Surah 19. Maryam, Ayah 5

Lit., "after me". He evidently anticipated that his kinsfolk - who, like himself, were priests attached to the Temple - would be morally too weak to fulfil their duties with dignity and conviction (Razi), and thus, perhaps, unable to safeguard the future of Mary, whose guardian he was (cf. the first paragraph of 3:37 ).

His was not merely a desire for a son. If it had been, he would have prayed much earlier in his life, when he was a young man. He was too full of true piety to put merely selfish things into his prayers. But here was a public need, in the service of the Lord.