She preserved her private part with complete chastity from both what is lawful and what is unlawful, as she said, "And no human has touched me, nor have I been unchaste." If you say: The blowing of the spirit into the body is an expression of giving it life. Allah, the Most High, said, "So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit," meaning: I have given him life. If this is established, then His saying, "So We breathed into her of Our Spirit," is apparent in its difficulty, for it indicates the giving of life to Mary. I say: Its meaning is that We breathed the spirit into Jesus in her, meaning: We gave him life in her womb. [Mahmoud said: "If you say the blowing of the spirit into the body is an expression of giving it life, then its meaning would be: So We gave life to Mary, and that would be problematic. I say: Its meaning is that We breathed the spirit into Jesus in Mary, meaning: We gave him life in her womb, end of his words."] Ahmad said: Al-Zamakhshari chose in the saying of Allah, the Exalted, "When We revealed to your mother what is revealed: 'Put him in the basket and cast him into the sea, and let the sea cast him up on the shore,'" that all the pronouns refer back to Moses. As for the first, there is no difficulty in it. As for the basket being cast into the sea while Moses is in it, then Moses was cast into the sea. Likewise, the third. Others chose that the last two pronouns return to the basket, because they understood from His saying, "So cast him into the sea," that what is meant is the basket. As for Moses, he was not cast into the sea. Al-Zamakhshari considered the casting of the basket into the sea while Moses is in it to be equivalent to casting him into the sea. In this verse is evidence for what he chose, for Allah, the Most High, likened the blowing of the spirit into Jesus because he is in the womb of Mary to the blowing of the spirit into Mary, thus expressing what is understood from this. And similarly, the musician might say: I blew in the house of so-and-so, meaning: I blew into the flute in his house. It may also be intended that We performed the blowing in Mary by way of Our spirit, which is Gabriel, peace be upon him, for he blew into the opening of her garment, and the blowing reached her womb. If you say: Why was it not said two signs as it was said, "And We made the night and the day two signs?" I say: Because their condition together is one sign, which is her giving birth to him without a male.