Tafseer of The Night Journey · Al-Israa · 17:7
[And said], "If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, [you do it] to yourselves." Then when the final promise came, [We sent your enemies] to sadden your faces and to enter the temple in Jerusalem, as they entered it the first time, and to destroy what they had taken over with [total] destruction.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to the Children of Israel, concerning what He imposed upon them in the Torah: If you do good — O Children of Israel, that is to say: when you obey Allah, set your affairs in order, and hold to His command and His prohibition — then you do good and perform what you perform thereof for yourselves, for by those deeds of yours you benefit only yourselves, in this life and in the Hereafter. As for this life: Allah wards off from you the evil of those who wrong you, increases your possessions for you, and adds to your strength yet more strength. And as for the Hereafter: Allah, the Exalted, rewards you for that with His gardens. And if you do evil — He says: and when you disobey Allah and do what He has forbidden you — then it is against yourselves that you do evil, for thereby you arouse against yourselves the wrath of your Lord. Thus in this life He gives your enemy power over you, enables those who wrong you to harm you, and lets you abide forever in the Hereafter in the humiliating punishment (ʿadhāb). And He, whose praise is exalted, said: And if you do evil, then it is for it (falahā), and the meaning is: then it is against it (ilayhā), as He said: because your Lord revealed to it (lahā), the meaning of which is: revealed to it (ilayhā).
And His word And when the promise of the latter time comes — He says: and when the promise of the latter of the two times that you cause corruption on the earth comes, O Children of Israel — that they may bring evil to your faces (liyasūʾū) — He says: that the coming of that promise for the latter time may bring evil to your faces and disfigure them.
The reciters of the Qurʾān differed over the reading of His word liyasūʾū wujūhakum. Most of the reciters of the people of Medina and Basra read it liyasūʾū wujūhakum ("that they may bring evil to your faces"), with the meaning: that the servants of great might, whom Allah will set against you, may bring evil to your faces. Those who read it thus adduced, in support of the correctness of their reading, His word: and that they may enter the mosque (wa-li-yadkhulū), and they said: that is a report concerning all, so likewise His word liyasūʾū ought to be. Most of the reciters of Kufa read it liyasūʾa wujūhakum ("that it may bring evil to your faces"), in the singular and with the yāʾ. This admits two interpretations: one is what I have already mentioned, and the other of them is: that Allah may bring evil to your faces. Whoever directs its interpretation to "that the coming of the promise may bring evil to your faces" makes the answer to His word "and when (fa-idhā)" omitted, while one could dispense with it through what is apparent; and that omitted word is "came (jāʾa)", so that the interpretation of the statement reads: and when the promise of the latter time comes that it may bring evil to your faces, it came. And whoever directs its interpretation to "that Allah may bring evil to your faces", in his statement there is likewise an omission, which here one could dispense with through what is apparent of it, except that that omitted word is other than "came (jāʾa)", so that the meaning of the statement then reads: and when the promise of the latter time comes, We sent them that Allah may bring evil to your faces, so that what is suppressed is "We sent them (baʿathnāhum)", and that is then the answer to "when (idhā)".
Some of the Arabic grammarians of the Kufans read it li-nasūʾa wujūhakum ("that We may bring evil to your faces"), as a report from Allah, blessed and exalted be His name, concerning Himself.
The coming of the promise of the latter time was at their killing of Yaḥyā.
Mention of the narration concerning that, and the report about what befell them then from Allah.
As Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī — in the narration the chain of transmission (isnād) of which we have mentioned earlier — that a man of the Children of Israel saw in his sleep that the destruction of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) and the ruin of the Children of Israel would come about at the hand of an orphan boy, the son of a widow from the people of Babel, named Bukhtnaṣṣar (Nebuchadnezzar). They used to hold such dreams to be true, and so they held their dream to be true. He set out and asked about him, until he lodged with his mother, while the boy was gathering firewood. When he came with a bundle of firewood on his head, he threw it down, sat in a corner of the house, and the man embraced him. Then he gave him three dirhams and said: "Buy us food and drink with this." He bought meat for a dirham, bread for a dirham, and wine for a dirham, and they ate and drank. When the second day arrived he did the same with him, and when the third day arrived he did so likewise. Then he said to him: "I would like you to write a safe-conduct for me, in case you should ever become king." He said: "Are you mocking me?" He said: "I am not mocking you, but what harm would it do you to build up credit with me?" Then his mother spoke to him and said: "What harm would it do you? If it comes about, well and good; and if not, it costs you nothing." So he wrote a safe-conduct for him. He said to him: "Suppose I come while the people are standing around you and they keep me from you — then make a sign for me by which you will recognize me." He said: "We will hold up your document on a reed, by which I will recognize you." Then he clothed him and gave him the money. Now the king of the Children of Israel used to honor Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā, to seat him close in his company, to consult him in his affairs, and to decide no matter without him. Now the king desired to marry the daughter of a woman of his, and he asked Yaḥyā about that, who forbade him to marry her and said: "I do not deem her fit for you." This reached her mother, and she bore a grudge against Yaḥyā because he had forbidden him to marry her daughter. When the king was sitting drinking, the mother of the girl proceeded deliberately: she dressed her in thin red garments, perfumed her and adorned her with jewelry — and it is said that she put over her a black garment — and sent her to the king. She commanded her to pour drink for him and to offer herself to him, and if he should desire her for himself, to refuse him until he should give her what she asked of him; and when he gave her that, she was to ask him to bring the head of Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā on a platter. She did this and began to pour drink for him and to offer herself to him. When the drink took hold of him, he desired her for himself. She said: "I will not do it until you give me what I ask of you." He said: "What is it that you ask of me?" She said: "I ask you to send for Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā, and that his head be brought to me on this platter." He said: "Woe to you, ask me for something other than this." She said