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Popular and/or Featured Works
Muhammad Asad   
[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."
The Clear Quran, Dr. Mustafa Khattab   
Zachariah exclaimed, “My Lord! How can I have a son when I am very old and my wife is barren?” He replied, “So will it be. Allah does what He wills.”
Safi Kaskas   
He said, "Lord, how can I have a boy when I am an old man, and my wife is barren?" The angel said, "It will be so. God does whatever He wills."

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Source Arabic and Literal tools
Arabic   
قَالَ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ یَكُونُ لِی غُلَـٰمࣱ وَقَدۡ بَلَغَنِیَ ٱلۡكِبَرُ وَٱمۡرَأَتِی عَاقِرࣱۖ قَالَ كَذَ ٰلِكَ ٱللَّهُ یَفۡعَلُ مَا یَشَاۤءُ ۝٤٠
Transliteration (2021)   
qāla rabbi annā yakūnu lī ghulāmun waqad balaghaniya l-kibaru wa-im'ra-atī ʿāqirun qāla kadhālika l-lahu yafʿalu mā yashā
Word for Word
Dr. Shehnaz Shaikh, Ms. Kauser Katri, and more
  
He said, "My Lord how can (there) be for me a son, and verily has reached me [the] old age and my wife (is) [a] barren?" He said, "Thus; Allah does what He wills."

Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning
Muhammad Asad   
[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."
M. M. Pickthall   
He said: My Lord! How can I have a son when age hath overtaken me already and my wife is barren? (The angel) answered: So (it will be). Allah doeth what He will
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)   
He said: "O my Lord! How shall I have son, seeing I am very old, and my wife is barren?" "Thus," was the answer, "Doth Allah accomplish what He willeth."
The Clear Quran, Dr. Mustafa Khattab   
Zachariah exclaimed, “My Lord! How can I have a son when I am very old and my wife is barren?” He replied, “So will it be. Allah does what He wills.”
Safi Kaskas   
He said, "Lord, how can I have a boy when I am an old man, and my wife is barren?" The angel said, "It will be so. God does whatever He wills."
Wahiduddin Khan   
Lord, said Zachariah, how shall I have a son when I am now overtaken by old age and my wife is barren? Such is the will of God, replied [the angel], He does what He pleases
Shakir   
He said: My Lord! when shall there be a son (born) to me, and old age has already come upon me, and my wife is barren? He said: even thus does Allah what He pleases
Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar   
He said: My Lord! How is it I will have a boy while, surely, I reached old age and my woman is a barren woman. He said: Thus, God accomplishes what He wills.
T.B.Irving   
He said: "My Lord, how can I have a boy? Old age has overtaken me, while my wife is barren." He said: "Even so does God do anything He wishes!"
Abdul Hye   
He said: “My Lord! How can I have a son when old age has overtaken me and my wife is barren?” (Allah) said: “Allah does what He wills.”
The Study Quran   
He said, “My Lord, how shall I have a boy when age has overtaken me and my wife is barren?” He said, “Thus does God do whatsoever He will.
Talal Itani & AI (2024)   
He asked, “My Lord, how can I have a child when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?” He said, “Thus God does whatever He wills.”
Talal Itani (2012)   
He said, 'My Lord, how will I have a son, when old age has overtaken me, and my wife is barren?' He said, 'Even so, God does whatever He wills.'
Dr. Kamal Omar   
He said: “My Nourisher-Sustainer! How shall be for me a son and certainly the old age has reached me and my wife is (declared) barren?” (Allah) said: “Thus Allah will accomplish whatever He thinks proper.”
M. Farook Malik   
He said: "O my Lord! How can I have a son now that I have reached an old age and my wife is barren?" "Such is the will of Allah" he replied, " Allah does what He wants."
Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali   
He said, "Lord! However will I have a youth, and age (Literally: great (with years) has already reached me and my wife is barren?" He (i.e. the angel) said, "Thus Allah performs whatever He decides."
Muhammad Sarwar   
He said, "How can there be a son for me when I am already senile and my wife is barren." The angel replied, "God does as He wills."
Muhammad Taqi Usmani   
He said: .O my Lord, how shall I have a boy when old age has come upon me and my wife is barren?. Said He: .That is how Allah does what He wills
Shabbir Ahmed   
Zechariah prayed to Allah, but then wondered, "My Lord! How could I have a son when old age has overtaken me already and my wife is barren?" He said, "So it will be, Allah does everything according to His Laws." The infertility in his wife was cured (21:90)
Dr. Munir Munshey   
(Zakariah) said, "My Lord, how can I have a son? Old age has overcome me, and my wife is infertile. (Allah) said, "Precisely so! Allah does what He wants!"
Syed Vickar Ahamed   
He said: "O my Lord! How shall I have a son seeing I am very old, and my wife is barren?", "Still", was the answer, "Allah does accomplish what He wills."
Umm Muhammad (Sahih International)   
He said, "My Lord, how will I have a boy when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?" The angel said, "Such is Allah ; He does what He wills."
[The Monotheist Group] (2011 Edition)   
He said: "My Lord, how can I have a son when old age has reached me and my wife is sterile" He said: "It is as such that God does what He pleases."
Abdel Haleem   
He said, ‘My Lord, how can I have a son when I am so old and my wife is barren?’ [An angel] said, ‘It will be so: God does whatever He will.’
Abdul Majid Daryabadi   
He said: my Lord! in what wise shall there be unto me a youth whereas age hath overtaken me and my wife is barren. Allah said: even so: Allah doeth whatsoever He listeth
Ahmed Ali   
"How can I have a son, O Lord," he said, "for I am old and my wife is barren?" "Thus," came the answer, "God does as He wills."
Aisha Bewley   
He said, ´My Lord, how can I possibly have a son when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?´ He said, ´It will be so. Allah does whatever He wills.´
Ali Ünal   
"Lord," said he (Zachariah), "How shall I have a son when old age has overtaken me, and my wife is barren?" "Just so," he (the angel) said: "God does whatever He wills."
Ali Quli Qara'i   
He said, ‘My Lord, how shall I have a son while old age has overtaken me and my wife is barren?’ He said, ‘So it is that Allah does whatever He wishes.’
Hamid S. Aziz   
He said, "My Lord, how can there be to me a boy when old age has reached me, and my wife is barren?" The angel answered, "Thus Allah does what He pleases."
Ali Bakhtiari Nejad   
He (Zachariah) said: “My Lord, how can I have a son, when I have reached old age, and my wife is infertile?” He (the angel) said: “It is like that; God does what He wants.”
A.L. Bilal Muhammad et al (2018)   
He said, “O my Lord, how will I have a son seeing I am very old and my wife is barren?” “Like so,” was the answer. God accomplishes what He wills
Musharraf Hussain   
He asked, “Will I have a boy, I have reached old age and my wife is infertile.” The angel replied, “It will be so. Allah does what He pleases.”
Maududi   
Zechariah exclaimed: ´My Lord! How shall I have a son when old age has overtaken me and my wife is barren?´ He said: Thus shall it be; Allah does what He wills.´
[The Monotheist Group] (2013 Edition)   
He said: "My Lord, how can I have a son when old age has reached me and my wife is infertile?" He said: "It is as such that God does what He pleases."
Mohammad Shafi   
He said: "My Lord! How can I have a son? And I have already reached old age and my wife is barren!" One of the angels said, "Thus does Allah do what He wills."

