The Quran

110

Preface

إِذ قالَ اللَّهُ يا عيسَى ابنَ مَريَمَ اذكُر نِعمَتي عَلَيكَ وَعَلىٰ والِدَتِكَ إِذ أَيَّدتُكَ بِروحِ القُدُسِ تُكَلِّمُ النّاسَ فِي المَهدِ وَكَهلًا ۖ وَإِذ عَلَّمتُكَ الكِتابَ وَالحِكمَةَ وَالتَّوراةَ وَالإِنجيلَ ۖ وَإِذ تَخلُقُ مِنَ الطّينِ كَهَيئَةِ الطَّيرِ بِإِذني فَتَنفُخُ فيها فَتَكونُ طَيرًا بِإِذني ۖ وَتُبرِئُ الأَكمَهَ وَالأَبرَصَ بِإِذني ۖ وَإِذ تُخرِجُ المَوتىٰ بِإِذني ۖ وَإِذ كَفَفتُ بَني إِسرائيلَ عَنكَ إِذ جِئتَهُم بِالبَيِّناتِ فَقالَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا مِنهُم إِن هٰذا إِلّا سِحرٌ مُبينٌ

Yusuf Ali

Then will God say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour¹ to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee² with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity.³ Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom,⁴ the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou didst make⁵ out of clay, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou didst breathe into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou didst heal those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou didst bring forth the dead by My leave.⁶ And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee⁷ when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: ?This is nothing but evident magic.⁸?

In a solemn scene before the Court of Judgment, Jesus is asked to recount all the mercies and favours shown to him, so that his followers should become ashamed of their ingratitude in corrupting that Message, when they could have done so much in profiting by its purity and spiritual truth. This argument continues to the end of the Sūra.
Cf. 2:87 and 3:62, n. 401.
Cf. 3:46, and n. 388.
Cf. 3:48.
Cf. 3:49, and n. 390.
Note how the words “by My leave” are repeated with each miracle to emphasise the fact that they arose, not out of the power or will of Jesus, but by the leave and will and power of God, who is supreme over Jesus as He is over all other mortals.
The Jews were seeking to take the life of Jesus long before their final attempt to crucify him; see Luke 4:28-29. Their attempt to crucify him was also foiled, according to the teaching we have received: 4:157.
According to Luke (11:15), when Christ performed the miracle of casting out devils, the Jews said he did it through the chief of the devils, i.e., they accused him of black magic. No such miracle of casting out devils is mentioned in the Qur-ān. But Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad were all accused of magic and sorcery, by those who could find no other explanation of God’s power (R).