The Angels Called Him as He Prayed

Immediately the duʿāʾ was accepted. Allah (swt) says: fa-nādathu al-malāʾikatu wa huwa qāʾimun yuṣallī fī al-miḥrāb — the angels called him. When did they call him? When he was standing and praying in al-miḥrāb; al-miḥrāb is the place of worship.

You, I think, would get the meaning from this ayah, when Allah (swt) says that the angels called him when he was praying: it gives us the impression that Zakariyyā (peace be upon him) was constantly in a state of ʿibādah. Because how come Allah (swt) said: when he was standing and praying? It gives the impression that Zakariyyā was in a state of ʿibādah continuously, and he received this good news from Allah (swt) when he was in that ʿibādah.

And this is interesting to notice, because you could try many things: you could go to the hospital to try to solve the problem; you could go and see a physician; you could take pills; you could try your best to solve this problem of infertility. But the news — Zakariyyā did not receive it when he was trying one of these worldly means to solve the problem. He received the solution of the problem when he was standing and praying to Allah (swt). He made the duʿāʾ to Allah, and then he stood and was praying to Allah, and that is when he received the good news.

Even though Zakariyyā made the duʿāʾ to Allah (swt), and he had trust that Allah will accept the duʿāʾ, it was astonishing — it was astonishing news to him.

What was the glad tidings that was delivered to Zakariyyā? What did the angels tell him? They said: anna Allāha yubashshiruka bi-Yaḥyā muṣaddiqan bi-kalimatin min Allāhi wa sayyidan wa ḥaṣūran wa nabiyyan min al-ṣāliḥīn — Allah is giving you the glad tidings of Yaḥyā, confirming a word from Allah.

And what is the word of Allah here? The word of Allah — the word itself is general, but it has a specific meaning here, and that is: who is the word of Allah? ʿĪsā. ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) is the word of Allah: kun fa-yakūn; he is the word of Allah (swt). So Yaḥyā (peace be upon him) was born before ʿĪsā; nevertheless Allah (swt) is saying that he will believe in him — confirming the word of Allah. The word of Allah is ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), because he was created by the word of Allah: be — and he became.

Wa sayyidan — noble; wa ḥaṣūran — keeping away from relations with women; wa nabiyyan min al-ṣāliḥīn — a prophet from among the righteous. These are some of the attributes of Yaḥyā: so he believes in ʿĪsā, and he is a sayyid — sayyid is a noble man — and he is ḥaṣūr. Ḥaṣr is when you imprison, or when you withhold, something; that is called ḥaṣr. So he was withholding all of his desires. It implies that he was a very strong man in terms of controlling these desires, which are natural in the human being; he had that strong control over these desires. And, as mentioned in the books of tafsīr, Yaḥyā (peace be upon him) never had any relation with a woman, because he never got married.