Koran 19:2-11

2 [This is] a mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah 3 When he called to his Lord a private supplication.

4 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. 5 And indeed, I fear the successors after me, and my wife has been barren, so give me from Yourself an heir 6 Who will inherit me and inherit from the family of Jacob. And make him, my Lord, pleasing [to You].”

7 [He was told], “O Zechariah, indeed We give you good tidings of a boy whose name will be John. We have not assigned to any before [this] name.”

8 He said, “My Lord, how will I have a boy when my wife has been barren and I have reached extreme old age?”

9 [An angel] said, “Thus [it will be]; your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me, for I created you before, while you were nothing.’ “

10 [Zechariah] said, “My Lord, make for me a sign.”

He said, “Your sign is that you will not speak to the people for three nights, [being] sound.”

11 So he came out to his people from the prayer chamber and signaled to them to exalt [Allah] in the morning and afternoon.

Koran 19:2-11

In Koran 21:89-90, there’s a corrupted summary of the above story with corrupt repetition and corrupt variation, as:

21:89 And [mention] Zechariah, when he called to his Lord, “My Lord, do not leave me alone [with no heir], while you are the best of inheritors.”

90 So We responded to him, and We gave to him John, and amended for him his wife. Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fear, and they were to Us humbly submissive.

Koran 21:89-90

Obviously, this corruption shows that Muhammad couldn’t remember the earlier verses he recited and that Allah, being a stone idol, was unable to help him or to remind him that the Koran should be one like Allah is one idol.

For more about the Story of Zechariah, see Story of Zechariah.

The scholars of Tafsir Ibn Kathir spread their explanation of this “mention” of the story of Zechariah over four passages. I’ve collected the verses together to form one story instead of breaking it up. Why? This is because the story as one passage shows that Muhammad’s Allah is not YHWH/God. How? Let’s go over it in detail:

Muhammad recited: “a mention”. Thus, this story by Muhammad depends upon a previous story, already existing, which is the Bible story of Zechariah in Luke’s Gospel. I’ll put a copy and a reference to Luke’s story of Zechariah at the bottom, below.

Muhammad recited: “your Lord”. This is a mention, not of Allah, but of YHWH/GOD, ‘your LORD”. Thus, we know that Allah is NOT YHWH/GOD or “your Lord”.

Note that Muhammad becomes imaginative and invents Zechariah’s prayer to GOD. It’s more likely that a Christian was explaining the condition of Zechariah from Luke to Muhammad, which Muhammad then converted into a prayer.

Note especially how “We” replies to Zechariah ONLY in the story, pretending to be an angel and then YHWH. See for yourself: “9 [An angel] said,” and then: “He said,” AKA YHWH. Obviously, Muhammad couldn’t keep his story straight.

Muhammad is unable to remember the name of the Angel Gabriel, despite supposedly having Gabriel or Jibril tell him stories directly from a Christian who translated Luke’s gospel. This shows that the “angel Gabriel” who supposedly forced Muhammad to recite the Koran, is NOT angel Gabriel, but is instead a demon, Jibril. Note especially the divine power of Gabriel, making Zechariah unable to speak, yet, the “angel Gabriel” was unable to make Muhammad read, despite scaring him repeatedly.

Bible, Luke, Story of Zechariah

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

NIV Luke 1:5-25

Muhammad’s story is a corruption of the story of Luke’s gospel and requires Muslims to have read Luke’s gospel to fully understand the story, and thus to realise that Muhammad is false.

As for verse 11, see All Exalts Allah.

The best replacement for this passage is: “”, the empty sentence.