Prophet Zakariyya and Yahya

The story of Zakariyya and Yahya in the Quran

Allah the Most High said in His Mighty Book: « Kaf, Ha, Ya, Ayn, Sad. A mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zakariyya, when he called his Lord with a hidden call. He said: My Lord, my bones have weakened, and my head is aflame with grey; and never, in calling upon You, have I been wretched. I fear the successors after me, and my wife is barren: so grant me from Yourself a successor who inherits me and inherits the family of Ya'qub, and make him pleasing to You.

O Zakariyya, We give you good news of a boy whose name is Yahya: We have not given the like of that name to anyone before. He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy, when my wife is barren and I have reached extreme old age? He said: thus it shall be: your Lord has said: it is easy for Me; and I created you before, when you were nothing. He said: My Lord, give me a sign.

He said: your sign is that you shall not speak to the people for three nights, being sound. Then he came out to his people from the prayer sanctuary and signaled to them to glorify Allah at morning and evening. O Yahya, take the Book with strength. We gave him judgment while a child, and tenderness from Us and purity; and he was God-fearing, kind to his parents, and not tyrannical or rebellious.

So peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day he is raised alive » (Maryam, 1-15).

And the Most High said: « And Zakariyya was her guardian. Every time Zakariyya entered upon her in the sanctuary, he found provision with her. He said: O Maryam, whence is this to you? She said: it is from Allah: Allah provides for whom He wills without account. Then Zakariyya prayed to his Lord: My Lord, grant me from Yourself pure progeny: You are the Hearer of supplication. So the angels called him while he stood praying in the sanctuary: Allah gives you good news of Yahya, confirming a word from Allah, and a master, and chaste, and a prophet of the righteous. He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy, when old age has reached me and my wife is barren? He said: thus: Allah does what He wills. He said: My Lord, give me a sign. He said: your sign is that you shall not speak to the people for three days except by gesture; and remember your Lord much, and glorify Him at evening and early morning » (Al Imran, 37-41).

The Most High said in Surat al-Anbiya: « And Zakariyya, when he called his Lord: My Lord, leave me not alone, for You are the best of inheritors. So We answered him and gave him Yahya, and made his wife sound for him. They used to hasten in good works, and call upon Us with longing and awe, and were humble before Us » (al-Anbiya, 89-90). And the Most High said: « And Zakariyya, and Yahya, and Isa, and Ilyas: all of the righteous » (al-An'am, 85).

The lineage of Zakariyya and his prayer for a son

The hafiz Abu al-Qasim ibn Asakir said, in his famous and rich Book of History: Zakariyya ibn Hana, also said to be Zakariyya ibn Dan, or Zakariyya ibn Adan ibn Muslim ibn Saduq ibn Mahman ibn Dawud ibn Sulayman ibn Muslim ibn Sadiqa ibn Barihya ibn Malqatiya ibn Nahur ibn Salum ibn Bahafanya ibn Hash ibn Ani ibn Khath'am ibn Sulayman ibn Dawud, father of Yahya the prophet (peace be upon him), was of the Children of Israel; he entered the Bathaniyya, among the districts of Damascus, seeking his son Yahya. It is said: he was in Damascus when his son Yahya was killed. And Allah knows best. Something else has been said of his lineage.

His name is said Zakariyya, lengthened or shortened, and Zakariyy also.

The object is that Allah the Most High commanded His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to relate to the people the story of Zakariyya (peace be upon him), and what came of his affair when Allah gave him a child despite old age, while his wife was barren in her old age, she too grown very old; so that none might despair of Allah's favor and His mercy, and none despair of the grace of the Most High, the Sanctified. That is why He said: « A mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zakariyya, when he called his Lord with a hidden call. » Qatada said, explaining it: Allah knows the pure heart and hears the hidden voice. Some of the predecessors said: he rose by night and called his Lord with a call he concealed from those present with him, out of caution, and said: O Lord, O Lord, O Lord.

Allah said: at your service, at your service, at your service. « My bones have weakened », that is: they weakened and bent from old age; « my head is aflame with grey »: a metaphor taken from fire flaring in firewood, that is: the white overcame the black of his hair, as Ibn Durayd said in his poem: « Perhaps you see my head imitate the color of a streak of dawn beneath the trails of night; the white has flared in the black, as fire flares in dry firewood; and the meadow of play has withered, shriveled, after it was rich soil. » It means that weakness had seized him within and without. Thus said Zakariyya: my bones have weakened and my head is aflame with grey.

