Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:259
Or [consider such an example] as the one who passed by a township which had fallen into ruin. He said, "How will Allah bring this to life after its death?" So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years; then He revived him. He said, "How long have you remained?" The man said, "I have remained a day or part of a day." He said, "Rather, you have remained one hundred years. Look at your food and your drink; it has not changed with time. And look at your donkey; and We will make you a sign for the people. And look at the bones [of this donkey] - how We raise them and then We cover them with flesh." And when it became clear to him, he said, "I know that Allah is over all things competent."
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.
**Or like the one who passed by a town**
The interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: أو كالذي مر على قرية ("Or like the one who passed by a town"). The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by His word: أو كالذي مر على قريه ("Or like the one who passed by a town") something corresponding to what He meant by His word: ألم تر إلى الذي حاج إبراهيم في ربه ("Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord"), namely that the Prophet ﷺ marvelled at it. And His word: أو كالذي مر على قريه ("Or like the one who passed by a town") is joined (by coordination) to His word: ألم تر إلى الذي حاج إبراهيم في ربه ("Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord"). He joined His word أو كالذي ("Or like the one who") to His word إلى الذي حاج إبراهيم في ربه ("the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord"), even though their wordings differ, because of the kinship of their nature, since His word ألم تر إلى الذي حاج إبراهيم في ربه ("Have you not seen the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord") has the meaning: "Have you, O Muḥammad, not seen someone like the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord?" Then He joined to it His word: أو كالذي مر على قريه ("Or like the one who passed by a town"), for it is a custom of the Arabs to join, by coordination, an utterance to a meaning that is corresponding to it and precedes it, even though the one wording differs from the other.
Some of the grammarians of Baṣra have claimed that the "kāf" in His word أو كالذي مر على قريه ("Or like the one who passed by a town") is redundant, and that the meaning is: "Have you not seen them all — the one who disputed with Ibrāhīm, or the one who passed by a town?" We have, however, previously set forth that it is not permissible for there to be in the Book of Allah anything that has no meaning, in a manner that makes it superfluous to repeat it in this place.
The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have differed concerning the one who passed by a town while it lay in ruins down to its roofs. Some of them said: it was ʿUzayr. Mention of who said that:
4591 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Nājiya ibn Kaʿb, concerning أو كالذي مر على قرية وهي خاوية على عروشها ("Or like the one who passed by a town while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"), he said: it was ʿUzayr.
4592 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Abū Khuzayma related to us, saying: I heard Sulaymān ibn Burayda concerning His word أو كالذي مر على قريه ("Or like the one who passed by a town"), he said: it was ʿUzayr.
4593 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning أو كالذي مر على قريه خاوية على عروشها ("Or like the one who passed by a town in ruins down to its roofs"), he said: it has been related to us that it was ʿUzayr.
4594 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, something similar.
4595 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, concerning His word أو كالذي مر على قريه ("Or like the one who passed by a town"), he said: al-Rabīʿ said: it has been related to us — and Allah knows best — that the one who passed by the town was ʿUzayr.
4596 — 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 ʿIkrima, concerning أو كالذي مر على قريه وهي خاوية على عروشها ("Or like the one who passed by a town while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"), he said: ʿUzayr.
4597 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning أو كالذي مر على قرية ("Or like the one who passed by a town"), he said: ʿUzayr.
4598 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word أو كالذي مر على قريه وهي خاويه على عروشها ("Or like the one who passed by a town while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"): indeed, it was ʿUzayr.
4599 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Salm al-Khawwāṣ said to us: Ibn ʿAbbās used always to say: it was ʿUzayr.
Others said: it was Irmiyā ibn Ḥalqiyā. And Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq claimed that Irmiyā is al-Khiḍr.
4600 — Ibn Ḥumayd related that to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: the name of al-Khiḍr was, according to what Wahb ibn Munabbih claimed on the authority of the Banū Isrāʾīl, Irmiyā ibn Ḥalqiyā, and he belonged to the tribe of Hārūn ibn ʿImrān. Mention of who said that:
4601 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to us that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih saying concerning His word أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death"): when Irmiyā saw Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) laid waste and the Books burned, he stood still at the side of the mountain and said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death").
4602 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of one who is not suspect, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, he said: it was Irmiyā. * — Muḥammad ibn ʿAskar related to me, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, saying: I heard ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, something similar.
4603 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, concerning the word of Allah أو كالذي مر على قريه وهي خاوية على عروشها ("Or like the one who passed by a town while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"), he said: he was a prophet and his name was Irmiyā. * — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd, something similar.
4604 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Bakr ibn Muḍar informed me, saying: it is said — and Allah knows best — that it was Irmiyā.
