71 Preface وَامرَأَتُهُ قائِمَةٌ فَضَحِكَت فَبَشَّرناها بِإِسحاقَ وَمِن وَراءِ إِسحاقَ يَعقوبَYusuf AliAnd his wife was standing (there), and she laughed:1 But we gave her glad tidings of Isaac, and after him, of Jacob.The narrative is very concise, and most of the details are taken for granted. We may suppose that the angels gave the news first to Abraham, who was already, according to Gen. 21:5, a hundred years of age, and his wife Sarah was not far short of ninety (Gen. 17:7). She was probably screened. She could hardly believe the news. In her scepticism (some say in her joy) she laughed. But the news was formally communicated to her that she was to be the mother of Isaac, and through Isaac, the grandmother of Jacob. Jacob was to be a fruitful tree, with his twelve sons. But, hitherto, Abraham had had no son by her, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. “How could it be?” she thought. (R).