Selected Exegesis

When ʿImrān’s wife, who had heard she would give birth to a son but did not know about the intermediary role, discovered that her child was a girl, she prayed with a mixture of regret and pain, yet also with rationality, saying that she had given birth to a female child.

Her surprise was due to the nature of her vow, as she had wanted a male child to serve in the sacred house (bayt al-maqdis), since in terms of continuous presence in the mosque and service to the mosque and worshippers (ʿubbād), a male could not be compared to a female.

God, to alleviate her regret and sorrow, said that He knows, but you and those like you do not know what you have delivered. The son you were expecting could not match the greatness and importance of this daughter who would become a mother without a husband, and along with her son Jesus (a.s.) would become a universal pearl and miracle, through whom the story of Adam’s creation would be well retold.

If the phrase “and the male is not like the female” is the speech of Mary’s mother (a.s.), it means that a man is not like a woman who must be absent from temple service for several days each month.

In any case, the central element of this verse is the “special daughter” versus the “special son,” not male and female in general. From the final part of ʿImrān’s wife’s prayer, where she entrusted Mary and her child to God and sought refuge from Satan - who is outcast from all good things - it becomes clear that she knew her daughter would have a child and that the child would survive.