Story of Isaiah (pbuh)
Among the prophets between David and Zakariah is
Isaiah (pbuh), Ibn Amoz (Amisiah). According to Muhammad Ibn Ishaaq,
Isaiah (pbuh) appeared before Zakariah (pbuh) and Yahya (John the
Baptist) (pbuh). He is among those who prophesied about Isa (Jesus)
(pbuh) and Muhammad (pbuh). The king during his time was called Hezekiah
(Hazkia). He listened and was obedient to Isaiah in what he advised him
to do and prohibit for the good of the state. Affairs took momentum
among the Israelites. The king became sick with an infected foot. While
he was sick, King Sennacherib (Sinharib) of Babylon advanced towards
Jerusalem with sixty thousand men.
The people were greatly terrified. The King asked
Isaiah: "What did Allah reveal to you regarding Sennacherib and his
army?" He replied: "He has not yet revealed anything to me." Then the
revelation came down for King Hezekiah to appoint a successor, as he
wished, because his end was at hand. When Isaiah told him this, the
king turned to the qibla (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 Israel; 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 Isaiah 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, Sennacherib. When Isaiah told this to
Hezekiah, his disease was healed. Evil and sadness departed, and he
fell prostrate, 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 Isaiah to
command the king to extract the water of the fig and apply it to his
sore, and he would be whole and cured. He did so and was cured.
Then Allah sent death upon the army of Sennacherib. In
the morning they were all corpses, except Sennacherib and five of his
companions, among them Nebuchadnezzar (Bukhtanasar). The king of Israel
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 Isaiah 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, Sennacherib 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, Sennacherib was afraid of Allah. He died
seven years later.
Ibn Ishaaq also reported that when King Hezekiah of
Israel died, the Israelites' condition deteriorated; there was political
confusion, and their wickedness increased. Isaiah preached to them
what Allah revealed to him, directing them to righteousness and warning
them of Allah's severe punishment. His preaching made him their enemy
and they decided to kill him, so he escaped from them.
Ibn Ishaaq also reported an Israelite interpolation
which said that when Isaiah was passing by a tree, it opened, and he
entered therein; but Satan saw him and held onto the loop of his garment
so that it stuck out. When they saw it, they brought a saw and sawed
the tree, and him with it. Indeed, from Allah we come and to him we
return.
The Story of Jeremiah (Aramaya
Ibn Hilkiah (Haqa)
Another prophet is Jeremiah (pbuh) Ibn Hilkiah from the
House of Levi Ibn Jacob (pbuh). It has been claimed that he was
Al-Khidr. This was related by Al-Dahak from Ibn Abbas but it is not
true.
Ibn Asakir reported that it is written in some scrolls
that Jeremiah stood upon the blood of John Ibn Zechariah while it was
flowing and he said: "O blood! You have enlightened the people, so take
a rest." So it stopped and condensed until it disappeared.
There is a tradition that Jeremiah asked Allah: "O Lord!
Which of Your slaves is more lovable to You?" He answered: "Those who
remember Me most away from their remembrance of My creatures; those who
are not thinking of death, nor speak of eternal living; those who, when
they are allured by the riches of this world, despise them, and when
they lose them are happy; those have My love, indeed, and I shall reward
them more than they desired."
The Destruction of Jerusalem
Almighty Allah declared: And We gave
Moses the Scripture and made it a guidance for the children of Israel
(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 Noah! Verily, he was a grateful slave."
And We decreed for the children of Israel in the
Scripture, that indeed you would do mischief of 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 Yours 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 yourselves, 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 that fell in their hands.
(And We said in the Torah): "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 disbeliveers."
(Ch 17:2-8 Quran).
