Qur'an 3:37 states that whenever Zakariya entered upon Maryam in the mihrab, he found provision with her. When he asked where it had come from, Maryam answered that it was from Allah, and the verse affirms that Allah provides for whom He wills without measure. Classical Sunni tafsir commonly explains this provision as fruit appearing outside its normal season, while the Qur'an itself does not specify the food, season, quantity, or means of delivery. The following verse records Zakariya's prayer for righteous offspring, and classical commentators connect that hope with what he had just witnessed.
Zakariya asked her where that provision had come from. Maryam answered that it was from Allah. The Qur'anic passage then states the governing principle behind the event: Allah provides for whom He wills without measure. The strength of this candidate therefore rests first on the Qur'an itself. The repeated discovery of provision, Zakariya's question, Maryam's answer, and the attribution of the provision to Allah are all explicit in the verse.
Classical Sunni tafsir adds a well-known explanatory layer. Al-Tabari transmits multiple early reports from authorities including Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah, al-Dahhak, al-Rabi, and others describing Maryam as receiving fruit outside its usual season. Ibn Kathir likewise cites the explanation that summer fruit was found with her in winter and winter fruit in summer, and he treats the passage as evidence for the karamat of the awliya. Al-Qurtubi and al-Baghawi preserve the same general understanding and connect the scene with what follows immediately afterward.
That next verse, Qur'an 3:38, says that Zakariya then prayed to his Lord for righteous offspring. Classical commentators explain that witnessing Allah's extraordinary provision for Maryam strengthened his hope that Allah could also grant him a child. This prayer is important context, but it remains the aftermath of Maryam's provision scene rather than a second miracle that should be merged into the same candidate.
A careful public account must preserve the boundary between revelation and later explanation. Qur'an 3:37 does not identify the exact food, its amount, its season, the means by which it arrived, or any human carrier. The seasonal-fruit description is therefore classical tafsir, not the literal wording of the Qur'an.
The strongest conclusion is clear: the Qur'an explicitly presents Maryam receiving provision in the mihrab in a way that prompted Zakariya to ask its source, and Maryam attributed it directly to Allah. Classical Sunni tafsir understood the event as an extraordinary karamah and commonly explained the provision as out-of-season fruit.
Conclusion
Qur'an 3:37 explicitly records that Zakariya repeatedly found provision with Maryam in the mihrab and that she attributed it to Allah, who provides without measure. Classical Sunni tafsir received this as a karamah of Maryam and commonly explained the provision as fruit appearing outside its normal season, while that seasonal detail remains exegetical rather than Qur'anic wording.