46 Preface وَيُكَلِّمُ النّاسَ فِي المَهدِ وَكَهلًا وَمِنَ الصّالِحينَYusuf Ali“He shall speak to the people in childhood and in maturity1. And he shall be (of the company) of the righteous.”The ministry of Jesus lasted only about three years, from 30 to 33 years of his age, when in the eyes of his enemies he was crucified. But the Gospel of Luke (2:46) describes him as disputing with the doctors in the Temple at the age of 12, and even earlier, as a child, he was “strong in spirit, filled with wisdom” (Luke 2:40). Some apocryphal Gospels describe him as preaching from infancy.