Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

ProphetSulaiman (AS)

Hazrat Daud (AS.) was a prophet of Allah and a king. He had nineteen sons and every one of them wanted to inherit his throne. He agreed with one of his wives to nominate their eldest son to the throne. Allah commanded him not to appoint anyone but to wait for His order.

One day, he was asked to decide in a dispute betweenElia who was a cultivator and hisneighbour Yohanna who was a herdsman.Elia complained that the sheep belonging toYohanna had grazed in his cornfield and had eaten the fruits causing him a great loss.

Yohanna admitted that it had happened at night while he was asleep. By the command of Allah, ProphetDaud called all his sons and told them that whoever decided the case correctly, would be his heir.

Sulaiman , who was the youngest son, ruled thatYohanna would have to surrender toElia the milk and the wool that he would obtain from his sheep during that year. ProphetDaud asked him how he had decided in this manner.Sulaiman replied, "The sheep did not eat the plants, but only the fruits; thus only the produce from the sheep should make up for the loss."

Allah informed ProphetDaud that the ruling given bySulaiman was the best and he should be made his heir. ProphetDaud gathered all his sons in the presence of the learned people and chiefs of tribes and declared, by Allah's command,Sulaiman to be a prophet of Allah and his heir to the throne.

ProphetDaud died andSulaiman became a king at the age of thirteen.Once ProphetSulaiman said that he would have a son from each of his wives. Since he did not leave thefulfilment of his desire upon the will of Allah by sayingInsha -Allah, only one of his wives bore him a child and even then it was still-born.

When ProphetSulaiman realised his mistake, he became very sorry and asked Allah to forgive him and to grant him a kingdom which no one else would have after him. Allah accepted his prayers and granted him a mighty kingdom. He also gave him power over the jinn's, Satan's, birds, animals and the wind. They all had to obey his orders.

And He taught him the languages of every living creature on the earth.At the command of ProphetSulaiman . they built huge temples, fortresses, towers palaces made of glass, large basins of water reserves and immovable cooking pots.

Once ProphetSulaiman and his army of jinn's and animals were passing over the valley of the ants. Seeing the pomp and glory of the army, the chief of the ants alerted all the ants to get into their holes so that the army would not trample over them. With the help of the wind, ProphetSulaiman heard what the chief of the ants had said. He smiled and ordered his army not to move forward until the ants had got into their holes.

He then addressed the chief of the ants, "How could my army harm you and your kind when we were passing well above you in the air? And don't you know that I am the prophet of Allah and would never hurt anyone unjustly?"

The ant replied, "O Prophet of Allah, I did not warn them because of any harm that they would suffer, but I was afraid they would forget the glory of Allah after seeing your army."Inspite of his wealth, glory and vast empire, ProphetSulaiman remained a humble and devoted servant of Allah.

He spent his nights in prayers and fasted during the days. He used his power and might only in the way of Allah to bring mankind to the right path. For his livelihood, he used to make baskets and sell them in the market and with the money he obtained, he bought food and shared it with the poor. One day, when he was inspecting the birds, he noticed that a bird calledHudhud was not present.

He said, "Where isHudhud ? I will punish him severely if he remains absent without a good reason." Shortly after that,Hudhud arrived and told ProphetSulaiman that he had flown over the land of Saba where he had seen a beautiful woman ruling over the people. Her name wasBilqees .

She had plenty of wealth, a strong army and a throne made of gold, diamonds and other precious stones. He saw her and the people worshipping the sun, instead of Allah. ProphetSulaiman was very pleased withHudhud and gave him a letter to deliver toBilqees .Hudhud flew to the land of Saba and dropped the letter in the lap ofBilqees while she was in the palace.

WhenBilqees received the letter, she called her advisors and said, "I have received anhonourable letter fromSulaiman . It begins "IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL" and it reads:

"Accept Allah and worship only Him. I am His prophet, believe in what I say and accept my command." She then asked them to adviseher what she should do. They replied, "We are very strong and have a powerful army to fight againstSulaiman , but the decision is yours and we will obey your order.Bilqees was wise and decided not to fight ProphetSulaiman . Instead, she sent him valuable gifts to see what he would do.

