20. MENTION OF A NUMBER OF PROPHETS FROM BANU ISRA’EEL AFTER DAWOOD AND SULAIMAN AND BEFORE ZAKRIYYA AND YAHYA
Among them were those whose lifetime cannot be precisely pinpointed, except to say that they lived after Dawood (Peace be upon him) and before Zakariyya (Peace be upon him) and (Yahya (Peace be upon him)). They included: Sha‘ya, son of Amsiya; Muhammad Ibn Ishaq said, “He was before Zakariyya and Yahya (peace be upon them both) and he was one of those who gave the glad tidings of ‘Eesa and Muhammad (peace be upon them both).” During his lifetime there was a king over the Children of Isra’eel whose name was Sadeeqah, in the land of Bait Al-Maqdis. He used to listen to Sha‘ya (Peace be upon him) and obey whatever he commanded him to do and refrain from whatever he forbade. Affairs had become difficult among the Children of Isra’eel and the king became ill, suffering from an ulcer in his leg. The king of Babylon set out for Bait Al-Maqdis at that time, and his name was Sanhareeb. Ibn Ishaq said that he had six hundred thousand troops with him.
The people were greatly terrified. The king asked Sha‘ya, “What did Allah reveal to you regarding Sanhareeb and his army?” He replied, “He has not yet revealed anything to me.” Then the revelation came down for King Sadeeqah to appoint a successor, as he wished, because his end was at hand. When Sha‘ya told him this, the king turned to the Qiblah (the direction faced in prayer); he prayed, glorified Allah, invoked Him, and wept. Weeping and invoking Allah, the All-Powerful, and majestic with a sincere heart, trust and patience, he said, “O, Lord of lords, and God of gods! O, Benevolent and Merciful One Whom neither sleep nor nodding can overpower, remember me for my deeds and my just judgment over the Children of Isra’eel; and all that was from You, and You know it better than I do, my open acts and my secrets are with You.”
Allah answered his prayers had compassion on him. He revealed to Sha‘ya to tell him the glad tidings that He had compassion for his weeping and would extend his life for a further fifteen years and save him from the enemy, Sanhareeb. When Sha‘ya told this to Sadeeqah, his disease was healed. Evil and sadness departed, and he fell in prostration, saying, “O, Lord, it is You Who grants kingship to whomsoever You wish and dethrones whomsoever You wish and elevates whomsoever You wish and degrades whomsoever You wish, Knower of the Unseen and the evident. And lo! You are the First and the Last; the Manifest and the Perceived; You grant Mercy and answer the prayers of the troubled ones.” When he raised his head, Allah revealed to Sha‘ya to command the king to extract the juice of the fig and apply it to his ulcer, and he would be whole and cured. He did so and was cured.
Then Allah sent death upon the army of Sanhareeb. In the morning, they were all corpses, except Sanuhareeb and five of his companions, among them Nebuchadnezzar (Bukhtunassar). The king of Isra’eel immediately sent for them, put them in shackles and displayed them in the land for seventy days to spite and insult them. Every day each of them was fed a loaf of barley bread; after seventy days he confined them in prison. Allah then revealed to Sha‘ya that the king should send them back to their country so that they might warn their people what would happen to them. When they returned, Sanhareeb gathered his people and told them what had happened to them. The priests and magicians said to him, “We told you about their Lord and their prophets, but you did not listen to us. It is a nation which, with their God, nobody can overcome.” So, Sanhareeb was afraid of Allah. He died seven years later.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE DESTRUCTION OF BAIT AL-MAQDIS
Allah, Most High, says, And We gave Moosa the Scripture and made it a guidance for the Children of Isra’eel (saying), “Take not other than Me as (your) Wakil (Protector, Lord, or Disposer of your affairs, etc). O offspring of those whom We carried (in the ship) with Nooh (Noah)! Verily, he was a grateful slave.” And We decreed for the Children of Isra’eel in the Scripture, that indeed you would do mischief on the earth twice and you will become tyrants and extremely arrogant! So, when the promise came for the first of the two, We sent against you slaves of Ours given to terrible warfare. They entered the very innermost parts of your homes. And it was a promise (completely) fulfilled. Then We gave you once again, a return of victory over them. And We helped you with wealth and children and made you more numerous in manpower. (And We said), “If you do good, you do good for your own selves, and if you do evil (you do it) against yourselves.” Then, when the second promise came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to make your faces sorrowful and to enter the mosque (of Jerusalem) as they had entered it before, and to destroy with utter destruction all that fell in their hands. (And We said in the Tawrah,) “It may be that your Lord may show mercy unto you, but if you return (to sins), We shall return (to Our Punishment). And We have made Hell a prison for the disbelievers. (Soorah Al-Isra 17:2-8)