The most correct of these opinions is to say: that Allah — praised be His mention — made His prophet ﷺ feel wonder at the one who, when he saw a town that lay in ruins down to its roofs, said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death"), despite his knowledge that He had originated its creation from nothing. His knowledge of His power to originate it did not, then, set him at ease, until he said: "How will Allah bring it to life after its death!" We have, however, no proof from the way through which a valid proof concerning the name of the one who said this can be established; it is possible that it was ʿUzayr, and it is possible that it was Irmiyā. We have no need of knowing his name, since the aim of the verse was not to make the creatures know the name of the one who uttered this. Rather, its aim was to make known to those who deny Allah's power to bring His creatures back to life after their death and to return them after their decay — among the Quraysh, and among whoever of the rest of the Arabs denied that — that He is the One in whose hand are life and death, and thereby to establish the proof against the Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl who were in the midst of the place to which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ emigrated, by making His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ acquainted with what removed their doubt about his prophethood and cut off their excuse concerning his messengership. For these reports which He revealed to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ in His Book were among the reports that Muḥammad ﷺ and his people did not know, and that knowledge was present only with the People of the Book — while Muḥammad ﷺ and his people were not among them, but rather he was unlettered, and his people were unlettered. Thereby it was known among the People of the Book among the Jews, who were in the midst of his place of emigration, that Muḥammad ﷺ knew that only through revelation from Allah to him. Had the aim of this been a report about the name of the one who uttered it, then the indication of it would have been set up in such a way that it cut off the excuse and removed the doubt; but the aim was the censure of his utterance, and Allah — praised be His mention — made that clear to His creatures.
The exegetes have differed concerning the town by which the utterer of أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death") passed. Some said: it is Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis). Mention of who said that:
4605 — Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik related to me, both saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih saying: when Irmiyā saw the devastation of Jerusalem, like a mighty mountain, he said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death").
4606 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil informed us that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih saying: it is Jerusalem. * — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of one who is not suspect, that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say that.
4607 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: it has been related to us that it was Jerusalem; ʿUzayr passed by it after Bukhtnaṣṣar (Nebuchadnezzar) the Babylonian had laid it waste.
4608 — It was related to us on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word أو كالذي مر على قريه وهي خاوية على عروشها ("Or like the one who passed by a town while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"): that he passed by the Holy Land.
4609 — 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 ʿIkrima, concerning His word أو كالذي مر على قرية ("Or like the one who passed by a town"), he said: the town is Jerusalem; ʿUzayr passed by it after Bukhtnaṣṣar had laid it waste.
4610 — It was related to us on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning أو كالذي مر على قريه ("Or like the one who passed by a town"), he said: the town is Jerusalem; ʿUzayr passed by it after Bukhtnaṣṣar had laid it waste.
Others said: rather it is the town in which Allah destroyed those who had departed from their dwellings, while they were in their thousands, out of fear of death, whereupon Allah said to them: "Die!" Mention of who said that:
4611 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah — praised be His mention —: ألم تر إلى الذين خرجوا من ديارهم وهم ألوف ("Have you not seen those who departed from their dwellings while they were in their thousands"), he said: it was a town in which the plague had broken out. Then he recounted their story, which we have mentioned in its place on his authority, until he came to: whereupon Allah said to them: "Die!" in the place to which they had gone to seek life; and they died, after which Allah brought them back to life: إن الله لذو فضل على الناس ولكن أكثر الناس لا يشكرون ("Indeed, Allah is full of bounty toward the people, but most of the people are not grateful") (2:243). He said: and a man passed by it while they were bones gleaming; he stood still and looked, and said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها فأماته الله مائة عام ثم بعثه ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death? Then Allah caused him to die for a hundred years and afterward raised him up") — up to His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled").
And the correct view on this matter is the same as the correct opinion concerning the name of the utterer of أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death"); they do not differ from one another.
**While it lay in ruins down to its roofs**
The interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: وهي خاوية على عروشها ("while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"). The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by His word وهي خاويه ("while it was empty"): empty of its inhabitants and its dwellers. One says of that: *khawat al-dār takhwī khawāʾan wa-khuwiyyan* (the house was deserted). Sometimes one says of a town: *khawiyat*, but the first is more correct and purer in language. As for the woman, when she loses blood after childbirth (nufasāʾ), one says: *khawiyat takhwā khawan*, with elision (of the hamza); and sometimes one also says of her: *khawat takhwī*, as one says of the house. Likewise one says of the belly's hollow: *khawiya l-jawf yakhwā khawāʾan shadīdan* (the hollow became very empty). If one were to say of the belly's hollow what is said of the house, and of the house what is said of the belly's hollow, that would be correct, except that the pure usage is what I have mentioned.
As for the *ʿurūsh*: these are the structures and the houses; the singular of them is *ʿarsh*, and the plural of the small number of them is *aʿrush*. Every structure is a *ʿarsh*. One says: *ʿarasha fulānun dāran yaʿrishu wa-yaʿrushu*, and *ʿarrasha taʿrīshan* (so-and-so built a house). From this is the word of Allah — praised be His mention —: وما كانوا يعرشون ("and what they used to build") (7:137), that is: built. From this also comes the word *ʿarīsh Makka*, by which are meant: its tents and its structures. And as we have said about it, so the exegetes have spoken. Mention of who said that:
4612 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: *khāwiya* (in ruins) means: laid waste. Ibn Jurayj said: it has reached us that ʿUzayr set out and stood still by Jerusalem, while Bukhtnaṣṣar had laid it waste; he stood still and said: "After all the sanctity, the warriors, and the wealth that belonged to you — what has become of you!" And he grieved.
4613 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word وهي خاوية على عروشها ("while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"), he said: it is laid waste.
4614 — It was related to us on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, he said: ʿUzayr passed by it, while Bukhtnaṣṣar had laid it waste.
4615 — It was related to me on the authority of Mūsā, he said: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning وهي خاوية على عروشها ("while it lay in ruins down to its roofs"), he says: collapsed upon its roofs.