Wahb Ibn Munbah reported that when sin increased,
Allah revealed to an Israelite prophet called Amos (Mamia) (pbuh) that
he should stand before his people and admonish them that they are
hard-headed, blind, and deaf and tell them: "I (Allah) remember their
forefathers, and that makes Me merciful with them. And ask them about
My bounty: can any of them benefit from disobeying Me? And does any
suffer who obeys Me? The beasts remember their countries and return to
them, but those people have forgotten why I have favored them for the
sake of their forefathers, and have misused their generosity. Your
cries have forgotten My tenets and your reciters worship other than Me,
and your women have not learned a useful lesson and their rulers have
lied against me and My messengers. Their hearts and mouths are full of
lies. And I swear by My majesty and power that I will send upon them
people with strange tongues, and strange faces, merciless in the face of
their tears; and I shall send them a tyrannous cruel king, with an army
like clouds, and followers like storms, and their flags like the wings
of eagles, and the paces of their hoses like the decades of a journey.
They will return buildings to dust, and leave the villages a wilderness.
Woe betide it and its inhabitants if they shout and invoke! I will
not look at their faces."
Ibn Asaker has related the same in these words: Ishaaq
Ibn Bishr said that Idris told them that Wahb Ibn Munbah said that Allah
the Exalted sent Jeremiah to the children of Israel when the situation
had become worse among them - in disobedience, killing of prophets and
covetousness. Allah was determined to revenge Himself upon them
vindictively; and so He revealed to Jeremiah: "I am going to destroy
Jerusalem (the children of Israel) irevenge. Go to the Dome of the
Rock. I will give you My commands and revelations." Jeremiah stood up
and rent his clothes, and applied ashes to his face and fell prostrate
and said: "O Lord! Would that my mother had not borne me, when You made
me the last prophet of Israel, and Jerusalem be destroyed in my time."
Allah said: "Raise your head." He raised his head, wept, and said: "O
my Lord! Whom will You set against them?" He said: "The worshippers of
fire who do not fear My punishment, nor expect My reward. Stand up
Jeremiah, and hear the news about Israel. Before I chose you, I had
made you and favored you and honored you. Go with the king and guide
and protect him." (He was with the king while he was receiving
revelation from Allah, and they forgot how Allah saved them.) "Go and
tell them what I have told you." "O Allah! I am weak and if You do not
strengthen me." "Do you not know that all affairs are controlled by
Me? I am Allah without semblance, or any like Me. I spoke to the
oceans so; I am with you, and nothing shall harm you. Go to your people
and tell them: Allah has remembered you, with His remembrance of our
forefathers' good deeds. The animals remember their countries and
return to them. But those people of yours are drenched in destruction
and damnation, for they have forgotten the purpose of My generosity to
their forefathers and have misplaced My favors. The scholars and
priests have gone astray and have worshipped another god besides Me.
"As for their kings and princes, they have been lavished with My bounty
and though themselves safe from My fate. They abandon My Book and kill
My prophets. Is it possible for Me to have a partner? Is it possible
for Me to make a creature to be worshipped and to be obeyed besides Me?
As for their reciters and jurists, they teach and learn what they like.
As for the children of the prophets, they are oppressed and seduced
and go with the crowd. They want the positions of their fathers without
the discipline, patience, piety, and kindness of their fathers.
"By my power, I swear, that I shall send woe upon them
that no wise man can understand. I shall replace their luxury with
ordeal, chains, and fetters and after dwelling in palaces, they will
dwell in dust. I will disgrace and degrade their womenfolk. I create
My creatures and slaves with mercy and bounty. If they accept and
recognize it, I complete My favors and mercy. When I change My mind, I
change My mind; and if I change, I am angry; and if I am angry, I
punish, and nothing prospers with My anger."
According to Ka'b, Jeremiah said: "By your grace I have
come to learn before You; how is it possible when I am weak and
powerless, to speak before You? But by Your mercy You have spared me to
this day. None fears this punishment more than I do, because I have
been among them while they disobeyed You, yet without it changing me.
