She Withdrew to a Place Facing East

Allah (swt) says: idh qālati al-malāʾikatu yā Maryamu inna Allāha yubashshiruki bi-kalimatin minhu — and remember when the angel said: O Maryam, verily Allah gives you the glad tidings of a word. We'll get back to this ayah; we'll move on to the ayat from Sūrat Maryam.

Allah (swt) says: wa-dhkur fī al-kitābi Maryama idhi intabadhat min ahlihā makānan sharqiyyā — and mention in the Book Maryam, when she withdrew in seclusion from her family to a place facing east. Maryam — where was she living? In Bayt al-Maqdis, in Jerusalem. She went outside, towards the east. Fa-ttakhadhat min dūnihim ḥijābā: she placed a screen from them — meaning that she was away from her people; she was alone.

Fa-arsalnā ilayhā rūḥanā: We sent to her Our Rūḥ. The word rūḥ in the Qur'an has been used for three different meanings. It means our spirit, our soul — al-rūḥ; that's one meaning. The second meaning is al-Rūḥ al-Qudus, which is Jibrīl (peace be upon him). And Allah (swt) said rūḥanā: Allah (swt) has called him My Rūḥ, the Rūḥ of Allah (swt), and it is referring to Jibrīl. Jibrīl has been called the Rūḥ of Allah — not to mean literally that he is the Rūḥ of Allah; he is created by Allah. But he was named the Rūḥ of Allah because he is the one who carries the words of Allah.

Jibrīl (peace be upon him) is the one who is carrying the words of Allah. Jibrīl is the angel of waḥy. Any revelation of scripture that was revealed was through Jibrīl (peace be upon him): al-Tawrāh was revealed by Jibrīl, al-Injīl by Jibrīl, and al-Qur'an by Jibrīl, al-Zabūr by Jibrīl. He is the angel of waḥy — and waḥy is the word of Allah (swt). It's the word of Allah.

Also, rūḥ has been mentioned in the Qur'an to refer to either the soul of Ādam or the soul of ʿĪsā. The soul of Ādam and the soul of ʿĪsā were called the soul of Allah, the spirit of Allah — again, because Allah (swt) created these two souls from the beginning in a different form than the natural way that we multiply. The reproduction of the human being happens through a husband and wife; but in the case of Ādam, Ādam was created without a father and a mother, and ʿĪsā was created without a father. So over here, rūḥanā means Jibrīl (peace be upon him).