When the messengers ofBilqees arrived in the land of ProphetSulaiman and saw his glory and his wealth, they were struck with wonder. They thought the gifts they had brought were worthless. ProphetSulaiman became very angry when he was presented with the gifts and said, "What! Do you offer me wealth? What Allah has given me is more superior to all the wealth on this earth. Go back to your queen with her gifts and tell her that I will soon march to conquer her land with a huge army."

WhenBilqees heard what had happened, she decided to surrender herself to ProphetSulaiman and made preparations to go to meet him. Meanwhile, on the orders of ProphetSulaiman , a palace of glass was built inhonour of the visit ofBilqees . Even the floor was made of glass and water was put under it with different kinds of fish.

The whole floor looked like a pool of water without the glass showing on top. He then asked who could bring the throne ofBilqees to him.A jinn stepped forward and said, "I will bring the throne before you rise from your seat."

One man who was given a little spiritual knowledge by Allah, said, "I will bring it in the twinkling of an eye." When ProphetSulaiman saw the throne before him, he praised Allah and thanked Him for Hisfavours .

WhenBilqees arrived, she was amazed to see her throne andrealised what power Allah had given to ProphetSulaiman . She then entered the palace through the courtyard whose floor was made of glass. Thinking that it was a pool of water, she raised her clothes to pass through it. When ProphetSulaiman informed her what it was, she was overwhelmed with wonder and accepted him to be a prophet of Allah.

She said, "O Lord, I have wronged myself in worshipping the sun instead of you. I therefore give in myself withSulaiman toYou , the Lord of the worlds." ProphetSulaiman then marriedBilqees and thereafter she returned to her land where he visited her frequently.

The people ofSaba who were sun-worshippers, were converted to believe in Allah and to worship none other than Him. One day, ProphetSulaiman told his attendants that he was going to the top of his palace and no one was to enter without permission. While ProphetSulaiman , with the staff in his hand, was viewing the kingdom around him, he saw a young man approaching him.

He was surprised and asked him, "Who are you and who gave you permission to enter the palace?" The visitor replied, "I have come in with the permission of Allah, the Owner of the universe. I am the angel of death and Allah has sent me to take your life away" ProphetSulaiman said, "Then discharge your duty."

While ProphetSulaiman stood leaning on his staff, his soul left him. His body remained standing for such a long time that people and the jinn's believed him to have become a god or a magician. They carried on with the work entrusted to them by ProphetSulaiman , until Allah caused the ants to eat away the staff he was leaning on and his body fell on the ground. ProphetSulaiman ruled for forty years and died at the age of fifty three.

Prophet Isa (AS)

The Holy Qur'an says:

"When the angels toldMaryam that Allah had given her the glad news of the birth of a son whom He calls His Word, whose name would beMassiah , ‘Isa son of Mary, who would be a man ofhonour in his life and the life to come and who would be one of the ones nearest to Allah, who would speak to the people while in his cradle and preach to them when he would be a grown - up man, who would be one of the righteous ones,Maryam said, ‘How can there be a son for me when no mortal has touched me?' The angels replied, ‘That is how Allah creates whatever He wants. When He decides to do something, He just orders it to ‘be', and it comes into existence" (Surah AleImran , 3:45-47)"

LadyMaryam , daughter ofImran , was from the progeny of ProphetDa'ud . Her mother was a noble and pious woman. One day she invoked Allah to bless her with an issue whom she would dedicate to the service of the Holy Land,Baytul Maqdis . Her prayer was granted by Allah and she was blessed with the birth ofMaryam . She took her daughter,Maryam , toBaytul Maqdis and invoked Allah to save her and her daughter from the inducement and guiles of the Satan. This prayer was also answered by Allah.

