Selected Exegesis

These verses enumerate the characteristics of Jesus (a.s.) for his mother. God is the teacher, Jesus the Messiah is the student, and the focus of his teaching is the Book, meaning the heavenly scripture containing doctrinal, moral, political, social and similar laws, wisdom, the Torah and the Evangel.

The mention of wisdom after the Book is due to the importance of its special aspect that the divine Book contains, just as the mention of the Torah and Evangel after the Book is a specific mention after a general one and due to their importance, and also because the Torah and Evangel contained the collection of governing laws of that time.

After explaining the pillars of Jesus’s (a.s.) messengership (being eminent in this world and the hereafter, being close [to God], being righteous etc.), it presents the fact of his messengership, announces the beginning of his mission, and warned the Children of Israel that a messenger would come.

The mission of an ulū l-ʿazm (“possessed of resolve”) prophet like Jesus (a.s.) was not exclusively directed to the Children of Israel. The qualification of the Children of Israel in this verse does not have a restrictive meaning, but rather means that the beginning of of his mission is with the Children of Israel and his messengership encompasses all Children of Israel, not just a specific group among them.

Messengership must be accompanied by miracles, therefore it mentions the miracles that are effective in proving messengership and then his message. The term “sign” (āya) in this verse includes all of his miracles. A sign and miracle is an extraordinary act that is not possible for ordinary humans. The miracles of Jesus were clear, famous, and tangible proofs for everyone and undeniable, and his intention in “bringing a sign from God” is that he has come from God.

Each of these miracles is a sign from God, not from Jesus himself. Jesus is both a manifestation of the Creator, as he gathers together the components of what he wants to create, and a manifestation of the Form-giver (muṣawwir), meaning he shapes the inner and outer realities of things, and a manifestation of the Life-giver (muḥyī), meaning he grants spirit and life.

The phrase “I will create for you” here means as a means of intellectual benefit and religious demonstration, not subjugation (as in he is creating the bird as proof "for" them, not as something "for" them to possess). Jesus, by God’s permission, created a bird and made it fly. His creation was, in terms of body, a real bird with all organs and limbs. The creation of the bird by Jesus was by God’s permission and not independent of Him, and according to divine command, it was his special form of worship. He was permitted to breathe life (physical breath mixed with spiritual breath), but the bird’s coming to life was through the Divine creative command of “Be.” In any case, his act of creating an animal was supernatural; meaning that he produced a living animal without egg-laying or embryonic development.

Jesus (a.s.) would heal the blind (akmah - denoting any type of blindness) and the leper (abraṣ), meaning those afflicted with leprosy (an incurable whiteness that appears on the skin), and to complete the proof, either initially or whenever requested as a miracle, he would bring the dead to life. He revived many dead people, thus he granted both initial life to inanimate matter and restored life to those who had died.

Jesus Christ (a.s.), by God’s permission, would report about what the Children of Israel had stored in their houses and kept for future use, or about the food they had eaten. Only through being a manifestation and by God’s permission could one be knowledgeable of the unseen and report hidden news.

Each of these mentioned miracles occurred multiple times; it was not just that he had the ability to perform them. Additionally, all of them were by “God’s permission” (bi-idhn Allāh), not just the revival of the dead.

The repetition of “by God’s permission” is to prevent the misconception of trinity and being the son of God, and also to indicate these miracles as signs of his messengership rather than his divinity.

God, addressing the Children of Israel who had accepted the principles of God’s existence, revelation, and messengership through their acceptance of Abrahamic prophets (a.s.), especially Moses (a.s.) with all his miracles, says in the manner of the best argumentation: if you believe in God, God’s permission, and the principle of ontological authority (wilāyat takwīnī), these matters are also miracles.