Quran Universe
19:8

قَالَ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَٰمٞ وَكَانَتِ ٱمۡرَأَتِي عَاقِرٗا وَقَدۡ بَلَغۡتُ مِنَ ٱلۡكِبَرِ عِتِيّٗا

Qala rabbi anna yakoonu lee ghulamun wakanati imraatee AAaqiran waqad balaghtu mina alkibari AAitiyyan

He said, "My Lord, how will I have a boy when my wife has been barren and I have reached extreme old age?"

Word by word
  1. قَالَHe said
  2. رَبِّMy Lord
  3. أَنَّىٰHow
  4. يَكُونُcan
  5. لِيI have
  6. غُلَٰمٞa boy
  7. وَكَانَتِwhile is
  8. ٱمۡرَأَتِيmy wife
  9. عَاقِرٗاbarren
  10. وَقَدۡand indeed
  11. بَلَغۡتُI have reached
  12. مِنَof
  13. ٱلۡكِبَرِthe old age
  14. عِتِيّٗاextreme
Maryam · 19:8Makkah

Overjoyed, he asked: how can this even happen?

Amazement at an answered prayer

Why it seemed impossible
barren wifenever gave birth
extreme old ageno strength left
yet
a son promisedjoy and wonder
What his question was
doubtthis cannot be true
amazementhow will You do it?

Ibn Kathir says Zakariyya was extremely overjoyed and asked how the child would come. His wife was old and had never had children, and he himself was very old and weak.

The acceptance email arrives. The scan shows a heartbeat. You read it four times and say: how? Asking how, in wonder, is not a lack of faith. It is what joy sounds like when the odds were against you.

Being amazed by an answer means I did not really believe.

Wonder at what Allah does is a natural, honest response to His gifts.

Try this

Tell someone today about one thing Allah gave you that you did not expect.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

He said: "My Lord! How can I have a son, when my wife is barren, and I have reached the extreme old age. (8)He said: "Thus your Lord says: 'It is easy for Me. Certainly I have created you before, when you had been nothing!'") (19:8- (9)

His amazement after the acceptance of His Supplication

Zakariyya was amazed when his supplication was answered and he was given the good news of a son. He became extremely overjoyed and asked how this child would be born to him, and in what manner he would come. This was particularly amazing because his wife was an old woman who was barren and had not given birth to any children in her entire life. Even Zakariyya himself had become old and advanced in years, his bones had become feeble and thin, and he had no potent semen or vigor for sexual intercourse.

The Answer of the Angel

قَالَ

(He said:) That is, the angel, in his response to Zakariyya and his was amazement.

كَذَٰلِكَ قَالَ رَبُّكَ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ

("Thus says your Lord: 'It is easy for Me...'") Meaning the birth of the son will be from you and from this wife of yours and not from any other (woman).

هَيِّنٌ

(easy) Meaning, it is simple and easy for Allah to do. Then he (the angel) mentioned to him that which is more amazing than what he was asking about. The angel said that the Lord said,

وَقَدْ خَلَقْتُكَ مِن قَبْلُ وَلَمْ تَكُ شَيْئًا

(Certainly I have created you before, when you had been nothing!) This is similar to Allah's statement,

هَلْ أَتَىٰ عَلَى الْإِنسَانِ حِينٌ مِّنَ الدَّهْرِ لَمْ يَكُن شَيْئًا مَّذْكُورًا

(Has there not been over man a period of time, when he was not a thing worth mentioning?)[76:1]