[19.1] KaafHaYa'aeenSaad.
[19.2] A mention of the Mercy of your Lord to his worshiper Zachariah,
[19.3] when he called upon his Lord in secret,
[19.4] saying: 'O my Lord, my bones are enfeebled, and my head glows silver with age.
Yet, never Lord, have I been unblessed inkprayer to You.
[19.5] Indeed, I fear my kinsmen who will succeed me, for my wife is barren. Grant me a kinsman
[19.6] who will be my heir and an heir to the House of Jacob, and make him, my Lord, satisfied.'
[19.7] 'O Zachariah, We give you good tidings of a son, and he shall be called John
(Yahya); a name We have never given before.'
[19.8] 'How shall I have a son, Lord,' he asked, 'when my wife is barren, and I am advanced in years?'
[19.9] He replied: 'It shall be so; your Lord says: "It is easy for Me, indeed, I created you
before time when you were not a thing."
[19.10] He (Zachariah) said: 'Lord, make for me a sign.' He replied: 'Your sign is that you
shall not speak to people for threernights - being without fault.'
[19.11] Then he came out from the Sanctuary to his nation, and gestured to them to exalt
(their Lord) at the dawn and at the evening.
[19.12] (We said): 'O John, hold fast to the Book', and We bestowed on him judgment while yet a child
[19.13] and tenderness from Us and purity, and he was cautious;
[19.14] honoring his parents, being neither arrogant nor rebellious.
[19.15] Peace be upon him on the day he was born and the day he dies, and on him the day when he is raised up alive.
[19.16] And mention in the Book, Mary, how she withdrew from her people to an eastern
place and she took a veil apart from them;
[19.17] We sent to her Our Spirit (Gabriel) in the resemblance of a perfect human.
[19.18] (And when she saw him) she said: 'I take refuge in the Merciful from you! If you are fearful.'
[19.19] 'I am the Messenger of your Lord,' he replied, 'and have come to give you a pure boy.'
[19.20] 'How shall I bear a son,' she answered, 'when I am not touched by a human and not unchaste?'
[19.21] “Even so” he replied, “as such your Lord has said: ’Easy it is for Me. And We
shall make him a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us. It is a matter decreed.’”
[19.22] Thereupon she carried him, and retired to a far- off place.
[19.23] And when the birth-pangs came upon her by the trunk of a palm-tree, she said:
'Oh, would that I had died before this and become a thing forgotten!'
[19.24] He called from below to her: 'Do not sorrow, look, your Lord has provided a rivulet below you,
[19.25] and shake the trunk of this palm-tree it will drop fresh ripe dates upon you.
[19.26] Therefore eat and drink and rejoice with your eyes. If you meet any human say to
him: "I have vowed a fast to the Merciful and will not speak with anyone today."'
[19.27] She came to her nation, carrying him; and they said: 'O Mary, you have committed a monstrous thing.
[19.28] O sister of Aaron, your father was never an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste.'