to him: "I do not want to ask you for anything other than this." He said: When she pressed him, he sent for Yaḥyā, and his head was brought — and the head spoke, until it was set down before him, saying: "This is not permitted to you." When morning came, behold, his blood was boiling. He commanded that earth be thrown upon it, but the blood rose above the earth, boiling. He threw earth upon it again, but the blood came up above it. He kept throwing earth upon it, until it reached the city wall while it boiled. This reached Ṣaḥābīn (the king), and it spread among the people. He wanted to send an army against them and to appoint a man over them, when Bukhtnaṣṣar came to him, addressed him and said: "The one whom you sent that time is weak, and I have entered the city and heard the words of its inhabitants; so send me." So he sent him. Bukhtnaṣṣar set out, until they reached that place, where they fortified themselves against him in their cities, so that he could not overcome them. When the siege bore heavily upon them and his companions suffered hunger, they wanted to turn back. But an old woman, one of the old women of the Children of Israel, went out to them and said: "Where is the commander of the army?" She was brought to him and she said to him: "It has reached me that you want to turn back with your army before you take this city." He said: "Yes, my stay here has lasted long and my companions are suffering hunger, so I cannot stay longer than I have already stayed." She said: "What do you think: if I take the city for you, will you give me what I ask of you, and will you kill whom I command you to kill, and restrain yourself when I command you to restrain yourself?" He said: "Yes." She said: "When morning comes, divide your army into four parts, and station a part at each corner; then raise your hands to heaven and call out: 'We ask You for victory, O Allah, by the blood of Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā', for then it (the city) will collapse." They did so, and the city collapsed, and they entered from every side. Then she said to him: "Kill at this blood, until it subsides", and she brought him to the blood of Yaḥyā, which was upon a great quantity of earth. He killed at it, until seventy thousand and one woman subsided. When the blood subsided, she said to him: "Restrain your hand, for Allah, blessed and exalted, when a prophet is killed, is not content until He kills those who killed him and those who approved of his killing." And the man with the document came with his document, and he spared him and the people of his house. He destroyed Jerusalem and commanded that carcasses be thrown into it, and said: "Whoever throws a carcass into it, for him his poll-tax (jizyah) of that year is remitted." And the Byzantines (al-Rūm) helped him in destroying it, because the Children of Israel had killed Yaḥyā. When Bukhtnaṣṣar had destroyed it, he took with him the notables and nobles of the Children of Israel, and he took Dāniyāl (Daniel), ʿAlyā, ʿAzāriyā and Mīshāʾīl — these were all of the progeny of the prophets — and he took the Resh Galuta (raʾs jālūt, head of the exiles). When he reached the land of Babel, he found Ṣaḥābīn dead, and he became king in his place. The most honored people in his eyes were Dāniyāl and his companions, and the Magians (al-Majūs) envied them for that. They slandered them to him and said: "Dāniyāl and his companions do not worship your god, and do not eat of your slaughtered offering." So he summoned them and questioned them, and they said: "Indeed, we have a Lord whom we worship, and we do not eat of your slaughtered offering." Thereupon he commanded a pit to be dug for them, and they were thrown into it — they were six in number — and with them was thrown a wild beast of prey to devour them. He said: "Let us go eat and drink." They went, ate and drank, and then returned, and they found them sitting, while the beast of prey had stretched its forepaws among them and had wounded none of them nor done them any harm. And they found with them a man, and they counted them and found them seven in number. They said: "What is this matter of this seventh? For they were six." Then the seventh came toward them — and he was an angel of the angels — and he gave him (Bukhtnaṣṣar) a blow, by which he came to be among the wild beasts. He remained among them for seven years, and no wild beast saw him without coming upon him to pounce on him, in requital for what he used to do to the men. Then he returned, and Allah restored to him his kingship, and they (Dāniyāl and his people) were the most honored of Allah's creatures in his eyes. Then the Magians slandered him (Dāniyāl) a second time. They cast a lion into a pit, which had become ferocious — they used to throw a boulder at it and it would seize it — and they cast Dāniyāl to it. The lion stood in one corner, and Dāniyāl stood in another corner, without it touching him. So they pulled him out. And before that they had dug a pit for them and kindled a fire in it; and when he had made it blaze up, he cast them into it, but Allah extinguished it over them, and nothing of it touched them. Then Bukhtnaṣṣar saw in his sleep an idol whose head was of gold, whose neck was of copper, whose breast was of iron, whose belly was a mixture of gold, silver and glass, and whose two legs were of earthenware. While he was standing looking, suddenly a boulder came from heaven, from the direction of the qibla, which shattered the idol and made it into dust. He awoke alarmed, but the dream was made to be forgotten by him. He summoned the sorcerers and soothsayers and questioned them, saying: "Inform me of what I have seen." They said to him: "No, rather you inform us of what you have seen, then we will interpret it for you." He said: "I do not know." They said to him: "Then there are those young men whom you honor; summon them and question them. If they do not inform you of what you have seen, what will you do with them?" He said: "I will kill them." So he sent for Dāniyāl and his companions and summoned them, and said to them: "Inform me of what I have seen." Dāniyāl said to him: "No, rather you inform us of what you have seen, then we will interpret it for you." He said: "I do not know; I have forgotten it." Dāniyāl said to him: "How can we know a dream that you have not informed us of?" Thereupon he commanded the gatekeeper to kill them. Dāniyāl said to the gatekeeper: "The king has only commanded to kill us because of his dream; grant us a respite of three days, and if we inform the king of his dream — well and good; and if not, then strike our necks." So he granted them respite, and they implored Allah. When the third day arrived, each man of them saw Bukhtnaṣṣar's dream separately. They came to the gatekeeper and informed him of it; he went in to the king and informed him of it. He said: "Bring them in to me." Bukhtnaṣṣar recognized nothing of his dream, except something that they mentioned. They said to him: "You saw such and such", and they recounted it to him. He said: "You speak the truth." They said: "We will interpret it for you. As for the idol whose head you saw was of gold: that is a good king, like gold, and he has ruled the whole earth. And as for the neck of copper: that is the kingship of your son after you; he will rule and his kingship