(27–33) “Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, ‘O Mary! You have certainly done a monstrous thing. * O sister of Aaron! Your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste.’ * So she pointed to him. They said, ‘How can we speak to an infant in the cradle?’ * He said, ‘Indeed, I am a servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. * He has made me blessed wherever I may be and has enjoined prayer and zakat upon me for as long as I live. * He has made me dutiful to my mother and has not made me arrogant and wretched. * Peace is upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised alive.’”
That is, once Mary had recovered from childbirth, she brought Jesus to her people, carrying him. Knowing herself to be innocent and pure, she came without fear or concern. They said, “You have certainly done a monstrous thing,” meaning something grave and dreadful. What they meant was prostitution (1)—far be she from such a thing.
“O sister of Aaron!” It appears that he was her biological brother, and they identified her by her relationship to him. They used to name people after the prophets. He was not Aaron son of Imrān, the brother of Moses, for many centuries separated them. “Your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste.” That is, both of your parents were righteous and free of evil, especially the particular evil to which they were alluding. Their point was: How, then, could you be unlike them and do something they never did? Offspring generally take after one another in righteousness and its opposite. Given what had taken hold in their hearts, they were therefore astonished that this could have come from her. She then pointed them toward him, meaning: Speak to him.
She pointed to him because she had been instructed, when people addressed her, to convey: “I have vowed a fast to the Most Merciful, so today I will not speak to any human being.” When she directed them to speak to him, they were astonished and said, “How can we speak to an infant in the cradle?” Such a thing was unknown and had never happened to anyone of that age.
At that moment Jesus, peace be upon him, spoke while still an infant in the cradle: “Indeed, I am a servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.” He addressed them by describing himself as a servant and affirming that he possessed no quality by which he deserved to be a god or the son of God. Exalted is Allah above the claim of the Christians, who contradict Jesus in his declaration, “Indeed, I am a servant of Allah,” while claiming to agree with him.
“He has given me the Scripture,” means that Allah had decreed that He would give him the Scriptures. “And made me a prophet.” He thus informed them that he was Allah’s servant, that Allah had taught him the Scripture, and that He had made him one of His prophets. These were aspects of his personal perfection. He then spoke of the benefit he would bring to others, saying: “He has made me blessed wherever I may be.” That is, in every place and at every time. The blessing Allah placed within him consisted in teaching goodness and calling people to it, forbidding evil, and calling to Allah through his words and deeds. Everyone who sat with or met him received some of his blessing, and anyone who accompanied him found happiness through him.
“And He has enjoined prayer and zakat upon me for as long as I live.” That is, throughout my life He has instructed me to fulfill His rights—foremost among them prayer—and the rights of His servants—foremost among them zakat. In other words: I obey my Lord’s command, act upon it, and carry it out. He also instructed me to be dutiful to my mother, to treat her with the utmost kindness, and to fulfill what is due to her because of her honor and virtue and because, as my mother, she possesses the rights of motherhood and all that they entail.
“And He has not made me arrogant,” meaning too proud to submit to Allah or haughty toward His servants, “and wretched” in this world or the Hereafter. He did not make me so; rather, He made me obedient to Him—submissive, reverent, and humble before Him—and modest toward Allah’s servants. He made both me and those who follow me happy in this world and the Hereafter.
Once his perfection and praiseworthy qualities were complete, he said: “Peace is upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised alive.” ⦗493⦘ That is, through my Lord’s bounty and generosity, I have been granted safety from evil, Satan, and punishment on the day of my birth, the day of my death, and the day of my resurrection. This entails that he will be safe from those terrors and from the abode of the wicked, and that he is among the people of the Abode of Peace. This was therefore a tremendous miracle and a brilliant proof that he truly was a messenger of Allah and a servant of Allah.