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According to the Islamic doctrine, Zakariyā (Arabic: زكريا, Zechariah) is a prophet of God, and the father of the prophet Yahya.
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According to the Quran, Zakariya was said to be a priest[1] and prophet of God whose office was in the Second Temple in Jerusalem. He would frequently be in charge of managing the services of the temple[2] and he would always remain steadfast in prayer to God.
Praying for a son
As he reached his old age, Zakariya began to worry over who would continue the legacy of preaching the message of God after his death and who would carry on the daily services of the temple after him. Zakariya started to pray to God for a son. The praying for the birth of an offspring was not merely out of the desire for a child.[1] He prayed both for himself and for the public – they needed a messenger, a man of God who would work in the service of the Lord after Zakariya. Zakariya had character and virtue and he wanted to transfer this to his spiritual heir as his most precious possession. His dream was to restore the household to the posterity of the Patriarch Jacob, and to make sure the message of God was renewed for Israel. As the Qur'an recounts:
19:4 saying, “My Lord! Surely my bones have become brittle, and grey hair has spread across my head, but I have never been disappointed in my prayer to You, my Lord!
19:5 And I am concerned about ˹the faith of˺ my relatives after me, since my wife is barren. So grant me, by Your grace, an heir,
19:6 who will inherit ˹prophethood˺ from me and the family of Jacob, and make him, O Lord, pleasing ˹to You˺!”
Fathering Yahya
As a gift from God, Zakariya was given a son named John (Yaḥyá Arabic: يحيى), a name specially chosen for this child alone. Muslim tradition narrates that Zakariya was ninety-two years old[3] when he was told of John's birth.
In accordance with Zakariya's prayer, God made John (Yahya) renew the message of God, which had been corrupted and lost by the Israelites.[4] As the Qur'an says:
19:7 ˹The angels announced,˺ “O Zachariah! Indeed, We give you the good news of ˹the birth of˺ a son, whose name will be John—a name We have not given to anyone before.”
19:8 He wondered, “My Lord! How can I have a son when my wife is barren, and I have become extremely old?”
19:9 An angel replied, “So will it be! Your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me, just as I created you before, when you were nothing!’”
19:10 Zachariah said, “My Lord! Grant me a sign.” He responded, “Your sign is that you will not ˹be able to˺ speak to people for three nights, despite being healthy.”
Guardian of Maryam
According to the Qur'an, Zakariya was the guardian of Maryam. The Qur'an states:
3:35 Your service, so accept it from me. You ˹alone˺ are truly the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.”
3:36 When she delivered, she said, “My Lord! I have given birth to a girl,”—and Allah fully knew what she had delivered—“and the male is not like the female. I have named her Mariam, and I seek Your protection for her and her offspring from Satan, the accursed.”
3:37 So her Lord accepted her graciously and blessed her with a pleasant upbringing—entrusting her to the care of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah visited her in the sanctuary, he found her supplied with provisions. He exclaimed, “O Mariam! Where did this come from?” She replied, “It is from Allah. Surely Allah provides for whoever He wills without limit.”
Muslim theology maintains that Zakariya, along with John and Jesus, ushered in a new era of prophets—all of whom came from the priestly lineage of Amram (Imran), the father of the Mary and grandfather of Jesus. The fact that, of all the priests, it was Zakariya who was given the duty of keeping care of Mary (Maryam) shows his status as a pious man. Zakariya is frequently praised in the Qur'an as a prophet of God and righteous man. One such appraisal is in Surat Al-An'am:
"Likewise, ˹We guided˺ Zachariah, John, Jesus, and Elias, who were all of the righteous."
After his son Yahya (John) had been decapitated by the Children of Israel, Zakariya tried to escape from them. Some historians say that as a miracle a tree opened for Zakariya to hide in but a small part of his clothing mistakenly stuck out. Shaytan (Satan) saw this and took it to his advantage. He took on the form of a human and told the Children of Israel where Zakariya was hiding. For this, the soldiers then cut down the tree, killing Zakariya painfully. Some people say he was 130 years old when he died.[citation needed]
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