The Quran

Preface

فَلَمّا وَضَعَتها قالَت رَبِّ إِنّي وَضَعتُها أُنثىٰ وَاللَّهُ أَعلَمُ بِما وَضَعَت وَلَيسَ الذَّكَرُ كَالأُنثىٰ ۖ وَإِنّي سَمَّيتُها مَريَمَ وَإِنّي أُعيذُها بِكَ وَذُرِّيَّتَها مِنَ الشَّيطانِ الرَّجيمِ

Yusuf Ali

When she was delivered, she said: “O my Lord! Behold! I am delivered of a female child!”- and God knew best what she brought forth¹ - “And no wise is the male Like the female². I have named her Mary, and I commend her and her offspring to Thy protection from the Evil One, the Rejected.”

The mother of Mary expected a male child. Was she disappointed that it was a female child? No, for she had faith, and she knew that God’s Plan was better than any wishes of hers. Mary was no ordinary girl: only God knew what it was that her mother brought forth.
The female child could not be devoted to Temple service under the Mosaic law, as she intended. But she was marked out for a special destiny as a miraclechild, to be the mother of the miracle-child Jesus. She was content to seek God’s protection for her against all evil. There is a certain sense of pride in the girl on the part of the mother.