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which He conveyed into Mary, and a spirit from Him'; and in another Sura it
is thus written: 1 'When the angel said, "O Mary, verily God
announceth to thee the Word from Him. His name shall be Messiah, Jesus the Son
of Mary, illustrious
(وجيها) in this world and in the next, and one of those who have
near access to God
(من
المقربين)." . . . ' Here we notice that Christ is called the word of
God, the word from Him, and a spirit from 2 Him. No one can deny that
these are lofty titles. They are given to no one else except to Christ in the
Qur'an. The Traditions give 'Spirit of God'
(روح
الله) as Christ's special appellation.3
In another Sura 4 He is called 'The word of truth'. Of no other
person whoever lived does the Qur'an say, as it does of Christ, that He was
'illustrious in this world and in the next, ' though of Moses it is said that
'With 5 God he was illustrious.' The commentator Ar-Razi explains
that Moses' 'illustriousness'
(وجاهة) consisted in his 'knowledge'. But regarding
Christ's 'illustriousness', Al-Baidawi says: 'The illustriousness in this world
is the office of a Prophet, and that in the next world is the office of
intercessor': and Az-Zamakhshari
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explains it as 'The office of Prophet and precedence
(التقدم) among men, in this
world; and in the next world the office of intercessor
(الشفاعة) and loftiness of rank
in paradise.' Nay further, the Qur'an uses the verb
(خلق) 'HE CREATED' with regard
to an action 1 which it attributes to Christ, and this verb is
elsewhere used only of the Almighty Creator Himself. Moreover, the Qur'an
distinctly states that Christ was born of a virgin, 2 through God's
spirit, 3 and that He was strengthened through the Holy Spirit 4.
Of no other prophet or apostle are these things said in that book. It also tells
us that His mother was superior to all other women. 5 Besides this,
Traditions preserved by Muslim 6 and Al-Ghazzali 7 state
that 'Ayisha and Abu Huraira said that
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