Stories Of The Prophets

Prophet Aramaya (Jeremiah)

 

Another prophet is Jeremiah (pbuh) Ibn Hilkiah from the
House of Levi Ibn Jacob (pbuh). It has been claimed that he was
Al-Khidr. This was related by Al-Dahak from Ibn Abbas but it is not
true.

Traditions About Jeremiah

Ibn Asakir reported that it is written in some scrolls
that Jeremiah stood upon the blood of John Ibn Zechariah while it was
flowing and he said: "O blood! You have enlightened the people, so take
a rest." So it stopped and condensed until it disappeared.

There is a tradition that Jeremiah asked Allah: "O
Lord! Which of Your slaves is more lovable to You?" He answered: "Those
who remember Me most away from their remembrance of My creatures; those
who are not thinking of death, nor speak of eternal living; those who,
when they are allured by the riches of this world, despise them, and
when they lose them are happy; those have My love, indeed, and I shall
reward them more than they desired."

Allah's Warning to the Children of Israel

Almighty Allah declared: And We gave Moses the
Scripture and made it a guidance for the children of Israel (saying):
"Take not other than me as your Wakil (Protector, Lord, or Disposer of
your affairs, etc). O offspring of those whom We carried in the ship
with Noah! Verily, he was a grateful slave."

And We decreed for the children of Israel in the
Scripture, that indeed you would do mischief of the earth twice and you
will become tyrants and extremely arrogant! So, when the promise came
for the first of the two, We sent against you slaves of Yours given to
terrible warfare. They entered the very innermost parts of your homes.
And it was a promise completely fulfilled. Then We gave you once again,
a return of victory over them. And We helped you with wealth and
children and made you more numerous in manpower.

And We said: "If you do good, you do good for
yourselves, and if you do evil (you do it) against yourselves."

Then, when the second promise came to pass, (We
permitted your enemies) to make your faces sorrowful and to enter the
mosque (of Jerusalem) as they had entered it before, and to destroy
with utter destruction that fell in their hands.

(And We said in the Torah): "It may be that your
Lord may show mercy unto you, but if you return to sins, We shall
return to Our Punishment. And We have made Hell a prison for the
disbeliveers." (Ch 17:2-8 Quran).

Allah's Message to the Children of Israel

Wahb Ibn Munbah reported that when sin increased, Allah
revealed to an Israelite prophet called Amos (Mamia) (pbuh) that he
should stand before his people and admonish them that they are
hard-headed, blind, and deaf and tell them: "I (Allah) remember their
forefathers, and that makes Me merciful with them. And ask them about
My bounty: can any of them benefit from disobeying Me? And does any
suffer who obeys Me? The beasts remember their countries and return to
them, but those people have forgotten why I have favored them for the
sake of their forefathers, and have misused their generosity. Your
cries have forgotten My tenets and your reciters worship other than Me,
and your women have not learned a useful lesson and their rulers have
lied against me and My messengers. Their hearts and mouths are full of
lies. And I swear by My majesty and power that I will send upon them
people with strange tongues, and strange faces, merciless in the face
of their tears; and I shall send them a tyrannous cruel king, with an
army like clouds, and followers like storms, and their flags like the
wings of eagles, and the paces of their hoses like the decades of a
journey. They will return buildings to dust, and leave the villages a
wilderness. Woe betide it and its inhabitants if they shout and invoke!
I will not look at their faces."

Allah's Warning to the Children of Israel -
Varation

Ibn Asaker has related the same in these words: Ishaaq
Ibn Bishr said that Idris told them that Wahb Ibn Munbah said that
Allah the Exalted sent Jeremiah to the children of Israel when the
situation had become worse among them - in disobedience, killing of
prophets and covetousness. Allah was determined to revenge Himself upon
them vindictively; and so He revealed to Jeremiah: "I am going to
destroy Jerusalem (the children of Israel) irevenge. Go to the Dome of
the Rock. I will give you My commands and revelations." Jeremiah stood
up and rent his clothes, and applied ashes to his face and fell
prostrate and said: "O Lord! Would that my mother had not borne me,
when You made me the last prophet of Israel, and Jerusalem be destroyed
in my time." Allah said: "Raise your head." He raised his head, wept,
and said: "O my Lord! Whom will You set against them?" He said: "The
worshippers of fire who do not fear My punishment, nor expect My
reward. Stand up Jeremiah, and hear the news about Israel. Before I
chose you, I had made you and favored you and honored you. Go with the
king and guide and protect him." (He was with the king while he was
receiving revelation from Allah, and they forgot how Allah saved them.)
"Go and tell them what I have told you." "O Allah! I am weak and if You
do not strengthen me." "Do you not know that all affairs are controlled
by Me? I am Allah without semblance, or any like Me. I spoke to the
oceans so; I am with you, and nothing shall harm you. Go to your people
and tell them: Allah has remembered you, with His remembrance of our
forefathers' good deeds. The animals remember their countries and
return to them. But those people of yours are drenched in destruction
and damnation, for they have forgotten the purpose of My generosity to
their forefathers and have misplaced My favors. The scholars and
priests have gone astray and have worshipped another god besides Me.
"As for their kings and princes, they have been lavished with My bounty
and though themselves safe from My fate. They abandon My Book and kill
My prophets. Is it possible for Me to have a partner? Is it possible
for Me to make a creature to be worshipped and to be obeyed besides Me?
As for their reciters and jurists, they teach and learn what they like.
As for the children of the prophets, they are oppressed and seduced and
go with the crowd. They want the positions of their fathers without the
discipline, patience, piety, and kindness of their fathers.

