Maryam

وَبَرَّا بِوَالِدَيْهِ وَلَمْ يَكُن جَبَّاراً عَصِيّاً

وَسَلاَمٌ عَلَيْهِ يَوْمَ وُلِدَ وَيَوْمَ يَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ يُبْعَثُ حَيّاً

14. “And kindness to his parents, and (unto the people) he was neither insolent (nor) disobedient.”
15. “And peace on him the day he was born, and the day he dies, and the day he shall be raised alive!”

Hadrat Yahya (John) was very kind to his parents and obeyed them. He tried to make them happy, because obeying parents is obligatory, and opposing them is forbidden. He also did not commit any sin, transgression, and was never proud. He hurt no one. The verse says:

Therefore, since Yahya (as) was qualified with all prominent epithets and great honours, then peace upon him, as the verse says:

Some commentators have said that the most horrible states of a person may appear in three circumstances:

1) The day when he comes out from the mother’s womb and enters into the world.

2) The day he dies and finds himself among the people whom he has not seen.

3) The day when he will be raised alive and finds himself in a great place of gathering. Allah favoured John by His Grace and endowed security on him in these three circumstances. Thus, Yahya (John) passed all the narrow passages successfully with the safety of religion and belief in Allah.

To hold dear the annual birthday, and remembrance of the annual day of death of the saints of Allah, of course, is a Qur’anic matter.

Some Points Upon John’s Martyrdom

Not only was the birth of John marvelous, but so was his death from some points of view. Most Muslim historians, as well as some famous Christian sources, have recorded the event of this martyrdom, (with slight differences), as follows: Yahya (John) was sacrificed because of the liaison one of the tyrants of his age had with a woman related to him within the forbidden degrees. Herod, the sensual king of Palestine, was in love with Herodias, his niece, whose beauty had captured his heart in the fire of love. Therefore, he decided to marry her.

When Yahya (John), the great prophet of Allah (as), was informed of this he promptly announced there and then that their marriage was unlawful and it was contrary to the laws of the Torah and that Yahya (John) would struggle against it. This news was spread throughout the city and the woman, Herodias, became aware of it. She, considered Yahya (John) the greatest barrier on her way, and decided to take revenge upon him at the most suitable opportunity, and remove this obstruction in her way.

She intensified her relation with her uncle and made her beauty as a trap for him. She had such a deep influence that one day Herod told her to ask him whatever desire she had and she could be certain that her demand would assuredly be performed. Horodias said that she wanted nothing but the head of Yahya, because Yahya had defamed both of them, and all people found fault concerning them. She replied if Herod wanted to comfort her heart and make her happy, he should do that accomplishment.

Herod, who was madly in love of that lady, inattentive to the end of that action, submitted and very soon the head of John was presented to that wicked woman. But, finally, the painful results of that hideous action encompassed her.¹⁴ Some Islamic traditions indicate that Imam Hussayn (as) the Great Martyr, said;

“From among the mean aspects of this world is that the head of Yahya-ibn-Zachariah was brought as a present to a wicked woman from the Children of Israel.”

This statement means that, from this point of view, the conditions of Yahya and those of Imam Hussayn (as) were alike, because one of the aims of his rising was standing against the evil deeds of the tyrant of his time, Yazid.