Tafsir of Al Imran 3:46

(And he shall speak to the people in the cradle and in maturity.) This is also a conjunction to the previous state. Attributing a verb to a noun is permissible and common, as the noun is interpreted as a verb, and this is frequent in the Quran. The adverbial phrase is a state (hal) related to the implicit pronoun in the verb, and it is not considered a redundant adverbial phrase connected to it, even though that would be grammatically sound. Connect "in maturity" to it; the intent is that he will speak to them in the state of being a child and in the state of maturity. The goal is to equate the speech in the state of infancy with the speech in the state of maturity; otherwise, speech in the latter state is not something exclusive to him, peace be upon him, and contains no wonder. Based on this, the totality is a single state, not each independently. It is also said that each is a state, and the second is a glad tiding of reaching the age of maturity and a definition of his lifespan.

The "cradle" (mahd) is the place of the infant during nursing; originally it is a verbal noun used for the place. His speaking "in the cradle" was for one hour, as God the Exalted has narrated to us, then he did not speak until he reached [the age of speaking]. Or, the speech was what Ibn Abbas said. It is also said that he spoke continuously, and his speech therein was an establishment of his prophethood and a portent (irhas) for it, according to what Ibn al-Ikhshid held. Upon this view, his saying: "And he will make me a prophet" is a report of what he will attain. Al-Jubba’i said: That He, Glory be to Him, perfected his intellect, peace be upon him, at that time and revealed to him what he spoke, coupled with prophethood. It is also permissible that this was an honor for Maryam, indicating her purity and the innocence of her reputation from what the people of the slander (al-ifk) attributed to her. The statement that it was a miracle for her is far-fetched, even if we affirm her prophethood.

The Christians claim that he, peace be upon him, did not speak "in the cradle" and did not speak in defense of his mother while small, but rather remained for thirty years, and the Jews slander his mother with Yusuf the Carpenter. This is one of their greatest scandals, which clearly refutes what they hold regarding the claim of his divinity. Likewise, his transition through different, contradictory developmental stages proves this, for whoever is in such a condition is far removed from divinity. They objected that his speech in the cradle is among the most amazing of matters, so if it had occurred, it would have been transmitted; and if it were transmitted, the Christians would be the people most aware of it. It was answered that those present at that time did not reach the level of tawatur (mass transmission), and when they did transmit it, they were met with denial, so they remained silent, and the matter remained concealed until the Quran spoke of it. This is close to the view of Ibn Abbas that he did not speak except for an hour of the day. As for the other view—that he remained speaking—it is said that people were subsequently preoccupied with transmitting what was more amazing than that regarding his conditions, such as reviving the dead, healing the blind and the leper, informing of the unseen, and creating from clay the form of a bird, to the point that talk of his infancy was not mentioned by them except in small amounts. The matter continued to dwindle until no reporter of it remained, and it remained concealed until the Quran revealed it.

After all of this, you may say: We do not concede the consensus of the Christians that he did not speak in the cradle. The appearance of the reports—some of which have been mentioned—indicates that some of them are of that opinion. Even assuming their consensus, the end result is merely a state of seeking to deem it unlikely; and after the report of the Truthful One (God), this neither nourishes nor avails against hunger for those whose faith is rooted and whose certainty is strong. How often have the people of the two Books agreed upon things the Truthful Quran spoke against? And the Truth is more deserving to be followed. Perhaps their intent in that is to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, (And God refuses but to perfect His light, even if the disbelievers dislike it).

A "mature person" (kahl) is one between a youth and an old man; from this comes the phrase "the plant has reached maturity" when it has grown tall and strong. Many have mentioned that the son of Adam, as long as he is in the womb, is an embryo (janin); when born, he is a newborn (walid); as long as he nurses, he is an infant (radi); when weaned from milk, he is a weaned child (fatim); when he creeps, he is a crawler (darij); when he reaches five spans, he is khumasi; when his front teeth fall out, he is mathghur; when his teeth grow back, he is muthaghir (with tha), as Abu Amr said; when he nears ten years or exceeds it, he is mutara’ri’ and nashi’; when he reaches puberty or attains it, he is yafi’ and murahiq; when he has nocturnal emissions and his strength is gathered, he is hazur. His name in all these states is "boy" (ghulam). When his downy hair turns green and his sideburns start to flow, it is said: his face has begun to grow hair (baqala); when he becomes a youth, he is fata and sharih; when his beard gathers and he reaches the peak of his youth, he is mujtami’. Then, as long as he is between thirty and forty, he is a youth (shabb), then a mature man (kahl) until he completes sixty.

It is said of one in whom the signs of age appear and gray hair marks him: then he is shab, then shamt, then shakh, then kabir, then haram, then dallaf, then kharif, then ihtara, and his shadow is erased when he dies. This sequence is for males. As for females: as long as she is small, she is tifla; then walida when she moves; then ka’ib when her breasts begin to bulge; then nahid; then mu’sir when she reaches puberty; then ’anis when she rises above the limit of puberty; then khawd when she is in the middle of youth; then muslif when she exceeds forty; then nusf when she is between youth and senility; then shahla kahla when she finds remnants of age but has remainder and vigor; then shahraba when she becomes senile but still has composure; then hayzabun when she becomes advanced in age with diminished intellect; then qal’am and laltalt when her stature bows and her teeth fall out.

According to what was mentioned regarding the age of maturity, what is meant by his speaking, peace be upon him, as a kahl is his speaking to them in such a state after descending from the heavens and reaching that age, based on what Sa’id ibn al-Musayyib, Zayd ibn Aslam, and others held: that he, peace be upon him, was raised to the heavens while he was thirty-three years old, and that he will descend to the earth and remain alive in it for forty-four years, as Ibn Jarir narrated with a sound chain from Ka’b al-Ahbar. This is supported by what Ibn Jarir extracted from Ibn Zayd regarding the verse: he said, "Isa spoke to them in the cradle, and he will speak to them when he kills the Dajjal, and he will be at that time a mature man."

(And of the righteous): That is, counted among their ranks, and it is a conjunction to the previous states.