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52
THE QUR'ÂN.
III, 39-44.
thee, though thou wert not by them when they threw their lots 1 which of them should take care of Mary, nor were ye by them when they did dispute.'
[40] When the angel said, O Mary! verily, God gives thee the glad tidings of a Word from Him; his name shall be the Messiah Jesus the son of Mary, regarded in this world and the next and of those whose place is nigh to God. And he shall speak to people in his cradle, and when grown up, and shall be among the righteous. She said, “ Lord ! how can I have a son, when man has not yet touched me?' He said, “Thus God creates what He pleaseth. When He decrees a matter He only says BE and it is; and He will teach him the Book, and wisdom, and the law, and the gospel, and he shall be a prophet to the people of Israel (saying), that I have come to you, with a sign from God, namely, that I will create for you out of clay as though it were the form of a bird, and I will blow thereon and it shall become a bird by God's permission; and I will heal the blind from birth, and lepers; and I will bring the dead to life by God's permission; and I will tell you what you eat and what ye store up in your houses. Verily, in that is a sign for you if ye be believers. And I will confirm what is before you of the law, and will surely make lawful for you some of that which was prohibited from you. I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and follow me, for
1 The legend is, that the priests threw lots by casting arrows into the river Jordan. The word used for arrows means simply unfeathered and unpointed arrows, and is the same as that used in the Arab game mâisar, referred to in page 32.
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