Appearance
Selected Exegesis
These verses, which explain the hereditary selection of Mary (a.s.), give her the glad tidings that she will become a mother through divine means and that Jesus is solely her son, so that she would not think she would have a child through a husband, which is why she was astonished.
In the angels’ glad tidings to Mary, several attributes of the Messiah are enumerated:
The entire universe consists of divine words; however, he is the perfect manifestation of God’s creative word (not conventional), because his spirit has a strong connection and special bond with God. He came into existence through the command and word “Be”, and since he had no father, and also due to the nature of pregnancy and delivery from his mother’s side being miraculous and without passing through the normal period of pregnancy, he is therefore the great sign of God and better demonstrates God’s power.
His sign is that his name is Jesus, his title is Messiah, meaning spiritual leader and one anointed with blessings (mamsūḥ bi-l-baraka), and his patronymic is son of Mary.
In this world, he will have an accepted and popular presence, meaning prophethood and messengership, and in the Hereafter he will have a spiritual presence, and others will take him as their intercessor with God. The description of Jesus the Messiah as being distinguished (wajīh) in this world and the Hereafter absolves him and his mother from false accusations.
With both earned and gifted proximity, he has a special closeness [to God], and his distinction is at the level of those brought near (muqarrabīn), not at the level of the righteous (abrār) or the companions of the right (aṣḥāb al-yamīn).
Jesus the Messiah speaks from the cradle in the first days after his birth; both the fact of this speech is miraculous and that he speaks in the cradle what prophets (a.s.) say at forty years of age, and he speaks consistently from infancy until forty years of age, which is the period of human intellectual maturity and prophethood of prophets. His prophethood was present from infancy (although he was not yet commanded to implement and propagate religious laws), and this speech was both a miracle proving his prophethood and evidence of his purity and his mother’s chastity. The speech in the cradle occurred with the involvement and indication of his mother, and this miracle is attributed to both of them. He also has prophetic speech during his maturity, and prophethood itself is supernatural.
Jesus the Messiah (a.s.) is among the righteous (ṣāliḥīn).