Seventy people resurrected after their demise
After this, the command was revealed that Musa should choose seventy people and take them on Mount Sinai, seek pardon for the calf worshipers by supplicating for them. Therefore, Sayyiduna Musa chose seventy righteous people and took them to the Mount Sinai. When these people started supplications on the Mount Sinai and sought pardon while repenting, then a voice from Allah was heard, ‘O people of Israel, I am the Only One; there is none worthy of worship except Me. I am the One Who saved you from the tyranny of pharaoh. Therefore, you people should worship Me only and should not worship anyone other than Me.’ After listening to this address from
Allah , these seventy men said
collectively, ‘O Musa ! We will not
believe at all in what you say until and unless
we do not see Allah in front of us.’ These seventy men insisted and became stubborn upon their plea and said to Sayyiduna Musa that let them behold the vision of Allah ; otherwise they will not accept at all that Allah has said all this. Sayyiduna Musa explained and tried to convince them a lot but these rude and deviated people remained insistent and stubborn upon their demand. Their stubbornness and rudeness increased to such an extent that Allah expressed His wrath in such a way that an angel came and yelled such a frightening scream that their hearts tore apart and due to the fear and horror, these seventy men died. Then Sayyiduna Musa had some conversation with Allah and supplicated for their resurrection. Thus, these people were resurrected.
(Iafseer As-Saawi, vol. 1, pp. 64-65; part 1, Al-Baqarah, Ayah 55-56)
And (recall) when you said, ‘O Musa, we shall never believe you, until we see Allah clearly,’ then a thunderbolt overpowered you whilst you were watching. Then We brought you back to life after your death that you might acknowledge the favour.
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)] (Part 1, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 55-56)
Moral:
l. From this incident, we learnt that it is very dangerous and heinous to remain stubborn upon one’s own point of view against the viewpoint of a Rasool. Then, the resurrection of these seventy men is a display of the Power of Allah so that the people embrace belief in the fact that Allah will resurrect all the dead people on the Day of Judgement.
2. We have also come to know from this incident that it was a law in the Shari’ah of Sayyiduna Musa that anyone who committed the sin of polytheism (Shirk) shall be killed. Then when the righteous people of the nation apologized and sought repentance on their behalf, only then the repentance of those sinners was accepted. However, the Shari’ah of our
i
Nabi Muhammad is quite lenient. For acceptance of the repentance in this Shari’ ah, it is sufficient for the one committing the sin of unbelief and polytheism to seek pardon with a sincere and remorseful heart in the court of Allah having a firm determination
not to commit that sin ever again. Allah will accept his repentance and will forgive his sins. The sinner will not be killed for acceptance of the repentance.
All this is by virtue of the Beloved N abi Muhammad
as he is extremely compassionate, merciful and kind towards his Ummah. By virtue of the Rasool of Rahmah, the Intercessor of Ummah , Allah is also extremely Kind and Merciful towards the Ummah of His Beloved.