If You punish me, I deserve it, and if You spare me, I expect it of Your
kindness. O Lord, You are Overlord! Are you going to destroy their
country when it is the place of Your prophets the place of Your
revelations? O Lord the Exalted and Blessed by Your Name! For You to
destroy this mosque and all pertaining to it, and those houses which
landed Your praise! O Lord, for You to kill these people and punish
them, when they are the issue of Abraham Your faithful friend and David
Your chosen one! O lord, which village will escape Your punishment
then? Which worshipper will escape Your vengeance after the children of
Your faithful friend Abraham?"
Jeremiah said: "O Lord, You made friends with Abraham
and for his sake You preserved us; and Moses You did save; and he asked
You to save us and not abandon us, nor throw us to the enemy." And so
Allah revealed to him: "O Jeremiah, I made you honored in your mother's
womb and have chosen you to this day. If your people had protected the
orphans, the widows, the helpless, and the stranded, I would have been
their Sustainer. They would have been like a blissful garden to Me; but
I complain of the children of Israel to you. I have been the kind
shepherd to them; but I honor only those who honor and despise those who
despise My command. Those before them feared Me, but these people
displayed their obedience of Me in the temple, market place, hill and
mountain tops, and under the shade of trees until the heavens wondered
at them before Me, and the earth and the mountains, including the
beasts, wondered and wailed. All that had no effect on them; nor was
the Book useful to them."
Ka'b said that when Jeremiah delivered the message of
his Lord, and the people heard the threats and warnings in it, they
said: "You are lying, if you are saying that Allah shall destroy the
land, His temple, His Book, His worship, and monotheism." They captured
Jeremiah, tied him up and imprisoned him. At this, Allah sent
Nabuchadnezzar upon them. He entered the country with his troops and
surrounded the city. When the siege was prolonged they surrendered to
his rule. They opened the gates and Nabuchadnezzar's troops streamed
in.
He ruled them savagely and punished them cruelly. He
killed a third of them, captured a third, and spared the lame and the
old; then h trampled upon them with the horses, demolished their houses,
drew the youth along, and stood the women in the market places as
guards. He intimidated the troops and destroyed the castles and
temples. He burned the Torah. He asked about Daniel, the prophet who
had written to him, but he was dead. His family took out the letter
which he had written to him. Among the family members were Daniel the
youngest son of Ezekiel, Azariah, and Mishael. He left that letter for
them. The younger Daniel succeeded the elder Daniel. Nabuchadnezzar
entered Jerusalem with his troops, then marched to Syria. He killed the
children of Israel until he almost exterminated them. He returned to
Babylon with booty in the form of treasure and men, among them young
princes and children of priests numbering seventy thousand.
Ibn Ishaaq Ibn Bishr reported that Wahb bin Munbah
stated that after Nabuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem, he was told
that the Israelites had a man who used to predict what had befallen
them, describing the king and his actions, foretelling that he would
slay their warriors, capture their children, destroy the temple, and
burn their Torah. They had said he was lying, and so they had tied him
and kept him in prison. Nabuchadnezzar ordered that he be brought out
from prison. Jeremiah was released and the king said to him: "Did you
warn those people against what has happened to them?" Jeremiah affirmed
it and the king said: "I knew that." Jeremiah stated: "Allah sent me
to them and they accused me of lying." He asked: "Did they beat you and
imprison you?" He replied: "Yes." The king said: "What a wicked race,
to deny their prophet and their Lord's message! So would you like to
join me, for me to honor you and make you free? And if you want to
remain in your country, I grant you that." Jeremiah replied: "I am
still in the security of Allah when I did not go away from the country
at all. If the Israelites did not go out of it, they would not fear
you, nor any other, nor would you have authority over them." When
Nabuchadnezzar heard this, he let him alone, and so Jeremiah went to
live in his place in Elia (Elat).
