هل دعوتَ يومًا بشيء تظنّ في قلبك أنه لن يحدث أبدًا؟ في قصة اليوم رجلٌ كبر حتى اشتعل رأسه شيبًا، وامرأته لا تلد، ثم دعا. ولم يرفع صوته بالدعاء — دعا سرًّا، بينه وبين ربه.
كان زكريا عليه السلام نبيًّا كبير السنّ، وكان هو الذي يكفل مريم عليها السلام في المحراب. وكان كلّما دخل عليها وجد عندها رزقًا، فيسألها: ﴿أَنَّىٰ لَكِ هَٰذَا﴾؟ فتقول: ﴿هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ﴾. فكان يرى بعينه كل يوم أن الله يعطي من غير الأسباب التي يعرفها الناس. وفي ذلك الموضع بالذات خطر له أن يسأل.
﴿هُنَالِكَ دَعَا زَكَرِيَّا رَبَّهُ﴾ — هنالك، أي في تلك اللحظة بالذات، وهو يرى الرزق يأتي من حيث لا سبب. ﴿إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُ نِدَاءً خَفِيًّا * قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي وَاشْتَعَلَ الرَّأْسُ شَيْبًا وَلَمْ أَكُن بِدُعَائِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيًّا﴾. انظر كيف وصف حاله: عظمي ضعف، ورأسي اشتعل شيبًا. ثم قال كلمة فيها أدب عجيب: ولم أكن بدعائك ربّ شقيًّا — أي أنا أدعوك من زمن طويل، وما رددتني مرّة واحدة.
فجاء الجواب أسرع ممّا يتخيّل أحد، وفيه شيء لم يطلبه أصلًا: ﴿يَا زَكَرِيَّا إِنَّا نُبَشِّرُكَ بِغُلَامٍ اسْمُهُ يَحْيَىٰ لَمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُ مِن قَبْلُ سَمِيًّا﴾. لم يقل له: ستُرزق ولدًا. قال: اسمه يحيى — سمّاه الله قبل أن يُخلق، باسم لم يُسمَّ به أحد قبله. فقال زكريا متعجّبًا: ﴿أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَكَانَتِ امْرَأَتِي عَاقِرًا وَقَدْ بَلَغْتُ مِنَ الْكِبَرِ عِتِيًّا﴾؟ فقيل له: ﴿كَذَٰلِكَ قَالَ رَبُّكَ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ﴾. هيّن. كلمة واحدة أنهت كل الأسباب.
ووُلد يحيى. فماذا قال الله عنه؟ ﴿يَا يَحْيَىٰ خُذِ الْكِتَابَ بِقُوَّةٍ وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْحُكْمَ صَبِيًّا﴾ — آتاه الفهم والحكمة وهو ما يزال صبيًّا. ثم: ﴿وَحَنَانًا مِّن لَّدُنَّا وَزَكَاةً وَكَانَ تَقِيًّا * وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَيْهِ وَلَمْ يَكُن جَبَّارًا عَصِيًّا﴾ — رحيمًا، طاهرًا، تقيًّا، بارًّا بوالديه، ليس متكبّرًا ولا عاصيًا. الولد الذي دعا به أبوه سرًّا في المحراب، صار هذا كلّه.
يقول الله تعالى آمراً سيدنا يحيى وهو طفل: {يَا يَحْيَىٰ خُذِ الْكِتَابَ بِقُوَّةٍ ۖ وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْحُكْمَ صَبِيًّا}.
لا تستصغر دعوة، ولا تستكثر على الله شيئًا.
دعا زكريا بشيء يبدو مستحيلًا، ولم يستحِ أن يطلبه. فما الشيء الذي تتمنّاه ولم تدعُ الله به لأنك تظنّه بعيدًا عنك؟
ادعُ اليوم دعوة واحدة سرًّا لا يسمعك فيها أحد، واطلب فيها شيئًا كبيرًا تستحي أن تقوله لأحد.
القرآن الكريم، سورة مريم: 2-15 وآل عمران: 38-41
الدعاء والبشارة بيحيى وصفاته، كله بنص الآيات.
Have you ever prayed for something you quietly believed would never happen? In today's story, a man had grown old until his hair was white, and his wife could not bear children, and then he prayed. And he did not raise his voice — he prayed secretly, between himself and his Lord.
Zakariya, peace be upon him, was an elderly prophet, and he was the one who cared for Maryam in the sanctuary. Whenever he entered upon her he found provision with her, and he would ask: {From where is this to you?} She would say: {It is from Allah. Indeed, Allah provides for whom He wills without account.} So every day he saw with his own eyes that Allah gives outside the causes people know. And in that very place, it occurred to him to ask.
{There, Zakariya called upon his Lord} — there, at that very moment, as he watched provision arrive from no visible cause. {When he called to his Lord a private call. He said, My Lord, indeed my bones have weakened, and my head has filled with white, and never have I been in my supplication to You, my Lord, unhappy.} Look at how he described his state: my bones have weakened, my head has filled with white. And then a line of remarkable manners: never have I been unhappy in my supplication to You — I have been asking You for a long time, and You have never once turned me away.
The answer came faster than anyone would imagine, and it contained something he had not asked for at all: {O Zakariya, indeed We give you good tidings of a boy whose name will be Yahya. We have not assigned to any before this name.} He was not told "you will be given a son." He was told: his name is Yahya — Allah named him before he existed, with a name no one had carried before. Zakariya said in astonishment: {My Lord, how will I have a boy when my wife has been barren and I have reached extreme old age?} He was told: {Thus it will be; your Lord says, it is easy for Me.} Easy. One word ended every calculation.
And Yahya was born. And what did Allah say of him? {O Yahya, take the Scripture with determination. And We gave him judgement while yet a boy} — understanding and wisdom while he was still a child. Then: {And affection from Us and purity, and he was fearing of Allah, and dutiful to his parents, and he was not a disobedient tyrant.} Merciful, pure, God-fearing, good to his parents, neither arrogant nor disobedient. The child his father had asked for quietly in the sanctuary became all of that.
Never think a prayer too small, and never think anything too much for Allah.
Zakariya prayed for something that looked impossible, and was not embarrassed to ask. What is something you wish for and have never prayed for, because you think it is out of reach?
Make one prayer today in private where no one can hear you, and ask for something big — something you would be shy to say aloud.
The Quran, Surah Maryam: 2-15 and Aal-Imran: 38-41
The supplication, the glad tidings of Yahya and his qualities are all in the verses.