Maryam: (7) "O Zakariya, We..."

"O Zakariya" — this is based on the implication of speech, meaning it was said to him, or Allah the Exalted said: "O Zakariya."

"We give you glad tidings of a boy whose name is Yahya." This does not mean that the Glorified and Exalted addressed him with this directly, but rather through the medium of an angel, as is indicated by another verse. It is narrated as him (peace be upon him) conveying the expression from Him, the Exalted, in the manner of His saying: "Say: O My servants who have transgressed against their own souls," and so on. This is a response to his supplication (peace be upon him) and a promise of its fulfillment, as understood from the expression of "glad tidings" rather than "giving" or the like. The delay present in the promise does not contradict the immediacy in His saying: "So We responded to him," because this immediacy is conventional, as in the expression: "He married, and a son was born to him." Furthermore, the intention behind the response is the promise itself, for the promise of the Generous is as good as cash. It is well-known that this speech occurred immediately following the supplication, and there were only a few months between the glad tidings and the birth. It is said: He was granted the child forty years after his supplication, and it is said: after sixty.

Al-ghulam (the boy) is the male child. Sometimes the term ghulamah is used for a female, as it is said: The ghulamah and the ghulam are pampered for her.

In specifying his name (peace be upon him), there is an emphasis on the promise and an honor for him (peace be upon him). In His restriction of it to him, as expressed by His saying: "We have not assigned to him before any namesake," meaning: no partner in this name, as no one was named Yahya before him—according to what is narrated from Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, al-Suddi, and Ibn Aslam—there is further honor and aggrandizement for him (peace be upon him). This, as al-Zamakhshari said, is evidence that rare names which people hardly use are worthy of preference. The Arabs used to incline toward such names in naming to be more distinct, more renowned, and clearer from nicknames, to the extent that one poet said in praising a people: "With strange names, letting down red lower garments that touch the ground with their fringes."

When al-Salt ibn 'Ata was asked: "How did you get ahead with the Barmakids when there were those among them more learned than you?" he replied: "I was a stranger in the land, a stranger in name, light of burden, and parsimonious with my limbs." Thus, he counted being a "stranger in name" among the things that advanced him.

Ahmad, Ibn al-Mundhir, and others reported from Mujahid that samiyyan means "similar" or "like." 'Ata and Ibn Jubayr reported the same: "We have not made for him an equal," as he never disobeyed nor harbored the intention to disobey. Ahmad, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi in Nawadir al-Usul, al-Hakim, and Ibn Mardawayh reported from Ibn Abbas that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "There is no one from the children of Adam who has not erred or intended to commit a sin, except Yahya ibn Zakariya (peace be upon them both); he never intended to commit a sin, nor did he commit one." The reports regarding this are consistent.

It is also said: He had no equal for that reason, and because he was born between a frail, elderly man and a barren, elderly woman. It is also said: Because he was as Allah the Exalted described him: "Believing in a word from Allah, honorable, abstinent, and a prophet among the righteous," so this is a summary of those traits.

The reason "the like" is called a samiy is that those who are similar share in the name. From this usage is His saying: "Do you know for Him any namesake?" because this is what the structure requires.

The more apparent view is that it is a non-Arabic name, as it was not their habit to name with Arabic words. Thus, it is indeclinable (diptote) according to the well-known opinion regarding such names, due to both proper noun status and foreignness. It is said it is Arabic, and that the aforementioned habit has a role in its strangeness. According to this, it is derived from a verb, like Ya'mar and Ya'ish. They have even used names like Yamut (He dies)—such as Yamut ibn al-Mazra', the nephew of al-Jahiz. Regarding the justification for naming him this, if it is Arabic, it is said that it signals that he will live long, and this holds the meaning of optimism for the length of his life. In this was an indication that he (peace be upon him) would inherit, just as Zakariya (peace be upon him) had requested.

It is also said: He was named this because his mother’s womb lived through him; or because he lived between a frail old man and a barren old woman; or because he lives through wisdom and chastity; or because he lives by guiding creation and leading them; or because he would be martyred, and the martyrs are alive. There are other opinions as well. It is not hidden that the weight and the diminutive form differ based on whether it is Arabic or foreign, as explained in its proper place.