12 Preface وَمَريَمَ ابنَتَ عِمرانَ الَّتي أَحصَنَت فَرجَها فَنَفَخنا فيهِ مِن روحِنا وَصَدَّقَت بِكَلِماتِ رَبِّها وَكُتُبِهِ وَكانَت مِنَ القانِتينَYusuf AliAnd Mary the daughter1 of ‘Imrān, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (her body)2 of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (Servants).3‘Imrān was traditionally the name of the father of Mary the mother of Jesus: see n. 375 to 3:35. She was herself one of the purest of women, though the Jews accused her falsely of unchastity: Cf. 19:27-28.Cf. 21:91. As a virgin she gave birth to Jesus: 19:16-29. In 32:9, it is said of Adam’s progeny, man, that God “fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something of His spirit”. In 15:29, similar words are used with reference to Adam. The virgin birth should not therefore be supposed to imply that God was the father of Jesus in the sense in which Greek mythology makes Zeus the father of Apollo by Latona or of Minos by Europa. And yet that is the doctrine to which the Christian idea of “the only begotten Son of God” leads.Mary had true faith and testified her faith in the Prophet Jesus and in his revelation as well as in the revelations which he came to confirm (and to foreshadow). She was of the company of the Devout of all ages. The fact that Qanitin (devout) is not here in the feminine gender implies that the highest spiritual dignity is independent of sex. And so we close the lesson of this Sūra, that while sex is a fact of our physical existence, the sexes should act in harmony and cooperation for in the highest spiritual matters we are all one. “We made her and her son a Sign for all peoples. Verily this Brotherhood of yours is a single Brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore serve Me and no other” (21:91-92).