{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/zjo00.htm","path":"isl/pro/zjo00.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/zjo00.htm","text":"Zacharias was mentioned many times in holy Quran in many chapters like:\n\u00c2l-`Imr\u00e2n, Al-An`\u00e2m, Mariam, and Al-Anbiy\u00e2'. He\nwas married to Ish\u00e2` (Elisabeth) the daughter of `Imr\u00e2n (Amram)\nben M\u00e2\u00fe\u00e2n, the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus (PUH)\nas it was mentioned. He asked God to give him a good son and that was when\nhe saw the virtues of Mary the daughter of Amram and how God did take care\nof her, and he used to take care of her and guarded her among all of the\nIsraelites, because it was vowed that she would be a servant for the holy\nHouse or Temple as her story was told by holy Quran by saying: (Remember)\nwhen the wife of 'Imran said: My Lord! I have vowed unto Thee that which\nis in my belly as a consecrated (offering). Accept it from me. Lo! Thou,\nonly Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower!(\u00c2l-`Imr\u00e2n:35), and the\ndetails will come in their place by God's will.\nIt might be that the name of Amram's wife was Hannah and she gave birth\nfor Elisabeth, the wife of Zacharias and the mother of John and then to\nMary the mother of Jesus (PUT), and Zacharias had no children and he got\nso old and his wife was barren, and she was the sister of Mary the daughter\nof Amram as we mentioned before. Amram had a brother that was called Jacob\nben M\u00e2\u00fe\u00e2n, and the children of M\u00e2\u00fe\u00e2n\nat that time were the leaders of the Israelites and they were the children\nof the kings and descendants of Solomon ben David (PUH), and Zacharias\nwas the archpriest and he took care of gifts and vows that were made for\nthe Temple and received them, and they argued with him about Mary and whether\nhe is the one that should take care of her and he was the one to take care\nof her because he was appointed to take the vows made for the Temple and\nshe was vowed with for the Temple and because he is the husband of her\nsister Elisabeth the daughter of Amram, but they didn't accept that and\ndecided to make a lot, and God said: Thou wast not present with them when\nthey threw their pens (to know) which of them should be the guardian of\nMary, nor wast thou present with them when they quarrelled (thereupon)(\u00c2l-`Imr\u00e2n:44).\nIt is mentioned that Hannah the wife of Amram when she gave birth to\nMary, she covered with vlothes and carried her to the Temple and she gave\nher to the rabbis and said: take the one that was vowed to be for the Temple,\nand when they looked at her and they knew that she is the daughter of their\nmaster, they struggled and competed for which one of them shall take care\nof her, and we've pointed out that the children of M\u00e2\u00fe\u00e2n\nwere the leaders of the Israelites and their kings, and then Zacharias\nsaid: I am the one to take care of her, and we've mentioned before the\nreasons for his right, but they denied to do so except by a lot, and they\nwere twenty seven rabbis, and they walked to the nearest river they had\nand that was the Jordan river, and they threw their pens, but all pens\nwere drowned except that one of Zacharias and so Zacharias took care of\nher, and he made a house for her and appointed a maid to serve her, and\nhe checked her from time to time until she grew up and she stopped using\nthe maid to help her and took care of herself alone, and every time he\nwas to get into her champer of praying, he would find a gift with her,\nso he asked: from where you got this? and so she answered: this is from\nGod, He gives whoever He wants without an account for it.\nit is narrated that when she grew up and used to pray in her praying\nchamper, the champer would be enlightened by her halo, and when Zacharias\nvisited her he did find the fruit of winter with her in summer time, and\nthe fruit of the summer during winter, so he asked her: from where you\ngot this? and she answered: it is from God, and then he prayed to God saying:\nMy Lord! Bestow upon me of Thy bounty goodly offspring, meaning a good\nblessed son as You gave Hannah and her husband Amram Mary, and then the\nangels called him while he was standing for praying in his champer: Allah\ngiveth thee glad tidings of (a son whose name is) John, (who cometh) to\nconfirm a word from Allah lordly, chaste, a prophet of the righteous..etc(\u00c2l-`Imr\u00e2n:39),\nand lordly meaning that he will overcome his people and be their master,\nand without a doubt he was the lord of his people in every good thing and\nnever did a sin, and he was the leader of all of those who obey God, and\nchaste because he kept his much so far away from entertainements and lusts.\nIt is narrated that once he passed by some kids when he was a kid and\nthey were playing and so they invited him to play with them and he answered\nthem: not created for playing, and he never came to women, and God mentioned\nthe will of his father Zacharias by: Oh, give me from Thy presence a successor\nWho shall inherit of me and inherit (also) of the house of Jacob. And make\nhim, my Lord, acceptable (unto Thee)(Mariam:5-6), and the answer of God\nwas: O Zachariah! Lo! We bring thee tidings of a son whose name is John;\nwe have given the same name to none before (him)(Mariam:7). Before this\nholy phrase he asked God for a son and he used to hide his request and\nask God and show sorrow for the turning of his hair into white and that\nhis bones were weak and he is depaired, but God is able for everything\nand he had the hope in Him and if God willed He would do it with no obstacles,\nand he explained the reason for his request that he was afraid of the kinsfolks\nafter his death that they would not be good successors and that they would\nchange the faith and work with their opinions, and the answer from God\nwas the good tidings about John (PUH).