Maryam said: 'How can there be for me a boy while no human has touched me by marriage, neither in a lawful manner nor otherwise, by suspicion or otherwise.'

When this matter astonished her, her state led her to the utmost haste in expressing what she wanted of meanings to her, perhaps she would find relief from what she had imagined. The situation became tight for her, so she abbreviated even by omitting the noon from 'kan' to indicate that this meaning is negated in the most eloquent manner. She said: 'And I have not been.' And since the newborn is a secret of the one who gives birth to him, and the expression about him is from the root of 'ghulmah' indicating the utmost perfection in masculinity, necessitating the utmost strength in the matter of marriage, she denied that there could be anything of that. So she said: 'A debauchery,' meaning [for it to be -] my habit of immorality. And 'bighiyyah' was not used due to its predominance in being applied to women, so it was like that of a menstruating woman and a barren one in the absence of the garment [and because 'bighiyyah' is only said for one who is involved in it -].