Controversial or status undetermined works
Ahmed Raza Khan (Barelvi)   
Said, 'O my Lord! From where shall I have a son, while the old age has reached to me and my wife is barren'. Said, 'Allah does so whatever He pleases'.
Rashad Khalifa   
He said, "How can I have a boy, when I am so old, and my wife is sterile?" He said, "GOD does whatever He wills."
Hasan Al-Fatih Qaribullah   
He said: 'Lord, how shall I have a son when I am overtaken by old age and my wife is barren? ' He said: 'Even so, Allah does what He will.
Maulana Muhammad Ali   
He said: My Lord, how can I have a son when old age has already come upon me, and my wife is barren? He said: Even thus does Allah do what He pleases
Muhammad Ahmed & Samira   
He said: "My Lord, how/from where (can it) be for me a boy , the old age reached me , and my woman (wife is) infertile?" He said: "As/like that God makes/does what He wills/wants."
Bijan Moeinian   
Zachariah said: “Lord, how is it possible to have a child at this old age of mine with a sterile wife?” The answer was: “God is capable of doing whatever He wants to do.”
Faridul Haque   
He said, “My Lord! How can I have a son when old age has reached me and my wife is barren?” He said, “This is how Allah brings about, whatever He wills.”
Sher Ali   
He said `My Lord, how shall I have a son, when old age has overtaken me already, and my wife is barren?' He answered, `Such is the way of ALLAH; HE does what HE pleases,
Dr. Mohammad Tahir-ul-Qadri   
(Zakariyya [Zacharias]) submitted: ‘O my Lord, how shall I have a son when old age has already overtaken me, and my wife is (also) barren?’ He said: ‘The same way as Allah does whatever He wills.
Amatul Rahman Omar   
`Lord!' he said, `How shall I have a son now that old age has already come upon me and my wife is barren?' (The Lord) said, `Such are the ways of Allah, He does what He will.
Muhsin Khan & Muhammad al-Hilali   
He said: "O my Lord! How can I have a son when I am very old, and my wife is barren?" Allah said: "Thus Allah does what He wills."

