Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:85

Zakariya: He is the son of Azan ibn Barkhiya. He was from the descendants of Sulayman, peace be upon them both. He was killed after his son had been killed. On the day he was given the glad tidings of his son, he was ninety-two years old; it is also said ninety-nine, and it is also said one hundred and twenty years. It is a non-Arabic name, and there are five ways of pronouncing it; the most famous of which is the long vowel (madd), and the second is the short vowel (qasr). Both were recited in the seven canonical readings, as well as Zakriya with a heavy (tashdid) and light (takhfif) ya’, and Zakar in the form of the word qalam.

Yahya: He is his son. It is a non-Arabic name, though it is also said to be Arabic. According to both views—as Al-Wahidi said—it is diptote (non-declinable). If it is Arabic, it was so named because his mother's womb was enlivened (huyiya) by him, and other reasons are also cited.

Isa: He is the son of Maryam. It is a Hebrew or Syriac name. In the authentic tradition, it is stated that he was of medium height, reddish-white, as if he had just emerged from a bathhouse (dimas). His mention, peace be upon him, is evidence that "offspring" includes the children of daughters, because his lineage is only through his mother. It was objected to this that he had no father to whom his attribution to the mother could be transferred, so he cannot be used as an analogy for others in being an offspring to his maternal grandfather. This was countered by the claim that the very fact that he had no father makes it necessary for him to be mentioned within the category of "offspring," though there is an obvious prohibition in this. The issue is a matter of scholarly disagreement; those who hold that a daughter’s son is included in "offspring" use this verse as evidence. Musa al-Kadhim (may Allah be pleased with him) used it as an argument before Al-Rashid, as reported by some. In Al-Tafsir al-Kabir, it is stated that Abu Ja’far (may Allah be pleased with him) used it as evidence before Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, along with the verse of Mubahala, when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) called upon Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with them both) after the revelation of: "Come, let us call our sons and your sons..."

Some claimed this was one of the special characteristics of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). The fatwas of our scholars have differed on this issue, and the opinion I incline towards is that they are included.

Ilyas: Ibn Ishaq said in Al-Mubtada': He is the son of Yasin ibn Finhas ibn al-Aizar ibn Harun, brother of Musa ibn Imran, peace be upon them. Al-Qutaybi narrated that he was from the tribe of Yusha’, and it is also said he was from the descendants of Ismail, peace be upon him. From Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him), it is reported that he is Idris, and according to what Ibn Ishaq said, he is the son of Yarid ibn Mahlayil ibn Anush ibn Qinan ibn Shith ibn Adam, and he is the grandfather of Nuh, as we have indicated. This has been narrated from Wahb ibn Munabbih. In Al-Mustadrak, it is reported from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that there were one thousand years between Nuh and Idris. According to the view that he was before Nuh, the clarification would be specific to those mentioned in the first verse. Shihab stated that the saying of the Almighty: "And Zakariya," and what follows it, is in that case coordinated with the totality of the preceding speech.

"All" (kull): That is, every one of those mentioned.

"Of the righteous": That is, those perfect in righteousness, which is defined as performing what is required and avoiding what is forbidden. It is a term applied with variance in degree (tashkik), and is thus described as being of the highest levels of the Prophets, peace be upon them. The sentence is an interjection brought to praise them through its meaning.