His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿That is from the news of the unseen, which We reveal to you. And you were not with them when they cast their pens, which of them would take care of Maryam. And you were not with them when they were disputing﴾

﴿When the angels said, O Maryam, indeed Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, His name will be the Messiah, Isa, son of Maryam, distinguished in this world and the Hereafter, and of those who are near [to Allah]﴾

This address is to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the reference is to what has been previously mentioned of the stories. The news refers to the reports, and "the unseen" is what is hidden from the perceptions of humans. And "We reveal" means: We cast it into your soul in secrecy. The limit of revelation is the casting of meaning into the soul in secrecy, then its types differ. Some are through the angel, some through inspiration, some through indication, and some through writing, as Ka'b ibn Zuhayr said:

Poems came from him to the Persians and the horizons, They remain as long as the revelation remains in the deaf stone.

The Arabs say: "He revealed," and they say "revelation." And in this verse, there is a clarification of the prophethood of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, as he came to them with unseen matters that only one who witnessed them would know, while he was not with them, or one who read them in the books of the People of the Book. And Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, is unlettered from an unlettered people. Or Allah informed him of it, and that is he ﷺ. And "with them" means: near them and among them. The previous statement about the pens and the taking care is established. The majority of scholars hold that it was a drawing for taking care of her and competing for it. Ibn Ishaq said: Their drawing was when they were afflicted by famine, as a means to carry her provisions.

"Disputing" means: they were retracting the loud statement regarding her matter. And in this verse, there is the use of drawing lots, and drawing lots is a tradition. "And the Prophet ﷺ would draw lots among his wives when he traveled," and he said, blessings and peace be upon him: "If they knew what was in the first row, they would draw lots for it." The majority of the community permits drawing lots except for those who deviated and thought it was gambling. And all of this is in what is suitable for agreement without drawing lots, so it is as if drawing lots is an enhancement for that specification. As for where agreement is not permissible, like the emancipation of slaves in a third of the deceased, the majority permitted it, while Abu Hanifa prohibited it. And in the hadith, "The Prophet ﷺ drew lots among six slaves, freeing two and releasing four."

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿Which of them will take care of Maryam﴾ is an initiation and news in a position of accusative with the action that is implied: they are looking ﴿Which of them will take care of Maryam﴾, and the acting in His saying: ﴿When the angels said﴾ is an implied action, the meaning of which is: mention ﴿When the angels said﴾, and thus the description of the verse continues, and the notifications of these unseen matters follow. And Al-Zajjaj said: the acting in it is: "disputing," and it may be connected to His saying: ﴿And you were not with them﴾, and all of this is rejected by the meaning, as the dispute did not occur at the time of the angels' saying.

Ibn Mas'ud and Abdullah ibn Umar read: "When the angels said." The interpreters disagreed; are the angels here referring to Gabriel alone or to a group of angels? The meaning of this has already been mentioned (p-221) in his earlier saying: ﴿The angels called him﴾ [Al-Imran: 39]. So reflect on it, and the readings regarding his saying: "He gives you good tidings" have been previously mentioned.

The commentators disagreed as to why he referred to Jesus, peace be upon him, as "a word." Qatadah said: Allah made him "a word" since he exists by a word, which is His saying, exalted is He, for His intentions: "Be." This is similar to saying about an event: This is the decree of Allah, meaning it is according to the decree of Allah, and likewise you say: This is the command of Allah. Al-Tabari translated and said: Others said: Rather, the word is a name for Jesus, which Allah named him as He named all of His creation with whatever names He willed. The implication of this translation is that the word is an improvised name for Jesus. Then Al-Tabari included under this translation from Ibn Abbas that he said: The word is Jesus, and Ibn Abbas's saying can be interpreted in accordance with what Qatadah said and in other ways that we will mention now, and there is nothing in it of what Al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him, claimed. A group of scholars said: Allah named him a word because he was mentioned in the Torah of Moses and other books of Allah, and that he will be, so this is a word that preceded him from Allah. The meaning of the verse is: O Mary, you are given good tidings that you are the one chosen for the birth of the human being whom Allah spoke of in His commands, and informed of in the past of His revealed books to His prophets. And "his name" in this context means: his naming, and the pronoun is masculine for the sake of meaning, since the word refers to a son.

People have differed regarding the derivation of the term "the Messiah." Some said: It is from "saha" which means to wander in the land when he went and walked its regions, thus its form is "muf'il." The majority of people said: It is from "masaha" thus its form is "fa'il." They also disagreed afterwards regarding the form of its derivation from "masaha"; some scholars said: He was named that because he traversed the land as if he wiped it. Others said: He was named that because he did not touch with his hand anyone who was ill except that he was cured. So he is in accordance with these two sayings; "fa'il" meaning "one who does." Ibn Jubair said: He was named that because he was anointed with blessing, and others said: He was named that because he was anointed with holy oil. So he is in accordance with these two sayings "fa'il" meaning "one who is done to," and likewise in the saying of one who said: Allah anointed him, thus He purified him from sins. Ibrahim Al-Nakha'i said: The Messiah is the truthful one, and Ibn Jubair reported from Ibn Abbas: The Messiah is the king, and he was named that because he revived the dead and other miracles. This is a weak saying and is not authentically reported from Ibn Abbas.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Isa" has three grammatical possibilities: it can be a substitute for "the Messiah," an apposition, or it can be a news after news. Some grammarians have prevented it from being news after news and said: it must be that his names are either based on meaning or based on the wording of the word. It is plausible that "Isa" is a subject of an implied beginning, the estimation of which is: he is Isa, the son of Maryam. This is supported by the fact that his saying: "the son of Maryam" is a description of Isa, as the people have unanimously agreed to write it without the alif. As for being a substitute or an apposition, it is not permissible for the son of Maryam to be a description of Isa because the name here does not refer to the person. This inclination is attributed to Abu Ali, and there is consideration in the beginning of the speech. And "wajihan" is in the accusative case as an adverb, and it is from "wajh," meaning: he has a face and status with Allah. The meaning of "wajih" is that wherever he turns his face, he is honored and his matter is taken into account. The Arabs say: so-and-so has a face among the people and he has status. This is in a context of the word, as they say: he confronted me with such and such, meaning he faced me with it. And the status of Isa, peace be upon him, in this world is his prophethood and his mention, and his elevation in the Hereafter is his rank, his bliss, and his intercession. And "min al-muqarrabin" means: from Allah, the Most High.