And His word: « and never, in calling upon You, have I been wretched », that is: You never accustomed me in what I ask of You except to answer. What prompted him to this request was that, when he took charge of Maryam bint Imran ibn Mathan, every time he entered her prayer sanctuary he found with her fruit out of season as in season, and this is among the karamat of the allies of Allah: so he knew that He who provides fruit out of season is able to grant him a child, though he was then very old. Then Zakariyya prayed to his Lord: My Lord, grant me from Yourself pure progeny: You are the Hearer of supplication. And His word: « I fear the successors after me, and my wife is barren »: it is said the successors mean the clan, and as if he feared, after him, their scheming among the Children of Israel in what does not accord with Allah's law and obedience.

So he asked for the existence of a son of his loins, righteous, God-fearing and pleasing; that is why he said: « so grant me from Yourself », that is, from You, by Your power and might, « a successor who inherits me », that is, in prophethood and judgment among the Children of Israel, « and inherits the family of Ya'qub, and make him pleasing to You »: as his fathers and forefathers of Ya'qub's progeny were prophets, make him like them in the nobility with which You honored them, prophethood and revelation. What is meant here is not inheritance of wealth, as claimed by whoever claimed it among the Shi'a, and Ibn Jarir followed them here, relating it from Abu Salih among the predecessors.

For reasons: the first is what we cited at His word: « and Sulayman inherited Dawud » (an-Naml, 16), that is, in prophethood and kingship, as we mentioned in the muttafaq hadith accepted by the scholars, reported in the Sahih collections, the Musnads, the Sunan and others, by chains from a group of Companions: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « we do not leave inheritance: what we leave is charity. » This is therefore an explicit text that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) leaves no inheritance; that is why as-Siddiq refused that what was his own in his lifetime be given to any of his heirs, who, without this text, would have received it: his daughter Fatima, his nine wives, and his uncle Abbas, may the prayers of Allah be upon him.

As-Siddiq argued against their receiving it with this hadith, and Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Talha, az-Zubayr, Abu Hurayra and others concurred with him in transmitting it from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The second reason: at-Tirmidhi reported it in terms generalizing the other prophets: « we, the company of prophets, do not leave inheritance », and he authenticated it. The third: the world was too lowly in the prophets' eyes for them to hoard for it, turn to it, or be concerned with it, to the point of asking for children to possess it after them: whoever does not come near the dwellings of their asceticism does not care to ask for an heir child for it.

The fourth: Zakariyya (peace be upon him) was a carpenter, working with his hand and eating from his earnings, as Dawud (peace be upon him) ate from the work of his hands; and ordinarily, especially for one resembling the prophets in state, one does not exhaust oneself in work to amass a hoarded wealth left behind after oneself. And this is a clear, manifest matter for whoever contemplates it with reflection and understanding, Allah willing.

Imam Ahmad said: Yazid, that is ibn Harun, informed us: Hammad ibn Salama informed us, from Thabit, from Abu Rafi', from Abu Hurayra: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Zakariyya was a carpenter. » Thus Muslim reported it, and Ibn Majah by another chain, from Hammad ibn Salama. And His word: « O Zakariyya, We give you good news of a boy whose name is Yahya: We have not given the like of that name to anyone before » is explained by His word: « Our Lord, You are He who will gather the people for a day of which there is no doubt: Allah does not fail the promise. » When the good news of the child came and was confirmed, he began to ask, wonderingly, how the child could exist given his state: « My Lord, how shall I have a boy, when my wife is barren and I have reached extreme old age?

» That is: how could a child come of a very old man? It is said his age then was seventy-seven. What is more likely, and Allah knows best, is that he was older than that. « When my wife is barren », that is: my wife, in her old age, was barren, bearing no child.

And Allah knows best. As al-Khalil said: « do you give me good news though old age has touched me? By what then do you give me good news? » And Sarah said: « woe to me!

Shall I bear a child while I am an old woman, and this my husband is an old man? This is certainly a strange thing! » They said: do you wonder at the command of Allah? The mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you, people of the house: He is Praiseworthy, Glorious (Hud, 72-73).

