when she withdrew in seclusion for worship, Allah sent to her His Spirit, who appeared to her as a well-proportioned man. She said, “Indeed I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing” ⦗Maryam 18⦘.

Abu Wāʾil said: She understood that a God-fearing person possesses restraint—that is, his piety keeps him back from indecency. Fearing that his intention might be an act of immorality, she therefore said, “I seek refuge …”