The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 18
CH. 19 MARYAM PT. 16 © قَالَ كَذَلِكَ قَالَ رَبُّكَ هُوَ عَلَى هَيْنُ The angel bearing the. 10 revelation said, "So it is. ' But وَقَدْ خَلَقْتُكَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَلَمْ تَكُ شَيْئًان thy Lord says, It is easy for Me, and indeed I created thee when thou before, nothing. '2154 wast 3:41, 48; 19:22; 51:31. which means, he behaved proudly and was immoderate and inordinate; he was excessively proud or corrupt; surprise at the greatness of the favour which God was about to bestow upon him. Every person situated as Zachariah was would be naturally means, the wind blew fiercely. The surprised at the unusual glad tidings الريح he became advanced in age عتت. that he had received | وقد بلغت من الكبر عتيا Quranic expression means, And I have reached the extreme degree of old age, or hardness and dryness in the joints and the bones like dry wood. The word also signifies that state of extreme old age which is incurable (Mufradāt, Lane & Aqrab). The word as stated above (v. 8) implied that Zachariah would see his son grow before his eyes and that he would also be able to train and educate him. The glad tidings was indeed a source of great comfort but at the same time it was a surprise for a man who had reached such an advanced old age as Zachariah. not The words, How shall I have a son, do not express despair. V. 5 above shows that Zachariah had despaired of God's mercy. On the contrary he had perfect faith in the power of God to grant him a son. Moreover, a true believer never despairs of God's mercy. "None despairs of Allah's mercy save the unbelieving people", says the Quran (12:88). The verse only expresses Zachariah's innocent and spontaneous 2154. Commentary: The words, and indeed I created thee before, when thou wast nothing, primarily refer to the spiritual creation of Zachariah rather than to his physical creation. There seems to be no point in referring to an ordinary everyday physical phenomenon of the creation of one individual. If God had intended to refer to the phenomenon of physical creation, He would have referred to the creation of the whole universe and not to the creation of Zachariah alone. In fact, the present verse is an answer to the surprise of Zachariah expressed in the previous verses. Zachariah was promised the birth of a son in his extreme old age. The son was not to be an ordinary one but was to be possessed of great spiritual powers and to be peerless in respect of certain spiritual qualities. So the reference here is to the spiritual birth of Zachariah and to his great moral qualities. 1932 The word "he" in the expression "he said", refers to the angel who