Thus was Zakariyya (peace be upon him) answered: the angel who conveyed his Lord's command to him said: « thus it shall be: your Lord has said: it is easy for Me », that is: it is easy, light for Him. « And I created you before, when you were nothing »: His power brought you into being after you were nothing mentioned; shall it not then bring forth of you a child, though you be a very old man? The Most High said: « So We answered him and gave him Yahya, and made his wife sound for him. They used to hasten in good works, and call upon Us with longing and awe, and were humble before Us » (al-Anbiya, 90).

The meaning of « We made his wife sound » is that she did not menstruate, then she menstruated. It is said: there was in her tongue something, that is, a coarseness, which was removed. « My Lord, give me a sign », that is: an indication of the time when the wife will conceive by me of this promised child. He said: « your sign is that you shall not speak to the people for three nights, being sound »: the indication is that silence overtakes you, without speech, for three days, except by gesture, while you are then perfect in form, healthy of temperament, well-proportioned of build.

And he was commanded, in that state, to much remembrance by the heart, bearing it in his breast at evening and early morning. When he received this good news, he came out joyous with it to his people from his prayer sanctuary and signaled to them: « glorify Allah at morning and evening. » The inspiration here is the hidden command: either by writing, as Mujahid and as-Suddi said, or by gesture, as Mujahid also, Wahb and Qatada said. Mujahid, Ikrima, Wahb, as-Suddi and Qatada said: his tongue was held without illness.

The sign of silence given to Zakariyya

Ibn Zayd said: he recited and glorified, but could not address anyone. And His word: « O Yahya, take the Book with strength. We gave him judgment while a child » informs that the boy came according to the divine good news given to his father Zakariyya (peace be upon him), and that Allah taught him the Book and wisdom while small. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said: Ma'mar said: the children said to Yahya ibn Zakariyya: come play with us.

He said: we were not created for play. That is His word: « We gave him judgment while a child. » As for His word: « and tenderness from Us », Ibn Jarir reported, from Amr ibn Dinar, from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas, that he said: I do not know what tenderness (al-hanan) is. And from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ikrima, Qatada and ad-Dahhak: « and tenderness from Us », that is: a mercy from Us, by which We had mercy on Zakariyya and granted him this child.

And from Ikrima: « and tenderness », that is: love upon him. And it is possible that it is a description of Yahya's tenderness toward the people, especially toward his parents: their love, care for them, and his kindness to them. As for purity (az-zakat), it is purity of character and freedom from defects and vices. And piety is obedience to Allah by fulfilling His commands and leaving His prohibitions.

Then He mentioned his kindness to his parents and his obedience to them in command and prohibition, and his leaving their disobedience in word and deed: « he was kind to his parents, and not tyrannical or rebellious. » Then He said: « so peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day he is raised alive.

» These three moments are the hardest on man: in each of them he passes from a world to another world, losing the first after being accustomed to it and knowing it, and passes to the other not knowing what lies before him; that is why he comes out crying when he leaves the womb and parts from its softness and embrace; he passes into this world to bear its sorrows and griefs; and likewise when he leaves this world and passes to the world of the barzakh between it and the abode of settlement, going, after the homes and palaces, to the ground of the dead, the dwellers of graves, and waiting there for the Blast in the Trumpets for the day of resurrection and exodus: some joyful and rejoicing, some sad and overwhelmed; some mighty and some broken; and a party in Paradise and a party in the Blaze. A poet said well: « Your mother bore you weeping and crying out, while the people around you laughed with joy. Strive that, on the day of your death, when they weep, you be laughing and rejoicing. »

And these three stations being the most painful for the son of Adam, Allah sent peace upon Yahya in each of them: « so peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day he is raised alive. » Sa'id ibn Abi Aruba reported from Qatada that al-Hasan said: Yahya and Isa met, and Isa said to him: ask forgiveness for me: you are better than I. The other said to him: ask forgiveness for me: you are better than I. Isa said to him: you are better than I: I greeted my own soul, and Allah greeted you. By Allah, she knew its favor. As for His word in the other verse: « and a master, and chaste, and a prophet of the righteous »: it is said the chaste is he who does not approach women. Something else has been said, and it is more likely given His word: « grant me from Yourself pure progeny ».

