بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah most Gracious most Merciful
This post will discuss the early history of the Bani Isra’eel in the holy land, largely as told in the Qur’an.
The Beginning
This story, as is known, starts with the Prophet Ibraheem/Abraham (Peace and blessings be upon him) who had two sons. The first was Isma’eel/Ishmael (Peace be upon him), and the second was given to him and his wife at old age, his name was Ishaaq/Isaac (Peace be upon him) who himself had a son who was Ya’qoob (Peace be upon him).
Ya’qoob (Peace be upon him) who was also known as Israel had twelve sons among the was the Prophet of Allah Yusuf (Peace be upon). Yusuf, who is also known as the Prophet of God, the Son of the Prophet of God, the son of the Prophet of God, the son of the friend of God, ended up in Egypt in the well known story. From there Ya’qoob (Peace be upon him) and the sons with him moved to Egypt leaving behind the life of Bedouins.
Throughout this whole time, Israel (Peace be upon him) and his twelve sons and their descendants followed the way of Ibraheem, but as time went on the people became split into fractions and Bani Isra’eel became an oppressed people. This went on for about 300 years (and Allah knows best) until Allah sent Musa (Peace be upon him) to free Bani Isra’eel. The story of Musa (Peace be upon him) and the Pharaoh (فرعون) is known and will not be discussed here.
Musa موسى Peace be upon him
The incidents that happened in Egypt are known, and Musa (Peace be upon him) was ordered to take Bani Isra’eel with him out of Egypt by crossing the sea, as is known Allah ordered Musa to hit the sea with his staff and the sea parted, and Musa (Peace be upon him) crossed with the small number his people with him who also crossed.
The Qur’an narrates the incidents that happened before they reached Palestine, from their refusal to believe until they see Allah to the request of having an idol like the one they saw a people worshiping when they passed by, to the incident of worshiping of the calf, to their staying in Madian or a place near it. When they finally reached Palestine and were ordered to fight with the tidings of victory, and so with clear disbelief they refused to enter the blessed land.
يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ
O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah ‘s cause] and [thus] become losers.”
قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّ فِيهَا قَوْمًا جَبَّارِينَ وَإِنَّا لَن نَّدْخُلَهَا حَتَّىٰ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِن يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنَّا دَاخِلُونَ
They said, “O Moses, indeed within it is a people of tyrannical strength, and indeed, we will never enter it until they leave it; but if they leave it, then we will enter.”
قَالَ رَجُلَانِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ ۚ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ
Said two men from those who feared [to disobey] upon whom Allah had bestowed favor, “Enter upon them through the gate, for when you have entered it, you will be predominant. And upon Allah rely, if you should be believers.”
قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّا لَن نَّدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَّا دَامُوا فِيهَا ۖ فَاذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ
They said, “O Moses, indeed we will not enter it, ever, as long as they are within it; so go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are remaining right here.”
The Forty Years and Taloot (طالوت)
And so it was made forbidden for them to enter it or even step on to it for forty years. After forty years, a Prophet was sent to them and they asked to be able to fight, so Taloot طالوت (King Saul) was sent as a king for them to fight with. On the way to fight the Canaanite people, they were tested with the Jordan river: whoever drank from it was no longer part of the army, and whoever didn’t went on with Taloot طالوت to fight. The majority of them drank from the river.
The remaining went on to fight, and their number was about the number of Muslims during the Battle of Badr two thousand odd years later, about three hundred and thirteen, and all those who crossed the river were believers. Among them was Dawood/David (Peace be upon him), who killed Jaloot/جالوت . Then kingship was given to him and he established the first Jewish state in the Quds.
Dawood داود Peace be upon him
Dawood (Peace be upon him) was very righteous, made much worship, and was knowledgeable, he was also soft and lenient. His main work was developing this new state and gathering strength to defend it from those around it, as it was still very small and based in Baytul Maqdis. Among the things that he did was make metal shields for the people to wear. When Dawood (Peace be upon him) died, his son Sulayman (سليمان)/Solomon (Peace be upon him) became heir to his father.
Sulayman سليمان Peace be upon him
Sulayman (سليمان) (Peace be upon him) was like his father one of the great Prophets, and was very righteous, powerful, and knowledgeable. Allah gave him control over the wind and the Jinn, and could understand animals. He (Peace be upon him) took up what his father left in building and defending this state, and had an extremely powerful army of Jinn, men, and birds, but like his father he did not seek expansion, and made do with what Allah gave him.
The first Corruption
After Sulayman (سليمان) (Peace be upon him) died, the rulers after him were not Prophets, and Prophets now came from among the people. This nation did not fall immediately after Sulayman’s (سليمان) (Peace be upon him) death. One of his sons became ruler after him, and the people (especially the traders and businessmen) grew corrupt. As time went by, corruption spread through the majority of the people. From total shirk and disbelief, to killing Prophets and giving them hard times, to making what is forbidden permissible, and what is permissible forbidden. To breaking all the covenants and pledges, and to modifying Scripture. There were however still those who were righteous and followed the Prophets and did as they were commanded, by spreading the truth, and commanding the good and forbidding the evil.
The Romans
This spread of corruption among the people and their disobedience was the cause of divine punishment; Allah sent against them enemies who expelled them from the land. It didn’t happen all of a sudden, among the first attacks a group was taken as prisoners to Babylon, and then later returned. Then during the Roman rule they existed in the Quds for centuries until the Prophet Isa/Jesus (Peace be upon him) arrived and returned to Allah, when the existence of the Jews in the Quds was no more. The Jews were then scattered through out the Roman empire and there were those who were in Arabia as is known.
What is known as Jerusalem was renamed Iylia’ (ايلياء), and stayed like that until the conquests of Shaam began, and Palestine was conquered during the time of Al Farooq Umar (May Allah be pleased with him). Insha’Allah the next blog-post of this series will be talking about the Palestine when it was conquered during the time of Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) during what was known as the conquests of Sham started by Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him).
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سبحان رب العزة عما يصفون، و سلام على المرسلين و الحمد لله رب العالمين
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