**He said: "How will Allah bring this to life after its death?" Then Allah caused him to die for a hundred years**
The interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: قال أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها فأماته الله مائة عام ("He said: 'How will Allah bring this to life after its death?' Then Allah caused him to die for a hundred years"). The meaning of this, according to what has been related, is: that its utterer, when he passed by Jerusalem — or by the place of which Allah has mentioned that he passed by it as a ruin, after he had known it inhabited — said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death?"). Some said: his uttering of what he said was out of doubt about Allah's power to bring it to life. Thereupon Allah showed him His power over that by setting the example before him in his own person; then He showed him the place whose capacity to be inhabited and revived he had denied, and brought back to life what he had seen before the devastation, and made inhabited again what it had been before the devastation.
For the utterer of this had, according to what has been related to us, known it inhabited with its people and its dwellers; then he saw it lying in ruins down to its roofs, with its inhabitants gone, dispersed by slaughter and captivity, so that there remained of them no one in that place, and their dwellings and houses laid waste, so that nothing remained but the remnant. When he saw it thus, after the state in which he had known it, he said: "In what manner will Allah bring this to life after its devastation and make it inhabited!" — out of wonder, according to what some exegetes said. Thereupon He showed him the manner in which He brings that to life, through what He set before him as an example in his own person, and in what there was of his drink and his food; then He made him know His power over that and over other than it, by making visible the revival of that whose revival — to his mind — was, by Allah's power, astonishing for the seeing of his eye, until he beheld it with his sight. When he saw that, he said: أعلم أن الله على كل شيء قدير ("I know that Allah has power over all things"). And the cause of his uttering this was as follows:
4616 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of one who is not suspect, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, that he used to say: Allah said to Irmiyā when He sent him as a prophet to the Banū Isrāʾīl: "O Irmiyā, before I created you, I chose you; and before I formed you in your mother's womb, I sanctified you; and before I brought you out of her belly, I purified you; and before you reached the age of exertion, I gave you prophethood; and before you attained mature strength, I chose you; and for a mighty matter I have selected you." Allah — praised be His mention — sent Irmiyā, then, to the king of the Banū Isrāʾīl, to guide him and set him on the right path, and to bring him the piety of Allah in what was between Him and him. He said: then misdeeds increased among the Banū Isrāʾīl; they committed acts of disobedience, declared the forbidden permitted, forgot what Allah had done for them and how He had saved them from their enemy Sanḥārīb (Sennacherib). Thereupon Allah revealed to Irmiyā: "Go to your people of the Banū Isrāʾīl and recite to them what I command you, and remind them of My favor toward them and make them know their misdeeds." Then he mentioned what Allah sent through Irmiyā to his people of the Banū Isrāʾīl.
He said: then Allah revealed to Irmiyā: "I will destroy the Banū Isrāʾīl by Yāfith" — and Yāfith are the people of Babel, who are descendants of Yāfith ibn Nūḥ. When Irmiyā heard the revelation of his Lord, he cried out and wept, tore his garments and cast 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 among the worst of my days is the day on which I was born. You have left me as none but the last of the prophets only for what is evil for me; had You wished me good, You would not have made me the last of the prophets of the Banū Isrāʾīl, for because of me misery and ruin shall befall them." When Allah heard the supplication and weeping of al-Khiḍr, and how he spoke, He called out to him: "Irmiyā, is what I have revealed to you too heavy for you?" He said: "Yes, my Lord, You destroy among the Banū Isrāʾīl what does not gladden me." Thereupon Allah said: "By My mighty glory, I will not destroy Jerusalem and the Banū Isrāʾīl until the decision concerning that issues from you." Then Irmiyā rejoiced at 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 with the destruction of the Banū Isrāʾīl." Then he went to the king of the Banū Isrāʾīl and informed him of what Allah had revealed to him, and he rejoiced and was glad, and said: "If our Lord punishes us, it is because of many sins that we have sent ahead for ourselves; and if He forgives us, it is out of His power."
Then they remained, after this revelation, three years, in which they only increased in disobedience, and they persisted in evil — and that was when their ruin drew near. The revelation became scarce, until they no longer remembered the hereafter, and it was withheld from them when the worldly life and its preoccupations had distracted them. Then their king said: "O Banū Isrāʾīl, desist from that which you are upon, before a punishment from Allah befalls you, and before He sends over you kings who know no mercy for you. For your Lord is near in accepting repentance, with hands outstretched in goodness, merciful toward whoever turns to Him in repentance." But they refused him to abandon anything of what they were engaged in. And Allah cast into the heart of Bukhtnaṣṣar ibn Naʿwan ibn Zādān (the thought) that he should march to Jerusalem and do there what his forefather Sanḥārīb had wished to do. He set out with six hundred thousand banners, heading for the people of Jerusalem.