The death of Zakariyya

Imam Ahmad said: Affan reported to us, Hammad reported to us: Ali ibn Zayd informed us, from Yusuf ibn Mihran, from Ibn Abbas: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « none of the children of Adam but has committed a fault or intended a fault, except Yahya ibn Zakariyya; and it behooves none to say: I am better than Yunus ibn Matta. » Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jud'an: more than one imam criticized his hadith, and it is munkar; Ibn Khuzayma and ad-Daraqutni reported it by way of Abu Asim al-Abbadi, from Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jud'an, in a long version; then Ibn Khuzayma said: it is not according to our condition.

Ibn Wahb said: Ibn Lahi'a reported to me, from Uqayl, from Ibn Shihab, who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came upon his companions one day while they were recalling the merits of the prophets. One said: Musa is the one to whom Allah spoke. Another said: Isa is the spirit of Allah and His word. Another was saying: Ibrahim is the friend of Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came out upon them while they mentioned that and said: « where is the martyr? Where is the martyr clothed in wool, eating from the trees, fearing sin? » Ibn Wahb said: he meant Yahya ibn Zakariyya.

Muhammad ibn Ishaq, who is a mudallis, reported it, from Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Ansari, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib: Ibn al-As told me that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: « every son of Adam will come on the Day of Resurrection bearing a fault, except Yahya ibn Zakariyya. » This belongs to the transmission of Ibn Ishaq, who is among the mudallisin, and he here made an 'an'ana. Then Abd al-Razzaq reported it, from Ma'mar, from Qatada, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, mursal. Then I saw that Ibn Asakir reported it by way of Abu Usama, from Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Ansari.

Then Ibn Asakir reported it by way of Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzjani, preacher of Damascus: Muhammad ibn al-Asbahani reported to us, Abu Khalid al-Ahmar reported to us, from Yahya ibn Sa'id, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, from Abdullah ibn Amr, who said: « none will meet Allah without a fault, except Yahya ibn Zakariyya. » Then he recited: « and a master, and chaste », then raised a handful of earth and said: « he had nothing but this, then he was slaughtered. » By this chain the account is mawquf; and its being mawquf is sounder than its attribution to the Prophet. And Allah knows best.

Ibn Asakir reported it by chains, from Ma'mar, including what he reported from the hadith of Ishaq ibn Bishr, who is weak: from Uthman ibn Saj, from Thawr ibn Yazid, from Khalid ibn Ma'dan, from Mu'adh, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), in similar terms.

It has been reported by way of Abu Dawud at-Tayalisi and others, from al-Hakam ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Nu'm, from his father, from Abu Sa'id: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « al-Hasan and al-Husayn are the masters of the youth of Paradise, except the two sons of the maternal aunt: Yahya and Isa, may Allah be pleased with them. »

The hafiz Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani said: Ishaq ibn Ahmad reported to us, Ibrahim ibn Yusuf reported to us, Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari reported to us: I heard Abu Sulayman say: Isa ibn Maryam and Yahya ibn Zakariyya were walking side by side, and Yahya bumped a woman. Isa said to him: O cousin, you have committed today a fault which I do not think will ever be forgiven you. He said: and what is it, O cousin? He said: a woman you bumped.

He said: by Allah, I did not feel her. He said: Glory to Allah! Your body is with me: where is your spirit? He said: suspended to the Throne; and had my heart settled on Jibril, I would have thought I never knew Allah the blink of an eye.

This contains strangeness, and is among the Israelite tales. And Isra'il reported, from Abu Hasin, from Khaythama, who said: Isa ibn Maryam and Yahya ibn Zakariyya were cousins through the mother; Isa wore wool, Yahya wore fur; neither of them had dinar or dirham, nor slave or maid, nor shelter: wherever the night caught them, they alighted. When they wished to part, Yahya said to him: counsel me. He said: do not be angry.

He said: I can only be angry. He said: then do not amass wealth. He said: as for that, perhaps.

The transmission of Wahb ibn Munabbih differed: did Zakariyya (peace be upon him) die a natural death, or was he killed? Two narrations. Abd al-Mun'im ibn Idris ibn Sinan reported, from his father, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, that he said: he fled his people and entered into a tree; they came and set the saw upon it; when the saw reached his ribs he let out a moan, and Allah revealed to him: were your moaning not stilled, I would overturn the earth and those upon it. His moaning was stilled, and he was sawn in two. And this has been reported in a hadith attributed to the Prophet which we shall cite later, Allah willing. And Ishaq ibn Bishr reported, from Idris ibn Sinan, from Wahb, that he said: the tree that split open is that of Ashiyya (Isaiah); as for Zakariyya, he died a natural death. And Allah knows best.

