(19:1) Kaf. Ha'. Ya'. Ayn. Sad. (19:2) This is an account of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah (19:3) when he cried to his Lord in secret. (19:4) He said: "Lord! My bones have grown feeble and my head is glistening with age; yet, never have my prayers to You, my Lord, been unfruitful. (19:5) I fear evil from my kinsmen after I am gone; and my wife is barren, so grant me an heir out of Your special grace, (19:6) one that might be my heir and the heir of the house of Jacob; and make him, Lord, one that will be pleasing to You. (19:7) (He was told): "Zechariah, We bring you the good news of the birth of a son whose name shall be Yahya (John), one whose namesake We never created before." (19:8) He said: "My Lord! How can I have a boy when my wife is barren and I have reached an extremely old age?" (19:9) He answered: "So shall it be." Your Lord says: "It is easy for Me," and then added: "For beyond doubt, I created you earlier when you were nothing." (19:10) Zechariah said: "Lord, grant me a Sign." Said He: "Your Sign is that you shall not be able to speak to people for three nights, though you will be otherwise sound." (19:11) Thereupon Zechariah came out from the sanctuary and directed his people by gestures to extol His glory by day and by night. (19:12) "O John! Hold the Book with all your strength." We had bestowed wisdom upon him while he was still a child; (19:13) and We also endowed him with tenderness and purity, and he was exceedingly pious (19:14) and cherishing to his parents. Never was he insolent or rebellious. (19:15) Peace be upon him the day he was born, and the day he will die, and the day he will be raised up alive. (19:16) (O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; (19:17) and drew a curtain, screening herself from people whereupon We sent to her Our spirit and he appeared to her as a well-shaped man. (19:18) Mary exclaimed: "I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God-fearing." (19:19) He said: "I am just a message-bearer of your Lord, I have come to grant you a most pure boy." (19:20) Mary said: "How can a boy be born to me when no man has even touched me, nor have I ever been unchaste?" (19:21) The angel said: "Thus shall it be. Your Lord says: 'It is easy for Me; and We shall do so in order to make him a Sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. This has been decreed.' " (19:22) Then she conceived him and withdrew with him to a far-off place. (19:23) Then the birth pangs drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree and she said: "Oh, would that I had died before this and had been all forgotten." (19:24) Thereupon the angel below her cried out: "Grieve not, for your Lord has caused a stream of water to flow beneath you. (19:25) Shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards yourself and fresh and ripe dates shall fall upon you. (19:26) So eat and drink and cool your eyes; and if you see any person say to him: 'Verily I have vowed a fast to the Most Compassionate Lord, and so I shall not speak to anyone today.'...