When he had set out, the news reached the king of the Banū Isrāʾīl that Bukhtnaṣṣar was advancing, he and his armies, upon you. The king sent for Irmiyā, who came to him, and he said: "O Irmiyā, where is what you claimed for us, that our Lord had revealed to you that He would not destroy the people of Jerusalem until the decision concerning that issued from you?" Irmiyā said to the king: "Indeed, my Lord does not break the promise, and I trust in Him." When the term drew near, and the end of their kingdom approached, and Allah decreed their ruin, Allah sent an angel from with Him and said to him: "Go to Irmiyā and ask him for a ruling (fatwā), and instruct him concerning that about which he asks him for a ruling." The angel came to Irmiyā, having taken on the form of a man of the Banū Isrāʾīl, and Irmiyā said to him: "Who are you?" He said: "A man of the Banū Isrāʾīl who asks you for a ruling in one of my affairs." He gave him permission, and the angel said: "O prophet of Allah, I have come to you to ask you for a ruling about my kinsfolk. I have maintained their ties of kinship as Allah commanded me; I have met them only with good, and I have not withheld honor from them; but my honoring of them only makes them increase in wrath toward me. Give me, then, a ruling about them, O prophet of Allah." He said to him: "Do good in what is between you and Allah, and maintain what Allah has commanded you to maintain, and rejoice in good." Then the angel went away from him.
He stayed away some days, and then he came to him in the form of that man who had come to him, and he sat down before him, and Irmiyā said to him: "Who are you?" He said: "I am the man who came to you about the affair of my family." The prophet of Allah said to him: "Have their characters not yet purified themselves for you, and have you not seen from them what you love?" He said: "O prophet of Allah, by Him who sent you with the truth, I know of no honor that anyone of the people renders toward his kinsfolk but that I have rendered it toward them, and even better than that." The prophet ﷺ said: "Return to your family and do good to them; I ask Allah, who brings His righteous servants to wellbeing, that He bring the relationship between you to wellbeing, and unite you upon what pleases Him, and remove you from His wrath." Then the angel went away from him.
He stayed some days, and Bukhtnaṣṣar had encamped with his armies around Jerusalem, more numerous than the locusts. The Banū Isrāʾīl fell into severe panic, and this weighed heavily on the king of the Banū Isrāʾīl. 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 he was sitting on the wall of Jerusalem laughing and rejoicing at the help of his Lord which He had promised him, and he sat down before him, and Irmiyā said to him: "Who are you?" He said: "I am the one who asked you twice for a ruling about the affair of my family." The prophet ﷺ said to him: "Has it not yet become time for them to awaken from that which they are in?" The angel said: "O prophet of Allah, everything that befell me from them before this day I endured, knowing that their intention by it was only my wrath; but when I came to them today, I saw them engaged in a work that does not please Allah and that Allah does not love." The prophet ﷺ said: "At what work did you see them?" He said: "O prophet of Allah, I saw them at a tremendous work of Allah's wrath, and had they been as they were before this day, my anger would not have been so severe over them, and I would have endured them and hoped for them; but today I have become angry for the sake of Allah and for your sake, and therefore I have come to you to convey to you their news. And I ask you, by Allah who sent you with the truth, that you call upon your Lord for them that He destroy them." Thereupon Irmiyā said: "O Owner of the heavens and the earth, if they are upon truth and rightness, preserve them; and if they are in Your wrath and in a work that does not please You, destroy them."
When the word had come out of Irmiyā's mouth, Allah sent a thunderbolt from the heaven upon Jerusalem; the place of sacrifice caught fire, and seven of its gates were swallowed into the ground. When Irmiyā saw that, he cried out and tore his garments and cast ashes upon his head, and said: "O King of the heaven, and O Most Merciful of the merciful, where is Your promise which You promised me?" Thereupon Irmiyā was called out to: "Indeed, there has befallen them only what has befallen them through your utterance by which you gave Our messenger a ruling." Then the prophet ﷺ became certain that it was his utterance by which he had given a ruling three times, and that he (the visitor) was a messenger of his Lord. Irmiyā fled (as it were) until he mingled with the wild beasts. Bukhtnaṣṣar and his armies entered Jerusalem, entered Syria (al-Shām) and killed the Banū Isrāʾīl until he had exterminated them, and laid Jerusalem waste. Then he commanded his armies that each of them fill his shield with earth and then cast it into Jerusalem; and they cast the earth into it until they filled it. Then he returned to the land of Babel, and he carried with him the captives (sabī) of the Banū Isrāʾīl, and commanded them to gather all who were in Jerusalem. Thereupon there gathered to him every small and great one of the Banū Isrāʾīl, and he selected from them ninety thousand boys. When the spoils of his army had been brought out and he wished to divide them among them, the kings who were with him said to him: "O king, all our spoils are yours; divide among us these boys whom you have selected from the Banū Isrāʾīl." He did that, and each of them was allotted four boys. Among those boys were: Dāniyāl, ʿAzāriyā, Mīsāyil, and Ḥanāniyā.
Bukhtnaṣṣar divided them into three groups: a third he left in Syria, a third he took as captives, and a third he killed. He carried off the captives of Jerusalem until he brought them to Babel, and the ninety thousand boys until he brought them to Babel. This was the first event that Allah — praised be His mention — mentioned to His prophet concerning their misdeeds and their wrongdoing.