When LadyMaryam was brought toBaytul Maqdis , differences arose between the trustees of the Holy Place about the bringing up of the new-born child. Everybody wanted to bring up the child himself. After all, for arriving at an impartial decision, a lot was drawn from the names of the people and incidentally the lot came to the name of ProphetZakariya and thus he took the responsibility of looking after the child. When LadyMaryam came of age, ProphetZakariya set aside a chamber inBaytul Maqdis exclusively for LadyMaryam . LadyMaryam then got herself busy in the worship of Allah and in the glorification of His Name. LadyMaryam was blessed by Allah with the exalted position of infallibility and she was given by Allah the designation of the most superior woman of her time.

When LadyMaryam was in the Sanctuary, a special place for the worship of Allah, ArchangelJibril appeared in the garb of a handsome young man before her and she got very much scared to see him with her.Jibril said to her, "Do not get frightened. I am the Angel of Allah and have brought to you the glad news that the Almighty Allah is going to bless you soon with a son who would be one of the most worthy Divine personages in this world and the Hereafter and he would speak from his cradle. "Maryam said, "How could that be possible when I have not been touched by anyman ?"

Jibril said, "There is nothing which is impossible for Allah. He has Power over all things. He can create as He would wish. And whenever Allah wills to do a certainthing, that happens at once with His will"

At that time LadyMaryam felt herself to be pregnant and she became much embarrassed and frightened. She was pondering over as to how a virgin could give birth to an offspring. The more she pondered over, the more she got puzzled and worried. Although she was the most dignified of all the women in the world and had an unflinching faith and belief in Allah of highest degree and knew quite well that the Almighty Lord would help her in all moments, still she was afraid of the mischief and the wicked tongue-lashing of the mischievous and spiteful Jews. She wondered as to what answer she would have against their false accusation to establish her innocence and infallibility!

Much has been written on this topic and differentnarration's from various sources have been quoted. Some of those writers who have written the biographies of the Prophets and particularly some of those who follow the Egyptian writers have given the duration of LadyMaryam's pregnancy as normal period and have said that she remained in constant mental worry. But according to thenarration's of theShi'ah scholars and authors,Jibril blew his breath into the bosom of LadyMaryam ; as a result of which she became pregnant in the night and in the morning she was delivered of the child and thus the duration of her pregnancy was of nine hours instead of the normal nine months. However, the infallibleMaryam resigned herself to the will of Allah and entrusted all her affairs to the care of her Lord up to the time of her giving birth to the child.

At the onset of herlabour pain, she reached a dried date-palm tree and without the aid of any midwife or any other attendant she gave birth to a handsome child all by herself. The only thing she uttered in her grief was, "Would that Iwere to die before all this could happen and that I were to be among those who are completely forgotten.

But suddenly, LadyMaryam , the sad and worried, heard a welcome voice. It was as though somebody was consoling her heart and was saying, "Do not be sad. The Almighty Allah haserupted abrooklet from near your feet. Drink its water and shake the old date-palm tree. Ripe dates will fall down from it. Eat them and get rid of all your worries. Still, LadyMaryam seemed to have not been satisfied as she was very much scared of the gossiping of her enemies.

LadyMaryam was asked by her Lord that if she found people making false allegations against her, she should tell them that she had vowed before Allah to observe fast and as such she was unable to talk with them.

LadyMaryam took hold of her dear son and brought him toBaytul Maqdis . Soon after that the Jews saw her, they started casting aspersions upon her and started calling her with strange names and said, "OMaryam ! You have done a very strange thing. Your mother was not that one who mixed up with the strangers, and your father, too, was not infavour of doing any unlawful or immoral thing. How is it that you forsook their ways and adopted a different way by which you gave birth to a child without ahusband "

The infallibleMaryam pointed out to the cradle of her new-born son, implying thereby to ask him and nother the answer to their question. The Infinite Power of Allah came into action and the new-born child then started speaking about his exalted position and said, "I am the servant of Allah, my Lord. My Lord has showered on me His Mercy and Benevolence. He has sent me as the Prophet of Allah. He has designated me as the most exalted and the most blessed. As long as I am going to be alive, I have been ordained by my Lord, the Almighty Allah, to offer prayers (Salat ), payZakat (poor-rate) and to treat my Mother in the most respectable manner".

