Tafsir of Maryam 19:24

{Then he called out to her from below her}—meaning Jibril, peace be upon him, as is narrated from Ibn Abbas and Nawf. Alqama read it as fakhāṭabahā (he addressed her). Abu Hayyan said: "It should be the case that what is intended by it is Jibril, peace be upon him, to correspond with what was narrated from him initially." The meaning of {from below her} is from a place lower than her. He was standing below the hillock which she had ascended in haste, as you heard just now. It is narrated in al-Baḥr from al-Hasan that he said: "Jibril, peace be upon him, called out to her, and he was in a spot of land lower than the spot she was upon," and he swore an oath to that. Perhaps his standing there, peace be upon him, was out of reverence for her and to avoid appearing directly before her in that state. As for the claim that he, peace be upon him, was beneath her kissing the child, this is something that should not be said, for it involves attributing to the Trustworthy Spirit of the Supreme King what does not befit his station. It is said that the pronoun in {below her} refers to the date palm. Abu Hayyan considered it more likely that the caller was Isa, peace be upon him, and the pronoun refers to Maryam; the fa is faṣīḥah (eloquent/explanatory), meaning: "So she gave birth to a boy, and Allah the Exalted made him speak at the time of birth, so the newborn called out to her from below her."

This is also narrated from Mujahid, Wahb, Ibn Jubayr, Ibn Jarir, Ibn Zayd, and al-Jubba'i. al-Tabarsi also narrated it from al-Hasan. The two sons, the two parents, Asim, al-Jahdari, Ibn Abbas, and al-Hasan (in one of the two narrations from them) read {man} with a fatḥah on the mim, meaning "the one who," acting as the subject of the verb "called out," and {taḥtahā} is an accusative adverb acting as a relative clause for "the one." The intended meaning is either Isa or Jibril, peace be upon them both.

{Do not grieve}—meaning, do not grieve. "That" (an) is either explanatory, or it is the an of the infinitive (maṣdariyyah) with the preposition omitted. {Your Lord has placed below you}—in a place lower than you. It is said: "Under your command; if you command it to flow, it flows, and if you command it to hold back, it holds back," though this contradicts the apparent meaning.

{A stream}—meaning a watercourse, as al-Hakim extracted in his Mustadrak from al-Bara', who said: "It is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs." Al-Bukhari mentioned it in a ta‘liq (suspended) report attributed to him, and Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn Jarir, and Ibn Marduyah documented it in their exegeses from him, also as a mawquf (stopped) report. The marfu‘ (elevated) narration is not authentic, as al-Jalal al-Suyuti clarified. Consistent with this is the statement of Labid describing a wild bull and a cow: "They reached the middle of the sariy (stream) and parted the water-filled channel, surpassing its reeds." Ibn Abbas cited the poet's verse: "Of easy nature, whenever a needy person finds one like the sariy (generous one) whom the rivers sustain." This was, according to what is narrated from Ibn Abbas, a stream of the Jordan that Allah the Exalted made flow for her from it when thirst afflicted her. It is narrated that Jibril, peace be upon him, struck the earth with his foot and a spring of sweet water appeared, which then flowed as a stream. It is also said that Isa, peace be upon him, did this; this is what is narrated from Abu Ja‘far, may Allah the Exalted be pleased with him. It is also said that it was already present, but Allah the Exalted drew her attention to it. What was previously mentioned is what accords with the context of explaining the manifestation of miracles and is what is suggested by the noble sequence. The watercourse is called sariy because the water yasri (flows) through it; its final letter in this meaning is a ya’. From al-Hasan, Ibn Zayd, and al-Jubba'i, it is held that the meaning of sariy is Isa, peace be upon him, derived from al-sarw, meaning nobility, as al-Raghib said: "Meaning, your Lord has placed below you a boy of high status and exalted rank." In the Siḥaḥ, it is defined as generosity combined with chivalry and the desire for nobility—of higher rank. Its final letter in this meaning is a waw. The sentence is a justification for the negation of grief implied by the prohibition against it. The mention of the title of Lordship, combined with the attribution to her pronoun, serves to honor her, emphasize the justification, and complete the consolation.