Tafsir of Al-Anbiya' 21:91

"And she who guarded her chastity..."

The statement of the Exalted, "And she who guarded her chastity" (wa-allati ahsanat farjaha), is in the accusative case, following the pattern of the preceding examples. It is also said to be in the nominative case, serving as an initial subject (mubtada') whose predicate is omitted—meaning, "among that which is recited to you." Alternatively, the predicate is His saying, "And We breathed into her of Our spirit." The particle fa (in fanafakhna) is redundant according to those who permit it.

The intended subject of the relative clause is Maryam (peace be upon her). Ihsan (guarding/fortifying) is used in its linguistic sense: absolute prohibition or prevention. Farj (chastity/private parts) originally refers to a gap or opening between two things, like a crevice (furja), or the space between the legs. It is used as a metonym for the genitalia, and its usage became so frequent that it became virtually synonymous with it, which is the intended meaning here according to a group of scholars. It means she guarded her private parts from sexual intercourse in both its forms, as she said, "And no man has touched me, and I have not been unchaste." Celibacy (tabattul) was, at that time, prescribed for both women and men.

It is also said that farj here refers to the opening of her garment, which she guarded against Gabriel (peace be upon him) when he approached her to breathe [the spirit], as she did not recognize him. She was described with the aforementioned phrasing to exalt her status and declare her purity from what was alleged against her.

"The Spirit" (al-ruh) implies its well-known meaning, and its attribution to the pronoun of the Exalted is for the purpose of honor (tashrif). "Breathing the spirit" is an expression for bringing to life; there is no literal "blowing" involved. Furthermore, this life-giving was for Isa (peace be upon him), and because he was in her womb, it is correct to say, "We breathed into her," for that which is within something is considered to be "in" it. Thus, it does not necessitate the meaning that "We brought her to life," as that is not intended. This is similar to a flute player saying, "I blew into the house of so-and-so," while he actually blew into his flute while inside that house. Abu Hayyan said: The speech contains an implied addition, meaning, "We breathed into her son."

It is also possible that "the Spirit" refers to Gabriel (peace be upon him), as is stated regarding the verse, "Then We sent to her Our Spirit." The preposition min (from/of) denotes the source (ibtida'iyyah). In this case, the breathing is literal, and its attribution to the Exalted is figurative, meaning, "We breathed into her by way of Our Spirit." Gabriel (peace be upon him) had breathed into the neck of her garment, and the breath reached her womb, so it is correct to say the breathing occurred "into her" without ambiguity. Furthermore, the verb nafakha (to blow/breathe) is intransitive, but it may be used transitively, as in "We breathed the spirit." This has appeared in some anomalous readings (shawadh) and was explicitly confirmed by some great scholars; therefore, denying it stems from a lack of awareness.

"And We made her and her son a sign for the worlds."

This means We made their story, or their state, a sign for the worlds. Whoever contemplates their condition realizes the perfection of the power of the Exalted. The "sign" refers to the complete miracle that occurred through them, along with the multiplicity of signs associated with each of them. It is said that "the sign" refers to the genus, encompassing all the independent miracles that each possessed. It is also said: The meaning is, "We made her a sign and her son a sign," but the first was omitted because the second implies it.

The mention of Maryam (peace be upon her) alongside the prophets in this chapter has been used as evidence that she was a prophetess, as she was paired with them in the mention. However, the response to this is that being mentioned alongside them does not necessitate that she was one of them. Perhaps she was mentioned only for the sake of Isa (peace be upon him). Mentioning the two of them here is appropriate due to the kinship between them and the story of Zakariya, his wife, and their son Yahya (peace be upon them all).