According to Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi, Nabuchadnezzar marched
on Jerusalem, its king who was a descendant of David, who had built
Jerusalem for the Israelites - made peace with him. Nabuchadnezzar took
hostages and departed. When he had gone as far as Thahria, he learned
that the Israelites had risen against their king and killed him because
he had made peace with him. So, Nabuchadnezzar beheaded all the
hostages that were with him. He returned to the Israelites and invaded
the city, killing the warriors and capturing their families.
When he had found Jeremiah in prison and released him,
Jeremiah told him his story and his warnings concerning him.
Nabuchadnezzar said: "What a wicked people, that disobey the prophet of
Allah!" He set him free and honored him. Jeremiah gathered around him
the remaining weak souls of Israel. He said to them: "Woe to us! We
have disobeyed Allah. We must repent to Allah, Great and Majestic, for
what we have done, and I shall pray to Allah to accept our repentance."
He prayed so, and Allah revealed to him that He would not accept it:
"If they are sincere, they must stay with you in this country (or
town)." He told them what Allah had revealed. They said: "How can we
stay in this town when it has been devastated and Allah is angry with
its people?" So they refused to stay.
Ibn al-Kalbi said that since that time, the children of
Israel were dispersed the world over. Some of them went to the Hijaz,
Taif and Medina, and others settled in Wadi al Qura. Some went to
Egypt, and Nabuchadnezzar wrote to its king, demanding those who had
escaped thither, but he refused. So Nabuchadnezzar mounted his army and
fought him. He defeated him and captured their children. Then he
marched to the extreme of Morocco. He returned from Morocco, Egypt,
Jerusalem, Palestine, and Jordan with many captives, and among them was
Daniel.
Ibn al-Kalbi said that it appears that it was Daniel,
the youngest son of Ezekiel, and not the elder Daniel, according to Ibn
Munbah. Allah knows best.
Story of Daniel (pbuh)
Ibn Abi Al-Dunya narrated the following,
based on a chain of citations. Nabuchadnezzar captured the two lions
and threw them into a pit. He then brought Daniel and threw him at
them; yet they did not pounce at him; rather, he remained as Allah
wished. When then he desired food and drink, Allah revealed to
Jeremiah, who was in Sham (Palestine/Syria): "Prepare food and drink for
Daniel." He said: "O Lord I am in Jerusalem while Daniel is in Babylon
(Iraq)." Allah revealed to him: "Do what I have commanded you to do,
and I shall send you one who will carry you and what you have prepared."
Jeremiah did so and Allah sent him something that would carry him until
he arrived at the brink of the pit. Then Daniel asked: "Who is this?"
He answered: "I am Jeremiah." He asked: "What brought you?" He
answered: "Your Lord sent me to you." He said: "And so my Lord has
remembered me?" He said: "Yes." Daniel said: "Praise be to Allah Who
never forgets those who appeal to Him! And Praise be to Him Who
compensates good with good, rewards patience with safety, dispels harm
after distress, assures us when we are overwhelmed, and is our hope when
skill fails us."
Yunus Ibn Bakeer reported that Muhammad Ibn Ishaaq
reported that Abu Khalid Ibn Dinar reported that Abul Aa'lia said:
"When Tastar was invaded, we found, in the treasure house of
Al-Harmazan, a bed on which lay a dead man, with a holy script at his
bedside. We took the scripture to Umar Ibn Al Khattab. He called Ka-b
and he translated it into Arabic, and I was the first Arab to read it. I
read it as I read the Qur'an." Here, I (Khalid Ibn Dinar) said to Abul
Aa'lia: "What was in it?" He said: "Life history, annals, songs,
speech, and what is to come." I asked: "And what did you do with the
man?" He said: "We dug in the river bank thirteen separate graves. At
nightfall we buried him and leveled all the graves in order to mislead
people for they would tamper with him." I asked: "And what did they want
from him?" He said: "When the sky was cloudless for them, they went
out with his bed, and it rained." I asked: "Who did you think the man
was?" He said; "A man called Daniel." I asked: "And for how long had
he been dead when you found him?" He said: "Three hundred years." I
asked: "Did not anything change on him?" He said: "No, except for the
hairs of his face (beard, and mustache); the skin of the prophets is not
harmed by the earth, nor devoured by hyenas."
