[Zachariah] exclaimed: "O my Sustainer! How can I have a son when old age has already overtaken me, and my wife is barren?" Answered [the angel]: "Thus it is: God does what He wills."

AND THERE CAME a caravan;* and they sent forth their drawer of water, and he let down his bucket into the well - [and when he saw Joseph] he exclaimed: "Oh, what a lucky find,* this boy!" And they hid him with a view to selling him: but God had full knowledge of all that they were doing.

Said they: "Fear not! Behold, we bring thee the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son who will be endowed with deep knowledge."*

And so the two went on, till, when they met a young man, [the sage] slew him -(whereupon Moses] exclaimed: "Hast thou slain an innocent human being without [his having taken] another man's life? Indeed, thou hast done a terrible thing!"

"And as for that young man, his parents were [true] believers - whereas we had every reason to fear* that he would bring bitter grief upon them by [his] overweening wickedness and denial of all truth:

"And as for that wall, it belonged to two orphan boys [living] in the town, and beneath it was [buried] a treasure belonging to them [by right].* Now their father had been a righteous man, and so thy Sustainer willed it that when they come of age they should bring forth their treasure by thy Sustainer's grace. "And I did not do (any of] this of my own accord:* this is the real meaning of all [those events] that thou wert unable to bear with patience."

[Thereupon the angels called out unto him:* "O Zachariah! We bring thee the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son whose name shall be John. [And God says,] `Never have We given this name to anyone before him."*

[Zachariah] exclaimed: "O my Sustainer! How can I have a son when my wife has always been barren and I have become utterly infirm through old age?"

[The angel] answered: "I' am but a messenger of thy Sustainer, [who says,] `I shall bestow upon thee the gift of a son endowed with purity.'"

Said she: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me? - for, never have I been a loose woman!"

whereupon We gave him the glad tiding of a boy-child gentle [like himself]?*

[And when he saw that the guests would not eat,] he became apprehensive of them;* [but] they said, “Fear not" - and gave him the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son who would be endowed with deep knowledge.*

And they will be waited upon by [immortal] youths,* [as if they were children] of their own,* [as pure] as if they were pearls hidden in their shells.