[Pooya/Ali Commentary 19:2] Refer to the commentary of Ali Imran: 38 to 41 for the prayer of Zakariyya. Zakariyya invoked Allah to give him a son, not only as the inheritor of his family but also as an upholder of his mission and the mission of his ancestors. It is interesting to recall here that when the Holy Prophet passed away and Abu Bakr was made caliph to rule over the Muslim community he dispossessed the Holy Prophet's daughter Fatimah of the agricultural land or estate known as Fadak which had been gifted to her by the Holy Prophet during his life time and given in her possession. When Fatimah asked Abu Bakr to restore her estate as it had been gifted to her by the Holy Prophet along with possession, he demanded evidence and refused to accept the evidence of witnesses produced by Fatimah. Then she claimed the estate as the sole heir to her father, the Holy Prophet. This request was rejected by Abu Bakr saying that he had heard the Holy Prophet say that "We the messengers of Allah neither inherit nor leave inheritance." In the light of verses 5 and 6 the statement of Abu Bakr should be treated as an instantaneous excuse, he thought of, to deprive Bibi Fatimah from the lawful inheritance, her father left for her, otherwise the words of Allah become vague and meaningless. In reply she quoted these verses to prove that he had reported a false tradition because when the Quran has used the word "warith" the Holy Prophet could not say that which the caliph reported. The mention of these verses by her means that the word "warith" refers to all that which a messenger of Allah leaves as inheritance. She was the daughter of the Holy Prophet (tutored and educated by him from the day she was able to talk and understand) to whom the Quran was revealed, and she was the wife of Ali ibn abi Talib whose authority on the Quran stands established in view of several traditions mentioned on page 5-both of them only knew the hidden and the manifest meanings of every word of the Quran. Therefore her understanding of the Quran must be preferred over those who never had been credited with even a cursory knowledge of the book of Allah. Please refer to the commentary of Bani Israil: 26, Nahl . 90 and the Biography of Bibi Fatimah Zahra, published by our Trust, to know the full details pertaining to the issue of Fadak. Aqa Mahdi Puya says: These verses prove that the prophets of Allah inherit and leave inheritance. To interpret "Warith" as reference to knowledge and wisdom only is a deviation from the real, direct and plain meaning of this word, without any external or internal evidence. If inheritance of personal belongings is excluded, the repetition of the verb becomes meaningless because Zakariyya himself was a descendant of ali Yaqub, who inherited the prophethood and wisdom of his ancestors, and his son would do the same if Allah so willed as He chooses whomsoever He wills as His messenger (An-am: 124), therefore Zakariyya said: "inherit me and inherit ali Yaqub". Zakariyya is referring to his belongings and the belongings of the posterity of Yaqub separately. The first verb refers to the inheritance of his property which Zakariyya thought would be appropriated by his relatives if he remained childless; and the second verb refers to the prophethood, he wanted for Yahya, for which there was no need to fear that it would be taken by any one. Verse 16 of An Nahl confirms that which has been explained here. No doubt the prophets of Allah did not give any importance to the material possessions and laid emphasis on the knowledge and wisdom, but it does not mean that they did not possess property or did not leave what they had as inheritance to their next to kin. The tradition quoted to deprive Bibi Fatimah of her lawful inheritance was tampered with by the narrator for political reasons. He omitted a clause indicating that they leave knowledge as inheritance, and added a clause, which is not correct from the grammatical point of view, unless it is an objective clause subordinate to the principal clause "We the group of prophets", and the word be read as "sadaqtan", the second object to the verb "taraknahu ", but he read the clause as co-ordinative and conjunctive, and read "sadaqtan" as the predicate to the word "ma", which according to the recitation means "whatever", whereas according to the correct recitation "ma " means "that which". The mother of the son given to Zakariyya was a born barren woman, so he was named Yahya, derived from hayat (life), a name which was given to him for the first time. The Hebrew form of Yahya is Johanan which means "Jehvah (God) has been gracious". Hananan (see verse 13) means compassion. The births of Isa and Yahya were the miraculous signs of the will of Allah. Isa was born to a virgin without a father and Yahya was born to a born barren woman, and both of them were so disinterested in the physical life that they never married. Aqa Mahdi Puya says: According to the Ahl ul Bayt, the names of Muhammad, Ali, Hasan and Husayn were also chosen for the first time under divine inspiration. Imam Jafar bin Muhammad as Sadiq said: "Before Yahya and Husayn, no one was ever named by either of their names. For no one the heavens wept for forty days save Yahya and Husayn. The murderers of Yahya and Husayn were illegitimate. The heads of both of them were severed from their bodies and displayed in the streets and the courts which (according to Imam Husayn) prove the worthlessness of this world in the estimation of Allah. The head of Yahya was presented before the depraved wife of the Egyptian king and her pervert daughter and the head of Husayn was presented to the sons of whores.") ("The heavens wept" means the sun became extraordinarily red according to the Imam). It was as easy for Allah to give a son to a born barren woman from an old and decrepit man as He brought them into being when they were nothing. Awha, the root of which is wahi, is used in verse 11 to indicate communication by signs. Verse 12 says that hukm (strength, power of judgement and prophethood) was given to Yahya in his childhood. Likewise Isa was also appointed as the prophet of Allah while he was in the cradle. Therefore there is no justification for the misconceived idea propagated by a large number of Muslims that the Holy Prophet was an illiterate person (see commentary of al Baqarah: 97). Ayyashi quotes Ali bin Asbath as under: "While going to Egypt I met Imam Ali bin Musa in Madina. Then he was a five year old boy. I was greatly impressed by his knowledge when we talked about on various topics. I had decided to tell everyone in Egypt about his extraordinary wisdom and judgement. As soon as the idea came into my mind, he recited: 'We gave him (Yahya) wisdom, while yet a child.'" Aqa Mahdi Puya says: In dawat dhil ashirah Ali ibn abi Talib was the only person who came forward in response to the call of the Holy Prophet: "Who among you will help me and join me in my task, and be my brother, my lieutenant, my vicegerent and my successor?" So then and there the Holy Prophet declared: "Verily Ali is my brother, my vicegerent and my successor. From this day it has been made obligatory upon every one to obey the superior authority of Ali." Please refer to the commentary of Ali Imran: 52 and 53. In view of this verse and verse 46 of Ali Imran no sincere Muslim is in a position to bypass the vicegerency of Ali on the ground that he was at the time a very young boy. Likewise the imamah and wilayah of Imam Muhammad bin Ali at Taqi and Imam Muhammad bin Hasan al Qa-im cannot be disputed on account of their age in presence of these verses in the Quran. Refer to verse 1 to 4 of Ar Rahman to know that Allah Himself taught wisdom to the Holy Prophet because of which the word ummi has been used in the Quran (refer to the commentary of al Baqarah : 97. Yahya boldly denounced sin. He had pity and love for all creatures of Allah, lived among the humble and lonely, despised worldly comforts, and never used violence nor entertained a spirit of rebellion against human or divine law. He did not live long. He was beheaded by Herod, the provincial ruler under the Roman empire, at the instigation of the woman with whom Herod was infatuated. For full details of Yahya's life refer to our publication "The Glimpses of the Prophets" based upon the well-known book "Hayatul ul Qulub" by Allama Majlisi. Peace and Allah's blessings were on him when he was born; they continued when he was about to die an unjust death at the hands of a tyrant; and they will be manifest at the day of resurrection.