Surah 3. Aal-Imran, Ayah 36

Lit., "to her" - implying that it was a girl.

Lit., "and the male is not [or "could not be"] like the female". Zamakhshari reads these words as forming part of the parenthetic sentence relating to God's knowledge, and explains them thus: "The male [child] which she had prayed for could not have been like the female which she was granted" - which implies that Mary's excellence would go far beyond any hopes which her mother had ever entertained.

 Service at the temple was hosted by males only.

 The prayers of Mary’s mother were answered. In a ḥadîth collected by Bukhâri and Muslim, the Prophet (ﷺ) says, “Every child is touched by Satan when they are born—and they cry because of this contact—except Jesus and his mother.”

The mother of Mary expected a male child. Was she disappointed that it was a female child? No, for she had Faith, and she knew that Allah's Plan was better than any wishes of hers. Mary was no ordinary girl: only Allah knew what it was that her mother brought forth.

The female child could not be devoted to Temple service under the Mosaic law, as she intended. But she was marked out for a special destiny as a miracle-child, to be the mother of the miracle-child Jesus. She was content to seek Allah's protection for her against all evil. There is a certain sense of pride in the girl on the part of the mother.