Extraordinary Sustenance

Some later scholars have not accepted that the verse in question indicates that Mary’s (a.s.) sustenance was supernatural, and they have considered the believers’ attribution of this event to God as something familiar both in ancient and modern times.(77)

It should be noted that proving miraculous gifts and unseen sustenance without acceptable evidence is not possible. The narrations regarding this verse must be evaluated to reach the threshold of authority; however, the verse in question is not without indication, because the nunation (tanwīn) of “sustenance” (rizqan) suggests that it was extraordinary. If the sustenance in question was common food or fruit of that time, neither would Mary’s answer have been “It comes from God”, nor would Zechariah (a.s.) have apparently been satisfied with this answer, as the possibility that some believers were providing it daily would have been raised. Furthermore, Zechariah’s supplication to God and request for a pure offspring indicates his witnessing of a special miracle and extraordinary matter that led him to think of performing a noble and unusual act.(78)