فَلَمَّا وَضَعَتْهَا قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَضَعْتُهَا أُنثَى وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا وَضَعَتْ وَلَيْسَ الذَّكَرُ كَالْأُنثَى وَإِنِّي سَمَّيْتُهَا مَرْيَمَ وَإِنِّي أُعِيذُهَا بِكَ وَذُرِّيَّتَهَا مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ
When she bore her, she said, ‘My Lord, I have borne a female [child]’—and Allah knew better what she had borne, and the male [child she expected] was no match for the female [child she had borne] —‘and I have named her Mary, and I commend her and her offspring to Your care against [the evil of] the outcast Satan.’
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 3:36
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 3:36] When a female was born, Hanna, wife of Imran, was disappointed, because she had vowed to dedicate her son to the service of Allah, as it was a custom in those days to give one of the sons over to the temple in Jerusalem. Yet she named her daughter Maryam which, in Hebrew, means "maid-servant of God"; and brought her to the sanctuary. The priests unwillingly accepted Maryam on Hanna's plea that her daughter was assigned by her to God's service before her birth. She entrusted her daughter and her offspring (Isa) to Allah and invoked Him to keep both of them safe from satanic influence. Zakariyya, husband of Hanna's sister, and Maryam's maternal uncle, was chosen by casting lots to take charge of Maryam. As soon as she reached the age of puberty, he erected a high balcony where she used to stay the whole day, praying; and in the evening, he used to take her with him to her abode. The room in which she slept and lived during the night was always locked and its key was kept with him. Ibna Hajjar and Abu Dawud relate that once the Holy Prophet visited Bibi Fatimah, took some water in his hand from a wooden cup, sprinkled it over her head and shoulders, and repeated the exact words of Hanna's prayer, revealed in this verse. In fulfilment of the Holy Prophet's prayer, Bibi Fatimah was chosen by Allah as the superior most woman of the worlds, and eleven divinely commissioned guides (Imams) were born in her posterity.