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which He conveyed into Mary, and a spirit from Him'; and in another Sura it is thus written: 1 'When the angel said, "O Mary, verily God announceth to thee the Word from Him. His name shall be Messiah, Jesus the Son of Mary, illustrious (وجيها) in this world and in the next, and one of those who have near access to God (من المقربين)." . . . ' Here we notice that Christ is called the word of God, the word from Him, and a spirit from 2 Him. No one can deny that these are lofty titles. They are given to no one else except to Christ in the Qur'an. The Traditions give 'Spirit of God' (روح الله) as Christ's special appellation.3 In another Sura 4 He is called 'The word of truth'. Of no other person whoever lived does the Qur'an say, as it does of Christ, that He was 'illustrious in this world and in the next, ' though of Moses it is said that 'With 5 God he was illustrious.' The commentator Ar-Razi explains that Moses' 'illustriousness' (وجاهة) consisted in his 'knowledge'. But regarding Christ's 'illustriousness', Al-Baidawi says: 'The illustriousness in this world is the office of a Prophet, and that in the next world is the office of intercessor': and Az-Zamakhshari


1 Sura iii. 40.
2 It should be noticed that 'from' is here من, i.e. εκ: note مِن عِند with παρα genitive.
3 For example, in Mishkat, p. 480.
4 Sura xix. 35. 5 Sura xxxiii. 69.

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explains it as 'The office of Prophet and precedence (التقدم) among men, in this world; and in the next world the office of intercessor (الشفاعة) and loftiness of rank in paradise.' Nay further, the Qur'an uses the verb (خلق) 'HE CREATED' with regard to an action 1 which it attributes to Christ, and this verb is elsewhere used only of the Almighty Creator Himself. Moreover, the Qur'an distinctly states that Christ was born of a virgin, 2 through God's spirit, 3 and that He was strengthened through the Holy Spirit 4. Of no other prophet or apostle are these things said in that book. It also tells us that His mother was superior to all other women. 5 Besides this, Traditions preserved by Muslim 6 and Al-Ghazzali 7 state that 'Ayisha and Abu Huraira said that


1 Sura iii. 43. 2 Suras iii. 40-42; xix. 16-22; xxi. 91; lxvi. 12.
3 Sura xxi. 91. 4 Sura ii. 81, 254. 5 Sura iii. 42.
6 Imam Muslim, vol. v, p. 126: Muhammad one day said to 'Ayisha:

ما مِن مولودِ يولَد لابن آدم الآ نَخَسهُ الشّيطان عند ولادتِهِ فيستهِل صارِخَا من نخسةِ الشّيطان الآ ابن مريم واّمهُ‫.

7 Imam Ghazali, vol. iii, p. 37:

لمّا وُلِدَ عيسىا ابن مريم عليه اْلسّلام اتتِ الشّياطين ابليس فقالت قد اصبحتِ اْلاصنام منكّسةَ الرّؤْوس فقال هَذا حادِثْ قد حَدَثَ مكانكُم فطار حتّى اتى خافقَى اْلارض فلم يجِد شياءً ثُمّ وجد عيسىا عليهِ اْلسّلام قد وُلِدَ و إذا اْلملاِئكةِ خافّين بِهِ فرجع اليهم فقال إنّ نبيَّا قد وُلدَ اْلبارِحةَ ما حملت اْنثى قط ولا وضعت إلاّ