but she carried him; he grew swiftly in her womb, and she delivered him.

His very birth was a sign. The labor pains drove her to the trunk of a date-palm, and she cried, “Would that I had died before this and been forgotten, lost in oblivion” (19:23). She was not wishing for death itself; rather, she wished that this ordeal had not confronted her until she had died.

Then a voice called to her from below: “Do not grieve. Your Lord has placed a stream beneath you” (19:24)—that is, a spring running at the foot of the palm-tree.

The voice continued: “Shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward you; it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you” (19:25). Although she was in the throes of childbirth, she shook the trunk and dates fell—dates so fresh that they did not spoil when they touched the ground. All of this was contrary to the normal order of things: ordinarily a woman in labor is weak; ordinarily a palm-tree cannot be shaken from its base, for the trunk will not move if a person tries; and ordinarily ripe dates burst apart when they strike the earth. Yet Allah said, “It will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you. So eat, drink, and be comforted” (19:25-26). Allah is Most Great! These are among Allah’s signs, and Allah has power over all things.

When she had given birth, she brought the child to her people, carrying him—though she had never been married. They began insinuating immorality, saying, “Sister of Aaron! Your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste” (19:28), meaning, in effect, “Where did this fornication come from, God forbid, when your father was upright and your mother no prostitute?”

This hints at the fact that if a person commits fornication, his descendants may be afflicted with the same sin—Allah’s refuge is sought—as the report states: “Whoever fornicates, his family will fornicate.”

Thus they said, “Your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste.” Then Allah inspired her