Tafsir of Maryam 19:16-17

{ إذ انتبذت من أهلها مكانا شرقيا } This is a badal ishtimal (substitution of inclusion) for "the son of Maryam," because times include what occurs within them. The intent behind mentioning Maryam is to highlight this specific time, as this wondrous event took place within it.

• Al-intibadh: Means isolation and seclusion. She withdrew for worship in a place to the east of Bayt al-Maqdis, or from her own house, separating herself from people.
• Another view: She sat in a secluded place to bathe from menstruation, veiled by a wall or something covering her. Her place was the mosque; when she menstruated, she would move to her aunt’s house, and when she became pure, she would return to the mosque. While in her bathing place, the Angel came to her in the form of a human—a beardless, handsome youth with curly hair and a perfect physique, lacking nothing of the human form.
• The purpose of the form: He appeared in human form so she would be comforted by his speech and not recoil. Had he appeared in his angelic form, she would have been repulsed and unable to listen to him.
• Her chastity: Her seeking refuge in Allah from that exceptionally beautiful figure proves her chastity and piety. His appearance in that form was a trial for her and a test of her virtue.
• Other accounts: It is said she was in the house of her sister’s husband, Zakariya, in a separate prayer niche. When Zakariya left, he would lock the door. She wished for solitude in the mountains to groom her hair, so the roof opened for her; she went out and sat in the secluded place behind the mountain, where the Angel came to her. It is also said he stood before her in the form of a peer of hers, a servant of Bayt al-Maqdis named Yusuf.
• The East: It is said that Christians adopted the East as a qibla because Maryam withdrew to an eastern place.

{ فأرسلنا إليها روحنا }

• The Spirit (al-Ruh): Jibril, because religion is brought to life through him and his revelation.
• Metaphorical naming: Allah called him "Our Spirit" metaphorically, out of love and closeness, just as you would say to a loved one, "You are my soul."
• Variant reading: Abu Haywah read it as ruhana (our spirit) with a fatha, because he is the cause of the "spirit" (life/relief) of the servants. This relates to the "spirit" (rawh) mentioned in the verse: "Then for him is rest (rawh) and bounty" (Al-Waqi'ah: 89), or because he is among the "brought near" (muqarrabin) who are promised the rawh—meaning "our one brought near" and "the one who possesses our spirit."

{ قالت إني أعوذ بالرحمن منك إن كنت تقيا }