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.”
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."
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'.
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."
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.â€
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'
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."
The Wise Quran
He said, 'My Lord, how can there be for me a boy, and verily, old age has reached me, and my wife is barren?' He said, 'Thus God does what He wills.'