He went out looking for his son, John.

Others say that he was in Damascus when his son John was slain—and Allah knows best.

Different lines of descent have also been reported concerning him. As for the name, it is pronounced Zakariyyā, sometimes with a shortened ending, and it is also rendered Zakrā.

The point, however, is that Allah, exalted be He, commanded His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ to relate to the people the account of Zechariah—peace be upon him—and what befell him when Allah granted him a child in extreme old age, even though his wife had been barren in her youth and was now advanced in years as well. This was so that no one should ever despair of Allah’s grace and mercy or lose hope in His boundless bounty.

Thus the Almighty said:

“A mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah, when he called upon his Lord with a quiet supplication.” (Maryam 19:2–3)

Qatādah, commenting on the verse, said: “Allah knows the pure heart and hears the muted voice.”

One of the early generations related: “He rose during the night and called upon his Lord in a whisper, concealing it from those present, saying: ‘My Lord, my Lord, my Lord!’ whereupon Allah replied, ‘Here I am, here I am, here I am.’”

“He said, ‘My Lord, truly my bones have grown feeble,’” that is, they have weakened and given way because of old age, “and my head is aflame with gray,” a metaphor drawn from fire kindling in wood—that is, the whiteness has overtaken the blackness of his hair—just as Ibn Durayd said in his muqaṣṣara:

If you should see my head, its hue would rival
the dawn’s forelock beneath night’s trailing hem.
The white within the black is set ablaze
like fire that flickers on a bed of embers.
The staff of youthful sport is now dry and withered
after once being moist, teeming with sap.

In these lines he shows that weakness has seized him both inwardly and outwardly, and this is exactly what Zechariah—peace be upon him—said: “Truly my bones have grown feeble and my head is aflame with gray.”

His further words, “yet never, my Lord, have I been disappointed in calling upon You,” mean that whenever he asked, You answered.

What prompted him to make this supplication was that, after he became the guardian of Mary, daughter of ʿImrān son of Māthān, every time he entered her sanctuary he found with her fruit that was out of season—one of the honors Allah bestows upon His friends. Realizing that the One who provides sustenance out of its appointed time is surely able to grant him a child even though he had reached an advanced age, he prayed:

“Thereupon Zechariah prayed to his Lord: ‘My Lord, grant me from Your presence pure offspring; indeed, You are the Hearer of supplication.’” (Āl ʿImrān 3:38)

And he said: “I fear [what] my kinsmen [may do] after me, and my wife is barren.” (Maryam 19:5)