Wahb Ibn Munabbih said, “When sins became prevalent among the Children of Isra’eel, Allah revealed to a Prophet from among them, whose name was ‘Armiya (Jeremiah) that he should stand up in the midst of them and inform them that: “You have hearts, yet you do not understand; you have eyes, yet you do not see; and you have ears, yet you do not hear. I thought of the righteousness of their fathers and that made Me feel compassion for their children.” (Allah said,) “So ask them, how did they find the outcome of obedience to Me? And was anyone who disobeyed Me made fortunate as a result of his disobedience? And was anyone who obeyed Me made wretched as a result of his obedience? The animals remember their homes and they feel a desire for them, yet these people have abandoned the Religion which I commanded their fathers to follow and sought blessings from other than it. As for their rabbis, they denied My Truth; and as for their (Towrah) reciters, they worshipped other (gods) than Me; and as for their devout, learned men, they did not benefit from what they knew; And as for their rulers, they lied against Me and against My Messengers and they harbored deception in their hearts and accustomed their tongues to lying. I swear by My Majesty and My Might that I will surely incite armies against them whose languages they will not understand and whose faces they will not recognize and they will show no mercy for their tears. And I will surely send to them a tyrannical and cruel king with armies like racing clouds and retinues like mountain trails, as if the flapping of their banners were the wings of eagles, and as if the attacks of their cavalry were the attacks of hawks. They will demolish the buildings and leave the towns deserted, then woe to their inhabitants, how I will subject them to killing and captivity! And I will replace the raised voices in their wedding celebrations with screams and the whinnying of the horses with howling of wolves. And I will turn the galleries of their palaces into the dwellings of beasts of prey. I will replace the lamplight with flames and smoke, might with humiliation and blessings with slavery. And I will surely replace the perfume of their women with dust and their soft carpets will be walked on by their enemies. I will surely make their bodies as fertilizer for the earth and their bones will be bleached by the sun. I will surely humiliate them with all kinds of punishment, then I will surely command the heaven and it will become as a cover of iron, while the earth will become as a copper smelter. If it rains, the earth will not bring forth vegetation. And if anything comes forth from it at that time, it will be by My Mercy toward the grazing animals. Then I will withhold it (the rain) at the time of sowing and send it at the time of harvesting. So if they have grown anything during that time, it will be ruined. And if anything is saved from it, it will be devoid of any blessing. If they call upon Me, I will not answer them and if they ask anything, I will not give it. If they weep, I will not show Mercy to them and if they humble themselves, I will turn My Face away from them.” It was narrated by Ibn ‘Asakir with this wording.
Hisham Ibn Muhammad Ibn As-Sa’ib Al-Kalbi said, “Then (Bukhtunassar) Nebuchadnezzar advanced upon Bait Al-Maqdis and its king made a peace treaty with him. He was of the family of Dawood (Peace be upon him) and he bribed him into leaving the Children of Isra’eel. He took from him captives and set out to return home. When he reached Tabariyyah, word reached him that the Children of Isra’eel had rebelled against their king and killed him, because of the peace treaty he had made with him. So he beheaded the captives who were with him and returned to them and took the city by force, killing the fighters and taking the children captive.” Hisham said, “We were informed that he found Prophet ‘Armiya (Peace be upon him) in jail and he set him free…” Then he related his story and his relations with them, how he warned them about these things, and how they belied him and imprisoned him. Bukhtunassar said, “How wretched are a people who disobey the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) and abandon his Path!” He treated him well and the weak ones who remained from the Children of Isra’eel gathered to him and they said, “We have done wrong and have been unjust and we turn in repentance to Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful for what we have done, so ask Allah to accept our repentance.” So he asked his Lord, but Allah revealed to him that He would not do so, and if they were truthful, they should reside with him in that city, and He told him to inform them of what Allah, Most High, had commanded them to do. But they said, “How shall we reside in this city, when it has been destroyed and Allah is Angry with its inhabitants?” So they refused to reside therein.