will be good, but not like the gold. And as for its breast, which is of iron: that is the kingship of the people of Persia; they will rule after your son, and their kingship will be strong, like the iron. And as for its belly, the mixture: the kingship of the people of Persia will pass away, and the people will contend over the kingship in every village, until a king reigns one or two days, a month or two and is then killed, so that the people have no firm footing concerning it, just as the idol had no firm footing on two legs of earthenware. While they are in that state, Allah, the Exalted, will suddenly send a prophet from the land of the Arabs, and He will make him prevail over the remnant of the kingship of the people of Persia and over the remnant of the kingship of your son and your kingship, and He will destroy it and demolish it until nothing of it remains, just as the boulder came and brought down the idol." Thereupon Bukhtnaṣṣar inclined affectionately toward them and loved them. Then the Magians slandered Dāniyāl and said: "Dāniyāl, when he drinks wine, cannot control himself from urinating" — and that counted as a disgrace among them. So Bukhtnaṣṣar prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank, and he said to the gatekeeper: "Watch for the first who comes to you while urinating, and strike him with the battle-axe; and if he says: 'I am Bukhtnaṣṣar', say: 'You lie, Bukhtnaṣṣar has commanded me.'" Allah held back the urine in Dāniyāl, and the first of the company to rise with the intention of urinating was Bukhtnaṣṣar. He rose haughtily — and this was at night — dragging his garments behind him. When the gatekeeper saw him, he fell upon him. He said: "I am Bukhtnaṣṣar!" He said: "You lie, Bukhtnaṣṣar has commanded me to kill the first who comes out." So he struck him and killed him.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Muʿallā, saying: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: Allah sent against them the first time Sanḥārīb (Sennacherib). He said: then Allah gave them the turn against them, as He has said. He said: then they disobeyed their Lord and returned to what was forbidden to them, and so He sent against them the latter time Bukhtnaṣṣar. He killed the warriors, took the children captive, took what he found of possessions, and they entered Jerusalem, as Allah, mighty and exalted, has said: and that they may enter the mosque as they entered it the first time, and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame. They entered it, destroyed it, laid it waste, and threw into it what they could of excrement, menstrual blood, carcasses and filth. Then Allah said: And if you return, We return, and He had mercy upon them and restored to them their kingship, and freed those of the progeny of the Children of Israel who were in their (enemies') hands, and He said to them: "If you return, We return." Abū al-Muʿallā said: I know that only from this narration, and He did not promise them the return to their kingship.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: And when the promise of the latter time comes, that they may bring evil to your faces — he said: Allah sent the king of Persia in Babel an army, and appointed Bukhtnaṣṣar over them; they came to the Children of Israel and destroyed them, and that was this latter time and its promise.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Yaʿlā ibn Muslim related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, saying: when the kingship had firmly established itself for Bukhtnaṣṣar, he said: "Three [days]; whoever of you holds back after that, let him walk to his gallows." Then he attacked Syria (al-Shām), and that was when he killed Jerusalem and depopulated it, and he tore out of it the ornament and made vessels of it to drink wine from, and a table on which pigs ate, and he carried off the Torah with him and then cast it into the fire. And among what he brought, he brought a hundred servants, among them Dāniyāl, ʿAzariyā, Ḥanāniyā and Mishāʾīl. He said to a man: "Put in order for me the bodies of these; perhaps I will choose four of them to serve me." Dāniyāl said to his companions: "They have prevailed over you only because of what you have changed of the religion of your fathers; eat no pork and drink no wine." They said to the one who was putting their bodies in order: "Would you give us food that is less costly to you than what you give our companions? And if we then do not grow fat sooner than they, decide as you see fit." He said: "What then?" He said: "Barley bread and leeks." That he did, and they grew fat sooner than their companions. So Bukhtnaṣṣar took them to serve him. While they were in that state, behold, Bukhtnaṣṣar saw a dream. He sat up and forgot it; then he went back to sleep and saw it, rose and forgot it; then he went back to sleep and saw it, went to the chamber and forgot it. When morning came, he summoned the learned men and the soothsayers and said: "Inform me of what I saw tonight, and interpret my dream for me; and if not, then let each man of you walk to his gallows — your term is the third day." They said: "This — if he would inform us of his dream!" — and he mentioned still other words that I have not retained. He said: and whenever one of his kinsmen passed by Dāniyāl, the latter would say: "If the king summoned me, I would inform him of his dream and interpret it for him." He said: they began to say: "How stupid this Israelite youth is!" — until an old man passed by him, and he said that to him. The latter went back to him (the king) and informed him of it. He said: "Proceed." He said: "And its neck was of silver." He said: "Proceed." He said: "And its breast was of iron." He said: "Proceed." He said: "And its belly was of brass." He said: "Proceed." He said: "And its two legs were of lead." He said: "Proceed." He said: "And its two feet were of earthenware." He said: "Is this what you saw?" He said: "Proceed." He said: "Then a pebble came and struck its head, then its neck, then its breast, then its belly, then its two legs, then its two feet." He said: "And it (the pebble) destroyed it." He said: "What then is this?" He said: "As for the gold, that is your kingship; and as for the silver, the kingship of your son after you, then the kingship of the son of your son." He said: "And as for the earthenware, the kingship of the women." Then he clothed him in a garment of turthūn [mutilated word, see note] and his bracelet, and had him paraded through the village, and granted him his signet ring. When the Persians saw that, they said: "The matter is nothing but the matter of this Israelite", and they said: "Approach him by way of the three young men, and do not mention Dāniyāl to him, for then he will not believe you in it." So they came to him and said: "These three young men do not follow your religion, and the sign of that is that, if you set before them pork and wine, they will neither eat nor drink." Thereupon he commanded much firewood, which was laid down; then he had them climb upon it and kindled a fire in it. Then he went out at the end of the night to urinate, and behold, they were conversing, and with them was a fourth who moved among them and prayed. He said: "Who is this, O Dāniyāl?" He said: "This is Jibrīl (Gabriel); you have wronged them." He said: "Have I wronged them? Command them to come down." So he commanded them, and they came down. He said: and Allah, the Exalted, transformed Bukhtnaṣṣar into a mixture of all animals: He made of each kind of animal something in him — his head the head of a beast of prey, of the lion; and of the birds, the vulture. And his son became king, and the latter saw a hand that came out from between two boards and then wrote two lines. He summoned the soothsayers and the learned men, but they found no knowledge of it. His mother said to him: "If you were to restore to Dāniyāl his position that he had with your father, he would inform you of it" — for he had forsaken him. So he summoned him and said: "I restore to you your position with my father; so inform me, what are these two lines?" He said: "As for the restoring of my position with your father: I have no need of that; and as for these two lines: you will be killed tonight." Thereupon he made all who were in the palace go out, commanded it to be bolted, and the doors were shut over him, and he had the most trustworthy man of the village in his judgment enter with him, with a sword by him. He said: "Whoever of Allah's creatures comes to you, kill him, even if he says: 'I am so-and-so.'" And Allah sent upon him diarrhea, and he walked back and forth until it was the half of the night; then he slept, and his companion slept. Then the diarrhea woke him, and he went walking while the other slept; then he returned and the other was wakened by him. He said to him: "I am so-and-so", but he struck him with the sword and killed him.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word If you do good, you do good for yourselves, and if you do evil, then it is for it; and when the promise of the latter time comes — the latter of the two punishments — that they may bring evil to your faces and that they may enter the mosque as they entered it the first time — as their enemy entered it before that — and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame: thus Allah sent against them the latter time Bukhtnaṣṣar, the Magian Babylonian, the most hateful creature of Allah to Him; he took captive, killed and destroyed Jerusalem, and he laid upon them the worst punishment.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, saying: And when the promise of the latter time comes — of the two times — that they may bring evil to your faces — he said: that they may disfigure your faces — and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame — he said: that they may completely lay waste all that they overcame. He said: that is Bukhtnaṣṣar, whom Allah sent against them the latter time.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: when they caused corruption, Allah sent the latter time Bukhtnaṣṣar against them; he destroyed the houses of worship and utterly destroyed all that they had overcome.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: according to what has reached me, Allah appointed over the Children of Israel after that — that is to say: after their killing of Shaʿyāʾ (Isaiah) — a man of them, named Nāsha ibn Āmūṣ. Then Allah sent al-Khiḍr as a prophet. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say according to what has reached me: "Al-Khiḍr was named al-Khiḍr (the Green) only because he sat upon a white, barren spot, and when he rose from it, behold, it was green and waving." He said: and the name of al-Khiḍr was, according to what Wahb ibn Munabbih claimed of the Children of Israel: Armiyā ibn Ḥalfiyā, and he was of the tribe of Hārūn ibn ʿImrān.
Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Zanjawayh related to me, both saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to us, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih; and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, from someone who is not suspect, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī — and the wording is that of the narration of Ibn Ḥumayd — that he used to say: Allah, blessed and exalted, said to Irmiyā (Jeremiah) when He sent him as a prophet to the Children of Israel: "O Irmiyā, before I created you, I chose you; and before I formed you in your mother's belly, I sanctified you; and before I brought you forth from your mother's belly, I purified you; and before you reached the going (the age of striving), I made you a prophet; and before you reached maturity, I chose you; and for a tremendous matter I have held you back." Then Allah sent Irmiyā to that king of the Children of Israel, to support him and guide him, and to bring him the report of Allah concerning what was between him and Allah. He said: then the misdeeds among the Children of Israel increased, they committed sins, declared the forbidden permitted, and forgot what Allah, the Exalted, had done with them and how He had saved them from their enemy Sanḥārīb and his armies. Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed to Irmiyā: "Go to your people of the Children of Israel and recite to them what I command you, and remind them of My favor toward them, and make known to them their misdeeds." Irmiyā said: "I am weak if You do not strengthen me, powerless if You do not enable me to convey, fallible if You do not keep me upright, forsaken if You do not help me, and abased if You do not make me strong." Allah, blessed and exalted, said: "Do you not then know that all matters proceed from My will, and that all hearts and tongues are in My hand — I turn them as I will, and they obey Me? And I am Allah, to whom nothing is equal. The heavens and the earth and what is in them stand upright by My word. And I have addressed the seas, and they understood My word, and I commanded them and they grasped My command, and I set for them the sand as a boundary, so that they do not transgress My boundary: they come with waves like mountains, until, when they reach My boundary, they put on the submission of obedience to Me, out of fear and acknowledgment of My command. I am with you, and nothing shall reach you so long as I am with you. And I have sent you to a tremendous portion of My creation, to convey to them My messages, and to deserve thereby the like of the reward of whoever of them follows you, without that diminishing anything of their rewards; and if you fall short in that, then there comes to you the like of the burden of whoever proceeds in his blindness, without that diminishing anything of their burdens. Go to your people and say: verily, Allah has reminded you of the righteousness of your fathers, and that has moved Him to call you to repentance, O community of the descendants. Ask them how their fathers found the outcome of obedience to Me, and how they themselves found the outcome of disobedience to Me, and whether they know if anyone before them ever obeyed Me and thereby became wretched, or disobeyed Me and through his disobedience became happy. For even the beasts remember their good dwelling-places and keep returning to them, while these people have gorged themselves in the meadows of ruin. As for their rabbis and monks: they have taken My servants as bondsmen to worship them apart from Me, and they have ruled over them without My Book, until they made them ignorant of My affair, made them forget My remembrance, and deceived them against Me. As for their emirs and leaders: they were