The chain of citation from Abul Aa'lia is good, but if
the date of the dead man's death was really three hundred years, then he
was not a prophet but a saintly an, because there was no prophet
between Isa (Jesus)(pbuh), and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), according to
the hadith in Bukhari. The span between them (the dead man and
Muhammad (pbuh)) was variously reported as four hundred, six hundred,
and six hundred twenty years. It could be that he had died eight
hundred years earlier, which would be near to Daniel's time, if his
being Daniel is correct. However, he could still have been somebody
else, either a prophet or a saint. Yet the truth is more likely he was
Daniel, because he had been taken by the King of Persia and remained
imprisoned as already mentioned.
It was narrated with a correct citation that his nose as
one span (nine inches) long. Anas Ibn Malik, with a good citation,
said that his nose was an arm's stretch long (two feet), on which basis
he is thought to be an ancient prophet from before this period.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Abu Bakr Ibn Abu Dunya related without citation that
when Abu Musa was told that he was Daniel, he stayed with him, embraced
him, and kissed him. Then he wrote to Umar that he found with him
nearly ten thousand Dhirhams. It used to be that people came to borrow
from it, and if they did not return it, they became sick. Umar ordered
his burial in a grave to be kept secret and the money to be sent to the
treasury, with the b ox and the ring a gift to him (Abu Musa).
It is related of Abu Musa that he told four of the
captives to dam the river and dig a grave in the middle, where he buried
him. Then he beheaded the four captives in order for the secret to be
kept from all except himself.
Ibn Abu Dunya also reported, by a chain of citations,
that a ring was seen on the hand of Ibn Abu Barda Ibn Abu Musa. The gem
was carved with two lions with a man between them, whom they were
licking. Abu Barda said: "This is the ring of that man whom the people
of this town say is Daniel. Abu Musa took it the day he was buried.
The learned people of the town told Abu Musa that soothsayers and
astrologers told the king in Daniel's time that a boy would be born who
would destroy him and his kingdom. So the king swore to kill all the
baby boys, except that they threw Daniel in the lions' den, and the lion
and lioness began to lick him and did not harm him. His mother came
and took him. Abu Musa said: "And so Daniel carved his image and the
image of the two lions into the gem of his ring, for him not to forget
Allah's blessing upon him in this.'" This has a good citation.
The Reconstruction of Jerusalem
In the Era of Jeremiah
Or like the one who passed by a town and it had
tumbled over its roofs. 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! 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."
(Ch 2:259 Quran).
Hashim Ibn Al-Kalbi reported that Allah the Exalted
revealed to Jeremiah (pbuh): "I am going to reconstruct Jerusalem, so go
there." He went and found it devastated. He said to himself: "Exalted
be Allah! Allah told me to come to this city and that He was
reconstructing it. When will Allah rebuild it? And when will He bring
it back to life?" Then he slept, and his donkey with him for seventy
years until Nabuchadnezzar and the king over him - Laharasab, who had
ruled one hundred twenty years had perished. Laharasab was succeeded by
his son Bashtaasib. News of the death of Nabuchadnezzar had reached
Bashtaasib through Sham (Syria), which was in utter ruin. The wild
beasts had multiplied in Palestine, for it had become empty of men.
Bashtaasib therefore called to the children of Israel in B: "Whoever
wants to return to Sham (Syria/Palestine) may do so." It was ruled by
one from the House of David, who was ordered by Bashtaasib to rebuild
Jerusalem and its temple, so they returned and rebuilt it. Then
Jeremiah 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." (Ch 2:259 Quran).
Ibn Al-Kalbi said that the Israelites settled 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 Jarir tells their story in his History
of Jerusalem. He said that Laharasab was a just king and diplomatic.