Thus Prophet ‘Isa introduced himself to the critics of his mother in those words and established the innocence and the infallibility of his most exalted and worthy mother.

As a matter of fact, the birth of a child under the most extra-ordinary circumstances is a great miracle in itself and such a child could never have been born of a mother who was not pious and virtuous herself. And similarly, the Almighty Allah who made the new-born child speak from his cradle was still demonstrating a greater miracle than giving birth to him without the father; which is so very easy for the All-Powerful Allah.

But despite the clear proofs and Divine signs, the Jews continued committing the sins and saying silly and unworthy things. They stuck their neck in the noose of ignorance and obstinacy all the same without remorse. But still there were a few pious who after witnessing this great miracle did not entertain any doubt and misgivings in their mind and instead acknowledged the birth of the new-born child as one of the greatest signs of the Greatness of the Almighty Allah and considered LadyMaryam as the most chaste, virtuous and pious woman free from all sorts of sins and evil things.

When the astrologers of the day came to know of the birth of such an infallible child, they came from all over the country to pay their homage and tribute to him and brought presents for him.

As soon as the Jewish emperor,Herodotus, learnt about the birth of Prophet ‘Isa, he got terribly frightened, as he feared that some unexpected circumstances might lead to the downfall of his kingdom. Thus he plotted to kill Prophet ‘Isa so as to save his empire from any possible mishap. When LadyMaryam sensed the danger to the life of her son, Prophet ‘Isa, she took him away to Egypt. In Egypt, Prophet ‘Isa was brought up by his mother until the time he grew up and reached the age of 30 years. The Almighty Allah then revealed upon Prophet ‘Isa the Divine Book,Injil (Evangel) and afterwards Prophet ‘Isa came back toBaytul Maqdis and invited the Jews to the true religion of Allah. For three years, he continued preaching to them the commandments of Allah.

Prophet ‘Isa was one of the accredited Prophets of Allah and he was endowed with certain miracles. One of such miracles was the raising of the dead to life again under the command and will of Allah.His another miracle was that he could restore the eyesight of the blind and cure the lepers.

A few of the Jews accepted the faith of Prophet ‘Isa and embraced his religion after having been convinced of his miracles, but the rest of them became his enemies so much so that they decided to kill him. From amongst the few people who had embraced the faith, Prophet ‘Isa selected 12 of them as his apostles. These people remained with Prophet ‘Isa all the time and followed his teachings. Prophet ‘Isa delegated them his authority to preach the people the laws as laid down byInjil .

The so-called religious leaders of the people ofBani Isra'il and the Jews who had worldly gains before them thought that with the advent of theProphethood of Prophet ‘Isa their influence and domination over the people would be brought to an end and they would be deprived of the people's devotion as well as many gifts and money which they used to receive as a token of love and respect by the people. They formed a united front to oppose the preaching of Prophet ‘Isa and to extinguish the light which the Almighty Allah had kindled in the person of Prophet ‘Isa and so that they might pass an easy and carefree life. They openly refuted theProphethood of Prophet ‘Isa and called him a magician and skilled juggler.

However, Prophet ‘Isa remained undaunted and stood like a firm rock against the dissidents, and continued preaching the people to the path of Allah. For his safety, he only considered Allah as hisSaviour and he never became frightened of his opponents. Wherever he went, he preached the people with firm determination. His devotees and followers used to come toBaytul Maqdis on pilgrimage and Prophet ‘Isa then had an ample opportunity of holding big congregations to deliver his sermons. This enabled the large number of people to come to the fold of Divine religion and the number of his supporters and admirers increased day by day. The Jews became all the more worried to see the popularity of Prophet ‘Isa and their enmity against him was deeply rooted in their hearts, but they were helpless against the will of Allah. They tried hard to extinguish the Light of Allah, but the Light continued glowing with all its brilliance.

