The Believers
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE
[23:50]
And [as We exalted Moses, so, too,] We made the son of Mary and his mother a symbol [of Our grace], and provided for both an abode in a lofty place of lasting restfulness and unsullied springs.


* v.50 : For my rendering of the āyah, in this instance, as “symbol,” see sūrah 19, note 16. Jesus and his mother Mary are mentioned here specifically because they, too, had to suffer persecution and slander at the hands of “those who were bent on denying the truth.”
* I.e., in paradise. The expression ma‘īn signifies “unsullied springs” or “running waters” (Ibn ‘Abbās, as quoted by Tabarī; also Lisān al-‘Arab and Tāj al-‘Arūs), and thus symbolizes the spiritual purity associated with the concept of paradise, the “gardens through which running waters flow.”