"Thereupon Zakariyya prayed to his Lord"

This is an independent story presented within the story of Maryam to demonstrate complete thematic coherence, as it serves the purpose for which it was related.

"There" (huna) is a locative noun, the lam is for distance, and the kaf is for address. It means: in that very place where he was sitting with Maryam in the sanctuary. It is a noun inherently tied to the sense of location; it can be governed by min (from) or ila (to). It is also permissible that it be used metaphorically for time, as huna (here), thamma (there), and haythu (where) are frequently borrowed for this purpose. It is connected to the verb "prayed." Placing the adverbial phrase first serves to signal that he turned to supplication without delay.

Al-Zajjaj said: "Here" is used metaphorically for a state or circumstance—that is, from that state, Zakariyya prayed, just as one says, "From here, such-and-such happened," and "From there, I said such-and-such," meaning from that direction and that aspect.

Ibn Bishr and Ibn ‘Asakir narrated from Al-Hasan who said: When Zakariyya found with Maryam the fruits of winter in the summer and the fruits of summer in the winter, which Gabriel would bring to her, he said to her, "Whence have you this, out of its season?" She replied, "It is a provision from Allah; Allah provides for whom He wills without measure." Zakariyya then felt a yearning for a child and said, "He who brought Maryam this fruit out of its season is certainly capable of rectifying my wife and bestowing upon me from her a child."

At that moment, he prayed to his Lord. This occurred when three nights remained of the month of Muharram; Zakariyya stood, performed ablution, and then beseeched Allah the Exalted in prayer. It is said: The situation encouraged him to desire a child, so he prayed despite being an elderly man and his wife being barren, because the state of affairs alerted him to the possibility of a barren woman giving birth by an elderly man through several aspects:

1. What the report indicates: the child is like the fruit, and barrenness is like it being "out of season."
2. Seeing the female accept the position of the male (in worship) alerted him that it is permissible for the elderly to take the place of the young, and the barren the place of the fertile.
3. Seeing the child take the place of the adult for service alerted him to this.
4. Seeing Maryam speak out of season alerted him to the permissibility of his wife giving birth out of season.
5. Hearing Maryam say, "Allah provides for whom He wills without measure," alerted him to the permissibility of birth without natural readiness.

It is not hidden that some of these aspects are subject to criticism. In any case, what he saw was not the sole cause necessitating his turn to prayer; rather, it was part of a complete cause, which included his advanced age, the weakness of his faculties, and the fear for his kinsmen, as detailed in Surah Maryam.

"My Lord, grant me from Yourself" The two prepositional phrases are linked to what precedes them; this is permissible due to the difference in meaning. Min (from) signifies the start of the goal metaphorically, meaning: "Give me from Your presence."

"a good offspring" Meaning blessed, as Al-Suddi said. It is also said: righteous, pious, and pure in action. It is permissible for the latter prepositional phrase ("from Yourself") to be linked to an implied state describing "offspring." The request came in the form of "gift" (hibah) because a gift is pure benevolence with no compensation, which befits that in which neither the father has influence due to his old age, nor the mother, due to her being barren. It is as if he said, "Give me offspring without the usual medium."

"Offspring" (dhurriyyah) in common usage refers to progeny, applying to the singular, plural, male, and female. The intended meaning here is a single child. Al-Farra said: The word "good" (tayyibah) was feminized because the noun dhurriyyah is feminine. Feminization and masculinization sometimes follow the literal word and sometimes the intended meaning; this applies to generic nouns, as in the saying: "Your father is a caliph (masculine) whom another (feminine) bore, and you are a caliph." That is the perfection of the language, unlike proper names, where it is not permissible to say "Talha came" (using a feminine verb), because the proper name does not denote the essence of that specific person, so if it is masculine, only the masculine form is permissible.

"Indeed, You are the Hearer of supplication." Meaning: One who responds frequently to those among Your creation who pray to You. This is an explanation for what preceded it and serves to stir the chain of response. In this, there is an emulation of his noble ancestor, Ibrahim (peace be upon him), when he said: "Praise to Allah, who has granted to me in old age Isma'il and Ishaq. Indeed, my Lord is the Hearer of supplication."

It is said: Allah has mentioned three forms of his prayer in the text. This is the first; the second is, "My Lord, indeed my bones have weakened..." and the third is, "My Lord, do not leave me alone..." This indicates that the prayer was repeated three times, each with a different formulation. It also indicates that there was a period of time between the prayer and the response; this is made explicit by what is related in some reports that forty years passed between them. However, there is a clear objection to this, as it is possible that the three forms are accounts of a single prayer—once presented concisely, once with elaboration, and once in a moderate way. These accounts are also in meaning, as their language was not Arabic. Thus, it is narrated from Al-Hasan that when he (Zakariyya) prayed, he said: "O Provider of Maryam with summer fruits in winter and winter fruits in summer, grant me from Yourself an offspring," and he did not mention "My Lord" in that specific prayer. It is said that the conjunction fa (then/thereupon) in His saying, "Thereupon Zakariyya prayed," indicates that it was a single prayer immediately followed by the glad tidings.