FoodFrom Heavens

The Holy Qur'an says:

"When ‘Isa prayed, "Lord, send us a table full of food from heavens so that it will make a feast for us and for those who are yet to come in this world as an evidence from You. Give us sustenance, forYou are the best Provider. Allah replied, "I am sending it to you, but if anyone of you turns back to disbelief I will make him suffer a torment that no one has ever suffered". (Surah al-Ma'idah , 5:114-115)

It has been the tradition and style of the Prophets that in times of difficulties they remained patient and steadfast against the opposition and tortures of their opponents who used to mock them, but they never shirked their responsibility of fulfilling their Prophetic mission and instead by their perseverance and steadfastness they brought their mission to its successful completion.

Prophet ‘Isa with the aid and assistance of the twelve of his disciples who were dedicated to the preaching ofInjil , and who suffered at the hands of the unbelievers, went from place to place, from towns to villages, inviting the people towards Monotheism and the Divine teachings ofInjil . He used to stay a few days at each place and called upon the people to believe in the Oneness of Allah, Resurrection and the Day ofJudgement , Paradise and Hell, and to banish the evil desires and inclinations towards sins from the people's hearts.

It is but natural that honest men respect a noble and pious man for his piety and virtue and are enthusiastic about learning good things from him. Here we see that Prophet ‘Isa was an exalted Prophet and his twelve disciples too were very pious and virtuous. They possessed noble attributes and from the point of view of their strong attachment to Prophet ‘Isa, they asked him to show them one of the signs of Allah so that they could literally satisfy their hearts and souls by experiencing them personally with their own eyes and reach the extreme limit of perfection of spiritual enlightenment. But they requested Prophet ‘Isa in an awkward way and said, "O Prophet ‘Isa, son of LadyMaryam ! Does your Lord not possess enough Power to send food for us from the heavens?"

Prophet ‘Isa said to them, "If you have really faith and belief in Allah, then you must fear Him". The disciples said, "What we mean is that while eating the food sent from the heavens, we become literally convinced in our hearts of the truthfulness of your words of promise and become a witness to your statement of facts". At last, Prophet ‘Isa invoked Allah thus: "O my Lord, send food for us from the heavens which may become the cause of our happiness and satisfaction, and by which the first and the last amongst us become happy and that would serve as a sign from You of Your Greatness, and You are the best Provider of sustenance. The Almighty Allah granted his prayers and said, "I am sending food from the heavens, but if anyone of you turns back to disbelief, I will make him suffer a torment that no one has ever suffered".

Thus the Almighty Allah sent food to them from the heavens and everyone was benefited by His benevolence. Prophet ‘Isa then addressed himself to his apostles and said, "Eat this food and be grateful to Your Lord, the Almighty Allah, so that He increases your means of sustenance further by showering upon you His benevolence".

They took advantage of the advice and this incident became famous so much so that many people after witnessing this sign ofAllah, embraced their faith in the Divine religion and those of the believers who had already embraced the faith became more fervent in their faith.

Prophet ‘Isa from his side spared no pains to invite the Jews towards the right path, for doing the good and forbidding the evil. But the obstinacy of the Jews had overpowered them so strongly that despite the preaching of Prophet ‘Isa they remained stubborn and arrogant and did not give up abominable things such as greed, usury, etc. They continued showing their bias and animosity against Prophet ‘Isa. The only reason for all these was their love for power and they did not want to leave it. They feared that the time of their domination was coming to an end and somebody else was going to snatch their power and kingdom. The Jews did not give up their opposition to the Prophet of Allah who was endowed with piety and virtue. Instead they blamed him for making disruptions in the rank and file of the people by which the peace andtranquillity of the land was in jeopardy. The Jews thought that by adopting such nefarious designs they would succeed in their aims; but it was their sheer ignorance. Prophet ‘Isa had belief in his Lord and he knew that Allah was the best Protector and Helper and He had promised him that he would be saved from harm done by his enemies.

