Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:110
[The Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit and you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity; and [remember] when I taught you writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you designed from clay [what was] like the form of a bird with My permission, then you breathed into it, and it became a bird with My permission; and you healed the blind and the leper with My permission; and when you brought forth the dead with 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."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ اذْكُرْ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكَ وَعَلى وَالِدَتِكَ إِذْ أَيَّدْتُكَ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ ("When Allah said: O ʿĪsā, son of Maryam, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother, when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose renown be praised, says to His servants: Beware the Day on which Allah gathers the messengers and says to them: "What did your communities answer you in this world?" — "When Allah said: O ʿĪsā, son of Maryam, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother, when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit."
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The word "إذْ" ("when") is connected to أُجِبْتُمْ ("you were answered"), as though the meaning were: What did the communities to whom ʿĪsā was sent answer ʿĪsā?
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If someone were to say: How were the messengers questioned about the answer of the communities to them in the time of ʿĪsā, when in the time of ʿĪsā there were only very few messengers?
Then it is answered: It is possible that Allah, whose renown be exalted, by His statement فَيَقُولُ مَاذَا أُجِبْتُمْ ("and He says: What answer were you given?") intended the messengers who had been sent in the time of ʿĪsā. The report is then expressed in the form of the plural, while what is intended is whoever was in the time of ʿĪsā, just as the Exalted, whose renown be praised, says: الَّذِينَ قَالَ لَهُمُ النَّاسُ إِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ جَمَعُوا لَكُمْ [Surah Āl ʿImrān: 173] ("To whom the people said: The people have gathered against you"), while one of the people was intended, even though the expression is directed at all the people.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The meaning of the statement is: "When Allah said," that is, at the moment when He said — "O ʿĪsā, son of Maryam, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother, when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit" — He says: O ʿĪsā, remember My benefactions to you and to your mother, when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit and aided you thereby.
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The grammarians differed concerning "أيدتك" ("I strengthened you"), as to what verbal form it is.
Some of them said: It is "فعّلتك," [derived "from al-ayd" (strength)], like your statement "قوّيتك" ("I strengthened you"), which is the form "فعّلت" from "al-quwwa" (strength).
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Others said: It is rather "فاعلتك" from "al-ayd."
And it is related from Mujāhid that he recited: (إذْ آيَدْتُك), with the meaning "أفعلتك," derived from al-quwwa and al-ayd (strength).
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His statement "بروح القدس" ("with the Holy Spirit") means: with Jibrīl. He says: When I aided you with Jibrīl.
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I have already set forth the meaning of that, and what "al-quds" means, in what preceded, in a manner that makes repetition in this place superfluous.
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The discourse on the explanation of His statement: تُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلا وَإِذْ عَلَّمْتُكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالإِنْجِيلَ وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِي فَتَنْفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِي وَتُبْرِئُ الأَكْمَهَ وَالأَبْرَصَ بِإِذْنِي وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ الْمَوْتَى بِإِذْنِي وَإِذْ كَفَفْتُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَنْكَ إِذْ جِئْتَهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ إِنْ هَذَا إِلا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ (110) ("When you spoke to the people in the cradle and as a grown man, and when I taught you the Book and the wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel, and when you fashioned out of clay something in the form of a bird with My permission, and you breathed into it so that it became a bird with My permission, and you healed the one born blind and the leper with My permission, and when you brought forth the dead with My permission, and when I restrained the children of Israel from you when you came to them with the clear signs, whereupon those of them who disbelieved said: This is nothing but manifest sorcery").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose renown be praised, says, reporting concerning what He said to ʿĪsā: اذْكُرْ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكَ وَعَلى وَالِدَتِكَ إِذْ أَيَّدْتُكَ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ ("Remember My favor upon you and upon your mother, when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit"), in the state in which you spoke to the people in the cradle and as a grown man.
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This is merely a report from Allah, whose renown be exalted: that He strengthened him with the Holy Spirit when he was small in the cradle and when he was a grown man. He made "al-kahl" (the grown man) refer back to His statement "in the cradle," because the meaning of it is: small, just as Allah, whose renown be exalted, says: دَعَانَا لِجَنْبِهِ أَوْ قَاعِدًا أَوْ قَائِمًا [Surah Yūnus: 12] ("He calls upon Us, lying on his side, or sitting, or standing").
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His statement "وإذ علمتك الكتاب والحكمة والتوراة والإنجيل" ("and when I taught you the Book and the wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel") means: Remember also My favor upon you "when I taught you the Book," that is, writing — "and the wisdom," that is, the understanding of the meanings of the Book that I have sent down to you, namely the Gospel — "and when you fashioned out of clay something in the form of a bird," He says: like the shape of the bird...... — "with My permission," whereby by His statement "you fashion" He means: you make and form — "out of clay in the form of a bird with My permission," He says: with My aid therein and with knowledge from Me concerning it — "and you breathed into it," He says: and you breathed into that form, so that that form and shape became a bird with My permission — "and you heal the one born blind," He says: and you heal "al-akmah," that is, the blind one who sees nothing, whose eyesight is entirely effaced — "and the leper with My permission."
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I have already explained the meanings of these words in what preceded in this book of ours, set forth with their evidentiary proofs, in a manner that makes repetition in this place superfluous.
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His statement "وإذ كففت بني إسرائيل عنك إذ جئتهم بالبينات" ("and when I restrained the children of Israel from you when you came to them with the clear signs") means: Remember also My favor upon you in that I restrained the children of Israel from you when I held them back from you, while they had resolved to kill you — "when you came to them with the clear signs," He says: when you came to them with the proofs and the miraculous signs of your prophethood, and the truth of that with which I had sent you to them — "whereupon those of them who disbelieved said," the Exalted, whose renown be praised, says: whereupon those among the children of Israel who denied your prophethood and accused you of lying said — "This is nothing but manifest sorcery."
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The reciters differed in the recitation of it.
The reciters of Medina and a portion of the reciters of Basra recited it: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ ("This is nothing but manifest sorcery"), which means: it makes manifest concerning what he has brought, to whoever saw it and looked upon it, that it is sorcery without any reality.
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The majority of the reciters of Kūfa recited it: (إن هذا إلا ساحر مبين) ("This is nothing but a manifest sorcerer"), with the meaning: "This one is nothing" — namely ʿĪsā — "but a manifest sorcerer," He says: by his deeds and that which he brings of these miraculous matters he makes manifest concerning himself that he is a sorcerer and not a truthful prophet.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct judgment concerning that is that both are well-known recitations that are correct in meaning, in agreement with one another and not mutually divergent. For everyone who is described with the act of "sorcery" is described as a "sorcerer"; and everyone who is described as a "sorcerer" is described with the act of "sorcery." The act points to its doer, and the attribute points to that which is described by it, and the described one points to his attribute, and the doer points to his act. With whichever of the two the reciter recites, he hits upon what is correct in his recitation.
