The Children of Israel changing Allah’s commands in word and deed, and the hadith on that…
Selections from the Book The King Prophets...
Written by Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Sallabi...
Episode (8)
The Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) explained their violation of Allah’s command, which the verses referred to. Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “It was said to the children of Israel: {enter the gate bowing humbly and say, ‘Relieve us of our burdens’} [Al-Baqarah: 58], but they twisted (this statement) and entered the gate dragging upon their breech and said: The "a grain in the ear”. Agreed upon.
For them, the violation was a goal in itself. Otherwise, what is the meaning of “a grain of hair”? This statement has no meaning; The important thing is that they do not enter the village gate prostrating, and that they do not say ‘Relieve us of our burdens’.
Imam Ibn Hajar said in his explanation of the hadith: Al-Hasan said: {and say, ‘Relieve us of our burdens’}: so those who wronged replaced what was said to them with a word other than what was said to them, and they said: “a grain of a hair” Most narrators narrate: (a grain of hair).
In the narration of Al-Kushmihini: (a grain of barley), that is; of barley. The bottom line is that they violated what they were commanded to do in terms of words and deeds: they were ordered to prostrate when they finished the conquest, in thanks to Allah, and they were ordered to say, “Relieve us of our burdens” so they replaced the prostration with crawling, and they said:, or they said, "a grain in the barley".
When the children of Israel changed Allah’s command in word and deed, Allah inflicted upon them the torment, and sent down punishment upon them. {But those who wronged among them changed [the words] to a statement other than that which had been said to them, so We sent upon them a punishment from the sky for the wrong that they were doing} [Al-Baqarah: 59].
The punishment for them was immediate and quick, as indicated by the “so” in His saying {We sent upon them} which indicates the order with the immediate follow-up. That is, the punishment was inflicted upon them immediately after their change.
The punishment in the verse is ambiguous, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, explained it as the plague. Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated on the authority of Usama bin Zaid: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Plague was a means of torture sent on a group of Israelis (or on some people before you). So if you hear of its spread in a land, don't approach it, and if a plague should appear in a land where you are present, then don't leave that land in order to run away from it".
The hadith did not detail about their torture with the plague, but rather kept it in general, so we do not know its details, and we will not delve into that.
Thus, the stay of the Children of Israel in the Holy Land was based on transgression and disobedience, and Allah punished them with various kinds of torment, because of their immorality and injustice, and caused His wrath to fall upon them and brought His curse upon them
Episode references:
- Ali Muhammad Al-Sallabi, The King Prophets, first edition, Dar Ibn Kathir, 2023, pp. 52-54.
- Quranic Stories (3/369).
- Sahih Al-Bukhari (6/312)
For further information and review of the sources for the article, see:
The Book of King Prophets on the official website of Sheikh Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Sallabi:
https://www.alsalabi.com/salabibooksOnePage/689
