Sūrat Āl ʿImrān
Section 4 of 22 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Fruit Out of Season
The story is well known. He keeps her in a chamber; she lives in a room. No man attends her but he; there is no other man, and no contact with any man at all. But then he suddenly finds that there are wonderful fruits with her. One might imagine mangoes in December in England. That does happen, in fact, if they are brought from South America; so imagine rather mangoes in India in December. It will not happen. The point is that she is receiving all these fruits out of season. So he wonders, and he asks: annā laki hādhā? Where are you getting this from?
فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍ وَأَنۢبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنًا وَكَفَّلَهَا زَكَرِيَّا ۖ كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا ٱلْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقًا ۖ قَالَ يَـٰمَرْيَمُ أَنَّىٰ لَكِ هَـٰذَا ۖ قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَآءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
“So, her Lord accepted her, a good acceptance, and made her grow, a good growth, and made Zakariyyā her guardian. Whenever Zakariyyā visited her at the place of worship, he found food with her. He said: “Maryam, from where did you have this?” She said: “It is from Allah. Surely, Allah gives whom He wills without measure.”” (3:37)
Then, in the words of the Qur'an:
هُنَالِكَ دَعَا زَكَرِيَّا رَبَّهُۥ ۖ قَالَ رَبِّ هَبْ لِى مِن لَّدُنكَ ذُرِّيَّةً طَيِّبَةً ۖ إِنَّكَ سَمِيعُ ٱلدُّعَآءِ
“Thereupon, Zakariyyā prayed to his Lord. He said: “O my Lord, grant me from Your own (power) a goodly progeny. Verily, You are the One who listens to the prayer.”” (3:38)
Hunālika daʿā Zakariyyā. Zakariyyā (peace be upon him) is by now very old, and his wife is old — some say over a hundred — and she is also known to be barren. Yet, subḥānAllāh, they make a duʿāʾ. Zakariyyā (peace be upon him) prays: qāla rabbi hab lī min ladunka dhurriyyatan ṭayyibah, innaka samīʿ al-duʿāʾ. And, subḥānAllāh, sure enough, his wife becomes pregnant.
One lesson, then, is that a person who cannot have children should make an intention: O Allah, if You give me a child, I will dedicate that child to the service of Your dīn — by making the child a ḥāfiẓ, or an ʿālim, or an ʿālimah if it is a girl, and dedicating the child to the service of the dīn. One should have a pious reason, a motivation, for wanting the child. Several other suggestions are given there as well.
That, then, is what happens. And, mashāʾAllāh, Maryam was a significant factor in Zakariyyā's (peace be upon him) making that duʿāʾ to Allah (swt). So Allah (swt) gives him a son, whose name is Yaḥyā. He is a cousin of ʿĪsā (peace be upon him), who is soon to follow. Yaḥyā (peace be upon him) is dealt with first. Allah (swt) says of Yaḥyā (peace be upon him) that He will give Zakariyyā a child endowed with all of these qualities; He will give him a child who is —
فَنَادَتْهُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ وَهُوَ قَآئِمٌ يُصَلِّى فِى ٱلْمِحْرَابِ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكَ بِيَحْيَىٰ مُصَدِّقًۢا بِكَلِمَةٍ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَسَيِّدًا وَحَصُورًا وَنَبِيًّا مِّنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ
“So then, when he stood praying in the place of worship, the angels called out to him saying: “Allah gives you the good news of YaHyā who shall come to confirm a word of Allah and shall be a chief, abstinent (from women), a prophet and one of the righteous.”” (3:39)
He will be a prophet; he will be very chaste; he will be a prophet, and he will be a leader. Zakariyyā wonders how he is to have a child at all. But Allah (swt) then instructs him that he is not to speak for a certain period, and so forth; and then the child is born.