Surah 19. Maryam

Kãf-Ha-Ya-'Aĩn- Ṣãd.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Kaf. Ha. Ya. `Ain. Sad. ²⁴⁵⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is the only Sura which begins with these five Abbreviated Letters, K.,H.,Y.,A.,S. For Abbreviated Letters generally, see Appendix 1.

'This is' a reminder of your Lord's mercy to His servant Zachariah,

  - Mustafa Khattab

(This is) a recital of the Mercy of thy Lord to His Servant Zakariya. ²⁴⁵⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Mercy of Allah to Zakriya was shown in many ways: (1) in the acceptance of his prayer; (2) in bestowing a son like Yahya; and (3) in the love between father and son, in addition to the work which Yahya did as Allah's Messenger for the world. Cf. iii. 38-41 and notes. There the public ministry was the point stressed; here the beautiful relations between the son and the father.

when he cried out to his Lord privately,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Behold! he cried to his Lord in secret ²⁴⁵⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In secret: because he feared that his own family and relatives were going wrong (xix. 5), and he wanted to keep the lamp of Allah burning bright. He could not very well mention the fear about his colleagues (who were his relations) in public.

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!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Praying: "O my Lord! infirm indeed are my bones and the hair of my head doth glisten with grey: but never am I unblest O my Lord in my prayer to Thee! ²⁴⁵⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This preface shows the fervent faith of Zakariya. Zakariya was a prophet of the Most High Allah. His office was in the Temple, and his relatives were his colleagues. But he found in them no true spirit of the service of Allah and man. He was filled with anxiety as to who would uphold the godly ideas he had in mind, which were strange to his worldly colleagues.

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,

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Now I fear (what) my relatives (and colleagues) (will do) after me: but my wife is barren: so give me an heir as from Thyself ²⁴⁵⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

His was not merely a desire for a son. If it had been, he would have prayed much earlier in his life, when he was a young man. He was too full of true piety to put merely selfish things into his prayers. But here was a public need, in the service of the Lord.