arrogant with My favor, felt secure against My stratagem, cast aside My Book, forgot My covenant and changed My transmitted way of life (sunna). Thus My servants submitted to them with the obedience that belongs only to Me, and thus they obey them in disobedience to Me, and follow them in the innovations that they introduce into My religion, out of insolence toward Me, out of blindness, and as a fabrication against Me and against My messengers. Exalted then be My majesty, the loftiness of My place and the tremendousness of My standing! Does it befit a man that he should be obeyed in disobedience to Me? And does it befit that I create servants and make them lords beside Me? And as for their reciters and jurists: they perform their worship in the houses of worship and adorn themselves with the frequenting of them for other than Me, to pursue the worldly with religion, and they do not delve into it for the sake of knowledge, and do not learn in it for the sake of acting. And as for the descendants of the prophets: they are numerous, overwhelmed and changed; they plunge with the babblers into babble, and they desire from Me the like of the help given to their fathers and the honor with which I honored them, and claim that no one has more right to that from Me than they, without sincerity, without reflection and without consideration; and they do not remember how the patience of their fathers toward Me was, and how their devotion to My affair was when the changers changed, and how they gave themselves and their blood, and showed patience and were sincere, until My affair became mighty and My religion prevailed. I have been patient with these people, that they might perhaps give heed, and I have given them long respite and forgiven them, that they might perhaps return; and I have kept them long alive, that they might perhaps come to their senses, and in all this I have given My justification: I send down for them the rain from the sky and make the earth bring forth for them, clothe them with well-being and make them prevail over the enemy — and yet they only increase in insolence and in distancing from Me. Until when, then? Do they exercise themselves against Me, or do they deceive Me? Verily, I swear by My might: I will bring upon them an affliction in which the prudent becomes perplexed, and in which the judgment of the discerning and the wisdom of the wise go astray; then I will give power over them to a cruel, harsh, haughty tyrant. I will clothe him with awe and remove from his breast mildness, mercy and eloquence. A multitude and a swarm follow him like the darkness of the dark night; he has armies like pieces of cloud and mounts like clouds of dust; it is as if the flapping of his banners were the flying of the vultures, and as if the charge of his horsemen were the dust-raising of the eagles." Then Allah revealed to Irmiyā: "Verily, I will bring the Children of Israel to ruin through Yāfith (Japheth) — and Yāfith are the people of Babel, and they are of the progeny of Yāfith ibn Nūḥ (the son of Noah)." When Irmiyā heard the revelation of his Lord, he cried out and wept, tore his clothes, threw ashes upon his head and said: "Cursed be the day on which I was born, and the day on which I met the Torah; and the worst of my days is the day on which I was born. He has made me the last of the prophets only for what is most evil for me; had He willed good for me, He would not have made me the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel. For because of me misfortune and ruin befall them." When Allah heard the imploring and weeping of al-Khiḍr, and how he spoke, He called to him: "O Irmiyā, does this weigh heavily upon you, of what I have revealed to you?" He said: "Yes, my Lord; bring me to ruin before I see among the Children of Israel what does not gladden me." Allah said: "By My mighty might, I will not bring Jerusalem and the Children of Israel to ruin until the decision concerning that proceeds from your side." Then Irmiyā rejoiced over what his Lord said to him, and his heart was set at ease, and he said: "No, by Him who sent Mūsā and His prophets with the truth, I will never command my Lord to bring the Children of Israel to ruin." Then he came to the king of the Children of Israel and informed him of what Allah had revealed to him, and he rejoiced and said: "If our Lord punishes us, then that is for the many sins that we have sent forward for ourselves; and if He forgives us, then that is through His power." Then they remained for three years after this revelation, and they only increased in disobedience and persistence in evil, and that was when their ruin drew near. Thus the revelation became scarce, when they no longer remembered the Hereafter, and it was withheld from them, when the worldly and its preoccupations distracted them. Then their king said to them: "O Children of Israel, cease from that in which you are, before Allah's violence strikes you, and before a people is sent against you that knows no mercy for you. Verily, your Lord is near in accepting repentance, with both hands stretched out to good, merciful toward whoever repents to Him." But they refused to turn away from anything of that in which they were. And Allah had inspired into the heart of Bukhtnaṣṣar — the son of Najūr Zādān, the son of Sanḥārīb, the son of Dāriyās, the son of Namrūd (Nimrod), the son of Fālikh, the son of ʿĀbir, the son of Namrūd, the contemporary of Ibrāhīm who disputed with him about his Lord — that he should march to Jerusalem and do there what his grandfather Sanḥārīb had wanted to do. So he set out with six hundred thousand banners, heading for the people of Jerusalem. When he had set out and was on the march, there came to the king of the Children of Israel the report that Bukhtnaṣṣar with his armies was approaching and seeking you. So the king sent for Irmiyā, who came to him, and he said: "O Irmiyā, where is what you held out to us, that your Lord had revealed to you that He would not bring the people of Jerusalem to ruin until the decision concerning that should proceed from you?" Irmiyā said to the king: "Verily, my Lord does not break His promise, and I trust in Him." When the term drew near, the end of their kingship arrived, and Allah had decreed their ruin, Allah sent an angel from with Him and said to him: "Go to Irmiyā and ask him for a legal ruling", and He commanded him concerning that about which he was to ask for a ruling. The angel betook himself to Irmiyā, and he had taken on the form of a man of the Children of Israel. Irmiyā said to him: "Who are you?" He said: "A man of the Children of Israel; I ask you for a ruling in one of my affairs." So he permitted him, and the angel said to him: "O prophet of Allah, I have come to you to ask you for a ruling concerning the people of my kinship. I have maintained their kinship ties as Allah commanded me, I have done them nothing but good and have withheld from them no honor, but my honoring of them only increases them in wrath toward me. Give me then a ruling concerning them, O prophet of Allah." He said to him: "Do good in that which is between you and Allah, maintain what Allah has commanded you to maintain, and rejoice in good", and he departed from him. He stayed away some days, and then came to him in the form of the one who had come to visit