The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 27
PT. 16 MARYAM 20. He replied, 'I am only a Messenger of thy Lord, that "I may bestow on thee a righteous son. '2164 21. She said, 'How can I have a son when no man has touched me, neither have I been unchaste?'2165 CH. 19 قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَسُوْلُ رَبَّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ عُلَما زَكِيَّان قَالَتْ أَن يَكُونُ لِي غُلَمُ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرُ وَ لَمْ أَكُ بَغِيَّا a3:46. 3:48; 19:9. dogmas of Christianity and it is this attribute of God which cuts at the root of these false doctrines and demolishes them. If God is Gracious, then He can forgive the sins of His servants and if He can forgive their sins, then there is no need for anybody to give his blood in order to save mankind. As is apparent from the previous verse it was a mere vision that Mary had seen, and it generally happens that when a person sees a thing in a vision which he does not like in his waking state, he does not like it when he sees it in a vision. When Mary saw the angel standing before her in the form of a man she, being a virtuous young woman, was naturally frightened and perplexed as she would have been frightened and perplexed if she had seen him in her state of wakefulness and it is son but only the glad tidings about the birth of a son. The expression) only signifies that the angel had appeared to Mary to give her the certain and sure tidings about the birth of a son. The glad tidings was so certain of being fulfilled that it seemed as if the son had already been given to her. This is what the angel had conveyed to Mary because who does not know that it is God Who bestows a son and not an angel. An angel's mission is confined only to conveying the wish and decree of God. 2165. Commentary: The incident referred to in this and the preceding verses took place in a vision, and in a vision or dream a person experiences different kinds of sensations at different occasions. Sometimes his feelings and talk in the therefore quite natural that she sought dream are subject to and under the Divine protection from him. 2164. Commentary: The word 'Messenger' shows that the angel was only the bearer of a Divine Message and the message or glad tidings which he brought was about the birth of a great son to Mary. So he had come not to give Mary a 1941 effect of the dream that he sees while at another time they are not, and he feels and talks as he would feel and talk if he were awake. For example, if in a dream a person is glad over the death of his son, his feelings will be regarded as under the effect of the dream because in his state of