“So eat and drink, and take comfort. If you should see any human being, then convey: ‘I have vowed a fast to the Most Merciful, so today I will not speak to any human being.’”

“So eat” of the dates, “and drink” from the stream, “and take comfort” in Jesus. Thus, she was reassured regarding her safety from the pain of childbirth and the provision of wholesome food and drink.

As for what people would say, she was instructed that, if she saw any human being, she should convey by gesture: “I have vowed a fast to the Most Merciful”—that is, a fast of silence—“so today I will not speak to any human being.” In other words, she was not to address them verbally, so that she might be spared their remarks and questioning. They recognized silence as a prescribed act of worship. She was not instructed to address them and deny the accusation herself because people would not believe her, and doing so would serve no purpose. Moreover, her vindication through Jesus speaking in the cradle would be the greatest testimony to her innocence.

Indeed, for a woman to bring forth a child without a husband and claim that no man had fathered him is one of the most extraordinary claims—one that would not be believed even if several witnesses were produced to support it. The proof of this extraordinary event was therefore made another event of the same kind: Jesus speaking while still an extremely young infant. For this reason, Allah Almighty said: