Maryam 19:16-21

"Mention Mary in the Book too: when she withdrew from her family to a place towards the east. She put a screen between herself and them. Then We sent Our spirit to her, and it appeared to her in the form of a well-made human being. Mary said: 'I take refuge in al-Raḥmān from you! If you are one who guards himself (do not come near me).'"

ٱنتَبَذَتْ — root ن-ب-ذ: to throw, to cast aside. Form VIII: to draw oneself aside. The root was treated in al-Baqara, al-Qalam and al-Humaza.

And the construction of the scene must be recorded: the withdrawal, the screen, then the coming. The one who comes, that is, comes into a closed place — and Mary's first response is a sentence of taking refuge.

إِنِّىٓ أَعُوذُ بِٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ مِنكَ — the name in which refuge is taken: al-Raḥmān.

I record this as an observation: the density of this name in the sūra was tabulated in the section on structure. And one of its first uses comes in a sentence of taking refuge, at a moment of fear. The name works not as a distant attribute but as a name that is called upon.

إِن كُنتَ تَقِيًّا — "if you are one who guards himself". The construction of the sentence is worth recording: Mary does not threaten the one before her; she appeals to his own measure.

قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَٰمًا زَكِيًّا — and the answer states his identity and his errand.

قَالَتْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى غُلَٰمٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِى بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا — the same pattern as Zechariah's question: annā yakūnu lī ghulām.

The same question pattern, two different obstacles. And both answers carry the same expression: huwa ʿalayya hayyin (9) / huwa ʿalayya hayyin (21). This is a symmetry that can be verified within the sūra.