When Bukhtnaṣṣar turned away from it, returning to Babel with the captives of the Banū Isrāʾīl who were with him, Irmiyā came on a donkey of his, with grape juice in a leather skin and a basket of figs, until he arrived at Īliyāʾ (Jerusalem). When he stood still at it and saw the devastation that was in it, doubt came into him, and he said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها فأماته الله مائة عام ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death? Then Allah caused him to die for a hundred years"). And his donkey, his grape juice, and his basket of figs were with him, in the place where Allah caused him to die; and his donkey died with him. Allah blinded the eyes from him, so that no one saw him. Then Allah — the Exalted — raised him up and said to him: كم لبثت قال لبثت يوما أو بعض يوم قال بل لبثت مائة عام فانظر إلى طعامك وشرابك لم يتسنه ("How long have you remained?" He said: "I have remained a day or part of a day." He said: "No, you have remained a hundred years; look then at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled"), that is: it has not changed; وانظر إلى حمارك ولنجعلك آية للناس وانظر إلى العظام كيف ننشزها ثم نكسوها لحما ("and look at your donkey — and that We may make you a sign for the people — and look at the bones, how We raise them up and then clothe them with flesh"). Then he looked at his donkey, how one part of it joined to the other — while it had died with him — with the veins and the sinews; then how the flesh of it was clothed until it was complete, and then the spirit flowed into it, and it stood up braying. And he looked at his grape juice and his figs, and behold, they were in the same state as when he had set them down, unchanged. When he beheld of the power of Allah what he beheld, he said: "I know that Allah has power over all things." Then Allah caused Irmiyā to live long after that, and he is the one who is seen in the deserts and the towns.
4617 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAskar and Ibn Zanjawayh related to me, both saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih saying: Allah revealed to Irmiyā, while he was in the land of Egypt: "Betake yourself to the land of Īliyāʾ, for this is for you no land of residence." So he mounted his donkey, and when he was somewhere along the way, he had with him a basket of grapes and figs, and he had with him an iron waterskin, which he filled with water. When the form of Jerusalem and the surrounding villages and houses of worship became visible to him, and he saw a devastation beyond description, and beheld the ruin of Jerusalem like a mighty mountain, he said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death?"). He went on until he took up a lodging place at it, and he tied his donkey with a new rope and hung up his waterskin, and Allah cast deep sleep over him. When he slept, Allah took away his spirit, for a hundred years.
When seventy years of the hundred years had passed, Allah sent an angel to a mighty king among the kings of Persia, named Yūsak, and he said: "Indeed, Allah commands you to go out with your people and rebuild Jerusalem and Īliyāʾ and their land, until it becomes more inhabited than it ever was." The king said: "Grant me three days' respite so that I may prepare myself for this work, and for what it requires of work tools." He granted him three days' respite, and he appointed three hundred overseers (qahārima) and gave to each overseer a thousand workmen and what was needed of work tools; and his overseers set out, with three hundred thousand workmen with them. When they began the work, Allah brought the spirit of life back into the eye of Irmiyā, while He left his body dead. He looked at Īliyāʾ and the surrounding villages, houses of worship, rivers, and fields, which were being tilled, rebuilt, and renewed, until it became as it had been. And after thirty years, completing the hundred, He returned the spirit into him, and he looked at his food and his drink, which had not spoiled, and he looked at his donkey, which stood in the same state as on the day on which he had tied it, without having eaten or drunk, and he looked at the rope around the neck of the donkey, which was unchanged and new — while the wind of a hundred years, the cold of a hundred years, and the heat of a hundred years had passed over it without its having changed or lost even the least thing. And the body of Irmiyā had wasted away through decay, and Allah caused new flesh to grow on him and joined his bones together, while he looked on. And Allah said to him: انظر إلى طعامك وشرابك لم يتسنه وانظر إلى حمارك ولنجعلك آية للناس وانظر إلى العظام كيف ننشزها ثم نكسوها لحما فلما تبين له قال أعلم أن الله على كل شيء قدير ("Look at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled, and look at your donkey — and that We may make you a sign for the people — and look at the bones, how We raise them up and then clothe them with flesh. So when it became clear to him, he said: 'I know that Allah has power over all things'").
4618 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil informed us that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih saying concerning His word أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death"): when Irmiyā saw Jerusalem laid waste and the Books burned, he stood still at the side of the mountain and said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها فأماته الله مائة عام ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death? Then Allah caused him to die for a hundred years"). Then Allah, at the end of seventy years reckoned from the time at which He caused him to die, brought back those whom He brought back of the Banū Isrāʾīl, who inhabited it for thirty years, completing the hundred. When the hundred had passed, Allah returned his spirit, while it had been rebuilt in its original state. And he began to look at the bones, how they joined together with one another, and then he looked at the bones, how they were clothed with sinews and flesh. فلما تبين ("So when it became clear") that, قال أعلم أن الله على كل شيء قدير ("he said: 'I know that Allah has power over all things'"). And Allah — praised be His mention — said: انظر إلى طعامك وشرابك لم يتسنه ("Look at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled"). He said: and his food was figs in a basket and a jug in which there was water.
4619 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: أو كالذي مر على قريه وهي خاويه على عروشها ("Or like the one who passed by a town while it lay in ruins down to its roofs") — that was because ʿUzayr, coming from Syria, passed by on a donkey of his, with grape juice, grapes, and figs with him. When he passed by the town and saw it, he stood still at it, turned his hand over, and said: "How will Allah bring this to life after its death?" — not as a denial on his part and doubt. Thereupon Allah caused him to die and his donkey to die, and they decayed, and a hundred years passed over them. Then Allah brought ʿUzayr back to life and said to him: "How long have you remained?" He said to Him: "I have remained a day or part (of a day)." It was said to him: "No, you have remained a hundred years; look then at your food of figs and grapes, and your drink of grape juice, لم يتسنه ('it has not spoiled')" — the verse.
