قَالَ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى غُلَٰمٌۭ وَقَدْ بَلَغَنِىَ ٱلْكِبَرُ وَٱمْرَأَتِى عَاقِرٌۭ ۖ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكَ ٱللَّهُ يَفْعَلُ مَا يَشَآءُ
Qaala Rabbi annaa yakoonu lee ghulaamunw wa qad balaghaniyal kibaru wamraatee 'aaqirun qaala kazaalikal laahu yaf'alu maa yashaaa'
He said, "My Lord, how will I have a boy when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?" The angel said, "Such is Allah; He does what He wills."
Themes in this ayah
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Lessons from past peoples
3:40Ayah 1200
37 ayahs in Aal-i-Imraan are strongly about lessons from past peoples. This is one of them.
← Previous on Lessons from past peoples3:39So the angels called him while he was standing in prayer in the chamber, "Indeed, Allah gives you good tidings of John,Next on Lessons from past peoples →3:41He said, "My Lord, make for me a sign." He Said, "Your sign is that you will not [be able to] speak to the people for three days except by gesture.
Tafsir
Scholars largely agree on this ayah
He said ‘My Lord! How shall I have a boy a son when old age has overtaken me that is after I have reached extreme old age 120 years old; and my wife is barren?’ having reached the age of 98. He said ‘So it the matter will be’ with God creating a boy from both of you. ‘God does what He will’ nothing can prevent Him therefrom and in order to manifest this great power he was inspired with the question so that he would be answered through it this great power. And when his soul longed for the swift fulfilment of that of which good tidings had been given
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "At every womb Allah appoints an angel who says, 'O Lord! A drop of semen, O
Lord! A clot. O Lord! A little lump of flesh." Then if Allah wishes (to complete) its creation, the angel
asks, (O Lord!) Will it be a male or female, a wretched or a blessed, and how much will his provision
be? And what will his age be?' So all that is written while the child is still in the mother's womb."
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah has appointed an angel in the womb, and the angel says, 'O Lord! A drop of
discharge (i.e. of semen), O Lord! a clot, O Lord! a piece of flesh.' And then, if Allah wishes to
complete the child's creation, the angel will say. 'O Lord! A male or a female? O Lord! wretched or
blessed (in religion)? What will his livelihood be? What will his age be?' The angel writes all this
while the child is in the womb of its mother."
I visited Abu Sariha Hudhaifa b. Usaid al-Ghifari who said: I listened with these two ears of mine Allahs Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: The semen stays in the womb for forty nights, then the angel, gives it a shape. Zubair said: I think that he said: One who fashions that and decides whether he would be male or female. Then he (the angel) says: Would his limbs be full or imperfect? And then the Lord makes thein full and perfect or otherwise as He desires. Then he says: My Lord, what about his livelihood, and his death and what about his disposition? And then the Lord decides about his misfortune and fortune.
"A man from among the Ansar came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: 'O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), I have a slave girl. Should I do 'Azl (coitus interruptus) with her?' He said 'Whatever is decreed for her shall come to her." He (the Ansari) came to him later on and said: "The slave girl has become pregnant." The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Nothing is decreed for a person but it will surely come to pass."
"My wife is breast-feeding and I do not want her to get pregnant." The Prophet said: "What has been decreed in the womb will come to be."
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