Non-Muslim and/or Orientalist works
Arthur John Arberry   
'Lord,' said Zachariah, 'how shall I have a son, seeing I am an old man and my wife is barren?' 'Even so,' God said, 'God does what He will.
George Sale   
He answered, Lord, how shall I have a son, when old age hath overtaken me, and my wife is barren? The angel said, so God doth that which he pleaseth
Edward Henry Palmer   
He said, 'My Lord, how can there be to me a boy when old age has reached me, and my wife is barren?' Said he, 'Thus God does what He pleaseth.
John Medows Rodwell   
He said, "O my Lord! how shall I have a son, now that old age hath come upon me, and my wife is barren?" He said, "Thus will God do His pleasure."
N J Dawood (2014)   
Lord,‘ he said, ‘how shall I have a son when I am now overtaken by old age and my wife is barren?‘ ‘Such is the will of God,‘ He said. ‘He does what He pleases.‘

New, Partial, or In Progress Translations
Fode Drame   
He said, “O my Lord! How can there be a son for me when indeed the old age has overtaken me and my wife is barren?” He said, “Thus Allah does whatever He pleases.”
Munir Mezyed   
He said: "My Lord, how can I have a son when I am already senile and my wife is barren?". Then one (of the Angels replied): ‘Such is the wise will of Allâh. And Allâh does whatsoever he is pleased to do’.
Sahib Mustaqim Bleher   
He said: My Lord, how can I have a son when old age has caught up with me and my wife is barren? He said: thus Allah does what He pleases.
Fadel Soliman, Bridges‘ Translation   
He said, “My Lord, how will I have a son when old age has overtaken me and my wife is barren?” He said, “So shall it be! Allah does whatever He wills.”
Linda “iLHam” Barto   
He said, “My Lord, how can I have a son? Old age has certainly come upon me, and my wife is barren.” (The angel) said, “So be it. Allah does what he wills.”
Irving & Mohamed Hegab   
He said: "My Lord, how can I have a boy? Old age has overtaken me, while my wife is barren." He (God) said: "Even so does Allah (God) do anything He wishes!"
Samy Mahdy   
He said, “My Lord, how will it be for me lad, and already reached me, an old age, and my woman is a barren?” He said, “Thus, Allah does whatever He wills.”
Sayyid Qutb   
[Zachariah] said: “Lord, how can I have a son when old age has already overtaken me and my wife is barren?” He answered: “Thus it is. God does what He wills.”
Thomas Cleary   
"On the day when every soul will be brought face to face with the good that it has done and with the evil it has done, it will wish there were a great distance between itself and its evil. And God makes you cautious of God: and God is gracious to servants
Ahmed Hulusi   
He said, “My Rabb, how can I have a son! I have reached old age and my wife is barren!” He said, “That may be (your case)... But Allah does as He wills!”
Sayyed Abbas Sadr-Ameli   
He said: 'My Lord! how can I have a son (born) while, indeed, old age has already over taken me, and my wife is barren? 'He said: 'Even so does Allah whatsoever He pleases'
Al-muntakhab fi tafsir al-Qur‘an al-Karim   
Zakariya vented his surprise in an exclamation, he asked: "O Allah, my Creator, how shall I have a son when I have been carried through the stealing steps of age to advanced life and my wife has always been barren?" He was told, "Thus does Allah accomplish what He will"
Mir Aneesuddin   
He said, "My Fosterer! how can I have a son when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?" He (Allah) said, "Like that, Allah does what He wills."

Obsolete and/or older editions
Yusuf Ali (Orig. 1938)   
He said: "O my Lord! How shall I have son, seeing I am very old, and my wife is barren?" "Thus," was the answer, "Doth God accomplish what He willeth."
OLD Literal Word for Word   
He said, "My Lord how can (there) be for me a son, and verily has reached me [the] old age and my wife (is) [a] barren?" He said, "Thus; Allah does what He wills.
OLD Transliteration   
Qala rabbi anna yakoonu lee ghulamun waqad balaghaniya alkibaru waimraatee AAaqirun qala kathalika Allahu yafAAalu ma yasha/o