[Hast thou not considered] him who passed by a city (_which was Jerusalem_), _riding upon an ass, and having with him a basket of figs and a vessel of the juice of grapes_ (_and he was ´Ozeyr_ [Ezra]), and it was falling down upon its roofs, _Nebuchadnezzar having ruined it_? He said, _wondering at the power of God_, How will God quicken this after its death?—And God caused him to die for a hundred years. Then He raised him to life: [and] He said _unto him_, How long hast thou tarried _here_?—He answered I have tarried a day, or part of a day.—_For he slept in the first part of the day, and was deprived of his life, and was reanimated at sunset._ He said Nay, thou hast tarried a hundred years: but look at thy food and thy drink: they have not become changed by time: and look at thine ass.—_And he beheld it dead, and its bones white and shining.—We have done this that thou mayest know_, and that We may make thee a sign _of the resurrection_ unto men. And look at the bones _of thine ass_, how We will raise them; then We will clothe them with flesh.—_So he looked at them, and they had become put together, and were clothed with flesh, and life was breathed into it, and it brayed._ Therefore when it had been made manifest to him he said, I know that God is able to accomplish everything. (ii. 261.) _THE MESSIAH._ _Remember_ when the wife of ´Imrán[326] said, (_when she had become aged, and desired offspring, wherefore she supplicated God, and became sensible of pregnancy_,) O my Lord, verily I devote unto Thee what is in my womb, to be dedicated _to the service of Thy holy house_: then accept [it] from me; for Thou art the Hearer _of prayer_, the Knower _of intentions_. _And ´Imrán perished while she was pregnant._ And when she gave birth to it, (_namely her daughter; and she was hoping that it might be a boy; since none but boys were dedicated_,) she said, O my Lord, verily I have brought forth a female, (and God well knew what she had brought forth,) and the male is not as the female, _the latter not being fit for the service_ [of the temple]; and I have named her Mary [Maryam]; and I beg thy protection for her and her offspring from the accursed devil.[327] (_In the traditions_ [it is said], _No child is born but the devil hath touched it at the time of its birth, wherefore it first raiseth its voice by crying, excepting Mary and her son._[328]) And her Lord accepted her (_that is, He accepted Mary from her mother_) with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to grow with an excellent growth, _as though she grew in a day as a child_ [generally] _groweth in a month_. _Her mother took her to the doctors, the keepers of the Holy House, and said, Receive ye this devoted child. And they eagerly desired her, because she was the daughter of their chief. But Zechariah said, I am more worthy of having her; for her maternal aunt is with me. They however replied, Nay, but we will cast lots.—So they departed (and they were nine and