Ibn Al-Kalbi said, “From that time, the Children of Isra’eel became dispersed throughout the land; a group of them settled in Al-Hijaz, while another group settled in Yathrib (Madinah), still another group settled in Wadi Al-Qura and a small number of them went to Egypt. Bukhtunassar wrote to its king, asking him to return those who had fled there, but he refused and so he set out with his army and fought him, vanquishing him and taking his people captive. Then he rode to the land of Al-Maghrib (Morocco) until he reached the farthest borders of that land. Then he departed therefrom with numerous captives from the land of Al-Maghrib, Egypt, Bait Al-Maqdis, the land of Palestine and Jordan – and included among the captives was Danyal (Daniel (Peace be upon him)).”
I say, “It would appear that he was Danyal (Daniel), son of Hizqeel (Ezekiel) – the younger, not the elder – according to what was related by Wahb Ibn Munabbih. And Allah knows better.”
Some Details About Danyal (Daniel) – Peace be upon him
Yoonus Ibn Bukair reported on the authority of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, who in turn reported on the authority of Abu Khaldah Khalid Ibn Deenar, that he was informed by Abul-‘Aliyah: “When we conquered Tustar, we found among the property of Hurmuzan a couch on which there was a dead man and at his head was a book. We took the book and carried it to ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him). He called for Ka‘b, who translated it for him into Arabic. I was the first Arab man to read it as I read this Qur’an.” (The sub-narrator said,) “I said to Abul-‘Aliyah, “What was in it?” He replied, “Your stories, your affairs, your speech and what will be in the future.” I said, “What did you do with the (dead) man?” He said, “We dug thirteen different graves by the river and when it was nighttime, we buried him and leveled all of the graves, so that the people should not know where he was buried and dig him up.” I said, “And what did they hope from him?” He said, “When rain did not fall on them, they used to bring out his couch and supplicate for rain.” I said, “Who do you think the man was?” He said, “A man who was known as Danyal.” I asked, “How long ago did he die?” He replied, “Three hundred years ago.” I said, “Had nothing changed in him?” He said, “No, except some hairs at the back of his head. Verily, the flesh of the Prophets does not decompose in the earth and it is not eaten by wild beasts.” The isnad of this narration is authentic up to Abul-‘Aliyah, but if it is correct that he had lived three hundred years before them, then he was not a Prophet, but some other righteous man, because there was no Prophet between ‘Eesa (Peace be upon him), the son of Maryam, and the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him), according to the text of a Hadith which is found in Saheeh Al-Bukhari.