him, and sat down before him. Irmiyā said to him: "Who are you?" He said: "I am the man who came to you to ask you for a ruling concerning the affair of my family." The prophet of Allah said to him: "Has their nature and conduct not yet become clear to you, and have you not seen of them what you love?" He said: "O prophet of Allah, by Him who sent you with the truth, I know no honor that anyone of mankind could show his kin, but I have shown it to them, and more than that." The prophet said: "Return to your family and do them good; I ask Allah, who sets right His righteous servants, that He set right the relationship between you, unite you upon what pleases Him, and keep you far from His wrath." Then the angel went away from with Him (to convey this). He stayed away some days, and Bukhtnaṣṣar and his armies had encamped around Jerusalem, and with him were multitudes of his people like locusts. The Children of Israel were greatly alarmed by that, and that weighed heavily upon the king of the Children of Israel. So he summoned Irmiyā and said: "O prophet of Allah, where is what Allah promised you?" He said: "I trust in my Lord." Then the angel came to Irmiyā, while the latter was sitting on the wall of Jerusalem, laughing and rejoicing over the help of his Lord that He had promised him, and he sat down before him. Irmiyā said to him: "Who are you?" He said: "I am the one who came to you twice concerning the affair of my family." The prophet said to him: "Has the time not yet come for them to cease from that in which they persist?" The angel said to him: "O prophet of Allah, everything that befell me from them before this day, over it I used to be patient, knowing that their aim thereby was to anger me; but when I came to them today, I saw them at a work that does not please Allah and that Allah, mighty and exalted, does not love." The prophet of Allah said to him: "At what work did you see them?" He said: "O prophet of Allah, I saw them at a tremendous work of Allah's wrath; had they been at that in which they were before this day, my wrath would not have been so severe over them, and I would have been patient with them and hoped for them; but today I have become wrathful for the sake of Allah and for your sake, and I have come to you to inform you of their news, and I ask you by Allah who sent you with the truth, that you do nothing but invoke your Lord against them that He bring them to ruin." Irmiyā said: "O Possessor of the heavens and the earth, if they are in truth and uprightness, then let them continue to exist; and if they are in Your wrath and at a work that is not pleasing to You, then bring them to ruin." And the word had not yet come out of Irmiyā's mouth, when Allah sent a thunderbolt from heaven into Jerusalem, and the place of sacrifice caught fire, and seven of its gates were swallowed up. When Irmiyā saw that, he cried out, tore his clothes, threw ashes upon his head and said: "O Possessor of the heavens and the earth, in Your hand is the dominion over all things, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful; where is Your promise that You promised me?" Then it was called out to Irmiyā: "Verily, there has befallen them only what has befallen them through your legal ruling, which you gave to Our messenger." Then the prophet ﷺ became convinced that it was his legal ruling that he had given three times, and that he (the visitor) was the messenger of his Lord. Then Irmiyā flew away, until he mingled among the wild beasts, and Bukhtnaṣṣar and his armies entered Jerusalem. He trod Syria (al-Shām) underfoot, and killed the Children of Israel until he destroyed them, and he laid Jerusalem waste. He commanded his armies that each man of them should fill his shield with earth and then throw it into Jerusalem, and they threw the earth into it until they filled it. Then he returned to the land of Babel and carried off with him the captives of the Children of Israel. He commanded all who were in Jerusalem to be gathered, and so there gathered to him every small and great one of the Children of Israel, and he chose seventy thousand boys from among them. When the booty of his army was brought out and he wanted to divide it among them, the kings who were with him said to him: "O king, all our booty belongs to you; divide among us these boys whom you have chosen from the Children of Israel." That he did, and each man of them received four boys. Among those boys were Dāniyāl, Ḥanāniyā, ʿAzāriyā and Mīshāʾīl, and seven thousand of the people of the House of Dāwūd, and eleven thousand of the tribe of Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb and his brother Binyāmīn, and eight thousand of the tribe of Ashar ibn Yaʿqūb, and fourteen thousand of the tribe of Zabālūn ibn Yaʿqūb and Nafthālī ibn Yaʿqūb, and four thousand of the tribe of Yahūdhā ibn Yaʿqūb, and four thousand of the tribe of Rūbīl and Lāwī, the two sons of Yaʿqūb, and whoever remained of the Children of Israel. Bukhtnaṣṣar divided them into three groups: a third he left behind in Syria, a third he took captive, and a third he killed. He took the vessels of Jerusalem with him until he brought them to Babel, and he took the seventy thousand boys with him until he brought them to Babel. This was the first event that Allah brought down upon the Children of Israel because of their misdeeds and their wrongdoing. When Bukhtnaṣṣar turned away from them and returned to Babel with whom he had with him of the captives of the Children of Israel, Armiyā came riding on a donkey of his, with grape-juice with him — and afterward he recounted his history, when Allah caused him to die for a hundred years and then raised him; then the report of Bukhtnaṣṣar's dream and the affair of Dāniyāl, and the ruin of Bukhtnaṣṣar, and the return of whoever remained after his ruin of the Children of Israel in the hands of Bukhtnaṣṣar's companions, to Syria, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the affair of ʿUzayr and how Allah restored to him the Torah.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, saying: then the Children of Israel went on after that committing misdeeds — that is to say: after the death of ʿUzayr — and Allah kept turning to them mercifully again and sent among them the messengers, but a group they belied and a group they killed, until the last whom Allah sent among them of their prophets were Zakariyyā, Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā and ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, and they were of the House of Dāwūd.