Sūrat Maryam
Section 3 of 17 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Weak, but Never Disappointed
He had by then grown very old. His bones had weakened, which he mentions; his hair had turned white; his wife was advanced in years and barren. Zakariyyā (peace be upon him) was at that time some hundred and twenty years of age, and his wife ninety-eight, so that a child seemed impossible. Yet he asked:
قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّى وَهَنَ ٱلْعَظْمُ مِنِّى وَٱشْتَعَلَ ٱلرَّأْسُ شَيْبًا وَلَمْ أَكُنۢ بِدُعَآئِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيًّا
“He said, “My Lord, I am in a state that bones in my body have turned feeble, and the head has flared up grey with old age, and I never remained, My Lord, unanswered in my prayer to You.” (19:4)
His petition has three parts. First, he pleads his weakness. Second, he pleads that weakness without despair or hopelessness, for he had never been disappointed in a duʿāʾ made to his Lord — so that his frailty is set beside a settled expectation of answer, and hope is present in the asking. Third, he gives a righteous reason for the request:
وَإِنِّى خِفْتُ ٱلْمَوَٰلِىَ مِن وَرَآءِى وَكَانَتِ ٱمْرَأَتِى عَاقِرًا فَهَبْ لِى مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّا
“I fear (my) kinsmen after me, and my wife is barren, so bless me with an heir, from Your own side,” (19:5)
His concern is that he will leave his people behind him without a successor.