**Then He raised him up. He said: "How long have you remained?" He said: "I have remained a day or part of a day." He said: "No, you have remained a hundred years"**
The interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: ثم بعثه قال كم لبثت قال لبثت يوما أو بعض يوم قال بل مائة عام ("Then He raised him up. He said: 'How long have you remained?' He said: 'I have remained a day or part of a day.' He said: 'No, a hundred years'"). The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by His word ثم بعثه ("Then He raised him up"): then He made him rise alive after his death. We have already pointed out the meaning of *baʿth* (raising up). As for the meaning of His word كم لبثت ("How long have you remained"): *kam* is in the usage of the Arabs a question about the quantity of a number, and it stands here in the accusative through *labithta* (have you remained). The interpretation of it is: Allah said to him: "How much is the duration that you remained dead, before I raised you up alive from your death?" The one who had been raised up after his death said: "I have remained, dead, until the moment at which You raised me up alive, one day or part of a day." And it has been mentioned that the one raised up was Irmiyā, or ʿUzayr, or whoever he was of whom Allah has given this report.
He said only: لبثت يوما أو بعض يوم ("I have remained a day or part of a day") because Allah — praised be His mention — had taken away his spirit at the beginning of the day, and then returned his spirit at the end of the day, after the hundred years. Then it was said to him: "How long have you remained?" He said: "I have remained a day" — while he supposed that the sun had set, so that that was for him a day, for it has been mentioned that his spirit was taken away at the beginning of the day and he was asked at the end of the day about the duration of his remaining as a dead man, while he supposed that the sun had set. So he said: "I have remained a day." Then he saw that there was a remnant of the sun left that had not yet set, and he said: "Or part of a day", in the meaning of: "No, part of a day", as the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: وأرسلناه إلى مائة ألف أو يزيدون ("And We sent him to a hundred thousand or more") (37:147), in the meaning of: "no, more". Thus his word أو بعض يوم ("or part of a day") was a retraction of his word لبثت يوما ("I have remained a day"). And as we have said about it, a group of the exegetes have said. Mention of who said that:
4620 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word ثم بعثه قال كم لبثت قال لبثت يوما أو بعض يوم ("Then He raised him up. He said: 'How long have you remained?' He said: 'I have remained a day or part of a day'"), he said: it has been related to us that he died in the forenoon, after which He raised him up before the setting of the sun, and he said: "I have remained a day." Then he turned and saw a remnant of the sun, and he said: "Or part of a day." Thereupon He said: "No, you have remained a hundred years." * — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death"), he said: he passed by a town and marvelled, and said: "How will Allah bring this to life after its death!" Thereupon Allah caused him to die at the beginning of the day, and he remained a hundred years; then He raised him up at the end of the day, and He said: "How long have you remained?" He said: "I have remained a day or part of a day." He said: "No, you have remained a hundred years."
4621 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, he said: al-Rabīʿ said: Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then He raised him up, and He said: "How long have you remained?" He said: "I have remained a day or part of a day." He said: "No, you have remained a hundred years."
4622 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: when he stood still by Jerusalem, while Bukhtnaṣṣar had laid it waste, he said: "How will Allah bring this to life after its death! How will He restore it as it was?" Thereupon Allah caused him to die. He said: and it has been related to us that he died in the forenoon and was raised up before the setting of the sun, after a hundred years, and He said: "How long have you remained?" He said: "A day." Then when he saw the sun, he said: "Or part of a day."
**Look then at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled**
The interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: فانظر إلى طعامك وشرابك لم يتسنه ("Look then at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled"). The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by His word فانظر إلى طعامك وشرابك لم يتسنه ("Look then at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled"): the years that have passed over it have not changed it. And his food was, according to what some mentioned, a basket of figs and grapes, and his drink a jug of water. Others said: his food was rather a basket of grapes and a basket of figs, and his drink a leather skin of grape juice. Still others said: his food was rather a basket of figs, and his drink a vessel of wine or a leather skin of wine. We have mentioned in the foregoing the statement of some about this, and we shall mention what there is about it in what follows, if Allah wills.
As for His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled"), in it two readings are possible. The first is: "lam yatasannā" with elision of the "hāʾ" in continuation (waṣl) and its retention at pause (waqf). Whoever reads it thus makes the "hāʾ" in *yatasannah* a redundant connecting hāʾ, like His word فبهداهم اقتده ("so follow their guidance") (6:90), and makes the verbal form of it: *tasannaytu tasanniyan*, and motivates that by the fact that *al-sana* (year) has as plural *sanawāt*, so that *tafaʿʿaltu* is upon its pattern. And whoever makes from *al-sana* the diminutive *sunayna*, with him it is permissible — even though it is rare — that it is *tasannantu* (tafaʿʿaltu), in which the nūn was replaced by yāʾ because the nūns became numerous, as they said: *taẓannaytu*, the origin of which is *al-ẓann* (supposition). Some have said: it is derived from His word من حمإ مسنون ("from black mud, molded") (15:26), which means the altered. And that too, if it is so, is likewise something in which the nūn was replaced by yāʾ; and that is the reading of the majority of the reciters of Kūfa.
