Tafsir of Al Imran 3:40

This is a resumption [of the narrative] based on an implied question, as if it were said: "What did Zakariyya, peace be upon him, say at that time?" So it was said: "(He said, 'My Lord')..." and so on. He, peace be upon him, addressed his Lord, Glory be to Him, and did not address the calling angel, as an act of discarding intermediaries to heighten his supplication and to intensify his devotion.

"How" (anna) here means "in what manner" or "from where." It is permissible that it be complete (tamma), with "a boy" (ghulam) as its subject, and "how" (anna) and "for me" (li) being connected to it. It is also permissible that it be incomplete (naqisah), with "for me" (li) connected to a suppressed element that serves as a state (hal), because if it were delayed, it would be an attribute (sifah). In that instance, there are two interpretations for the predicate (khabar): first, that "how" (anna) is the predicate because it carries the meaning of "how" or "from where"; second, that the predicate is the prepositional phrase, and "how" (anna) is in the accusative case as an adverbial.

The specific mention of "a boy" indicates that he had been informed of this at the time of the glad tidings, as in His, the Almighty’s, saying: "...indeed We give you glad tidings of a boy whose name shall be Yahya."

("And old age has reached me"): This is a state (hal) from the ya (first-person possessive pronoun) in "for me," meaning: "Old age has overtaken me and left its mark upon me." The act of reaching is attributed to old age metaphorically; as if old age were a seeker of him, while he is the one being sought.

It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that he, peace be upon him, was one hundred and twenty years old when he received the glad tidings of the child, and his wife was ninety-eight years old. It is also said he was ninety-nine, ninety-two, eighty, seventy-five, seventy, or sixty.

("And my wife is barren"): This is also a circumstantial sentence, either from the ya in "for me" or the ya in "has reached me." The "barren" ('aqir) is the sterile woman who does not bear children, derived from 'aqr, which means cutting, because she is "cut off" from children. The fa'il form here denotes relation, though in meaning it is passive (maf'ul), i.e., "made barren" (ma'qurah); for this reason, it does not take the feminine ta marker, as stated by Abu al-Baqa'.

The first sentence was verbal (fi'liyyah) because old age increases bit by bit and was not a permanent attribute, whereas the second was nominal (ismiyyah) because her being barren was a permanent attribute and not a sudden occurrence. He, peace be upon him, said this despite his prior supplication for it and his strong certainty in the power of God Almighty, and after witnessing the aforementioned signs, as an inquiry into the manner of the child's coming to be: Will he be given this while he is in his current state of gray hair and wedded to a barren woman, or will the state change?

Al-Hasan said, and it is also said, that the matter was obscure to him: Will he be given a child from his elderly wife or from another young wife? So he said what he said. It is said he said it in the way of magnifying God's power and the amazement that overcomes a person upon the appearance of a great sign, like one who says to another, "How could your soul permit you to give away such a precious jewel?" in wonder at his generosity.

It is also said that when the angels brought him glad tidings of "Yahya," he did not know if he would be provided a child through adoption or from his own loins, so he mentioned those words to dispel this possibility. It is also said that when a servant is in extreme longing for something, asks the master for it, and the master promises to give it, he may speak in a way that invites a repetition of the answer so that he may delight in the repetition and his soul may find peace in hearing that answer once more; it is possible that the words of Zakariyya, peace be upon him, are of this category.

It is also said he said it as a way of viewing it as unlikely according to custom, because when he prayed he was a young man, and when it was answered he was an old man, based on what is said: that there were forty or sixty years between the prayer and the answer, as narrated from Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah, and he had forgotten his prayer. It is not hidden that most of these statements are remote.

Farther than these is what is narrated from al-Suddi, that Satan came to Zakariyya, peace be upon him, upon hearing the glad tidings and said: "This voice is from Satan, and he has mocked you," so the matter became obscure to him and he said: "My Lord, how will there be for me a child?" His intention was that God might show him a sign indicating that this speech was from revelation and not from Satan. Similar to this is what Ibn Jarir narrated from 'Ikrimah, that Satan came to him wanting to cloud his Lord's blessings, saying: "Do you know who called you?" He said: "Yes, the angels of my Lord called me." He said: "Rather, that is Satan; if this were from your Lord, He would have hidden it from you just as you hid your call." So he said: "My Lord, how will there be for me..."

The Judge and others objected to this, saying it is not permissible for the speech of angels to be confused with the speech of Satan when revelation comes to the prophets, peace be upon them, for if we permitted that, trust in all religious laws would vanish. It was answered that it could be said that since miracles were established for the truthfulness of revelation regarding all that pertains to religion, certainty is attained there that the revelation is from God via the angel, and Satan has no part in it. As for matters pertaining to worldly interests and children—which are the most similar to this—perhaps it was not confirmed by a miracle, and thus the possibility remained that the speech was from Satan, which is why he returned to God to remove that possibility from his mind. You know that the objection is male and the answer is female. Perhaps this discussion will come to you, if God wills, in full when interpreting His, the Almighty’s, saying: "...did We not send before you any messenger or prophet but that when he desired, Satan threw into his desire..." In sum, the claim that the matter was obscure to Zakariyya, peace be upon him, is in the utmost distance, especially since Ibn Jarir and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Qatadah that he said: "The angels addressed him, peace be upon him, directly, and brought him the glad tidings of Yahya."

(He said, "Thus God does whatever He wills"): The sentence is a resumption in the style of what passed. That is, God does whatever He wills of wonderful, supernatural acts—a deed like that wonderful deed and marvelous creation, which is the creation of a child despite a state in which creation is considered unlikely according to custom. The kaf (in kadhalik) is in the accusative position as an attribute for a suppressed verbal noun, with the demonstrative referring to that verbal noun. The prepositional phrase is placed first to convey exclusivity (qasr) relative to what is lesser than the referred-to matter. The kaf is considered an addition for the sake of emphasizing the majesty signaled by the demonstrative pronoun, similar to what was indicated before in its counterpart. The speech allows for other interpretations:

First, that the kaf is in the position of a state (hal) from the pronoun of the estimated verbal noun, meaning: "He does the deed being like that." Second, that it is in the nominative position as a fronted predicate, with "God" being the delayed subject, meaning: "Like this wonderful affair is the affair of God," with the sentence "He does what He wills" serving as an explanation for that vague affair. Third, that "thus" (kadhalik) is in the position of a predicate for a suppressed subject, i.e., "The matter is thus," and the sentence "God does what He wills" is also an explanation. Fourth, that "that" (dhalik) is a reference to the mentioned state of Zakariyya, peace be upon him, as if he said, "My Lord, in what state will the boy be for me?" and it was said to him, "As you are, the boy shall be for you," and the sentence would then be a justification for what preceded it. Thus they have said, and the remoteness of some of these views is not hidden. In any case, the expression with the Majestic Name is intended for glorification.