Al-Anbiyaa (The Prophets)

91. “And (remember) her (Mary) who guarded her chastity so We breathed unto her from Our spirit and We appointed her and her son a sign for (all) people.”

The main thing in the statement of the Qur’anic matters is the introduction of the human virtues and their examples. In this connection, there is no difference between the virtue of man and woman.

Chastity is one of the most outstanding virtues of a woman, and the chastity of mother can often promote both her and her children to the highest ranks.

The rank of a woman reaches a point where Allah praises her in the row of prophets and sets her as His sign among mankind,

“…We appointed her and her son a sign for (all) people.”

So, in this verse, He has pointed to the rank, grandeur, and respect of Mary and her son, Hadrat Messiah (as).

Mentioning Mary in the row of the discussions about great prophets is either for the sake of her son, Hadrat Messiah, or for that her birth, from some points of view, was like the birth of Yahya the offspring of Zachariah, the explanation of which was described in the commentary of the holy verses of Surah Maryam, No. 19.

Or, it is for the sake that it makes clear that the grandeur of that rank is not limited only to the great men, but there have been some great women, too, whose history is the sign of their greatness, and they have been taken as examples and good patterns for the women of the worlds. The verse says:

“And (remember) her (Mary) who guarded her chastity…”

Then, Allah blew into her from His Own spirit and made her and her son a sign for all human beings.

The holy verse continues saying:

“…so We breathed unto her from Our spirit and We appointed her and her son a sign for (all) people.”

A Few Points About This Verse

1. The Arabic word /farj/ philologically and originally means ‘a distance’ and ‘a gap’, and metaphorically it has been used in the sense of the genital organ of a woman.

But since the metaphorical meaning of it is not usually considered in the Persian Language, sometimes this question arises that why this word, which explicitly means the particular organ of a woman, has been applied in the Holy Qur’an. But if the state of the meaning which is metaphorical to be noted, the problem will be solved.

In other more clear words, if we want to actually render the metaphorical meaning properly, the equivalent meaning of the Qur’anic phrase: /’ahsanat farjaha/ is ‘she kept her chastity safely’, and thus this meaning is not sharp or biting in this context.

It is better to say, as some believe, there is not any word in the Arabic language to be used for the explicit meaning of genital organ or sexual association. Whatever is found of this kind has a metaphorical aspect.

For sexual association, for instance, there are some words such as: ‘to touch’, ‘to enter’, ‘to cover’, and ‘to go to the spouse’ that have been used in different verses of the Qur’an in this sense, and all of them are in the metaphorical forms.

However, for commenting upon this kind of words, which are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, the essential and original meaning of those words should be noted, in order that the metaphorical aspects of them can be recognized and any ambiguity be dismissed.

It is also necessary to be mentioned that the apparent sate of the abovementioned verse indicates that Mary protected her chastity from any sort of pollution.

But some commentators have offered another meaning for the holy verse saying that probably she restrained from any kind of assoiciation with a man (whether of the lawful or unlawful one).¹ This is the same thing which Surah Maryam, No. 19, verse 20 refers to.

It says:

“She said: ‘How shall there be for me a son while no man has touched me, neither have I been unchaste!’”

This holy statement is, in fact, a preparation for proving the miraculous birth of Jesus (as) and that his birth was a sign for humankind.

2. The objective of the Qur’anic word /ruhana/ (Our spirit), as has also been said before, is a hint to a great and supreme spirit, and this kind of sentence structure, in Arabic, is for the statement of the greatness of something when it is mentioned together with the name of Allah, like ‘the House of Allah’, and ‘the month of Allah’.

3. The abovementioned verse implies that Allah appointed Mary and her child as a sign for (all) human beings, and it does not say ‘two signs’, for Mary and her son were so close to each other in the verse that they were considered inseparable.

The birth of a child without father is equally so miraculous that pregnancy of a woman without having a husband. The miracles of Jesus (as) in his childhood, as well as in his aged years, are the remindful of the event of his mother.

These matters, each of which was a supernatural event and was contrary to the natural ordinary means, all denote the fact that there is a Power beyond the series of means that whenever it intends it can change their normal courses.

However, the situation of Messiah and his mother, Mary, has been unique throughout the history of man and similar condition to it has been seen neither before it nor after it.