"By my power, I swear, that I shall send woe upon them
that no wise man can understand. I shall replace their luxury with
ordeal, chains, and fetters and after dwelling in palaces, they will
dwell in dust. I will disgrace and degrade their womenfolk. I create My
creatures and slaves with mercy and bounty. If they accept and
recognize it, I complete My favors and mercy. When I change My mind, I
change My mind; and if I change, I am angry; and if I am angry, I
punish, and nothing prospers with My anger."

Jeremiah Pleads on Behalf of His People

According to Ka'b, Jeremiah said: "By your grace I have
come to learn before You; how is it possible when I am weak and
powerless, to speak before You? But by Your mercy You have spared me to
this day. None fears this punishment more than I do, because I have
been among them while they disobeyed You, yet without it changing me.
If You punish me, I deserve it, and if You spare me, I expect it of
Your kindness. O Lord, You are Overlord! Are you going to destroy their
country when it is the place of Your prophets the place of Your
revelations? O Lord the Exalted and Blessed by Your Name! For You to
destroy this mosque and all pertaining to it, and those houses which
landed Your praise! O Lord, for You to kill these people and punish
them, when they are the issue of Abraham Your faithful friend and David
Your chosen one! O lord, which village will escape Your punishment
then? Which worshipper will escape Your vengeance after the children of
Your faithful friend Abraham?"

He on High said: "He who disobeys Me will not detest My
punishment. I had honored them because they obeyed Me. If they
disobeyed me I will place them among the disobedient, until I rescue
them out of My Mercy."

Jeremiah said: "O Lord, You made friends with Abraham
and for his sake You preserved us; and Moses You did save; and he asked
You to save us and not abandon us, nor throw us to the enemy." And so
Allah revealed to him: "O Jeremiah, I made you honored in your mother's
womb and have chosen you to this day. If your people had protected the
orphans, the widows, the helpless, and the stranded, I would have been
their Sustainer. They would have been like a blissful garden to Me; but
I complain of the children of Israel to you. I have been the kind
shepherd to them; but I honor only those who honor and despise those
who despise My command. Those before them feared Me, but these people
displayed their obedience of Me in the temple, market place, hill and
mountain tops, and under the shade of trees until the heavens wondered
at them before Me, and the earth and the mountains, including the
beasts, wondered and wailed. All that had no effect on them; nor was
the Book useful to them."

Jeremiah's People Refuse to Listen

Ka'b said that when Jeremiah delivered the message of
his Lord, and the people heard the threats and warnings in it, they
said: "You are lying, if you are saying that Allah shall destroy the
land, His temple, His Book, His worship, and monotheism." They captured
Jeremiah, tied him up and imprisoned him. At this, Allah sent
Nabuchadnezzar upon them. He entered the country with his troops and
surrounded the city. When the siege was prolonged they surrendered to
his rule. They opened the gates and Nabuchadnezzar's troops streamed in.

Nebuchadnezzar's Rule

He ruled them savagely and punished them cruelly. He
killed a third of them, captured a third, and spared the lame and the
old; then h trampled upon them with the horses, demolished their
houses, drew the youth along, and stood the women in the market places
as guards. He intimidated the troops and destroyed the castles and
temples. He burned the Torah. He asked about Daniel, the prophet who
had written to him, but he was dead. His family took out the letter
which he had written to him. Among the family members were Daniel the
youngest son of Ezekiel, Azariah, and Mishael. He left that letter for
them. The younger Daniel succeeded the elder Daniel. Nabuchadnezzar
entered Jerusalem with his troops, then marched to Syria. He killed the
children of Israel until he almost exterminated them. He returned to
Babylon with booty in the form of treasure and men, among them young
princes and children of priests numbering seventy thousand.

Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah Meet

Ibn Ishaaq Ibn Bishr reported that Wahb bin Munbah
stated that after Nabuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem, he was told
that the Israelites had a man who used to predict what had befallen
them, describing the king and his actions, foretelling that he would
slay their warriors, capture their children, destroy the temple, and
burn their Torah. They had said he was lying, and so they had tied him
and kept him in prison. Nabuchadnezzar ordered that he be brought out
from prison. Jeremiah was released and the king said to him: "Did you
warn those people against what has happened to them?" Jeremiah affirmed
it and the king said: "I knew that." Jeremiah stated: "Allah sent me to
them and they accused me of lying." He asked: "Did they beat you and
imprison you?" He replied: "Yes." The king said: "What a wicked race,
to deny their prophet and their Lord's message! So would you like to
join me, for me to honor you and make you free? And if you want to
remain in your country, I grant you that." Jeremiah replied: "I am
still in the security of Allah when I did not go away from the country
at all. If the Israelites did not go out of it, they would not fear
you, nor any other, nor would you have authority over them." When
Nabuchadnezzar heard this, he let him alone, and so Jeremiah went to
live in his place in Elia (Elat).

Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah Meet - Variation

According to Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi, Nabuchadnezzar
marched on Jerusalem, its king who was a descendant of David, who had
built Jerusalem for the Israelites - made peace with him.
Nabuchadnezzar took hostages and departed. When he had gone as far as
Thahria, he learned that the Israelites had risen against their king
and killed him because he had made peace with him. So, Nabuchadnezzar
beheaded all the hostages that were with him. He returned to the
Israelites and invaded the city, killing the warriors and capturing
their families.

When he had found Jeremiah in prison and released him,
Jeremiah told him his story and his warnings concerning him.
Nabuchadnezzar said: "What a wicked people, that disobey the prophet of
Allah!" He set him free and honored him. Jeremiah gathered around him
the remaining weak souls of Israel.

The Children of Israel Do Not Repent

He said to them: "Woe to us! We
have disobeyed Allah. We must repent to Allah, Great and Majestic, for
what we have done, and I shall pray to Allah to accept our repentance."
He prayed so, and Allah revealed to him that He would not accept it:
"If they are sincere, they must stay with you in this country (or
town)." He told them what Allah had revealed. They said: "How can we
stay in this town when it has been devastated and Allah is angry with
its people?" So they refused to stay.

Ibn al-Kalbi said that since that time, the children of
Israel were dispersed the world over. Some of them went to the Hijaz,
Taif and Medina, and others settled in Wadi al Qura. Some went to
Egypt, and Nabuchadnezzar wrote to its king, demanding those who had
escaped thither, but he refused. So Nabuchadnezzar mounted his army and
fought him. He defeated him and captured their children. Then he
marched to the extreme of Morocco. He returned from Morocco, Egypt,
Jerusalem, Palestine, and Jordan with many captives, and among them was
Daniel.

Ibn al-Kalbi said that it appears that it was Daniel,
the youngest son of Ezekiel, and not the elder Daniel, according to Ibn
Munbah. Allah knows best.

Jeremiah Sleeps for 100 Years, Jerusalem is
Rebuilt

Hashim ibn Al-Kalbi reported that Allah the Exalted
revealed to Jeremiah: "I am going to reconstruct Jerusalem, so go
there." He went and found it devastated. He said to himself: "Exalted
be Allah! Allah told me to come to this city and that He was
reconstructing it. When will Allah rebuild it? And when will He bring
it back to life?"

Then he slept, and his donkey with him, for seventy
years until Nebuchadnezzar and the king over him - Laharasab, who had
ruled one hundred twenty years - had perished. Laharasab was succeeded
by his son Bashtaasib (According to the Bible, Ezra 1, this would be
King Cyrus of Persia). News of the death of Nebuchadnezzar had reached
Bashtaasib through Sham (Syria), which was in utter ruin. the wild
beats had multiplied in Palestine, for it had become empty of men.
Bashtaasib therefore called to the children of Israel in Babylon:
"Whoever wants to return to Sham (Syria/Palestine) may do so." It was
ruled by one from the House of David, who was ordered by Bashtaasib to
rebuild Jerusalem and its temple, so they returned and rebuilt it. Then
Jeremiah opened his eyes, blinked from the seventy year sleep, and saw
how the city was being reconstructed. He remained in that sleep of his
until he had completed one hundred years. When Allah awoke him, he
thought that he had slept no more than an hour. He had known the city
as a devastated land; when he saw it rebuilt and populated, he said:

       
"He grants wisdom to whom He pleases, and he, to whom wisdom is
granted, is indeed granted abundant good. But none remember (will
receive admonition) except men of understanding." [2:269]

The History of Israel After its Rebuilding

Ibn Al-Kalbi said that the Israelites
settled it, and Allah rebuilt their glory. It remained so until Rome
vanquished them in the era of the tribal kings; then they lost their
community and their authority after the appearance of Christianity.

This is how Ibn Jarir tells their story in
his History of Jerusalem. He said that Laharasab was a just king and
diplomatic. The people, cheifs, and kings obeyed him, and he was gifted
in the construction of cities, canals and institutions. When he grew
too weak to rule, after more than one hundred, his son Bashtaasib
ascended to the throne. During his reign the religion of Zoroastrianism
(alMajusia) appeared. A man named (Zoroaster) (Zordahst) had been a
companion of Jeremiah and had angered him, so Jeremiah cursed him.
Zoroaster became a leper. He went to the land of Azerbaijan, joined
Bashtaasib forced peolple to embrace it and killed many people who
disobeyed him.

After Bashtaasib, his son Barman ruled.
They were among the famous and heroic kings of Persia, and
Nebuchadnezzar had been deputy to all three of them. He lived a long
time, may Allah torment him!

The essence of what has been written by Ibn
Jarir is that the person or wayfarer passing through this village was
Jeremia. Others say that it was Hosea (Ozir), and this is the consensus
of the ancients and those after them, but Allah knows best.