Yahya

Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام was the answer to his father Zakariyyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام's quiet dua. Allah named him before he was born and told his father no one had carried the name before him.

O Zakariyyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام, indeed We give you good tidings of a boy whose name will be Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام. We have not assigned to anyone before him this name. (Qur'an 19:7)

A name from Allah Himself. Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام. From the root meaning to live. A name with a promise inside it. The Qur'an does not waste a word in this verse. Allah did not just give the family a son. He gave him a name no one had carried, and He gave the name from His own knowledge.

The boy given the book

Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام was given prophethood while he was still a boy. Allah preserved the address in Surah Maryam.

O Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام, take the Scripture with strength. And We gave him judgment as a child. (Qur'an 19:12)

Khudhil kitaba bi quwwah. Take the Book with strength. A child was told to grip the revelation firmly. The verb is not soft. He was being asked to carry weight that an adult would find heavy.

The next phrase is one of the most extraordinary in the Qur'an. Wa atayna-hul hukma sabiyya. And We gave him wisdom while he was still a child. Hukm here means understanding, judgement, the ability to weigh things and rule between them. Allah gave it to him while he was small.

This is the mercy of being chosen early. Allah did not need Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام to be a man before He honoured him. The Qur'an gives us a category of person we sometimes forget exists. The child who is already wise, because Allah gave him the wisdom. This early choosing is the mercy that introduces Allah by name, and the story begins with his father Zakariyya's quiet dua.

The four gifts

Allah then lists what He gave Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام in three short phrases. Each phrase is a category of his soul.

And affection from Us and purity, and he was God-fearing. And dutiful to his parents, and he was not a tyrant or disobedient. (Qur'an 19:13-14)

Hanan. Affection. The kind of softness Allah Himself put in him. Zakatan. Purity. A cleanness in his soul that was not earned, it was granted. Birran bi walidayhi. Goodness to his parents. He honoured Zakariyyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام and his mother every day they had him. Lam yakun jabbaran asiyya. He was not a tyrant or disobedient.

Five qualities. The Qur'an did not list his miracles. Allah listed his manners. Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام is one of the very few prophets whose character is laid out as the main record of his life.

For a young person reading this, the verse is direct. The qualities Allah honoured in Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام were the qualities of a gentle, dutiful, pure-hearted son who was not a tyrant in his home. None of those are out of reach for any of us. They are the qualities Allah noted by name.

Peace at three thresholds

Then Allah gives him the salutation. There are only three people in the Qur'an who receive this exact salutation. Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام is one of them. The other is his cousin Isaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام, in the same surah.

And peace be upon him the day he was born and the day he dies and the day he is raised alive. (Qur'an 19:15)

Three thresholds. Birth. Death. The Day of Resurrection. Peace at each one.

This is one of the most loved verses on the lips of those who have lost a young person. Allah gave Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام peace at the moment he died and peace at the moment he is raised. The verse is a comfort that lasts longer than the grief.

The justice counterweight is preserved in the tafsir tradition. Ibn Kathir's commentary on Surah Maryam records that Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام was killed. The narrations describe a tyrant king who wanted to marry a woman he was not lawfully allowed to marry. He asked Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام to issue a ruling permitting it. Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام refused. The king had him killed for the refusal. This is tradition rather than authentic hadith, but it has been carried through Sunni scholarship.

A prophet was martyred for a single ruling on lawful and unlawful. He chose the word of Allah over his own neck. The mercy of his life and the price he paid for his honesty sit beside each other in the record.

What this teaches the reader

Three small things.

One. Allah named Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام Himself. If you are choosing a name for a child, the prophet whose name Allah chose was a quiet, dutiful boy who took the Book with strength while he was still small. Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام is a beautiful name. So is the character it pointed to.

Two. The qualities Allah listed in Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام are within your reach. Affection. Purity. Dutifulness to parents. Not being a tyrant in the home. The Qur'an did not list miracles for him. It listed manners. Pick one of those four this week and work on it.

Three. The peace at three thresholds is a verse to read at the grave of a young person you have lost. Wa salamun alayhi yawma wulida wa yawma yamutu wa yawma yub'athu hayya. Allah gave it to Yahyaعَلَيْهِ السَّلَام. The verse is a comfort He left behind for the rest of us.