The Requirements for the Proper Upbringing of Mary

For the realization of the proper upbringing of Mary (a.s.), God mentioned both the efficient cause, which is having a worthy guardian: “and He charged Zechariah with her care”, as well as her access to pure and wholesome food, a worthy teacher, and good instruction.

To explain, whenever Zechariah (a.s.) would enter the sanctuary to fulfill his guardianship and education of Mary (a.s.), he would find provisions in an intriguing manner: “Whenever Zechariah visited her in the sanctuary, he would find provisions with her.” Therefore, he asked her where these provisions came from: “from where does this come for you?” The fact that this sentence appears without any connecting words like “then” (fāʾ) or “and” (wāw) might suggest that these provisions were appropriate for Mary’s (a.s.) age at that time, as supernatural provisions would certainly be in harmony with the physical world.

It should be noted that some exegetes have suggested that whenever Zechariah (a.s.) would visit Mary (a.s.) and see the unexpected foods, he would repeat this question.(74) Such an interpretation of the verse is not easily supported, although the possibility itself is acceptable and the expression “whenever he entered” does indicate continuous visits, because in that case it should have said “he would say, ‘from where does this come for you?’” The phrase “He said, ‘O Mary, from where does this come for you?’” does not suggest that the question was asked more than once.

Some believe that Mary’s (a.s.) speech during early childhood was like Jesus’s (a.s.) speech in the cradle.(75) However, proving this possibility is also not easy, because God granted Jesus (a.s.) the power of speech and told Mary about her son that he would speak in the cradle: “He will speak to people in the cradle and in adulthood”.(76) He also told her that if people spoke to her, she should only point to the cradle and not respond herself. However, such characteristics are not mentioned regarding Mary (a.s.).