The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 51
PT. 3 ĀL-E-‘IMRĀN CH. 3 وَيُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا وَ مِنَ And he shall speak to the. 47 وَّ الصَّلِحِينَ people in the cradle and when of middle age, and he shall be of the righteous. '336 a5:111. gender. It can only refer to the person about whom the glad tidings was given. The relevant clause of the verse may, therefore, also be rendered as, "O Mary, Allah gives thee glad tidings with a word, (i. e. by means of revelation) from Him; his, (i. e. the promised one's) name shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary. " Jesus has been called Masih (Messiah) in this verse and the word Masiḥ, as given under Important Words above, means one who travels much. Jesus was given this name because he was to travel much. But if in pursuance of the Gospel narrative, Jesus' ministry be admitted to have been confined to only three years and his travels to only a few Palestinian or Syrian towns, the title of Masiḥ in no way fits him. Recent historical research has, however, established the fact that after having recovered from the shock and the wounds of crucifixion, Jesus travelled far and wide in the East and finally reached Kashmir to give his message to the lost tribes of Israel who lived in these parts. In this connection see also 23:51, where Jesus is spoken of as having been afforded shelter in a hilly tract of land. (Masiḥ) also means "one anointed". As the birth of Jesus was out of the ordinary and was liable to be looked upon as illegitimate, therefore, to remove this possible accusation, he was spoken of as 491 "being anointed" with God's own anointment, even as all true Prophets of God are anointed. Jesus has also been so spoken of because, like a thing anointed with oil, the water of sin could not penetrate him. It could only just touch his skin but could not sink into it nor remain there (Matt. 4:1-11). In contrast to it, the high spiritual rank of the Holy Prophet of Islam may be judged from a well- known saying of his wherein he says that his Satan had turned Muslim and urged him to do nothing but good (Musnad & Muslim), meaning that not only could no satanic touch harm him but that Satan had become virtually non-existent for him. Nay, it means even more; for, the words signify that the Holy Prophet had been provided with such a powerful spiritual transformer that even satanic suggestions were converted into veritable forces of virtue in him. The expression, of those who are granted nearness to God, also gives to Jesus no higher position than that of a righteous servant of God. All people advanced in righteousness have been spoken of in the Quran as being granted nearness to God (56:11, 12). 336. Important Words: (cradle) is the noun-infinitive from the verb. They say i. . he made the place plain, even or