An Account of the Reconstruction of Bait Al-Maqdis
Allah, Most High, says in His Book – and He is the Most Truthful of speakers – Or like the one who passed by a town and it had tumbled over its rooves. He said, “Oh! How will Allah ever bring it to life after its death?” So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up (again). He said, “How long did you remain (dead)?” He (the man) said, “(Perhaps) I remained (dead) a day or part of a day.” He said, “Nay, you have remained (dead) for a hundred years, look at your food and your drink, they show no change; and look at your donkey! And thus We have made of you a sign for the people. Look at the bones, how We bring them together and clothe them with flesh.” When this was clearly shown to him, he said, “I know (now) that Allah is Able to do all things.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259)
Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi said, “Then Allah, Most High, revealed to ‘Armiya (Peace be upon him), according to what has been conveyed to me: I will rebuild Bait Al-Maqdis, so go out to it and take up quarters there.” So he set out for it and as he approached it and saw it destroyed, he said to himself, “Glorified be Allah! Allah commanded me to take up quarters in this city and He informed me that He will rebuild it. When will Allah rebuild it and when will He revive it after its death?” Then he laid his head down and slept; with him was his donkey, and also a basket of food. He remained sleeping for seventy years until Bukhtunassar had died and his successor, Lahrasab had ascended to the throne. His reign lasted for a hundred and twenty years and after him, his son, Bashtasab Ibn Lahrasab became king. News of the death of Bukhtunassar had reached Bashtasab that Ash-Sham was in utter ruin. The wild beasts had multiplied in Palestine, for it had become empty of men. Bashtasab therefore called to the Children of Isra’eel in Babylon, “Whoever wants to return to Ash-Sham may do so.” It was ruled by one from the House of Dawood, who was ordered by Bashtasab to rebuild Jerusalem and its mosque, so they returned and rebuilt it. Then ‘Armiya opened his eyes, blinked from the seventy year sleep, and saw how the city was being reconstructed. He remained in that sleep of his until he had completed one hundred years. When Allah awoke him, he thought that he had slept not more than an hour. He had known the city as a devastated land; when he saw it rebuilt and peopled, he said: “I know (now) that Allah is Able to do all things.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259) Ibn Al-Kalbi said that the Isra’eelites settled in it, and Allah rebuilt their glory. It remained so until Rome vanquished them in the era of the tribal kings; then they lost their community and their authority after the appearance of Christianity. This is how Ibn Jareer tells their story in his Tareekh.
The Story of ‘Uzair (Ezra) – Peace be upon him
Ishaq Ibn Bishr reported on the authority of ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) that he said that ‘Uzair (Ezra) (Peace be upon him) was a righteous and wise slave. He went out one day to his own farm, as was his custom. About noon he came to a deserted, ruined place and felt the heat. He entered the ruined town and dismounted his donkey, taking figs and grapes in his basket. He went under the shade of the kharibah tree and ate his food. Then he got up to look at what remained of the ruins. The people had long been lost, and he saw bones. “Oh! How will Allah ever bring it to life after its death?” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259) He said this not out of doubt but out of curiosity. Allah sent the Angel of Death to take his life. He remained dead for a hundred years. After a hundred years had passed and there had been changes in the affairs of the Children of Isra’eel, Allah sent an angel to ‘Uzair (Peace be upon him) to revive his heart and his eyes in order for him to feel and see how Allah revives the dead. The angel said to him, “How long did you remain (dead)?” He (the man) said, “(Perhaps) I remained (dead) a day or part of a day.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259) He said this because he knew he had slept early in the afternoon and woken up late in the afternoon. The angel said, Nay, you have remained (dead) for a hundred years, look at your food and your drink. (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259) His food was dry bread and his drink was juice that he had pressed in his bowl. When he looked at them, he saw that they had not changed. Likewise, the figs and grapes had not changed and were still fresh. It was as if he doubted in his heart and so the angel said to him, “Do you doubt what I have told you? Look at your donkey.” So he looked at his donkey and saw that its bones had become dried and decayed. So the angel called the donkey’s bones and they responded and gathered from every side and the angel reconstructed them, while ‘Uzair (Peace be upon him) looked on. Then he dressed them with veins and nerves, then he clothed them with muscles and then he grew skin and hair over them. Then the angel breathed into the donkey and it stood up and raised its head and its ears to the heaven and brayed, thinking that the Resurrection had begun. This is why he said, …and look at your donkey! And thus We have made of you a sign for the people. Look at the bones, how We bring them together and clothe them with flesh.