Maryam · Makki · ayah 7 of 98

Maryam 19:7

يَـٰزَكَرِيَّآ إِنَّا نُبَشِّرُكَ بِغُلَـٰمٍ ٱسْمُهُۥ يَحْيَىٰ لَمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُۥ مِن قَبْلُ سَمِيًّا

“[He was told],[810] "O Zechariah, indeed We give you good tidings of a boy whose name will be John. We have not assigned to any before [this] name."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Zakariya kept saying my Lord; the answer begins with his own name, and gives his son a name no one had carried before.

A reflection

He said my Lord; he was answered by name

Most of us remember this moment as a plot point. Zakariya prayed, and then he was told he would have a son. The interest lies in the miracle that follows.

Read it slowly and the first word is the event. O Zakariya.

Throughout his prayer he has said one word over and over. My Lord, at the beginning. My Lord, mid-sentence. My Lord, near the end. Now the reply comes, and it begins with his name.

The commentators disagree about who spoke it. Most, says one classical commentator, hold that it was Allah Himself. Everything before this ayah is Zakariya speaking to his Lord, and everything after it continues that conversation. Others point to Ali 'Imran, where the angels called out to him while he stood praying. The same commentator allows that both calls may have happened. Another holds that the words came through an angel, conveying what Allah said.

Either way, the words are Allah's, and they open with a person's name.

The commentaries also note what the surah leaves out. There is a gap in the telling. A sentence is implied: and so his Lord answered him. The surah skips it. It cuts straight from an old man's whispered plea to his own name being called.

In a crowded passport office a woman has waited three hours holding a paper ticket. The screens call numbers. When an officer finally steps out and says her name, properly pronounced, she has to steady herself on the counter. Nothing about her case has changed yet. But she has been addressed as herself.

That is where this ayah begins. Before any news, before the child, Zakariya is addressed as himself.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.