\nIt is narrated and it is a famous thing that the pregnancy period for\nJohn was six months only and it was in the same time that Mary was pregnant\nwith Jesus (PUT), and they mentioned that John (PUH) was a brilliant in\nthe laws of Moses and he was a well-known resource for everyone asking\nabout the conditions and regulations of such laws, and he was complete\nwith all characteristics of faith and goodness, and he was giving away\nthe life since he was a kid and hanged on to worshipping, so God said about\nhim: And we gave him wisdom when a child(Mariam:12).\nIt is apparent from the holy phrase that he was given the prophecy\nand he was a prophet since he was a kid and he used to call for God and\ncall the people to ask God for forgiveness for their sins, and it is mentioned\nthat he ordered them to wash themselves in the river Jordan for forgiveness\nagainst their sins, and God said: O John! Hold fast the Scripture. And\nwe gave him wisdom when a child, And compassion from Our presence, and\npurity; and he was devout, And dutiful toward his parents. And he was not\narrogant, rebellious. Peace on him the day he was born, and the day he\ndieth and the day he shall be raised alive!..etc(Mariam:12-15). As attributed\nto Al-Ridh\u00e2 (PUH) that he said: the most awful moments for this creation\nlie in three positions: the day he is out of his mother's womb and see\nlife, and the day when he dies and see the after-life, and the day when\nhe is resurrected and see laws that he didn't see in his life, and God\ngreeted John in these positions and made him safe against their terror,\nso He said: Peace on him the day he was born, and the day he dieth and\nthe day he shall be raised alive!(Mariam:15), and Jesus also greeted himself\nin these three positions and God mentioned what he said: Peace on me the\nday I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!(Mariam:33).\nAs attributed to Abi-Hamzah Al-\u00deum\u00e2li from Al-B\u00e2qir (PUH)\nthat he said: I asked him (PUH) what is the meaning of \"And compassion\nfrom Our presence, and purity?\" he (PUH) said: it is meant here how compassionate\nGod was with him so that whenever John says: O Lord, God would answer:\ncommand O John.\nAs attributed to the prophet (PUH) that he said: John ben Zacharias\nwas so faithful that he went one day to the Temple and he saw the priests\nand rabbis with shileds made of hair and woolen hooded cloaks and they\nholed on the side of their collar-bone and chained it to the fences of\nthe Temple, so when he saw that he went to his mother and said: O mother,\nweave for me a shield of hair and a hooded cloak of wool to go to the Temple\nand worship God there with the priests and rabbis, then his mother said:\nI shall do it when the prophet of God (Zacharias) allows me to, and his\nfather then heard his speech and said to him: O son, what made you to think\nabout it and you are still a young kid, so he answered: O father, didn't\nyou see someone younger than me dying and feeling how bitter it was? He\nanswered: yes I did, and then he ordered his mother to weave for him a\nshield of hair and a hooded cloak of wool, and so she did and he wore them\nand went to the Temple and worshipped with priests and rabbis until the\nshield started to take off some of his body and one day he looked into\nwhat was taken away from his body and he cried, and then God inspired to\nhim: O John, do you cry for what was taken away froim your body, by My\nGlory if you saw the hell for just a glance you might even wear a shield\nof iron instead of this one made of hair, and then he cried until the tears\ndug off his cheeks and his teeth turned apparent for the people, and his\nmother knew that so she went to him and then came Zacharias and the priests\nwith the rabbis to him and his father said to him: O son, what made you\ndo this to yourself, I prayed to God to give you to me for my happiness,\nso he said to him: you ordered me with that O father, he wondered and said:\nand when was that O son? He answered: didn't you say that there is an obstacle\nbetween paradise and hell that is not to be passed except by those who\ncry for their fear of God? He answered: yes, work as hard as you can and\nyou are on your own. Then John stood up and cleaned his shield and his\nmother took him and said to him: O son, do you permit me to make for you\ntwo pieces of felt to cover your teeth and dry out your tears, he said\nto her then: up to you, and so she made for him two pieces of felt to cover\nhis teeth and dry out his tears..etc, and the narration is long with details\nabout his strange situations and amazing conditions that has nothing like\nthem in the field of serving God, the Exalted.","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Zacharias an...","type":"page"}