'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: ﴿When Allah said, 'O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit. You speak to the people in the cradle and in maturity. And [remember] when I taught you the Scripture and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel. And [remember] when you design from clay [what is] like the form of a bird; then you breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by My permission. And you heal the blind and the leper by My permission. And when you bring forth the dead by My permission. And when I restrained the Children of Israel from [killing] you when you came to them with clear proofs, and those who disbelieved among them said, 'This is not but obvious magic.'﴾ It is possible that the verb in 'when' is an implied action; its estimation is: 'Remember, O Muhammad, when you came to them with clear proofs; and 'He said' here means: 'He says'; because the apparent meaning of this saying is on the Day of Resurrection; as a prelude to His saying: ﴿Did you say to the people﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 116]; and all of this is a ruling for reproaching those who are found disbelieving in Allah in their claim of the divinity of Jesus. And it is possible that 'when' is in place of His saying: ﴿The Day Allah gathers﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 109]. And the favor of Allah upon Jesus is in prophethood; and all that has been mentioned; and what is known of what cannot be counted; and the favor upon his mother has been enumerated as it is a favor directed to him; and because of it, she was. And the majority of people read: ﴿I supported you﴾ with emphasis on the 'ya'; and Mujahid and Ibn Muhaisin read: 'I aided you' in the form of 'I acted with you'; and it appears that the origin in the two readings is 'I supported you' in the form of 'I did to you'; then the difference occurred in the vowelization; and the meaning in both is: 'I strengthened you'; from 'al-aydu'; and Abd al-Muttalib said: ٭ Praise be to Allah, the Mighty, the Generous ٭ He supported us on the day of the advance of the Ashram. And the Pure Spirit is Gabriel - blessings and peace be upon him; and His saying: ﴿in the cradle﴾ is a state; as if He said: small; and 'and in maturity' is also a state, conjoined to the first; and like His saying: ﴿He called us while sitting or standing or reclining﴾ [Yunus: 12]; and 'maturity' is from forty to fifty; and it is said: it is from thirty to thirty-three; and 'the Scripture' in this verse is the source of 'kataba; yaktubu'; meaning: 'I taught you writing'; and it is possible that He means the name of the kind in the scrolls of Ibrahim; and other than that; then He specifically mentioned the Torah and the Gospel as a mark of honor. 'And wisdom' is understanding; and perception in matters of the Shari'ah; and Allah has granted the prophets from it what they are distinguished by; they are infallible; they do not speak out of desire. His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'And when' in this verse; wherever it is repeated; it is a conjunction to the first one that worked in it 'My favor'. And 'you create' means: you estimate; and you prepare an equal, perfect estimation; and from it is the saying of the poet: ٭ And you create what you have created, and among the people, he creates, then does not create. (p-296) Meaning: he prepares; and estimates for him to act and complete; then does not do; and from it is the saying of another: ٭ Who was creating what I could not do, then my ability in it is little.

And Jesus - peace be upon him - would shape from clay the likeness of birds, then he would blow into them in front of the people; they would come to life and fly by the permission of Allah. This story has already been mentioned in 'Aal 'Imran.'

And the majority of the people read: 'Kahay'ati' with a hamzah; it is a source from their saying: 'Haa'a al-shay'u; yahaa'u' when it is established and remains on a good matter. Al-Lihyani said: It is also said 'Yahi'u.' And Al-Zuhri read: 'Kahayyati' with a doubling of the 'ya' and without a hamzah. Abu Ja'far ibn al-Qaqa' read: 'Kahay'ati al-tayri.'

And the permission in this verse - how it is repeated - means: the enabling, along with the knowledge of what is being done and what is intended by calling the people to faith.

And His saying, the Exalted: 'So he blows into them'; is the known blowing of humans. Allah made the matter this way to show the involvement of Jesus in the miracle and its emergence from him. This is like the throwing of Moses - peace be upon him - the staff, and like the presentation of Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - the Qur'an. This is one of the conditions of miracles. And His saying: 'In them' with a feminine pronoun, while that came in 'Aal 'Imran': 'So I blow into it' [Aal 'Imran: 49] with a masculine pronoun, is a matter in which the interpreters have differed. Al-Makki said: It refers in 'Aal 'Imran' to the bird, and in 'Al-Ma'idah' to the form. He said: It is also correct to reverse this. Others said: The masculine pronoun refers to the clay.

Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: The return of this pronoun is not correct; neither to the bird, nor to the clay, nor to the form. Because the clay and the bird that the clay takes on its form do not have blowing in them at all. Likewise, there is no blowing in its specific form of his body, which is mentioned in the verse. Likewise, the clay mentioned in the verse is merely the general clay; there is no blowing in that. Rather, the blowing is in the specific forms of it, which the hand of Jesus - peace be upon him - arranged. So the proper way to say regarding the return of the feminine pronoun is that it refers to what the verse necessitates necessarily. This is because His saying: 'And when you create from clay the likeness of a bird' necessitates forms or bodies or shapes. Likewise, the masculine pronoun refers to the created being that is necessitated by 'You create.' You may also return it to what the 'ka' indicates in the meaning of 'like,' because the meaning is: 'And when you create from clay something like its form.' You may also return the pronoun to the 'ka' itself, for those who permit that it could be a name in non-poetry, and the 'ka' would be in the position of an accusative, describing the intended source; its estimation is: 'And when you create a creation from clay like the form of the bird.'

And Abdullah ibn Abbas read: "Like the form of the bird, then it blows into it, and it becomes"; and the majority read: "then it becomes"; with the ت (ta) from above; and Isa ibn Umar read: "in it, then it becomes"; with the ي (ya) from below; and Nafi alone read: "then it becomes a bird"; and the others read: "bird"; without the ألف (alif); and both readings are widespread among the people; and "the bird" is the plural of "a bird"; like "a merchant" and "merchants"; and "a companion" and "companions"; and "a rider" and "a group of riders"; and "the bird" is a singular noun; and the meaning according to Nafi's reading is: "then each piece of those creatures becomes a bird."

Abu Ali said: And if someone were to say: Indeed, the bird can be a plural; like "the carrier" and "the one who splits open"; then the meaning of both readings would be one; it would be a valid analogy; and what Abu al-Hasan narrated from their saying: "a bird"; would support this; and it would be from the category of: "a grain of barley" and "barley"; and "a date" and "dates."

And the saying regarding the blind and the leper has already been mentioned; and in the stories of his reviving the dead in "Al-Imran"; and ﴿It brings forth the dead﴾; its meaning is: from their graves; and the stopping of the Children of Israel from him - blessings and peace be upon him - is his being raised; when they surrounded him in the house with the disciples; and the first thing Allah prevented him from was the stopping; until that last incident; there the greatness of the stopping appeared; and the clear signs are his miracles; and his Gospel; and all that he brought.

And Ibn Kathir read; and Asim - here; and in "Hud"; and "As-Saff": ﴿"Except magic";﴾ without the ألف (alif); and Hamza; and Al-Kisai - in the four places - read: "sorcerer"; with an ألف (alif); so whoever read "magic"; made the reference to the clear signs; and the discourse; and what he brought; and whoever read "sorcerer"; made the reference to the person; as he is one who has magic among them; and this is consistent throughout the entire Qur'an; wherever this disagreement arises.