The other of the two is: retention of the "hāʾ" in continuation and at pause. Whoever reads it thus makes the "hāʾ" in *yatasannah* the final radical of the verb (lām al-fiʿl) and treats it as jussive by *lam*, and the verbal form of it becomes: *tasannahtu*, and the imperfect: *atasannahu tasannuhan*; and he says in the diminutive of *al-sana*: *sunayha*, and from this: *asnahtu ʿinda l-qawm* and *tasannahtu ʿindahum* (I stayed a year with them), when one stays a year (somewhere). This is the reading of the majority of the reciters of the people of Medina and the Ḥijāz.
The correct view in the reading is, in my opinion: retention of the "hāʾ" in continuation and at pause, because it is included in the codex (muṣḥaf) of the Muslims, and because its retention in both cases has a valid explanation. The meaning of His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") is: the years have not passed over it so that it would change, according to the language of whoever says: *asnahtu ʿindakum asnahu*, when one stays a year; and as the poet said:
*"She is no [palm] afflicted by the years, nor a rajabiyya,* *but rather (palms planted on) high ground in the devastating years."*
He made the "hāʾ" in *al-sana*, then, a radical, and that is the purest language. It is not permissible to drop a letter from the Book of Allah, in the state of pause or continuation, while its retention has a known explanation in their usage. If someone were to object that in the codex there are letters inserted that are redundant with a view to the pause, while the correct view in the basic form when reading is the dropping of them — like His word فبهداهم اقتده ("so follow their guidance") (6:90) and His word يا ليتني لم أوت كتابيه ("O woe to me, would that I had not been given my book") (69:25) — then that is something about which there is no doubt that it belongs to the redundant (letters) and was inserted with a view to the pause. But as for what of it might be a radical of the word and not redundant, that is not permissible — while it is retained in the codex of the Muslims — to count it among the redundant and connecting (letters).
Moreover, even if it were redundant in that about which there is no doubt that it belongs to the redundant (letters), still the Arabs sometimes join a word with a redundant (element) and pronounce it in the manner in which they pronounce it in the state of stopping, so that their continuation of it and their stopping are equal. That is, from their practice, an indication of the correctness of the reading of whoever reads all that with retention of the "hāʾ" in continuation and at pause; except that, even if it is so, His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") has a ruling that differs from the ruling concerning that whose "hāʾ" is without doubt redundant.
And among what demonstrates the correctness of what we have said — that the "hāʾ" in *yatasannah* belongs to the language of whoever says: "qad asnahtu" and "al-musānaha" — is:
4623 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, he said: Ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Abī l-Jarrāḥ, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn ʿUmayr, he said: Hāniʾ, the freedman of ʿUthmān, related to me, saying: I was the messenger between ʿUthmān and Zayd ibn Thābit, and Zayd said: "Ask him about His word: *lam yatasannā* or *lam yatasannah*?" Thereupon ʿUthmān said: "Place a hāʾ in it."
4624 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Qāsim, and Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAṭṭār related to us on the authority of al-Qāsim, and Aḥmad and al-ʿAṭṭār both related to us on the authority of al-Qāsim, he said: Ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, he said: Abū Wāʾil, a sheikh of the people of Yemen, related to me on the authority of Hāniʾ al-Barbarī, he said: I was with ʿUthmān while they were collating the codices, and he sent me with a shoulder blade of a sheep to Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, on which was written: "lam yatasannā", and "fa-amhil al-kāfirīn", and "lā tabdīla li-l-khalq". He said: thereupon he asked for the inkpot, and he erased one of the two lāms and wrote: لا تبديل لخلق الله ("there is no change in the creation of Allah") (30:30), and he erased "fa-amhil" and wrote: فمهل الكافرين ("so grant the disbelievers respite") (86:17), and he wrote: "lam yatasannah", inserting the hāʾ into it. Had it been from "yatasannā" or "yatasannan", Ubayy would not have inserted into it a hāʾ that had no place in it, and ʿUthmān would not have commanded that it be inserted into it. And concerning Zayd ibn Thābit something similar to what has been related about Ubayy ibn Kaʿb has been related about this.
The exegetes have differed concerning the interpretation of His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled"). Some said something similar to what we have said about it, namely that its meaning is: it has not changed. Mention of who said that:
4625 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of one who is not suspect, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih: لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") — it has not changed.
4626 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") — it has not changed. * — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, something similar.
4627 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: فانظر إلى طعامك وشرابك لم يتسنه ("Look then at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled"), he says: look at your food of figs and grapes, and your drink of grape juice, it has not spoiled — he says: it has not changed so that the figs and grapes would turn sour, and the grape juice has not fermented; they are both sweet as they are. And that was because he, coming from Syria, passed by on a donkey of his, with grape juice, grapes, and figs with him, and Allah caused him to die and his donkey to die, and a hundred years passed over them.
4628 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word فانظر إلى طعامك وشرابك لم يتسنه ("Look then at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled"), he says: it has not changed, while a hundred years have passed over it. * — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq informed us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, something similar.
4629 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") — it has not changed.
4630 — Sufyān related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Naḍr, on the authority of ʿIkrima: لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") — it has not changed.
4631 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") — it has not changed in a hundred years.
