(He created him from dust, then (He) said to him: "Be!" and he was.)
Therefore, He Who created Adam without a father or a mother is able to create `Isa, as well, without a father. If the claim is made that `Isa is Allah's son because he was created without a father, then the same claim befits Adam even more. However, since such a claim regarding Adam is obviously false, then making the same claim about `Isa is even more false.
The event of Mubahala and the refutation of heretics.
The background of these verses is that the Holy Prophet ﷺ ultimatum to the Christians of Najran which included three options in the order given below:
1. Accept Islam, or
2. Pay jizya جزیہ (a levy on free non-Muslims under Muslim rule), or
3. Get ready for a war.
After mutual consultation, the Christians sent a delegation to the Holy Prophet ﷺ consisting of Shurahbil ` Abdullah b. Shurahbil and Jabbar ibn Fayd to the Holy Prophet ﷺ ۔ They came and began their talks on religious issues. When they, in their effort to prove the godhood of Jesus (علیہ السلام) ، took their debate to the extremes of dispute, that was the moment this verse of Mubahala was revealed. Thereupon, the Holy Prophet ﷺ invited the Christians to join in the Mubahala confrontation (a form of resolving disputes by praying to Allah, the details of which shall shortly be discussed) and quite readily, he himself came out with Sayyidah Fatimah ؓ Sayyidna Ali ؓ and their sons, Hasan and Husain ؓ along with him all set for the مُباھلہ Mubahalah. Looking at this, Shurahbil said to his two comrades: 'Look, you already know that he is a prophet of Allah and getting into a Mubahalah confrontation with a prophet means certain death and destruction for us. So find out some other way to get out of this fix.' His comrades asked him as to what he thought it could be. Shurahbil said: 'I think the best solution is to opt for a truce as advised by the prophet'. So, on this everybody agreed. As a result, the Holy Prophet ﷺ made peace by fixing a levy on them which was accepted by them as well. (Tafsir ibn Kathir).
The Christians believe that Christ is the son of God, and that he is different from all other human beings. Since his very birth was quite exceptional in that he had no father, how could he be a human being like any other? They hold that his uncommon birth itself shows that he was not the son of man but of God. But this contention can be shown to be invalid by comparing the birth of Christ with the birth of the first man. (All of us, the Christians too, believe that Adam was the first man.) He was not born in the normal way, i.e. having a father and mother, but came into existence directly by God’s command. Then when Adam, born without a father, is not God’s son, how could Jesus Christ, who was also born without a father, be the son of God?
Uthmani text of the Madinah mushaf (King Fahd Complex). Translation: Saheeh International. Tafsir via Quran.com.