The Jews not only remained content with their nefarious deeds, but they termed Prophet ‘Isa's guidance towards Allah a magical charm and accused him of witchcraft and wizardry. They also claimed that Prophet ‘Isa had become dissident of the religion of Prophet Musa and he did not consider Saturday a sacred day.

The Jews ultimately decided to do away with the exalted Prophet of Allah and so they started looking for Prophet ‘Isa. They sent their spies and informers all over the place to trace Prophet ‘Isa out. At last they caught hold of one of Prophet ‘Isa's apostles,Sham'un al-Safa . The Jews interrogated him about Prophet ‘Isa, but could not succeed in getting any information about his whereabouts. They then came across someone namedYahuda and this man who was one of the apostles of Prophet ‘Isa, was cunning and hypocrite. He told the Jews the whereabouts of Prophet ‘Isa, his benefactor and mentor.

Prophet ‘Isa was busy in a cave, offering worship to Allah in deep meditation. The Jews caught hold of him and took him away to crucify him by nailing his hands and feet on a cross. They rejoiced in thinking that they had achieved their purpose and by crucifixion of the Prophet of Allah, all their problems would be solved. But it was their utter ignorance as the Power of Allah is supreme and His humble creaturecan not stand before it. Whenever Allah wills to do a thing, it happens. Prophet ‘Isa was the great sign of Allah. He was born under an extraordinary and unbelievable circumstances and it was obvious that his life too would be extraordinarily quite different from others.

Therefore under the most dangerous situation when Prophet ‘Isa was soon going to be crucified by his enemies, the Infinite Power of Allah came into action and Allah raised his chosen Prophet to the heavens where he is still alive.

According to the prophecy of the Prophet of Islam, when the advent of the Twelfth Imam, theMahdi , (Imam of the Time) will take place, Prophet ‘Isa will descend on the Earth from the heavens and offer his prayers behind him.

Since there is a hidden Power to take revenge upon the oppressors, it is but necessary that sooner or later the culprit would have to meet his ill-fate by suffering from unbearable torment. Therefore,Yahuda , the apostle who had betrayed Prophet ‘Isa was caught holdof by the Jews as he resembled Prophet ‘Isa very much. Taking him as Prophet ‘Isa, they crucified him. By this, the Divine Will and Power prevailed.

The Propagation of the Religion of Prophet ‘IsaThe Christian calendar begins from the date of birth of Prophet ‘Isa (Jesus Christ). At the time of his raising alive to the heavens, Prophet ‘Isa's age was 33 years. After this, according to the testament of Prophet ‘Isa, his apostles dedicated themselves to the propagation of the religion of Prophet ‘Isa.

Some of them went toBaytul Maqdis , some to Rome, and some to Asia Minor, India, and other countries of Asia and Africa.After his apostles, the responsibility of propagating the teachings of Prophet ‘Isa andInjil fell on the shoulders of the vicegerents of Prophet ‘Isa. At that time, most of the countries of Europe, Asia and Africa were under the domination of the Roman Emperor. The emperor used to torture the followers of Prophet ‘Isa, but still the followers of Prophet ‘Isa continued their mission of preaching, and despite oppressions and severe tortures, they did not give up their mission and instead, they preached the people secretly.

This state of affairs continued for about 300 years. In 313 A.D.,Qustuntin (Constantine), the Roman Emperor, after seeing the popularity of Christianity, embraced this religion and dedicated himself to the propagation of Christianity. The big Roman Empire having come under the influence of Christianity gave an impetus to its propagation in far - off places. After Constantine, the succeeding emperors too contributed a lot towards increasing the numerical majority of the Christians