Surah Maryam, Ayah 25

What was said to Her after the Birth

Some reciters read the Ayah as,

مَنْ تَحْتِهَا

(Who was below her) Meaning the one who was below her called to her. Others recited it as,

مِن تَحْتِهَآ

(from below her) With the meaning of a preposition (from) instead of a pronoun (who). The scholars of Tafsir have differed over the interpretation of who was calling out. Al-`Awfi and others reported from Ibn `Abbas that he said,

فَنَادَاهَا مِن تَحْتِهَآ

(Then cried unto her from below her,) "This is referring to Jibrilbecause `Isa did not speak until she brought him to her people." Similarly, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Ad-Dahhak, `Amr bin Maymun, As-Suddi and Qatadah all said, "Verily, this is referring to the angel Jibril." This means that he (Jibril) called out to her from the bottom of the valley. Mujahid said,

سَرِیّاً The literal meaning of the word سَرِی appearing in verse 24 is a small canal. Allah Ta’ ala caused a small stream to flow at the moment either by his direct command or through Sayyidna Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) . There are reports supporting both these probabilities. It is worth noting here that while describing the means to bring consolation to Sayyidah Maryam (علیہا السلام) water was mentioned first and then date as something to eat

Mary was an unmarried lady of a respectable and religious family. Being pregnant meant a calamitous trial for a lady like her; a trial of unparalleled severity. Ridden with anxiety, she quietly left the Haykal and went to far-off Bethlehem. When the time came and the labour pains began, she went out of town and sat under a date-palm tree. What a chaste, unmarried lady like her was going through at the time can be imagined from these words she uttered: ‘Alas! Why didn’t I die before this, so that my very existence would have been obliterated from people’s memories?’