Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 48 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:48

وَيُعَلِّمُهُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ

“And He will teach him writing and wisdom[126] and the Torah and the Gospel”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah would teach ʿĪsā writing and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel: a prophet educated, step by step, by his Lord.

A reflection

He will teach him

At an awards evening, a celebrated surgeon is asked about her success. She talks for a minute, then stops and points into the audience. An old woman is sitting there, her first teacher, who taught her to stitch on a banana skin. 'Everything I can do,' the surgeon says, 'began with her'.

'And He will teach him the Book and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel'. The verb is the first thing to notice: yuʿallimuhu, He will teach him. ʿĪsā is described as someone who learns, and Allah as his teacher.

The Quran returns to this in another surah, in a scene on the Day of Judgement. Allah will address ʿĪsā and list His favours to him and to his mother. Among them: 'when I taught you the Book and wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel' (5:110). Even there, at the end of all things, his learning is counted as a gift he was given.

This matters in the conversation between Muslims and Christians about who ʿĪsā was. One reflection is that the Quran consistently describes him with verbs of receiving. He is given glad tidings, brought near, taught, sent, supported. Each of those verbs has Allah as the one who acts and ʿĪsā as the one who receives. It is the Quran's quiet, steady way of describing a creature, however honoured.

None of this lessens him. A classical commentator notes that ʿĪsā had both the Torah and the Gospel by heart. A student who masters what his teacher gives him is honoured by that mastery.

The surgeon's greatness did not shrink when she pointed to her teacher. It became truer. The Quran describes ʿĪsā's greatness the same way: as a gift from the One who taught him.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.