Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:50

"And We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign."

A sign—that is, a sign indicating the greatness of Our power by his birth from her without the touch of any man. Thus, the sign is one shared matter between them; therefore, it is singularized. It is also permissible that the speech is based on the assumption of an added noun—that is: "We made the state of the son of Mary and his mother a sign," or "We made the son of Mary and his mother possessors of a sign." It is also possible that a sign is omitted from the first due to the second indicating it, or vice versa—meaning: We made the son of Mary a sign because of the miracles that appeared through him, peace be upon him, such as his speaking in the cradle while still an infant, his reviving the dead, his healing the blind and the leper, and other such things when he was older. And We made his mother a sign in that she gave birth without the touch of a man. Al-Hasan said: She, peace be upon her, also spoke in her childhood, as it is said: "It is from Allah; indeed, Allah provides for whom He wills without account," and she never suckled at a breast at all.

Al-Khafaji said: You may say that the need to interpret the singularization of "sign" as mentioned only arises if it is intended that they are a sign of the power of Allah the Exalted. However, if it is in the sense of a miracle or an irhas (a portent preceding prophethood), then there is no need, for that belongs only to 'Isa, peace be upon him, for his prophethood, and not to Mary. But the flaw in that is not hidden, and the view to me is what has preceded.

Expressing 'Isa, peace be upon him, as the son of Mary, and Mary as his mother, is to signal from the beginning the aspect of their being a sign, for his attribution to her—despite attribution being to fathers—is proof that he has no father. That is, We made the son of Mary alone, without him having a father, and his mother, who gave birth to him exclusively without the participation of a father, a sign. He, peace be upon him, is mentioned first due to his primacy in the aforementioned status of being a sign, just as it is said that the presentation of his mother in the saying of the Exalted: "And We made her and her son a sign for the worlds" is due to her primacy in what is attributed to her regarding chastity and the blowing of the spirit.

Know that what the followers of Islam have agreed upon is that Mary had no son other than 'Isa, peace be upon him. Some Christians—may Allah the Exalted destroy them—claimed that after she gave birth to 'Isa, she married Joseph the Carpenter and bore three sons from him. The trusted position among them is that she was betrothed to Joseph the Carpenter in her youth and the contract was made, but he did not consummate the marriage with her. When he saw her pregnancy with 'Isa, peace be upon him, he intended to divorce her, but he saw an angel in a dream who informed him of the reality of the situation. When she gave birth, she remained with him alongside 'Isa, peace be upon him, and he began to raise him and care for him, along with children he had from another wife, but as for her, he did not approach her at all. The Muslims do not accept that she was under a marriage contract to Joseph; they accept that she was his betrothed and that he cared for her and for 'Isa, peace be upon him, and they say: that was due to his kinship with her.

"And We sheltered them" — that is, We caused them to take shelter "in a rabwah (a high ground)," which is what rises from the land, less than a mountain. There is disagreement regarding what is meant by it here. Waki', Ibn Abi Shaybah, Ibn al-Mundhir, and Ibn 'Asakir extracted with a sound chain from Ibn 'Abbas that he said regarding the saying of the Exalted: "in a rabwah": We have been informed that it is Damascus. Ibn 'Asakir extracted from 'Abdullah ibn Salam, Yazid ibn Shajarah the Companion, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, and Qatadah from Al-Hasan that they said: The rabwah is Damascus. There is a marfu' (attributed to the Prophet) hadith regarding this, extracted by Ibn 'Asakir from Abu Umamah with a weak chain.

A group extracted from Abu 'Hurayrah that he said: It is Ramla in Palestine. Ibn Mardawayh also extracted this from his hadith in a marfu' manner. Al-Tabarani in Al-Awsat and a group extracted from Al-Bahzi who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: The rabwah is Ramla. Ibn Jarir and others extracted from Al-Dahhak that he said: It is Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem). He and others also extracted from Qatadah that he said: We used to be told that the rabwah is Bayt al-Maqdis. They mentioned from Ka'b that its land is the liver (heart) of the earth and the closest to the heavens by eighteen miles, and that is why the Ascension and the raising of 'Isa, peace be upon him, took place from there. This statement is more consistent with the definition of rabwah as you have heard. Ibn al-Mundhir and others extracted from Wahb, and Ibn Jarir and others from Ibn Zayd that the rabwah is Egypt. It is narrated from Zayd ibn Aslam that he said: It is Alexandria. They mentioned that all the villages of Egypt are each a high rabwah because the Nile covers all its land during its rise, so if the villages were not on high grounds, they would drown. It is mentioned that the reason for this shelter was that the king of that time resolved to kill 'Isa, peace be upon him, so his mother fled with him to one of the places mentioned—this is in Al-Bahr.

I saw in the Gospel of Matthew that when 'Isa, peace be upon him, was born in Bethlehem in the days of King Herod, a group of Magi from the East came to Jerusalem saying: "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him." When Herod heard this, he was troubled and gathered the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and asked them where the Messiah would be born. They said: "In Bethlehem." He called the Magi secretly, verified from them the time the star appeared to them, and sent them to Bethlehem, saying: "Search diligently for this child, and when you find him, report to me so that I may come and worship him with you." They went and found him with Mary, worshipped him, and offered gifts. They saw in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went to their own country. Joseph saw in a dream an angel saying to him: "Arise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is determined to seek the child to destroy him." He arose, took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. When he died, he saw the angel in a dream saying: "Arise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the life of the child are dead." He arose, took them, and came to the land of Israel. When he heard that Archelaus had reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. He was informed in a dream, so he went to the regions of Galilee and lived in a city called Nazareth. If this is true, then the obvious interpretation is that the rabwah was in the land of Egypt or Nazareth in the land of Sham. And Allah the Exalted knows best.

Most readers read "rubwah" with a damma on the ra', which is the dialect of Quraysh. Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i read it with a kasra (ribwah), and Ibn Abi Ishaq as "rubah" with a damma on the ra' and an alif. Zayd ibn 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both), Al-Ashhab al-'Uqayli, Al-Farazdaq, and Al-Sulami, according to the reporter of Al-Lawami', read it with a fatha and an alif (rabah). It was also read with a kasra and an alif (ribah), meaning a place of settlement on flat land. The intent is that it is in a spacious valley where the soul of the one who takes shelter in it finds comfort. Mujahid said: "Possessing fruits and crops." The meaning is that it is a location suitable for the settlement of people due to the crops and fruits it contains, which is most fitting with the saying of the Exalted: "And a spring."

"A flowing ma'in," meaning running. Its measure is fa'il, provided the mim is radical, from ma'ana (to flow). Its origin is distance in something, and from this is "scrutinized the view" (am'ana al-nazar). In Al-Bahr, it is said: "The thing flowed (ma'ana), a flowing (ma'anatan)," meaning it became abundant, or it is from al-ma'un (assistance). Applying it to running water is due to its benefit. It is also permitted that its measure is maf'ul, like makhit, provided the mim is added, from 'anahu—to reach or attain something by sight, like rakibahu when one strikes it with their knee. Applying it to running water is because, in most cases, it is visible and witnessed by the eye. The water is described as such because it is that which brings joy to the chest, pleasantness to the place, and an abundance of benefits.