The people, chiefs, and kings obeyed him, and he was gifted in the
construction of cities, canals and institutions. When he grew too weak
to rule, after more than one hundred, his son Bashtaasib ascended to the
throne. During his reign the religion of Zoroastrianism (al-Majusia)
appeared. A man named Zoroaster (Zordahst) had been a companion of
Jeremiah (pbuh) and had angered him, so Jeremiah (pbuh) cursed him.
Zoroaster became a leper. He went to the land of Azerabaigan, joined
Bashtaasib and converted him to Zoroastrianism, which he chose for
himself of his own free will. Bashtaasib forced people to embrace it
and killed many people who disobeyed him.
After Bashtaasib, his son Barman ruled. They were among
the famous and heroic kings of Persia, and Nabuchadnezzar had been
deputy to all three of them. He lived a long time, may Allah torment
him! The essence of what has been written by Ibn Jarir is that the
person or wayfarer passing through this village was Jeremiah. Others
say that it was Hosea (Ozir), and this is the consensus of the ancients
and those after them, but Allah knows best.
Story of Ezra (Uzair)
Ishaaq Ibn Bishr reported, on the
authority of Ibn' Abbas and others, that Ezra was a saint and a wise
man. 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 khaiba 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?" (Ch 2:259 Quran)
"Oh! How will Allah ever bring it to life after its death?" (Ch 2:259 Quran)
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
100 years. After 100 years had passed and there had been changes in
Israelite affairs, Allah sent an angel upon Ezra to revive his heart
and his eyes in order for him to feel and see how Allah revives the
dead. The angel said: "For how long did you sleep?" He said: "A day
or part of a day." He said this because he knew he had slept early in
the afternoon and woke up late in the afternoon. The angel said: "You
remained asleep for 100 years." He ate and drank the food which he had
prepared before he was overtaken by that long sleep. Then the angel
revived his donkey.
Almighty Allah said: "And look at your donkey!
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." (Ch 2:259)
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. He asked her: "Is this the house of Ezra?" She
said: "Yes, but the people have long forgotten Ezra." He said: "I am
Ezra, Allah had taken my life for a 100 years and has not returned it to
me." She said: "Ezra used to be answered when he prayed to Allah.
Pray to cure me of blindness if you are Ezra." He prayed for her and
massaged her eyes and took her by the hand. "Get up by the power of
Allah," he said. The crippled woman stood up and walked; she opened her
eyes and saw; her blindness was gone. She said: "I bear witness that
you are Ezra."
She rushed to the assembly of the Israelites. Ezra's
son was 118 years old, and his children 's children now were lords of
the assembly. She called out to them saying: "This is Ezra come to
you." They accused her of lying. She said: "I am your old maid. He
has just prayed to Allah for me, and here I am whole again, walking and
seeing." The people stood up and looked at him. His son said: "My
father had a mark between his shoulders, a black mole," and they
discovered it. They said: "None among us memorized the Torah since
Nabuchadnezzar burned it, except Ezra; and there was only one copy of
the Torah, which was hidden by Sarukha. He buried it in the days of
Nabuchadnezzar in a place none but Ezra knows." Ezra led the people to
the hidden place and took out that copy of the Torah. Its leaves had
rotted, and the book itself crumpled.
Ezra sat under the shade of a tree surrounded by the
children of Israel and copied out the Torah for them from that script.
Henceforth, the Jews said that Ezra is the son of Allah, for 2 evidences
which came down from Heaven and for his copying the torah and for his
fighting the cause of the Israelites.
He had been copying the Torah for Ezekial in the land of
darkness in the hermitage of Ezekiel. The village which was in ruins
is said to be Sayrabadh.
Ibn Abbas commanded: "So it is as Allah said: "We have made of you a sign for the people." (Ch 2:259)
That is, for the Israelites, in that he was sitting among his
children, the old men, and he a youth. He died as a forty year old, and
Allah resurrected him at the same age on the day of his death."
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