Zakariyyā عليه السلام · asking for something past the age of asking
My bones have weakened
- Source
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Sūrat Maryam
19:4–6 - Extent
- Excerpt within the āyah, shown in full ink against dimmed framing.
- Text
- Uthmani, verified by checksum
قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّى وَهَنَ ٱلْعَظْمُ مِنِّى وَٱشْتَعَلَ ٱلرَّأْسُ شَيْبًۭا وَلَمْ أَكُنۢ بِدُعَآئِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيًّۭا وَإِنِّى خِفْتُ ٱلْمَوَٰلِىَ مِن وَرَآءِى وَكَانَتِ ٱمْرَأَتِى عَاقِرًۭا فَهَبْ لِى مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّۭا يَرِثُنِى وَيَرِثُ مِنْ ءَالِ يَعْقُوبَ وَٱجْعَلْهُ رَبِّ رَضِيًّۭا
Rabbi ʾinnī wa-hana al-ʿaẓmu minnī washtaʿala ar-raʾsu shayban wa-lam ʾakun biduʿāʾika rabbi shaqiyyan wa-ʾinnī khiftu al-mawāliya min wa-rāʾī wa-kānati imraʾatī ʿāqiran fa-hab lī min ladunka wa-liyyan yarithunī wa-yarithu min ʾāli yaʿqūba wajʿalhu rabbi raḍiyyan
When and why it was said
In the Qur’an (19:5), Zakariya asks for a successor from Allah.
Qurʾān 19:4-6
Commentary — Tafsīr al-Jalālayn
He said ‘My Lord truly the bones all the bones within me have become feeble weak and my head is alight with grey hair shayban a specification derived from the subject of the verb in other words hoariness has spread throughout his hairs just as a spark of fire spreads through firewood and I wish to supplicate to you and I have never been in my supplications to You my Lord unsuccessful that is I have never been disappointed in the past so do not disappoint me in what follows.
Tafsīr al-Jalālayn, al-Maḥallī and al-Suyūṭī. Translated by Feras Hamza. altafsir.com
Reflection
Pray for successors who preserve faith.