Imam Ahmad said: Affan reported to us, Abu Khalif Musa ibn Khalif, who was counted among the Budala, reported to us, Yahya ibn Abi Kathir reported to us, from Zayd ibn Salam, from his grandfather Mamtur, from al-Harith al-Ash'ari, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

The five words commanded to Yahya

« Allah commanded Yahya ibn Zakariyya with five words, to act upon them and to command the Children of Israel to act upon them; he almost delayed. Isa (peace be upon him) said to him: you were commanded with five words, to act upon them and to command the Children of Israel to act upon them: either you convey them, or I shall convey them. He said: O brother, I fear, should you precede me, that I be punished or swallowed by the earth. Yahya therefore gathered the Children of Israel at Bayt al-Maqdis until the mosque was full; he sat upon the elevation, praised Allah and glorified Him, then said: Allah commanded me with five words to act upon them and commands you to act upon them: the first is that you worship Allah and associate nothing with Him: its example is one who buys a slave with his pure wealth, in silver or gold, then makes him work and pay his wage to other than his master: which of you would be pleased that his slave did so?

Allah created you and provided for you: worship Him then, and associate nothing with Him. And I command you prayer: Allah turns His face toward His servant as long as he does not turn away; when you pray, do not turn away. And I command you fasting: its example is a man carrying a pouch of musk in his pocket: all of them smell its scent; and the breath of the fasting one is sweeter to Allah than the scent of musk. And I command you charity: its example is a man taken captive by the enemy: they bind his hand to his neck and bring him to strike his neck, and he says: would you accept that I ransom my life?

He ransoms his life from them, in little and in much, until he frees his life. And I command you much remembrance of Allah: its example is a man whom the enemy pursues swiftly on his trail, who reaches a fortified fortress and shelters in it: and the servant is best sheltered from Satan when he is in the remembrance of Allah. » And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « and I command you five things Allah commanded me: the community, hearing, obedience, emigration and jihad in the path of Allah: whoever leaves the community a hand-span has cast off the rope of Islam from his neck, unless he returns; and whoever calls with the call of Jahiliyya is among the crouching of Hellfire. » They said: O Messenger of Allah, even if he fasts and prays?

He said: « even if he fasts, prays and claims to be Muslim: call the Muslims by the names Allah named them: Muslims, believers, servants of Allah. »

Reported by Ahmad, Abu Ya'la, at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and al-Hakim

Thus Abu Ya'la reported it, from Hudba ibn Khalid, from Aban ibn Yazid, from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir; thus at-Tirmidhi, from the hadith of Abu Dawud at-Tayalisi and Musa ibn Isma'il, both from Aban ibn Yazid al-Attar; thus Ibn Majah, from Hisham ibn Ammar, from Muhammad ibn Shu'ayb ibn Sabur, from Muawiya ibn Salam, from his brother Zayd ibn Salam, from Abu Salam, from al-Harith al-Ash'ari; thus al-Hakim, by way of Marwan ibn Muhammad at-Tatari, from Muawiya ibn Salam, from his brother; then he said: Marwan at-Tatari alone reported it from Muawiya ibn Salam. I say: it is not as he said. And at-Tabarani reported it, from Muhammad ibn Abda, from Abu Tawba ar-Rabi' ibn Nafi', from Muawiya ibn Salam, from Abu Salam, from al-Harith al-Ash'ari, in similar terms: the mention of Zayd ibn Salam drops from this transmission.

Then the hafiz Ibn Asakir reported, by way of Abdullah ibn Abi Ja'far ar-Razi, from his father, from ar-Rabi' ibn Anas, who said: it was mentioned to us from the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) what they heard from the scholars of the Children of Israel: Yahya ibn Zakariyya was sent with five words. And he mentioned terms like the foregoing.

