The point is that things produced through generation were created from two sources, just as Adam was created from dust and water. Nothing—neither animal nor plant—is created from pure dust unmixed with water. All plants likewise arise from two sources, and the Messiah was created from Mary and Gabriel’s breath.

As the Exalted says:

“And Mary, daughter of ʿImrān, who guarded her private part, and We breathed into it of Our Spirit.”

He also says:

“And she who guarded her private part, and We breathed into her of Our Spirit.”

And He says:

“So We sent to her Our Spirit, and he appeared before her as a man in perfect form. She said, ‘I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you are mindful of Him.’ He said, ‘I am only a messenger from your Lord, to grant you a pure boy.’”

The Quranic commentators have mentioned that Gabriel breathed into the neck opening of her garment. The jayb is the opening around the neck, not what some ordinary people call a jayb: a pocket at the front of a garment for keeping dirhams and the like. When Allah commanded Moses to put his hand into his jayb, it was this opening, known by that name in the Arabic language.

Abū al-Faraj and others mentioned two views: was the breath blown into the neck opening of the garment, or into the private part? Those who adopted the first view understood it to mean the opening of her garment. Those who said that it meant the passage through which a child is born said that the pronoun “it” refers to something not explicitly mentioned, since he breathed into her garment, not into her private part. This interpretation has no merit; rather, it departs from the explicit wording of the Quran.

If this report is established, it does not contradict the Quran; if it is not established, it deserves no consideration. For those who reported that Gabriel breathed into the neck opening of her garment meant that he—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—did not