274. Worship of Mary in the Eastern Churches is a common practice. Father Louis Sheikhu has written: "The worship of Mary, the mother of God, by the Armenian Churches is a well known fact." So is the case with the Coptian Churches (Al-Manar).

Mawdudi writes: "...During the first three centuries after the Messiah ... (the concept of the divinity of Mary) ... was totally alien to Christian thinking. Towards the end of the third century of the Christian era, some theologians of Alexandria employed, for the first time, the expression ‘Mother of God' in connection with Mary... It was not until the Council of Ephesus in 431 that the Church officially used the expression ‘Mother of God' for Mary. The result was the Mariatology began to spread fast within the Church itself... Statues of Mary adorned the cathedrals. She became the object of worship... In the preamble of his code, Justinian had declared Mary to be the defender and supporter of his empire, and his general, Marses, sought Mary's guidance on the battlefield... Several centuries later the Protestants argued strongly against Mariatology... (but the) Roman Catholic Church has, nevertheless, managed so far to cling to Mariatology in one form or the other."

Majid writes: "Compare the Angelical Salutations of the Roman Catholics:-

‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.'

And their Angelo Domini:-

‘Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.'

And the prayer of Saint Bernard:-

‘O most pious Virgin Mary! ... I cast myself at thy sacred feet, humbly deploring my sins, and beseeching thee to adopt me for thy child, and to take upon thee the care of my eternal salvation.'

And this Litany of the Blessed Virgin:-

‘We fly to thy patronage, O Holy Mother of God! Despise not our petition in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers.'

"The Anatolian aspiration, according to another distinguished scholar, was to look for the divine nature in a feminine personality, ‘and this was found at last in the ideas of thee "Mother of God." It was at Ephesus, thee city of the goddess, that the earlier proof is found of an established cult of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God; and in the Council held at Ephesus in A.D. 431 this cult was definitely established as a feature of the Orthodox ritual" (ERE, IX, p. 908).

275. Note that `Isa ibn Maryam will begin his reply with the glorification of Allah (Qurtubi).

276. That is, I do not know what you keep to Yourself that remains unknown to me. (Ibn Jarir)

277. Our Prophet too will quote this verse on the Day of Judgment. A hadith in the Sahihayn says:

إِنَّكُمْ مَحْشُورُونَ إِلَى اللَّهِ حُفَاةً عُرَاةً غُرْلًا ثُمَّ قَالَ {كَمَا بَدَأْنَا أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُعِيدُهُ وَعْدًا عَلَيْنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ} إِلَى آخِرِ الْآيَةِ ثُمَّ قَالَ أَلَا وَإِنَّ أَوَّلَ الْخَلَائِقِ يُكْسَى يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِبْرَاهِيمُ أَلَا وَإِنَّهُ يُجَاءُ بِرِجَالٍ مِنْ أُمَّتِي فَيُؤْخَذُ بِهِمْ ذَاتَ الشِّمَالِ فَأَقُولُ يَا رَبِّ أُصَيْحَابِي فَيُقَالُ إِنَّكَ لَا تَدْرِي مَا أَحْدَثُوا بَعْدَكَ فَأَقُولُ كَمَا قَالَ الْعَبْدُ الصَّالِحُ {وَكُنْتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَنْتَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ} فَيُقَالُ إِنَّ هَؤُلَاءِ لَمْ يَزَالُوا مُرْتَدِّينَ عَلَى أَعْقَابِهِمْ مُنْذُ فَارَقْتَهُمْ

"Once the Prophet stood up and gave a sermon. He said, ‘People! You will be raised up before your Lord naked, bare-footed, and uncircumcised, ‘As We began the creation, We shall repeat it.' The first ever of those to be dressed on the Day of Judgment would be Ibrahim. Lo! A people would be brought who will be taken away to the left. I will say, ‘My Companions, my Companions.' It will be said, ‘You do not know what they did after you.' So I will say as the righteous slave of Allah said, "I was a witness over them so long as I dwelt with them. But, after You completed my term, You were Yourself the Watcher over them. And You are a Witness over everything. If You punish them then, surely they are Your slaves. But, if You forgive them, then surely, You are the Mighty, the Wise." It will be said, ‘These people remained turning back upon their heels, apostates, from the time you parted with them (Ibn Kathir).

Qabeesah said that the allusion is to the apostates that Abu Bakr fought (Au.).

278. Abu Dharr has reported in a hadith (preserved in Ahmad: Ibn Kathir):

عَنْ أَبِى ذَرٍّ قَالَ : سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- وَهُوَ يُصَلِّى ذَاتَ لَيْلَةٍ ، وَهُوَ يُرَدِّدُ آيَةً حَتَّى أَصْبَحَ بِهَا يَرْكَعُ وَبِهَا يَسْجُدُ (إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ) قُلْتُ : يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَا زِلْتَ تُرَدِّدُ هَذِهِ الآيَةَ حَتَّى أَصْبَحْتَ. قَالَ :« إِنِّى سَأَلْتُ رَبِّى الشَّفَاعَةَ لأُمَّتِى ، وَهِىَ نَائِلَةٌ لِمَنْ لاَ يُشْرِكُ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا ».

Once the Prophet recited nothing but this verse in his night Prayer that lasted until the dawn, repeating it in his bows and prostrations. I asked him the reason. He replied: "I asked for intercession for my Ummah. It shall be for whoso that did not attribute aught with Allah."

Another hadith in Muslim narrated by `Abdullah b. `Amr b. al-As says that once the Prophet recited the words of Ibrahim (14: 36):

رَبِّ إِنَّهُنَّ أَضْلَلْنَ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ فَمَنْ تَبِعَنِي فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي وَمَنْ عَصَانِي فَإِنَّكَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ [إبراهيم : 36]

‘My Lord. Surely, they (the deities) led astray many a people. Therefore, whoso followed me is of me. As for him who disobeyed me, well, You are the Forgiving, the Kind.' Then the Prophet recited the words of `Isa ibn Maryam:

إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ [المائدة : 118]

‘If You punish them then, surely they are Your slaves. But, if You forgive them, then surely, You are the Mighty, the Wise.'

فَرَفَعَ يَدَيْهِ وَقَالَ « اللَّهُمَّ أُمَّتِى أُمَّتِى ». وَبَكَى فَقَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يَا جِبْرِيلُ اذْهَبْ إِلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَرَبُّكَ أَعْلَمُ فَسَلْهُ مَا يُبْكِيكَ فَأَتَاهُ جِبْرِيلُ - عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَالسَّلاَمُ - فَسَأَلَهُ فَأَخْبَرَهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- بِمَا قَالَ. وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ. فَقَالَ اللَّهُ يَا جِبْرِيلُ اذْهَبْ إِلَى مُحَمَّدٍ فَقُلْ إِنَّا سَنُرْضِيكَ فِى أُمَّتِكَ وَلاَ نَسُوءُكَ.

Then he raised his hand and prayed: "My Lord! My people, my people," and cried. Allah sent Jibril and said, "Go to Muhammad – and although your Lord knows – ask him, ‘What makes you cry?'" Jibril came to him and asked him. The Prophet told him what he had said, although He knows. Allah said, "Jibril. Go to Muhammad and tell him, ‘We shall please you in the affair of your Ummah, and shall not give you pain'" (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Also note that `Isa ibn Maryam ended with "You are the Mighty, the Wise" and not with "You are the Forgiving, the Kind," because the latter words would take forgiveness for granted, or, would be a way of interceding for them (Razi).