Mary (Maryam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Kaf-Ha-Ya-A’in-Sad. (* Alphabets of the Arabic language – Allah and to whomever He reveals know their precise meanings.) 1 AN ACCOUNT of the grace which thy Sustainer bestowed upon His servant Zachariah: 2 when he cried to his Lord in secret. 3 Saying: My Lord! Lo! the bones of me wax feeble and my head is shining with grey hair, and I have never been unblest in prayer to Thee, my Lord. 4 now I fear my kinsmen when I am gone. [I have no hope of their continuing my mission] for my wife is barren, so grant me a successor from Yourself, 5 to be my heir and to be the heir [of the blessings] of the House of Jacob; and make him, O my Lord, acceptable to you." 6 'O Zachariah, We give you good tidings of a son, and he shall be called John (Yahya); a name We have never given before' 7 "How can I have a son, O Lord" he said, "when my wife is barren and I am old and decrepit?" 8 He said: "So (it will be) thy Lord saith, 'that is easy for Me: I did indeed create thee before, when thou hadst been nothing!'" 9 He said: My Lord! Appoint for me some token. He said: Thy token is that thou, with no bodily defect, shalt not speak unto mankind three nights. 10 So he came out to his people from the prayer chamber and signaled to them to exalt [Allah] in the morning and afternoon. 11 "O John! Hold the Book with all your strength." We had bestowed wisdom upon him while he was still a child; 12 and We also endowed him with tenderness and purity, and he was exceedingly pious 13 And duteous unto his parents, and was not high-handed rebel. 14 'Peace be upon him, the day he was born, and the day he dies, and the day he is raised up alive!' 15