Āl ʿImrān 3:48-51

Wa yuʿallimuhu'l-kitāba wa'l-ḥikmata wa't-Tawrāta wa'l-Injīl · Wa rasūlan ilā banī Isrāʾīla annī qad jiʾtukum bi-āyatin min rabbikum annī akhluqu lakum mina'ṭ-ṭīni ka-hayʾati'ṭ-ṭayri fa-anfukhu fīhi fa-yakūnu ṭayran bi-idhni'llāh, wa ubriʾu'l-akmaha wa'l-abraṣa wa uḥyi'l-mawtā bi-idhni'llāh, wa unabbiʾukum bimā taʾkulūna wa mā taddakhirūna fī buyūtikum, inna fī dhālika la-āyatan lakum in kuntum muʾminīn · Wa muṣaddiqan limā bayna yadayya mina't-Tawrāti wa li-uḥilla lakum baʿḍa'lladhī ḥurrima ʿalaykum, wa jiʾtukum bi-āyatin min rabbikum fa'ttaqu'llāha wa aṭīʿūn · Inna'llāha rabbī wa rabbukum fa'ʿbudūh, hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīm

"He will teach him the Book, wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel · and (send him) as a messenger to the Children of Israel: 'I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. For you I shape out of clay something in the form of a bird, and I breathe into it; by God's leave it becomes a bird. By God's leave I heal the one born blind and the leper, and I raise the dead. I also tell you what you eat and what you store up in your houses. If you are believers there is in this a sign for you.' · 'Confirming the Torah that was before me, and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden you…' · 'Truly God is my Lord and your Lord; so serve Him. This is a straight path.'"

This is the most important fact of word order in the block, and it is verifiable: the expression occurs twice in the forty-ninth verse in the form bi-idhni'llāh, and the third verb is tied to the same note.

And the subjects of the verbs must be recorded: all of them are first person singular — akhluqu, anfukhu, ubriʾu, uḥyī, unabbiʾu. "I shape, I breathe, I heal, I raise."

And at the end of every sequence of verbs the same note comes.

I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: the word order of the sentence says two things at once. The acts are not denied — they really are done. But the authority of the acts is each time tied elsewhere. And this is the whole question of the sūra in this block: what Jesus did is not denied; the conclusion drawn from what he did is limited.

And the last sentence of the block does this plainly: inna'llāha rabbī wa rabbukum — "God is my Lord and your Lord." The sentence puts the speaker on the same side as those he addresses.

This sentence occurs several times in the Qurʾān, always in the mouth of Jesus (5/72, 5/117, 19/36, 43/64). It was treated at 19/36 in Maryam. I rely on that treatment.

And it can be compared with the sentence at 29/46 in al-ʿAnkabūt: wa ilāhunā wa ilāhukum wāḥid. The two sentences do the same work, and this will be taken up separately at verse 64 of the sūra.

أَكْمَه — from the root ك-م-ه: blind from birth. And أَبْرَص — from the root ب-ر-ص: stricken with the white skin disease.

Both words occur in the Qurʾān only in these two places (here and at 5/110).

I record this as an observation and I force no connection: the two illnesses have in common that both are visible and lasting. One is from birth, the other carries its mark on the skin. That is, both are conditions that cannot be hidden and do not change by ordinary means.

The verse's caveat matters: baʿḍa'lladhī — "some of it". Not all.

Per the method (Method) I record this: this sentence is connected with a ruling named elsewhere in the Qurʾān (al-Nisāʾ 4/160, al-Anʿām 6/146). No legal ruling is built on that connection in this commentary; what is to be recorded is that the sentence speaks of a partial change.

And the closing sentence of the block is worth recording: hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīm. The construction was treated in detail in al-Fātiḥa. I do not repeat it here. And it will occur once more in the sūra, at verse 101: wa man yaʿtaṣim bi'llāhi fa-qad hudiya ilā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm. Two occurrences, one inside an account and one in an address to the community.