Kaf–Ha–Ya–‘Ayn–Ṣad.
A reminder of your Lord’s mercy to His servant Zechariah—when he called upon his Lord in secret, saying, “My Lord, my bones have grown feeble and my head blazes with gray, yet never have I been disappointed in my supplication to You. I fear what my kinsfolk may do after I am gone, and my wife is barren; so grant me, from Your own grace, an heir who will succeed me and the House of Jacob, and make him, my Lord, pleasing in Your sight.”
“O Zechariah, We give you good news of a boy named John; no one before him has borne that name.”
He said, “My Lord, how can I have a son when my wife is barren and I have reached such extreme old age?”
[God] said, “So it will be. Your Lord says, ‘That is easy for Me. I created you before, when you were nothing.’”
He said, “My Lord, grant me a sign.”
He replied, “Your sign is that you will not speak to people for three nights, though sound in body.”
Then Zechariah came out before his people from the sanctuary and signaled to them to glorify God morning and evening.
[We said], “O John, hold fast to the Scripture with strength.” We granted him wisdom while still a child, together with tenderness from Us and purity; he was ever God-fearing, dutiful to his parents, never arrogant or disobedient. Peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day he will be raised alive.
And mention, in the Book, Mary: when she withdrew from her family to a place in the east and screened herself from them, We sent to her Our spirit, who appeared to her as a well-proportioned man.
She said, “I seek refuge in the All-Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing.”
He said, “I am only a messenger from your Lord to grant you a pure boy.”
She said, “How can I have a son when no man has touched me, nor have I been unchaste?”
He said, “So it will be. Your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me. We shall make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. The matter has been decreed.’”
So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a distant place. The pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She cried, “Would that I had died before this and been forgotten, lost in oblivion!”
But a voice called to her from below, “Do not grieve. Your Lord has placed a stream at your feet. Shake the trunk of the palm toward you; ripe, fresh dates will fall upon you. Eat, drink, and be comforted; and if you see any human being, say, ‘I have vowed a fast to the All-Merciful and today I will not speak to anyone.’”
She came to her people carrying him. They said, “Mary, you have brought something outrageous! Sister of Aaron, your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste.”
She pointed to him. They said, “How can we speak to one who is an infant in the cradle?”
[Jesus] said, “Indeed, I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. He has made me blessed wherever I may be and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving as long as I live, and made me dutiful to my mother; He has not made me domineering or wretched. Peace is upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive.”
That is Jesus son of Mary, the statement of truth about which they dispute. It is not befitting that Allah should take a son—glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is.
Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him; this is the straight path.
Yet the factions differed among themselves, so woe to those who disbelieve when they witness a momentous Day! How keen of hearing and sight they will be on the Day they come to Us, though today the wrongdoers are in obvious error.
Warn them of the Day of Regret, when judgment will be passed while they are heedless and do not believe. Surely We shall inherit the earth and all who are upon it, and to Us they will be returned. [Maryam: 1–40]