Although she had always been regarded among her people as one of the devout, ascetic worshippers—ever present in the sanctuary, secluded there in constant retreat, and descending from a household of prophethood and piety—this ordeal weighed upon her so heavily that she wished she had died before it or had been “a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten,” that is, never created at all.

Concerning His words, “Then he called to her from beneath her” (Maryam 19:24)—another recitation reads “from beneath her” with a kasrah—there are two opinions about the unidentified caller. The first is that it was Gabriel, as related by al-ʿAwfī from Ibn ʿAbbās, who added: “Jesus spoke only in the presence of the people.” The same view was held by Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, al-Ḍaḥḥāk, al-Suddi, and Qatādah. Mujāhid, al-Hasan, Ibn Zayd, and—according to another report—Saʿīd ibn Jubayr maintained that it was her son Jesus, and this is the opinion preferred by Ibn Jarīr.

As for the phrase, “Do not grieve; your Lord has placed beneath you a sarīyy” (19:24), the meaning is: he called to her, saying, “Do not grieve; your Lord has set beneath you a flowing stream.” Most scholars understand sarīyy to mean a brook; a ḥadīth transmitted by al-Ṭabarānī—though weak—supports this, and it is also the view favored by Ibn Jarīr, which is the sound position. Al-Hasan, al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, Ibn Aslam, and others said that sarīyy refers to her infant son, yet the first interpretation is stronger because the verse continues: “Shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward you; it will drop fresh ripe dates upon you. So eat and drink and be comforted” (19:25–26), joining both food and drink.

It is said that the palm trunk was dry; others say the tree was already fruit-bearing. Allah knows best. A plausible reconciliation is that it was indeed a palm-tree but not bearing fruit at that moment, for his birth occurred in winter, which is not the season for dates. This may be inferred from the gracious wording, “it will drop upon you fresh ripe dates.” ʿAmr ibn Maymūn remarked, “Nothing is better for a woman in childbirth than dates and ripe fruit,” and then recited this verse.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrates—through ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, Shaybān, Musrūr ibn Saʿīd al-Tamīmī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī, and ʿUrwah ibn Ruwaym—from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Honor your aunt, the date-palm, for it was created from the clay out of which Adam was created, and no other tree is pollinated as it is.” He, peace and blessings be upon him, also said: “Feed your women in childbirth fresh dates; if fresh dates are not available, then dried dates.”