“You do not know what they introduced after you.” (1)

Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan, Mujahid, and al-Suddi said: The Day of Resurrection will have terrors and upheavals so severe that hearts will be displaced from their proper places. The messengers will be terrified by the horror of that Day and will be too overwhelmed to answer. Then, once they regain their senses, they will testify concerning their communities.

His saying, exalted is He, “When Allah said, ‘O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My favor upon you’”: al-Hasan said: Remembering a blessing means giving thanks for it. By His saying, “My favor,” He means: My favors. (2) The word is singular, while its meaning is plural, as in His saying, exalted is He: “If you were to count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them.” “And upon your mother,” Mary. He then mentioned these favors, saying: “When I strengthened you”—that is, gave you strength—“with the Holy Spirit,” meaning Gabriel, peace be upon him; “you spoke to people,” that is, and you spoke to people, “in the cradle,” as a child, “and in maturity,” as a prophet. Ibn Abbas said: He was sent as a messenger at the age of thirty, remained in his mission for thirty months, and then Allah raised him up to Himself. “When I taught you the Book,” meaning writing, “and wisdom,” meaning knowledge and understanding, “and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you created,” that is, made and fashioned, “from clay the form of a bird,” like the shape of a bird, “by My leave; then you breathed into it, and it became a bird”—alive and flying—“by My leave; and you healed,” that is, cured, “the blind from birth and the leper by My leave; and when you brought forth the dead” from their graves alive, “by My leave; and when I restrained,” that is, prevented and turned away, “the Children of Israel,” meaning the Jews, “from harming you,” when they intended to kill you, “when you came to them with clear proofs,” meaning signs and miracles—the ones we have mentioned.

“So those among them who disbelieved said, ‘This is nothing but manifest magic’”: that is, the clear proofs he brought to them. Hamzah and al-Kisa’i recited “a manifest sorcerer” here, and in Surahs Hud and al-Saff; in this case, it refers to Jesus, peace be upon him, while in Surah Hud it refers to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

“And when I inspired the disciples”: that is, I inspired them and placed it in their hearts. Abu Ubaydah said: It means, I commanded them.