The asceticism and worship of Yahya

They mentioned that Yahya (peace be upon him) was often solitary, apart from the people: he kept only to the wildernesses, ate the leaves of trees, drank the water of rivers, fed on locusts at times, and said: who is more blessed than I, O Yahya. Ibn Asakir reported that his parents went out seeking him and found him by the marsh of the Jordan; when they met him, he made them weep bitter tears, by what was in him of worship and fear of Allah. Ibn Wahb said, from Malik, from Humayd ibn Qays, from Mujahid: the food of Yahya ibn Zakariyya was herbs, and he would weep from fear of Allah, to the point that had tar been upon his eyes it would have burned it. Muhammad ibn Yahya adh-Dhuhli said: Abu Salih reported to us, al-Layth reported to us, Uqayl reported to me, from Ibn Shihab, who said: I sat one day with Abu Idris al-Khawlani while he narrated, and he said: shall I not tell you of the man of the finest food?

When he saw that the people were looking at him, he said: Yahya ibn Zakariyya had the finest food: he ate only with the wild beasts, loathing to mix with the people in their livelihoods. Ibn al-Mubarak said, from Wuhayb ibn al-Ward, who said: Zakariyya lost his son Yahya for three days, went out seeking him in the wilderness, and there he was: he had dug a grave and stood in it weeping over himself. He said: O my son, I seek you three days, and you are in a grave you dug, standing weeping in it? He said: O father, was it not you who told me that between Paradise and the Fire lies a wilderness crossed only by the tears of the weepers?

He said to him: weep then, O my son. And they both wept. Wahb ibn Munabbih and Mujahid reported the like. Ibn Asakir reported from him: the people of Paradise do not sleep, for the delight of what they have of bliss; so it behooves the truthful not to sleep, for what their hearts contain of bliss in the love of Allah.

Then he said: how much between the two delights, and how much between them both. They mentioned that he wept much, until weeping left its traces on his cheeks from the multitude of his tears.

The killing of Yahya and Zakariyya

An account of the causes of the killing of Yahya (peace be upon him). They mentioned many causes; the most famous is that one of the kings of that time, in Damascus, wanted to marry one of his mahram relatives, or a woman whose marriage was not lawful for him: Yahya (peace be upon him) forbade him that, and she bore a grudge against him. When she had won the king's affection, she asked him as a gift the blood of Yahya, and he granted it to her. She sent the one who killed him, and he came with his head and his blood in a basin to her; it is said she died within the hour. It is said: rather, the wife of that king loved him and wrote to him, but he refused her; when she despaired of him, she contrived to ask the king to give him to her; the king refused, then answered her; she sent the one who killed him and had his head and blood brought to her in a basin.

Its meaning has come in a hadith reported by Ishaq ibn Bishr in his Book al-Mubtada, where he said: Ya'qub al-Kufi informed us, from Amr ibn Maymun, from his father, from Ibn Abbas: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), on the night of the Ascension, saw Zakariyya in the heaven, greeted him and said: O Abu Yahya, inform me of your killing: how was it, and why did the Children of Israel kill you? He said: O Muhammad, I inform you that Yahya was the best of his era, the most handsome of them, the brightest of face, and he was as Allah the Most High said: a master and chaste; he had no need of women. The wife of the king of the Children of Israel desired him; she was a harlot; she sent to him, but Allah protected him, and Yahya restrained himself and refused her. She resolved upon the killing of Yahya.

They had a festival in which they gathered every year, and the king's custom was to promise without breaking or lying. The king went out to the festival, and his wife rose to see him off, which she had never done before and which flattered him. When she saw him off, the king said: ask of me: whatever you ask, I shall grant you. She said: I want the blood of Yahya ibn Zakariyya.

He said: ask me for other than that. She said: it is that. He said: it is yours. She sent her guards to Yahya, who was in his prayer sanctuary praying, while I prayed at his side.

He was slaughtered in a basin, and his head and blood were carried to her. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: to what extent did your patience reach? He said: I never faltered in my prayer. When his head was carried to her and set before her, and they passed the night, Allah swallowed the king, his household and his army.

In the morning, the Children of Israel said: the god of Zakariyya is wrath for Zakariyya: come, let us be wrath for our king, and kill Zakariyya. They went out seeking me to kill me; the Warner came to me and I fled from them, while Iblis walked before them, pointing me out to them. When I feared I could not escape them, a tree presented itself to me and called me: to me, to me; it split open for me and I entered it. Iblis came and seized the hem of my garment, and the tree closed, the hem of my garment remaining outside the tree.

