Zakariya (Alaih Assalaam) and his wife were very old, and to their sorrow they did not have any children. They wanted very much to have a son, so Zakariya (Alaih Assalaam) prayed to Allah: Let my wife and I have a son before we die.
As Zakariya (Alaih Assalaam) was saying his prayer, an angel of Allah appeared. You have prayed to Allah and Allah has heard your prayer, the angel told him. Your wife will have a son and his name will be Yahya (Alaih Assalaam). He will be a good and honorable man and he will be Allah’s prophet.
Even though Zakariya (Alaih Assalaam) had prayed for this, he was surprised: But my wife and I are very old! He said. How can we have a son?
When Allah has willed a thing, it will happen, the angel assured him. As a sign that you are going to have a son, you must not speak to anyone for three days.
So it happened that even when Zakariya (Alaih Assalaam) wanted to speak to someone, he could not move his tongue. Only after three days was he able to speak again. He knew then that they were going to have a son. Both he and his wife were very happy. They prayed to Allah and thanked Him, and when the son was born, they named him Yahya (Alaih Assalaam). 
Yahya (Alaih Assalaam) was a good and loving son. He prayed to Allah together with his father Zakariya (Alaih Assalaam) and his mother. The three of them always did good deeds. Yahya (Alaih Assalaam) was very kind and good to all people and all animals. He was never proud or bad-tempered, and Allah made him His prophet. Yahya (Alaih Assalaam) was a pious and humble servant of Allah and he always told people to pray to Allah because Allah had created mankind. 