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, that he said — while recounting the killing of Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā: Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā was killed only because of a lewd woman, one of the harlots of the Children of Israel. There was among them a king, and Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā was under the authority of that king. Now the daughter of that king desired her father, and she said: "If I were to marry my father, his dominion would entirely fall to me, to the exclusion of the women." She said to him: "O father, marry me", and she offered herself to him. He said to her: "O little daughter, verily Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā does not permit us this." She said: "Who will help me against Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā? He has made it strait for me and has prevented me from marrying my father, so that I might rule over his kingship and his worldly goods to the exclusion of the women." He said: then she commanded the players and contrived that with a view to the killing of Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā. She said: "Enter to him and play, and when you have finished, he will grant you a wish; then say: the blood of Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā, and accept nothing else." The name of the king was Rawād, and the name of his daughter al-Baghī (the lewd one). When the king spoke among them and lied, or promised and broke his promise, he was deposed and replaced by another. When they played before him and his wonder at them grew great, he said: "Ask me, and I will give you." They said to him: "We ask you for the blood of Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā; give us that." He said: "Woe to you, ask me for something other than this." They said: "We ask you for nothing other than that." Then he feared for his kingship, that if he broke his promise to them, his deposition would thereby be permitted. So he sent for Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā, while the latter was sitting in his prayer niche (miḥrāb) praying, and they slaughtered him into a platter and then cut off his head. A man carried it in his hand, while the blood was carried along with the platter. He said: he appeared carrying his head, until he stood with it before the king, and his head said, in the hand of the one who carried it: "This is not permitted to you." Then a man of the Children of Israel said: "O king, would you grant me this blood?" He said: "What will you do with it?" He said: "I will cleanse the earth of it, for it has made it strait for us." He said: "Give him this blood." So he took it and put it in a jar; then he brought it to a house in the slaughter-place, placed the jar in it and shut it over it. But it bubbled over in the jar, until it came out, from under the door of the house in which it was. When the man saw that, he was dismayed by it, and he took it out and put it in an open expanse of the land, where it kept bubbling, and the misdeeds among them increased. And among them are those who say: it remained in its place at the sacrifice and was not moved.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq said: when Allah raised ʿĪsā from among them and they killed Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā — and some people say: and they killed Zakariyyā — Allah sent against them one of the kings of Babel, named Khardūs. He marched with the people of Babel against it (the land), until he invaded Syria. When he had prevailed over them, he commanded one of the chiefs of his army, named Nabūr Zādān, the master of killing, and said to him: "Verily, I have sworn by my god that, if we prevail over the people of Jerusalem, I will kill them until their blood flows in the midst of my camp — unless I find no one to kill." So he commanded him to kill them until that (the flowing of blood) should be attained among them. Nabūr Zādān entered Jerusalem and came to the place where they used to bring their sacrifices, and he found there blood that was boiling. He questioned them and said: "O Children of Israel, what is this blood that boils? Inform me of it and hide nothing of the matter from me." They said: "This is the blood of a sacrifice that was ours; we brought it, but it was not accepted from us, and that is why it boils as you see. For eight hundred years we have brought the sacrifice, and it was accepted from us, except this sacrifice." He said: "You have not given me the report truthfully." They said to him: "Had it been as in our former time, it would have been accepted from us; but the kingship, the prophethood and the revelation have been cut off from us, and that is why it was not accepted from us." Then Nabūr Zādān slaughtered at that blood seven hundred and seventy souls of their chiefs, but it did not subside. Thereupon he commanded seven hundred of their boys, and they were slaughtered at the blood, but it did not subside. Thereupon he commanded seven thousand of their followers and their wives, and he slaughtered them at the blood, but it neither cooled nor subsided. When Nabūr Zādān saw that the blood did not subside, he said to them: "Woe to you, O Children of Israel, speak the truth to me and bear the command of your Lord patiently; long enough have you ruled on the earth and done therein what you wished — before I leave of you no fire-blower, woman nor man, but I kill him." When they saw the torment and the severity of the killing, they gave him the report truthfully and said to him: "Verily, this is the blood of a prophet of ours, who used to forbid us many matters of Allah's wrath — had we obeyed him in that, it would have been better for us — and he used to inform us of your affair, but we did not believe him and killed him, and this is his blood." Nabūr Zādān said to them: "What was his name?" They said: "Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā." He said: "Now you have spoken the truth to me; with something like this your Lord takes vengeance on you." When Nabūr Zādān saw that they had spoken the truth to him, he fell down in prostration (sujūd) and said to those around him: "Bolt the gates, the gates of the city, and let everyone of Khardūs's army who is here go out." And he remained alone with the Children of Israel and then said: "O Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā, my Lord and your Lord already knows what has befallen your people because of you, and how many of them have been killed because of you; subside then by Allah's leave, before I leave none of your people." Then the blood of Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā subsided by Allah's leave, and Nabūr Zādān lifted the killing from them and said: "I believe in what the Children of Israel have believed, and I hold for true and know with certainty that there is no Lord but He; and if there were another with Him, it would not go well; and if He had a partner, the heavens and the earth would not stand; and if He had a child, it would not go well. Blessed and sanctified be He, praised, exalted and tremendously esteemed — the King of kings, to whom belongs the dominion over the seven heavens and the earth and what is in them and what is between them, and He is able to do all things. To Him belongs forbearance, knowledge, power and omnipotence. And it is He who spread out the earth and anchored in it the mountains, so that it would not sway; thus it befits my Lord to be, and thus it befits His kingship to be." Then Allah revealed to one of the chiefs of the remnant of the prophets that Nabūr Zādān was a true "ḥabūr" — and "ḥabūr" means in Hebrew: new in the faith. And Nabūr Zādān said to the Children of Israel: "O Children of Israel, verily the enemy of Allah, Khardūs, has commanded me to kill of you until your blood flows in the midst of his camp, and I cannot disobey him." They said to him: "Do what you are commanded." So he commanded them, and they dug a trench, and he commanded their possessions of livestock — horses, mules, donkeys, cattle, sheep and camels — and he slaughtered them until the blood flowed in the camp. And he commanded that the dead who were there before be thrown upon the slaughtered livestock, until they lay on top of them, so that Khardūs supposed nothing other than that what was in the trench was of the Children of Israel. When the blood reached his camp, he sent to Nabūr Zādān: "Lift it from them, for their blood has reached me, and I have taken vengeance on them for what they did." Then he returned from them to the land of Babel, and he had destroyed the Children of Israel, or nearly. And this is the last event that Allah brought down upon the Children of Israel. Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: you shall surely cause corruption on the earth twice and shall surely exalt yourselves with great haughtiness. * And when the promise of the first of those two came, We sent against you servants of Ours of great might, who searched through the dwellings, and it was a fulfilled promise. * Then We gave you back the turn against them, and We increased you with possessions and sons, and We made you more numerous in number. * If you do good, you do good for yourselves, and if you do evil, then it is for it. And when the promise of the latter time comes, that they may bring evil to your faces, and that they may enter the mosque as they entered it the first time, and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame. * And if you return, We return, and We have made Hell (jahannam) a prison for the disbelievers. And "perhaps (ʿasā)" is from Allah a certain truth. Thus was the first event: Bukhtnaṣṣar and his armies; then Allah gave you back the turn against them; and the last event was Khardūs and his armies, and that was the greater of the two events — in it lay the destruction of their lands, the killing of their men, and the captivity of their children and women. Allah, blessed and exalted, says: and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame. Then Allah turned to them mercifully again.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū ʿAttāb, a man of Taghlib who had been a Christian for a great part of his life and then accepted Islam, read the Qurʾān and delved into the religion — and it was mentioned that he had been a Christian for forty years and then lived forty years in Islam — he said: the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel was a prophet whom Allah sent to them, and he said to them: "O Children of Israel, verily Allah says to you: I have taken away your voices and abhorred you because of the multitude of your misdeeds." Then they resolved to kill him, but Allah, blessed and exalted, said to him: "Go to them and set forth for Me and for them a parable, and say to them: verily Allah, blessed and exalted, says to you: judge between Me and My vineyard. Did I not choose for it the land, prepare the soil for it, shelter it with an enclosure, provide it with hedge, thorns, fence and willow-shrub (give it trellising), surround it with My mantle, seclude it from the world and privilege it? And yet it has met Me with thorns and stumps and every tree that is not eaten. To what end then did I choose for it the land, prepare the soil, shelter it with an enclosure, provide it with trellising, surround it with My mantle, seclude it from the world? I privileged you and completed My favor upon you, and then you met Me with all that I abhor, of disobedience to Me and strife against My command. Why? Verily, the donkey knows its feeding-trough; why? Verily, the cow knows its master. I have sworn by My mighty might and by My strong arm: I will surely take away My mantle, surely raze the wall, and surely lay you under the feet of the world." He said: then they sprang upon their prophet and killed him. Thereupon Allah laid upon them abasement, and took from them the kingship, so that they are not among any of the communities without there resting upon them abasement, belittlement and poll-tax (jizyah) that they pay, while the kingship lies with people other than them; and thus they will ever remain, so long as they are as they now are.
He said: he said: this is what has reached us of the totality of the narrations about the Children of Israel.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word And when the promise of the latter time comes, that they may bring evil to your faces, and that they may enter the mosque as they entered it the first time, and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame: he said: the latter was much more severe than the first; he said: for the first was only a defeat, while the latter was the destruction, and Bukhtnaṣṣar burned the Torah until not a single letter of it remained, and he laid waste the house of worship.
Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Maryam sent out Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā with twelve of the disciples to instruct the people. He said: and among what he forbade them was the marrying of the brother's daughter (the niece). He said: the king had a brother's daughter (niece) who pleased him and whom he wanted to marry, and she had every day a wish that he fulfilled. When this reached her mother, the latter said to her: "When you enter to the king and he asks you about your wish, say: my wish is that you slaughter for me Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā." When she entered to him, he asked her about her wish, and she said: "My wish is that you slaughter Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā." He said: "Ask for something other than this!" She said: "I ask you for nothing but this." He said: when she refused him, he summoned Yaḥyā, called for a platter and slaughtered him, and a drop of his blood sprang upon the earth, and it kept boiling until Allah sent Bukhtnaṣṣar against them. An old woman of the Children of Israel came to him and pointed out to him that blood. He said: Allah inspired into him that he should kill of them at that blood until it subsided, and he killed seventy thousand of them of one age, and then it subsided.
And His word and that they may enter the mosque as they entered it the first time — He says: and that your enemy, whom I send against you, may enter the mosque of Jerusalem, overpowering and overcoming them, as they entered it the first time, when you caused the first corruption on the earth.
And as for His word and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame, He says: and that they may utterly lay waste that of your lands over which they gained the upper hand. One says of that: "dammartu al-balada" — when you destroy a city and bring its inhabitants to ruin — and "tabara tabran wa-tabāran", and "tabbartuhu atburuhu tatbīran". From this stems Allah's word, exalted be His remembrance: and increase the wrongdoers in nothing but ruin (tabār), that is to say: in destruction.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame: he said: destruction.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda and that they may utterly destroy all that they overcame: he said: that they may lay waste all that they overcame.
Footnotes:
(17) Thus in the original. The word is mutilated. In the Holy Scripture, the Book of Daniel, chapter five, it stands: "Then Belshazzar commanded that Daniel be clothed with purple and that a gold chain be placed about his neck."
