He Will Speak to People in the Cradle

And then the angels told her: wa yukallimu al-nāsa fī al-mahdi wa kahlan wa min al-ṣāliḥīn — he will speak to people in the cradle and in manhood, and he will be one of the righteous. Yukallimu al-nāsa fī al-mahd: in the cradle, in infancy. What did he say? What were the first words that ʿĪsā ibn Maryam pronounced when he was born? Innī ʿabdu Allāh: I'm the servant of Allah.

The first words that came out of the mouth of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam when he was born are that I am the servant of Allah; I am the slave of Allah: innī ʿabdu Allāh. This has been crossed out from the books of the Christians. The first word that he said is: innī ʿabdu Allāh. So he speaks to people in the cradle.

Wa kahlā: al-kuhūlah is manhood. This is defined as over thirty-three years old, or over forty — there is a difference of opinion on the linguistic meaning of the word — but it means in manhood, in adulthood. But you can find that all of them say it is over thirty years old.

And it's interesting to know that some of the scholars have said — because ʿĪsā ibn Maryam was elevated alive at a pretty young age, in his early thirties — that when ʿĪsā ibn Maryam comes down, the first thing he will say is: innī ʿabdu Allāh, innī ʿabdu Allāh — I'm the servant of Allah. The first word that came out of his mouth when he was in the cradle was: I'm the servant of Allah. And the first word that will come out of his mouth in manhood, when he comes down to this world, is: I'm the servant of Allah. And they use that as an explanation of this ayah: wa yukallimu al-nāsa fī al-mahdi wa kahlā — he speaks to the people in the cradle and in manhood.