Tafsir of Al Imran 3:47-48

Āl 'Imrān (The Family of 'Imrān): Verses 47–48

Verse 47: She said, "My Lord, how can I have a child when no man has touched me?" He said, "Thus is Allāh; He creates what He wills. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is."

The commentators state that she said this because the news of the birth implied a wonder that occurred contrary to custom. We have previously established a similar point in the story of Zakariyyā (peace be upon him).

And His saying, {And He will teach him the Book and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel}—there are two issues concerning this:

There are two readings for the verb: Nāfi‘ and ‘Āṣim read it with the Yā’ (وَيُعَلِّمُهُ - wa yu‘allimuhu), while the rest read it with the Nūn (وَنُعَلِّمُهُ - wa nu‘allimuhu).

1. The Yā’ Reading (He will teach him): This is connected (conjoined) to His saying, {He creates what He wills} (yakhluqu mā yashā’). Al-Mubarrid suggested it is connected to {He gives you tidings of a Word} (yubashshiruka bi-kalimah).
2. The Nūn Reading (And We will teach him): Those who read with the Nūn say the implied structure of the verse is: She said, "My Lord, how can I have a child?" So Allāh said to her, {Thus is Allāh; He creates what He wills. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is}. Although this is a statement in the third person (referring to Allāh), the reading switches to the first person plural ({And We will teach him} - wa nu‘allimuhu) because the meaning of His statement, {Thus is Allāh; He creates what He wills}, implies: "Thus We create what We will."

And Allāh knows best regarding the connection to {the Book and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel}.

There are four matters mentioned in this verse, connected to each other by the conjunction wāw (and).

My preferred view is to interpret the order as follows:

1. The Book (al-Kitāb): This refers to teaching the skill of writing and literacy.
2. Wisdom (al-Ḥikmah): This refers to teaching the sciences and refining morals, because human perfection lies in knowing the Truth for its own sake and knowing the Good for the sake of acting upon it; the combination of these two is termed Ḥikmah.
3. The Torah (al-Tawrāt): Only after he has mastered literacy and grasped the intellectual and religious sciences can he be taught the Torah. The Torah is delayed because it is a Divine Book containing profound secrets; a person cannot delve into the secrets of Divine Books unless they have first learned many sciences.
4. The Gospel (al-Injīl): The Gospel is mentioned last because once a person has learned writing, mastered the sciences of truth, and comprehended the secrets of the Book revealed to the Prophets before him, his rank in knowledge becomes great. If Allāh then reveals another Book to him and makes him aware of its secrets, that represents the utmost limit and the highest rank in knowledge, understanding, encompassing intellectual and religious secrets, and gaining insight into both the lofty and the low matters.

This is my understanding regarding the arrangement of these four terms.

Verse 48: And He will make him a messenger to the Children of Israel, [saying], "I have certainly come to you with a sign from your Lord. Indeed, I create for you from clay the figure of a bird, and I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by permission of Allāh. And I heal the blind and the leper, and I give life to the dead by permission of Allāh. And I inform you of what you eat and what you store away in your houses. Indeed in that is a sign for you, if you should be believers."

(The verse continues, detailing the miracles performed by Jesus, peace be upon him, as a Messenger to the Children of Israel.)