9قالَ كَذٰلِكَ قالَ رَبُّكَ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ وَقَد خَلَقتُكَ مِن قَبلُ وَلَم تَكُ شَيئًاMuhammad AsadAnswered [the angel]: "Thus. it is; [but] thy Sustainer says, 'This is easy for Me - even as I have created thee aforetime out of nothing.'"1Lit., "when [or "although"] thou wert nothing". This stress on God's unlimited power to bring into being a new chain of causes and effects forms here, as in Al 'Imran, a preamble to the announcement, expressed in very similar terms, of the birth of Jesus (see verses 19 ff.).