The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 114
PREFACE ESSENCE OF ISLAM 113 appears in regard to Jesus [Ḥaḍrat ‘Īsā]—namely, [And We strengthened him with the Holy Spirit]—is explained by all commentators unanimously to mean that the Holy Spirit was a con- stant companion of Jesus, not leaving him even for a single moment. See Tafsir Husainī, Tafsir Mazharī, Tafsir ‘Azīzī, Ma'ālim Ibn-e-Kathir, etc. Commenting upon the same verse Maulawi Siddiq Hasan writes in Fatḥul-Bayan: AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE The belief of Muslim ulema that the Holy Spirit remained with Jesus at every moment and at all times وَكَانَ جِبْرَائِيلُ يَسِيرُ مَعَ عِيسَى حَيْثُ سَارَ فَلَمْ يُفَارِقْهُ حَتَّى صَعِدَ بِهِ إِلَى السَّمَاء. Meaning that: Gabriel always remained with the Messiah, peace be upon him, not leaving him even for the blink of an eye, up to the point that he went to the heavens with him. Here, there are two extremely regretta- which are worthy of the read- ble aspects ers' attention: (1) FIRST: These maulawis used to believe that Gabriel descended upon the Prophets from time to time with waḥy [revelation] from the heavens and, after conveying the waḥy, he would immedi- ately ascend to the heavens. AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE The belief of present-day maulawis is that Gabriel remained continuously-day and night with Jesus for 33 years and never separated from him during that entire period and that this is a lofty and unique distinction granted to Jesus, and that no other Prophet shares in it- not even, God forbid, our Holy Prophet sas Now, in the case of Jesus, however, they have invented a new and contrary belief; namely, that Gabriel did not ascend to the heavens to fetch reve- lation for Jesus. Revelation simply fell from the heavens while Gabriel did 1. Surah al-Baqarah, 2:88 [Publisher]