His saying, exalted is He: “and chaste, and a prophet among the righteous.” The term “chaste” derives originally from restraint, which means confinement. According to Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Abbas, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Qatadah, Ata', and al-Hasan, it refers to one who has no sexual relations with women and does not approach them. According to this view, it is an intensive form with an active sense: that is, he restrains himself from desires. It was also said: he is poor and possesses no wealth (1); in that case, “chaste” has a passive sense, meaning one prevented from women. Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib said: “His sexual organ was like the fringe of a garment, yet he married nonetheless, so that he might better lower his gaze.”
There is another view: the chaste one is he who abstains from intercourse despite being capable of it. A group preferred this view for two reasons. First, the statement is phrased as praise, and this is more deserving of praise. Second, it is further removed from attributing a defect to the prophets.
“He said, ‘My Lord, how can I have a son when old age has overtaken me and my wife is barren?’ He said, ‘Thus Allah does whatever He wills.’” (40)
His saying, exalted is He, “He said, ‘My Lord,’” means, “O my master.” According to al-Kalbi and a group of scholars, he said this to Gabriel, peace be upon him. It was also said that he said it to Allah, glorified and exalted is He. “How can there be for me a son?” means: whence can I have a son? “When old age has overtaken me”: this is an inverted expression, meaning, “I have reached old age and become elderly,” just as one says, “Hardship has reached me,” meaning, “I am in hardship.” It was also said that it means: old age had come upon him, overtaken him, and weakened him.
Al-Kalbi said: Zechariah was ninety-two years old when he was given the glad tidings of a child. It was also said that he was ninety-nine years old. Al-Dahhak related from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he was one hundred and twenty years old, while his wife was ninety-eight years old. This is the meaning of His saying, exalted is He, “and my wife is barren”: that is, infertile and unable to bear children. Both a man and a woman may be described as barren. The verb is aquara—with the qaf vowelled u—and its verbal nouns are uqr and uqārah.
“He said, ‘Thus Allah does whatever He wills.’” If it is asked: Why did Zechariah say, after Allah Most High had promised him, “How can I have a son?” Did he doubt Allah’s promise and His power? It is said that when Zechariah heard the call of the angels, Satan came to him and said: “O Zechariah, the voice you heard was not from Allah; rather, it was from Satan. Had it been from Allah, He would have revealed it to you as He reveals to you in all other matters.” Thus, he said this in order to ward off the whispering. This was stated by Ikrimah and al-Suddi. Another answer is that he did not doubt Allah’s promise; rather, he wondered about how it would come about: how would that be?