His supporters - who are his brothers and his cousins - were the worst of the Children of Israel. He feared them for the religion that they would change and alter, and that they would not manage the leadership of his nation well. So he sought from his lineage a righteous one to be followed in reviving the religion and to embody its rituals after my death. Ibn Kathir read: 'from behind me,' with a shortening, and this circumstance does not relate to 'I feared' for the corruption of the meaning, but to something omitted. Or it means the guardianship of the supporters: that is, I feared the actions of the supporters, which is their altering and their poor leadership from behind me. Or I feared those who would take charge from behind me.

And Uthman, Muhammad ibn Ali, and Ali ibn Al-Husayn, may Allah be pleased with them, read: 'I feared the supporters from behind me.' This has two meanings. One of them is that 'behind me' means my back and after me, so the circumstance relates to the supporters: that is, they became few and unable to establish the matter of the religion, so he asked his Lord to strengthen them and support them with a guardian whom He would provide for him. The second is that it means in front of me, which relates to 'I feared,' and he means that they diminished before him and passed away, and there remained none of them who had strength and support from You, confirming that he is a pleasing guardian, being added to Allah, the Exalted, and coming from Him. Otherwise - 'so grant me a guardian who will inherit me' - is enough, or he wanted a creation from You without a cause because I and my wife are not suitable for childbirth. 'He will inherit me' and 'he will inherit' is the response to the supplication, and the raising is an adjective. Similar to 'a supporter who will affirm me.' And from Ibn Abbas and Al-Jahdari: 'an inheritor from the family of Jacob,' is in the accusative as a state. And from Al-Jahdari: 'or he will inherit,' in a diminutive form of 'inheritor,' and he said: 'a small boy.' And from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, and a group: 'an inheritor from the family of Jacob.'

That is, he will inherit me through an inheritor, and it is called 'the stripping' in the science of rhetoric, and the intended inheritance is the inheritance of the law and knowledge, for the prophets do not inherit wealth. And it was said: 'He will inherit me the scholar,' and he was a scholar, and he will inherit the kingship from the family of Jacob. It is said: 'I inherited him' and 'he inherited from me' are two dialects. And it was said that 'from' is for partitive, not for transitive, because the family of Jacob were not all prophets or scholars, and Zakariya, peace be upon him, was from the lineage of Jacob, son of Isaac. And it was said: he is Jacob, son of Matan, the brother of Zakariya. And it was said: this Jacob and Imran, the father of Maryam, are brothers from the lineage of Sulayman, son of Dawud.