and so that it might be known that all perfection belongs to Allah.

“I heal the blind and the leper”—that is, I cure them and restore them to health. They differed regarding the blind person: Ibn Abbas and Qatadah said that he is one born blind; al-Hasan and al-Suddi said that he is the blind person; Ikrimah said that he is one with weak sight; and Mujahid said that he is one who sees by day but not by night. “And the leper” means one afflicted with white patches. He singled out these two because they are both intractable illnesses. Medicine was predominant in the time of Jesus, peace be upon him, so he showed them a miraculous sign of the same kind.

Wahb said: As many as fifty thousand sick people would sometimes gather before Jesus, peace be upon him, in a single day. Whoever among them was able to reach him did so, and to whomever was unable, Jesus, peace be upon him, would go. He treated them by supplication, subject to the condition that they had faith.

Regarding His words, “And I give life to the dead by Allah’s permission”: Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, (1) said: He gave life to four persons: Lazarus, the old woman’s son, the tax collector’s daughter, and Shem, son of Noah. Lazarus was a friend of his. His sister sent word to Jesus, peace be upon him: “Your brother Lazarus is dying.” There was a journey of three days between them. So he and his companions came to him and found that he had been dead for three days. He said to his sister, “Take us to his grave.” She went with them to his grave, and he supplicated Allah Most High. Lazarus rose, with the fat of his body dripping, came out of his grave, lived on, and had children.

As for the old woman’s son, Jesus, peace be upon him, passed by him as he lay dead on a bier being carried. Jesus supplicated Allah, and the man sat up on his bier, climbed down from the men’s shoulders, put on his clothes, carried the bier on his own neck, and returned to his family. He lived on and had children.

As for the tax collector’s daughter, [her father] (2) was a man who collected tithes. His daughter had died the previous day. Jesus supplicated Allah [by His greatest name] (3), and [Allah Most High] (4) gave her life. She remained alive [for some time thereafter] (5) and had children. As for Shem, son of Noah, peace be upon him, Jesus, peace be upon him, came to his grave and invoked Allah’s greatest name. He emerged from his grave with half his head turned grey, out of fear that the Hour had begun. People did not turn grey in that time, so he asked, “Has the Resurrection begun?” Jesus said, “No, but I summoned you by Allah’s greatest name.” Then he said to him, “Die.” He replied, “On condition that Allah protect me from the agonies of death.” So he supplicated Allah, and He did so.

Regarding His words, “And I will tell you”: that is, I will inform you “of what you eat,” without having witnessed it, “and what you store up,” setting it aside, “in your houses” until you eat it. It was also said that he would tell ⦗58/b⦘ a man what he had eaten the day before, what he would eat that day, and what he had saved for supper.

Al-Suddi said: Jesus, peace be upon him, was in the elementary school, telling the boys what their fathers were doing. He would say to a boy, “Go home: your family has eaten such-and-such, and they have set aside such-and-such for you.” The child would then go to his family and weep until they gave him that thing. They would ask, “Who told you this?” He would reply, “Jesus.” So they kept their children away from him and said, “Do not play with this sorcerer.” They gathered the children in a house, and Jesus, peace be upon him, came looking for them. They said, “They are not here.” He asked, “What, then, is in this—”