4632 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Bakr ibn Muḍar informed me, saying: it is claimed in some writings that Irmiyā was in Īliyāʾ when Bukhtnaṣṣar laid it waste, and he departed from it to Egypt and stayed there. Then Allah revealed to him: "Depart to Jerusalem." He came to it, and behold, it lay in ruins; he looked at it and said: "How will Allah bring this to life after its death!" Thereupon Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, and then He raised him up, and behold, his donkey was alive, standing at its tethered place, and behold, his food was a basket of grapes and a basket of figs, unchanged in state. Yūnus said: Salm al-Khawwāṣ said to us: his food and his drink were a basket of grapes, a basket of figs, and a leather skin of grape juice.
Others said: the meaning of it is: it has not become putrid. Mention of who said that:
4633 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") — it has not become putrid. * — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
4634 — Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Mujāhid said concerning His word إلى طعامك ("at your food"), he said: a basket of figs; وشرابك ("and your drink"): a vessel of wine; لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled"), he says: it has not become putrid.
I suppose that Mujāhid and al-Rabīʿ and whoever shares their opinion about this held that His word لم يتسنه ("it has not spoiled") is derived from Allah's word — praised be His mention —: من حمإ مسنون ("from black mud, molded") (15:26), in the meaning of what has changed in smell through corruption, from the utterance of the one who says: *tasannana*. And I have set forth in the foregoing the indication that this is not so. And if someone were to think that it is derived from *al-āsin* (foul water), from the utterance of the one who says: *asina hādhā l-māʾu yaʾsanu asnan* (this water has become foul), as Allah — praised be His mention — said: فيها أنهار من ماء غير آسن ("therein are rivers of water unaltered in foulness") (47:15), then, if it were so, the text would have had to read: "Look then at your food and your drink, *lam yataʾassan*", and not "*yatasannah*", since it would be from that, except that the hamza is dropped. To this it is said: even though he dropped its hamza, still it is not permissible to double its nūn (with shadda), because the nūn (in *āsin*) is not doubled, while it is doubled in *yatasannah*; and if someone were to pronounce *yataʾassan* with elision of the hamza, one would say *yataʾassan* with lightening (without doubling) of the nūn, without a hāʾ being inserted into it. In that is a clear exposition that it is not permissible for it to be from *al-asn* (corruption).
**And look at your donkey**
The interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: وانظر إلى حمارك ("And look at your donkey"). The exegetes have differed concerning the interpretation of His word وانظر إلى حمارك ("And look at your donkey"). Some said: the meaning of it is: and look at My revival of your donkey, and at its bones, how I join them together and then clothe them with flesh. Then the exegetes of this interpretation differed among themselves. Some said: Allah — praised be His mention — said that to him after He had revived him as a complete creature, and then wished to revive his donkey, as a making known by Him — praised be His mention — to him of the manner in which He revived the town that he had seen lying in ruins down to its roofs, at which he said: أنى يحيي هذه الله بعد موتها ("How will Allah bring this to life after its death"), disapproving its revival by Allah. Mention of who said that:
4635 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of one who is not suspect, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, he said: Allah raised him up and said: كم لبثت قال لبثت يوما أو بعض يوم ("How long have you remained?" He said: "I have remained a day or part of a day") — up to His word ثم نكسوها لحما ("and then We clothe them with flesh"). He said: then he looked at his donkey, how one part of it joined to the other — while it had died with him — with the veins and the sinews; then the flesh of it was clothed with it until it was complete, and then the spirit flowed into it, and it stood up braying. And he looked at his grape juice and his figs, and behold, they were in the same state as when he had set them down, unchanged. When he beheld of the power of Allah what he beheld, he said: أعلم أن الله على كل شيء قدير ("I know that Allah has power over all things").
4636 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: then Allah brought ʿUzayr back to life and said: "How long have you remained?" He said: "I have remained a day or part of a day." He said: "No, you have remained a hundred years; look then at your food and your drink, it has not spoiled, and look at your donkey, which has decayed and whose bones have wasted away, and look at its bones, how We join them together and then clothe them with flesh." Thereupon Allah sent a wind, which brought back the bones of the donkey from every plain and every mountain to which the birds and the beasts of prey had carried them off, and they gathered together, and the one joined into the other while he looked on, until it became a donkey of bones, without flesh and without blood. Then Allah clothed the bones with flesh and blood, and it stood up as a donkey of flesh and blood, but without a spirit in it. Then an angel came walking, until he seized the nostrils of the donkey and blew into them, and the donkey brayed, and he said: "I know that Allah has power over all things."
The interpretation of the saying, according to what the utterer of this opinion has interpreted, is, then: and look at Our revival of your donkey, and at its bones, how We join them together and then clothe them with flesh, and that We may make you a sign for the people. Thus in His word وانظر إلى حمارك ("And look at your donkey") there is something elided from the text, with the indication of the apparent of it being deemed sufficient instead of mentioning it; and the alif and the lām in His word وانظر إلى العظام ("and look at the bones") are a substitution for the "hāʾ" that is intended in meaning, for the meaning of it is: and look at its bones, that is, at the bones of the donkey.
Others among them said: Allah — praised be His mention — rather said that to him after He had blown the spirit into him, in his eye. They said: and that (the eye) is the first of his limbs into which Allah blew the spirit, and that was after He had formed him as a complete creature, and before He revived his donkey. Mention of who said that:
4637 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: this was a man of the Banū Isrāʾīl into whose eyes the spirit was blown, and he looked at his entire creation when Allah revived him, and at his donkey when Allah revived it. * — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
4638 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: He began with his eyes and blew into them the spirit, then with his bones, and [illegible — the text breaks off here].