The Children of Israel came, and Iblis said: did you not see him enter this tree? This is the hem of his garment: he entered it by his magic. They said: we shall burn this tree. Iblis said: saw it with a saw.

I was therefore sawn with the tree by the saw. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to him: did you feel touch or pain? He said: no; the tree alone felt it: Allah had placed my spirit in it. This is a strange context, an astonishing hadith, and its attribution to the Prophet is objectionable, and it contains what is objectionable in any case.

We have not seen, in any of the hadiths of the Ascension, a mention of Zakariyya (peace be upon him) except in this hadith. What is preserved, in some of the wordings of the Sahih, of the hadith of the Ascension, is: « I passed by the two sons of the maternal aunt: Yahya and Isa », who are maternal cousins according to the majority, as is apparent in the hadith: the mother of Yahya, Ashiya' bint Imran, is the sister of Maryam bint Imran. It is said: rather Ashiya', the wife of Zakariyya and mother of Yahya, is the sister of Hanna, the wife of Imran and mother of Maryam, which would make Yahya the maternal cousin of Maryam. And Allah knows best.

The place of the death of Yahya ibn Zakariyya

Then there was difference over the place of Yahya ibn Zakariyya's killing: was it in the al-Aqsa mosque, or elsewhere? Two views. Ath-Thawri said, from al-A'mash, from Shimr ibn Atiyya: upon the rock of Bayt al-Maqdis seventy prophets were killed, among them Yahya ibn Zakariyya (peace be upon him). Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam said: Abdullah ibn Salih reported to us, from al-Layth, from Yahya ibn Sa'id, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, who said: Bukht Nassar arrived at Damascus and found the blood of Yahya ibn Zakariyya boiling; he asked about it, was informed, and killed seventy thousand over that blood: then it was stilled. This is an authentic chain to Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, and it suggests that he was killed in Damascus, and that the story of Bukht Nassar was after the Messiah, as Ata' and al-Hasan al-Basri said. And Allah knows best.

The hafiz Ibn Asakir reported, by way of al-Walid ibn Muslim, from Zayd ibn Waqid, who said: I saw the head of Yahya ibn Zakariyya when they wanted to build the mosque of Damascus: it was brought out from beneath one of the pillars of the qibla side, the one adjoining the mihrab, on the east side; and its skin and hair were in their state, unchanged. In a narration: as if he had been killed that very hour. It has been mentioned, concerning the building of the mosque of Damascus, that it was placed under the column known as the column of the Sakasika. And Allah knows best.

The hafiz Ibn Asakir reported, in his Book gathering the merits of al-Aqsa, by way of Abbas ibn Subh, from Marwan, from Sa'id ibn Abd al-Aziz, from Qusaym, the freedman of Muawiya, who said: the king of this city, meaning Damascus, was Hadad ibn Hadad, who had married his son to his cousin Arila, queen of Sayda. I say: among her sovereigns was the market of kings in Damascus, the old mint. He had sworn, upon her triple divorce, not to take her back, then he wished to return to her: he consulted Yahya ibn Zakariyya, who said: she does not become lawful for you until she marries another husband. She bore a grudge against him and asked the king for the head of Yahya ibn Zakariyya, at her mother's prompting.

He refused, then answered her, and sent, while he stood praying in the mosque of Jayrun, the one who came with his head in a basin; and the head began to say: she does not become lawful for him, she does not become lawful for him, until she marries another husband. The woman took the plate, carried it on her head to her mother, the head still saying that; when it was set before her mother, the earth swallowed her to her feet, then to her shins; her mother began to wail and the maids to scream and slap their faces; then she was swallowed to her shoulders. Her mother ordered the executioner to strike her neck, that she might console herself with her head; he did, and the earth cast out her corpse. They fell then into disgrace and perishing, and the blood of Yahya did not cease boiling until Bukht Nassar came and killed seventy-five thousand over it.

Sa'id ibn Abd al-Aziz said: it is the blood of every prophet. It did not cease boiling until Armiya (peace be upon him) stood by it and said: O blood, you have destroyed the Children of Israel: be still, by Allah's permission. Then it was stilled. The sword was lifted, and those of the people of Damascus who fled went to Bayt al-Maqdis; he pursued them there, killed a countless multitude, took captives of them, then returned.