I Have Vowed a Fast to the Most Gracious

We'll go back to the ayat of Sūrat Maryam, and talk about the rest of the story of Maryam, when she delivered ʿĪsā ibn Maryam (peace be upon him).

Allah (swt) told her: fa-immā tarayinna min al-bashari aḥadan fa-qūlī innī nadhartu li-l-Raḥmāni ṣawmā. Now Maryam (peace be upon her) has a child with her, and it's going to be very difficult for her to convince the people that this is her child, and that it is a word of Allah (swt). So Allah (swt) told her: don't speak; don't speak; We'll take care of it. You don't have to argue on your own behalf.

If you see someone — Allah (swt) says: and if you see any human being, say: verily, I have vowed a fast unto the Most Gracious, so I shall not speak to any human being this day. Say that you're fasting from speaking. Because what will she tell the people? She will tell them: an angel came to me and told me — they're not going to believe her. So Allah (swt) told her: don't speak.

Fa-atat bihi qawmahā taḥmiluh: she came to her people, carrying the child. Immediately they said: qālū yā Maryamu laqad jiʾti shayʾan fariyyā — they said, O Maryam, indeed you have brought a thing that is mighty; what have you done? And then they said: yā ukhta Hārūna mā kāna abūki imraʾa sawʾin wa mā kānat ummuki baghiyyā — O sister of Hārūn, your father was not a man who used to commit adultery, nor was your mother an unchaste woman. What have you done?

So they are already accusing her. They told her: your father was not a man who would commit zinā, and your mother was a chaste woman; what have you done? They referred to her mother and her father.