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259) That is, look at the bones of your donkey, how they are connected to one another in their joints until they form the skeleton of a donkey, without flesh. Then see how we clothe them in flesh. When this was clearly shown to him, he said, “I know (now) that Allah is Able to do all things.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259) That is, to give life to the dead and other things. He rode on his donkey and entered his native place, but the people did not recognize him, nor did his household, except the maid, now an old woman. She had been a girl of twenty years of age when he had left. He asked her, “Is this the house of ‘Uzair?” She wept and said, “Yes, but I have not seen anyone since the year such-and-such speaking of ‘Uzair, and the people have forgotten him.” He said, “I am ‘Uzair, Allah had taken my life for a hundred years and then he returned it to me.” She said: “Glorified be Allah! We had lost ‘Uzair a hundred years ago and we have heard no mention of him.” He repeated, “I am ‘Uzair.” She said, “‘Uzair used to be answered when he prayed to Allah; he would ask Allah to grant wellbeing and recovery to the sick and those afflicted by disaster. So ask Allah to return my sight to me, so that I may see you. If you are ‘Uzair, I will recognize you.” So he supplicated for her and massaged her eyes with his hands and she was cured. Then he took her by the hand and said, “Get up, by Allah’s Permission,” Allah freed her legs and she stood up, cured, as if she had been released from a hobbling rope. She looked and said, “I bear witness that you are ‘Uzair,” and she rushed to the place of the Children of Isra’eel and found them in their assembly. ‘Uzair’s son was a hundred and eighteen years old, and his children’s children now were chiefs of the assembly. She called out to them saying,” “This is ‘Uzair come to you.” They accused her of lying. She said, “I am so-and-so, your old maid. He supplicated his Lord for me, and He has returned my sight to me and cured my lameness. He claims that Allah caused him to do for a hundred years, then He returned him to life.” The people stood up and looked at him. His son said, “My father had a black mole between his shoulders.” So he uncovered his shoulders and they saw that he was ‘Uzair. They said: “None among us memorized the Towrah except ‘Uzair, according to what we have been told, and Bukhtunassar burned the Towrah, so nothing remains of it except what the men have memorized. So write it for us.” There was only one copy of the Towrah, which was hidden by his father, Sarookh. He buried it in the days of Bukhtunassar in a place none but ‘Uzair knows.” ‘Uzair led the people to the hidden place and took out that copy of the Towrah. Its leaves had rotted, and the book itself crumbled. ‘Uzair (Peace be upon him) sat under the shade of a tree surrounded by the Children of Isra’eel and copied out the Towrah for them. And it was said that two shooting stars descended from the heaven and entered him and he recalled the Towrah and copied it out for the Children of Isra’eel. It was from this time that the Jews began to say that ‘Uzair (Peace be upon him) is the son of Allah, because of the two shooting stars, his re-copying of the Towrah and his undertaking of the affairs of the Children of Isra’eel.
He had been copying the Towrah for Hizqeel in the rural region, in Dair Hizqeel. The village in which he died was said to be Sayirabaz. ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) remarked, “So it is as Allah said: And thus We have made of you a sign for the people.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:259) That is, for the Children of Isra’eel, in that he was sitting among his children, and they were old men, while he was a young man, because he died when he was forty years old and so Allah resurrected him as he had been on the day he died. ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) said, “He was resurrected after Bukhtunassar had died.” Al-Hasan concurred with this.
Conclusion
It is well-known that ‘Uzair (Peace be upon him) was one of the Prophets sent to the Children of Isra’eel, that his mission was after Dawood and Sulaiman (peace be upon them both) and before Zakariyya and Yahya (peace be upon them both) and that no one remained among the Children of Isra’eel who had memorized the Towrah. Because of this, Allah inspired him with the memorization of it and he recited it to the Children of Isra’eel, as Wahb Ibn Munabbih said, “Allah commanded an angel to descend with a large ladle filled with light; the angel emptied it over ‘Uzair (Peace be upon him) and he copied the Towrah, letter by letter, until he had completed it.”
Ibn ‘Asakir narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) that he asked ‘Abdullah Ibn Salam (May Allah be pleased with him) about the Words of Allah, Most High: And the Jews say, “ ‘Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allah.” (Soorah At-Tawbah 9:30), saying, “Why did they say this?” Ibn Salam (May Allah be pleased with him) then related to him from what he had memorized of the written Towrah that was in the hands of the Children of Isra’eel and of how they had said, “Moosa could not bring us the Towrah except as a book, but ‘Uzair brought it to us without a book.” So a group of them claimed that he was the son of Allah. This is why many of the scholars say that the continuity of the Towrah was interrupted during the time of ‘Uzair (Peace be upon him).
By Ibn Katheer
Comments
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.