Tafsir of Maryam 19:31

Regarding "blessed," Mujahid said: "Beneficial." And from his benefit is the healing of the blind and the leper. Sufyan said: "A teacher of good, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil." And from al-Dahhak: "Fulfilling the needs [of others]." The first is more appropriate due to its generality.

The use of the past tense for the three verbs [mentioned previously] is either in consideration of what is in the inevitable decree of God, or by treating that which is certain to occur as if it has already occurred. It is also said: God perfected his intellect and made him a prophet while he was a child; this has been narrated from al-Hasan. Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Anas that 'Isa, peace be upon him, studied the Gospel and mastered it while in his mother's womb, and that is [the meaning of] His saying: "He has given me the Book."

"Wherever I am" means: in whatever place I may be. In al-Bahr, it is stated: "This is a conditional clause, and its consequence is omitted; the estimation is 'He made me blessed,' and it was omitted due to the indication provided by what preceded it. It is not permissible for it to be governed by the preceding 'He made me,' because 'wherever' (ayna) is only used for interrogation or as a condition. The first is not permissible here, so the second is determined. The conditional particle cannot be governed by a verb preceding it; rather, it is governed by the verb that follows it."

"And He has enjoined upon me prayer and charity (Zakat)" means: He commanded me to give Zakat—specifically Zakat al-Fitr. It is also said that prayer refers to supplication, and Zakat refers to the purification of the soul from vices. This is considered necessary regarding Zakat according to what is narrated from Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, although it is debated on the grounds that there is no Zakat for the Prophets—peace be upon them—because God has kept them detached from the world; thus, what is in their hands belongs to God, and for this reason, they do not leave behind inheritance, or because Zakat is a purification, and their earnings are already pure.

It is also said that it is not necessarily restricted to that, as it could be a command for him to impose Zakat upon his nation, though this is contrary to the apparent meaning. If one adopts the view that Zakat is meant in its literal sense, the apparent meaning is that He enjoined upon him the performance of the Zakat of wealth, if he were to possess any. Thus, there is no obstacle to it including the time-limitation in His, the Glorified's, saying "as long as I am alive" for the duration of his stay—peace be upon him—in the heavens, and one must commit to the view of the obligation of prayer upon him—peace and blessings be upon him—there. So it is said.

You know that the apparent and most immediate meaning of the aforementioned duration is the period of his life—peace and blessings be upon him—in this world, according to what is customary, and that does not include the duration of his stay—peace be upon him—in the heavens. Ibn ‘Atiyyah reported that the people of Medina, Ibn Kathir, and Abu ‘Amr recited dimtu with a kasra on the dal, and we have not found this [recitation] for anyone else. Indeed, it is said that this is a [valid] dialect.