Commentary
Then he confirmed their injustice and the forms of His wisdom with something like this criterion regarding the matter of Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, which reveals what was concealed from them. He said: ﴿Indeed, the example of Jesus﴾, meaning in his being from a female only, ﴿with Allah﴾, meaning the One who encompasses all things in power and knowledge, in bringing him forth without an ordinary legal cause. ﴿Is like the example of Adam﴾, in that each of them was created without a father. Rather, the matter of Adam is more astonishing, for he was created without a father and without a mother. For this reason, his example is explained by saying that ﴿He created him﴾, meaning He measured him and formed him as a body from a different kind than that of humans, rather ﴿from dust﴾. Thus, we know that the interpretation of the example of Jesus is that he was created from the kind of humans from a mother only without a father. So, the example of Jesus is less strange from this perspective, even if it is stranger in that they had not witnessed anything like it. Therefore, the example of Adam is a clear example for him, showing that although he is stranger, he is more well-known. (And he expressed it with dust rather than water, clay, or mud, and other than this, as in (p-426), because dust is the predominant part of it, and because the position is to demonstrate the astonishment, and the creation of what He endowed with types of lights through guidance and brilliant knowledge from the dust which is the densest of things is stranger, just as the predominance of the darkness of misguidance over the devils is more astonishing due to their being from a luminous element.)
And when he compared the example with the example, we knew that the like of 'Isa is every child we observe born from a female. And the like of Adam is every animal we observe born from dust. What the Children of Israel witnessed of the creation of 'Isa, blessings and peace be upon him, the bird from clay, this example is like that which is everything born from a female, just as that example is everything born from dust. In that both of them were only by the creation of Allah, glorified and exalted is He. Otherwise, every act of intercourse would necessitate a child, and every dust would necessitate the birth of an animal from it. So when most acts of intercourse do not result in a child, we know that creation between male and female is only by the power of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and His will. And from His will and power is the existence from male and female. There is no difference in that between wanting it to be from a female by the cause of intercourse from a male that breaks the norm of intercourse, making it a cause for pregnancy, and wanting it to be from a female only, breaking the norm of what we currently observe of birth between male and female. Just as we knew that not every dust produces an animal, we certainly know that this being born from dust is only by the will of the capable one and His choice, not by anything else. And to that, Yahya, blessings and peace be upon him, referred in what he previously said: Indeed, Allah is capable of creating from stones children for Ibrahim. That is, because He, glorified and exalted is He, is the one who creates the causes, so there is no difference then between cause and effect; rather, all of them are equal in His power. And to that, His saying refers: "Then He said to him, Be"; that is, a complete human, spirit and body. And He expressed it in the present tense coupled with the 'fa' in "so he will be" rather than the past tense, even though what comes to mind is that the meaning is a narration of the state and a depiction of it, indicating that it was with the command without any delay, and a reminder that this is always the case, renewing with every desire, not deviating from the desire of the commander at all - as was previously stated explicitly in the verse: "When He decrees a matter" [Al-Imran: 47]. And that is stranger than what caused the misguidance of the Christians who argue for their belief, the delegation of Najran. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said that as a reference to their injustice in the analogy, and it would have been just to compare in its breaking of the norm to the father of his mother who knew all the names and to whom the angels prostrated, not to his creator and maker, exalted is He above what the wrongdoers say, in great exaltation.
Al-Harali said: Allah, glorified and exalted is He, made Adam, blessings and peace be upon him, an example whose beginning is the clay lineage and whose end is the divine breath. And Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, was an example whose beginning is the spiritual essence and the word, and whose end is the perfection through the association with the clay lineage. Until he said, blessings and peace be upon him: Indeed, at his descent at the end of the Muhammadan day, he will marry a woman from Banu Asad and a boy will be born to him so that humanity may be completed in the Jesus-hood just as it was completed in the Adam-hood, and to be one higher example that is all-encompassing. 'And to Him belongs the highest example in the heavens and the earth' [Ar-Rum: 27] - ended.
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