It is narrated from Nawf al-Bikali; he said: Zakariyya (peace be upon him) called upon his Lord and said: "My Lord, grant me from Yourself good offspring; indeed, You are the Hearer of supplication" [Surah Al Imran: 38] . "Indeed, my bones have weakened and my head has blazed with grey hair" [Surah Maryam: 4] , and he recited the verses onward. Then he said: "How can I have a boy, when I have reached extreme old age?" [Surah Maryam: 8] . "He said: Thus it will be; your Lord has said: It is easy for Me, and I created you before, when you were nothing" [Surah Maryam: 9] . "Zakariyya (peace be upon him) said: My Lord, appoint for me a sign" [Surah Maryam: 10] , that is, by which I may know that You have answered my supplication. "He said: Your sign is that you will not speak to the people for three nights, though being sound" [Surah Maryam: 10] . Nawf al-Bikali said: "So his tongue was sealed for three days and their nights, and he could not speak although he was perfectly healthy." "So he came out to his people from the prayer chamber and signalled to them to glorify (Allah) morning and evening" [Surah Maryam: 11] . "O Yahya, hold fast to the Scripture with strength; and We gave him wisdom while still a child" [Surah Maryam: 12] . He recited the verses from here until "and the day he will be raised alive" [Surah Maryam: 15] .

It is narrated from Muhammad bin Ishaq; he said: Zakariyya and Imran (peace be upon them both) had married two sisters. The mother of Yahya (peace be upon him) was married to Zakariyya (peace be upon him), and the mother of Maryam (peace be upon her) was married to Imran (peace be upon him). Then Imran died while the mother of Maryam was pregnant with Maryam, who was a fetus in her womb. According to what people claim, Allah Almighty had withheld children from her until she had despaired, and they were a household holding a lofty rank and station with Allah.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no human being except that he has made some mistake, or intended a sin, or committed it, except Yahya bin Zakariyya (peace be upon them both); he neither intended any sin nor committed any sin."

It is narrated from Ka'b al-Ahbar; he said: Yahya bin Zakariyya (peace be upon them both) was a leader and one who abstained from women ("hasur"). He did not go near women, nor did he desire them. He was a young man with a handsome face and a fine appearance, gentle-natured, with little hair, short fingers, a long nose, joined eyebrows and a thin voice. He was abundant in worship and very strong in obedience to Allah.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both); he said: Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon them both) sent Yahya bin Zakariyya (peace be upon them both) with twelve thousand disciples to teach the people. Among the things they forbade them was marrying a brother's daughter. Their king had a niece whom he liked very much and wanted to marry, and every day that girl would have one of her needs fulfilled by the king. When her mother learned of this, she said to her daughter: "When you go to the king and he asks you what you need, say: 'My need is that you slaughter Yahya bin Zakariyya for me.'" So when she went to the king, he asked her what she needed, and the girl said: "My need is that you slaughter Yahya bin Zakariyya." The king said: "Ask me for something other than this." The girl said: "I will not ask you for anything except this." The narrator says: When she insisted, the king summoned Yahya bin Zakariyya (peace be upon them both) and called for a basin, then slaughtered him. A drop of his blood fell to the ground and kept boiling continuously, until Allah Almighty set Nebuchadnezzar (Bukhtnassar) over them. Then an old woman of the Children of Israel came to him and pointed out that blood to him, and Allah Almighty put into Nebuchadnezzar's heart that he should kill people from among them for that blood until it settled (stopped boiling). So he killed seventy thousand men of a single age from among them, and only then did that blood stop. This hadith has an authentic chain and is on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim), but they did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both); he said: Allah Almighty revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): "Indeed, I had seventy thousand people killed in return for Yahya ibn Zakariyya, and I will have seventy thousand and seventy thousand (one hundred and forty thousand) people killed in return for the son of your daughter." Humayd bin al-Rabi' al-Khazzaz also narrated it from Abu Nu'aym. (After this) the account of the Prophet of Allah and His spirit, Isa ibn Maryam (Allah's blessings be upon him), begins.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I am the closest of all people to Isa ibn Maryam in this world and the Hereafter. All the prophets are like paternal half-brothers (that is, those who share one father and have different mothers): their mothers are different while their religion is one, and there was no other prophet between me and Isa ibn Maryam." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him); he said: "Hannah gave birth to Maryam (peace be upon her), and Maryam gave birth to Isa (peace be upon him)."

It is narrated from Zayd al-Ammi; he said: "Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon them both) was born on the day of Ashura."

Abu Malik narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), and Murrah from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him); both of them said: Maryam (peace be upon her) went out to one side of the prayer chamber because her menses had come. When she became pure, suddenly there was a man with her, and this is the saying of Allah Almighty: "Then We sent to her Our spirit (Jibril), and he appeared before her as a man in complete form" [Surah Maryam: 17] . He was Jibril (peace be upon him). She was frightened of him and said: "I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you are God-fearing" [Surah Maryam: 18] . "He (the angel) said: I am only the messenger of your Lord, to grant you a pure boy" [Surah Maryam: 19] , to the end of the verse. Then she (Maryam, peace be upon her) went out wearing her outer cloak (jilbab), and he (the angel) took hold of her sleeve and blew into the opening of her garment, which was slit at the front. The breath entered her chest and she conceived. One night her sister (maternal aunt), who was the wife of Zakariyya (peace be upon him), came to visit her. When Maryam opened the door for her, she embraced her. The wife of Zakariyya said: "O Maryam! Do you know that I am pregnant?" Maryam said: "Do you also know that I (too) am pregnant?" The wife of Zakariyya said: "I have felt that what is in my womb is prostrating to what is in your womb." That is the saying of Allah Almighty: "confirming a word from Allah" [Surah Al Imran: 39] . So the wife of Zakariyya gave birth to Yahya (peace be upon him). When the time for Maryam to give birth drew near, she went out to one side of the prayer chamber. "Then the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of the palm tree. She said" [Surah Maryam: 23] , out of shame before the people: "Would that I had died before this and been utterly forgotten" [Surah Maryam: 23] . "Then he called her", that is, Jibril, "from below her: Do not grieve; your Lord has placed a stream beneath you" [Surah Maryam: 24] . "And shake the trunk of the palm tree towards you; it will drop upon you fresh, ripe dates" [Surah Maryam: 25] . So she shook it. A river was made to flow for her in the prayer chamber, and "al-sari" means a river. Then the palm tree dropped fresh, ripe dates upon her. When she gave birth to the child (Isa, peace be upon him), Satan went and informed the Children of Israel that Maryam had given birth to a child. When the people wanted to make Maryam speak, she pointed to Isa. So Isa (peace be upon him) spoke and said: "Indeed, I am the servant of Allah; He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet" [Surah Maryam: 30] . "And He has made me blessed" [Surah Maryam: 31] . When Isa (peace be upon him) was born, there remained no idol on earth that was worshipped besides Allah except that it fell down on its face. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Muslim, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.