Tafseer of Mary · Maryam · 19:4
He said, "My Lord, indeed my bones have weakened, and my head has filled with white, and never have I been in my supplication to You, my Lord, unhappy.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: Zakariyyā longed for a child; he stood up, performed the prayer, and then called upon his Lord in secret, and said: رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي ... up to وَاجْعَلْهُ رَبِّ رَضِيًّا (My Lord, make him well-pleasing).
His saying قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي — Allah, exalted be His praise, says: The secret supplication with which he called upon his Lord was that he said: رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي (My Lord, the bone within me has grown weak). By وَهَنَ he means: grown weak and frail through old age.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي — that is to say: the bone within me has grown weak.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي : he said: "The bone has become emaciated." ʿAbd al-Razzāq said: Al-Thawrī said: "It has reached me that Zakariyyā was seventy years old."
The Arabic language scholars differed concerning the reason why al-shayb (the grey hair) is in the accusative case. Some grammarians of Baṣra say: it is in the accusative as a noun derived from the meaning of the sentence — it is as though, when he said '[the head] has blazed up', he said 'it has turned grey', and that he then said شَيْبًا (grey hair) as a verbal substantive. They say: it is not comparable to 'I burst with fat' and 'I overflowed with water', for those are not verbal substantives. Others say: al-shayb is in the accusative as a specification (tamyīz), because one says 'the grey hair of my head has blazed up' and 'my head has blazed up with grey hair', just as one says 'I burst with fat' and 'my fat burst.'
His saying وَلَمْ أَكُنْ بِدُعَائِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيًّا (and I have never been wretched in calling upon You, my Lord) — He says: I have not been wretched, O Lord, in calling upon You, for You have never rejected my supplication — rather, every time I called upon You for my need toward You, You answered me and fulfilled my need.
As al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His saying وَلَمْ أَكُنْ بِدُعَائِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيًّا : he says: "You have always before granted me to know the answering [of my prayer]."
