When it is said:

Instead of Maryam,

it is a substitute of inclusion, because the times include what is in them. The purpose of mentioning Maryam is to refer to her time, as this amazing story occurred in it. And the term "al-intibadh" means isolation and seclusion. She secluded herself for worship in a place to the east of Bayt al-Maqdis, or from her house, isolating herself from the people. It is said:

She sat in a place designated for purification from menstruation, veiled by a wall or something that covers her. Her location was the mosque. When she menstruated, she would move to her aunt's house, and when she became pure, she would return to the mosque. While she was in her place of purification, the angel came to her in the form of a young man, handsome, with a bright face, curly hair, and perfect creation, without any deficiency in the human form. Or he was beautiful in appearance and well-formed. He took on the form of a human so that she would feel at ease with his words and not be frightened by him. If he had appeared to her in his angelic form, she would have been frightened and unable to listen to his words.

It indicates her chastity and piety that she sought refuge with Allah from that beautiful form of extraordinary beauty. His manifestation in that form was a test for her and a measure of her chastity. It is said that she was in the house of her sister's husband, Zakariya, and she had a separate prayer niche where she resided. Whenever Zakariya left, he would lock the door on her. She wished to find solitude in the mountain to comb her hair, so the ceiling opened for her, and she went out and sat in the elevated place behind the mountain, and the angel came to her.

It is said that he stood before her in the form of a servant named Yusuf from the servants of Bayt al-Maqdis. It is said that the Christians took the east as a qibla for Maryam's seclusion in an eastern place. The spirit refers to Jibril, for the religion is revived by him and by his revelation. Or Allah called him "His Spirit" metaphorically out of love for him and to bring him closer, just as you say to your beloved: "You are my soul." Abu Haywah read: "Our spirit," with a fathah, because he is the cause of what has the spirit of the servants, and the attainment of the spirit with Allah, which is the number of the close ones, in His saying: "As for if he is one of the close ones, then there is a spirit and a pleasant provision." Or because he is from the close ones who are promised the spirit, meaning: our close one and our spirit.