Quranic context: Maryam 12-15
Context: Allah gave Zakariyya the miraculous glad tiding of Yahya — while his wife was barren and he had reached extreme old age. Yahya was born and addressed by Allah's command directly: "O Yahya, take the Scripture with strength."
The four qualities:
"And We gave him judgment while still a child — and compassion from Us and purity — and he was God-fearing — dutiful to his parents and he was not arrogant or disobedient."
- Judgment as a child: intellectual maturity and understanding before adulthood
- Compassion: tenderness and heart-mercy — a rare descriptor for a prophet
- Purity: cleanliness from internal moral defects
- God-fearing: reverence of Allah in private and public
- Dutiful to parents: immediately after God-consciousness — signaling closeness of these two stations
The triple peace: "And peace be upon him the day he was born and the day he dies and the day he is raised alive" — the same peace that Isa chose for himself.
Question: Why is "compassion" listed as a quality of Yahya, and what is its importance for the character of a caller to faith?
Answer: Compassion is tenderness of heart and mercy toward people — it makes the caller to faith welcomed rather than repelling. Knowledge without compassion is harshness; compassion without knowledge is weakness.