Who was Bakht Nasr?
An infant of the people of I Amaliqah was found unattended next to their idol ‘Nasr’. As the name of the father of the child was unknown, that’s why people started calling him with the name of ‘Bakht Nasr’ (son of Nasr). The same child was appointed as governor by a Baby Ionian king and eventually he became a majestic king later.
(Iafseer Jamal, vol. 1, pp. 321; part 3, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 259)
After a few days, when Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr was somehow set free from the imprisonment of Bakht Nasr, he rode on a donkey and entered into his city of Bayt-ul-Muqaddas. Upon seeing his city destroyed and desolated, his heart became full of sorrow. He began to weep. He went to all the four sides of the city but could not find any human being. He saw that the trees were full of fruits and were ready to be consumed but there was no one around to pluck the fruits.
Upon seeing this, unintentionally the following words released
from his blessed tongue out of sadness: اَنّٰی یُحْیٖ ھٰذِہِ اللہُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِھَا
i.e. how would Allah bring back life in this city after such destruction and desolation? He plucked some fruits and ate them. He ll!J1 4; drank the juice of grapes by squeezing them, put the leftover fruit in his bag and put the leftover juice in his leather bottle. Then he tied his donkey with a firm rope and went to sleep under a tree. During the state of sleep, he passed away. And Allah Ji.j}-0 kept him hidden from the eyes of birds, animals, beasts, jinn, humans and nobody could see him. Seventy years later, a king from Persia entered the ruins of this city along with his army. He brought so many people here and began to rebuild the city with them along with the few of the remaining Bani Israel, who were living scattered across the land. Those people made the city more beautiful and a joyous place than before by constructing new buildings and planting different kinds of gardens.
A hundred years later after the passing of Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr brought him back to life. He saw his donkey has died, and its bones are scattered around. However, there was no rotting in any of the fruit in his bag or the juice in his leather bottle. There was not even a change in the colour or smell of the fruits or juice. Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr also noticed the hair of his blessed beard and head that were still black and he was still forty years old!
He was thinking and pondering out of amazement. Meanwhile a Divine revelation was revealed upon him. Allah asked Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr, ‘O ‘Uzayr, how many days did you stay here?’ He replied after thinking for a little while that I went to sleep in the morning and it is the time for ‘Asr now or replied that perhaps I slept for a day or a little less. Allah said, ‘O ‘Uzayr! No. You stayed here for one hundred years. Now to see My Absolute Power, look at your donkey to how his bones have rotten and scattered away and look at the food you have. It has not been spoiled at all.’ Allah then said, ‘O ‘Uzayr! Now see how I revive this donkey from its bones and then place flesh upon it.’
Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr then saw that instantly the bones started to move to form joints, the joints connected together to form the skeleton of the donkey. Within a fraction of moment, flesh appeared over the bones; the donkey became alive and started to speak in his language. After seeing this wonder, Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr proclaimed:
I know very well that Allah is Able to do all things.
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)] (Part 3, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 259)
After this, Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr returned to the place where he had lived a hundred years ago. Nobody could recognize him and he could not recognize anyone either. But he saw an old and crippled woman sitting near the home who had seen Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr in her childhood. He asked this old woman, ‘Is this the home of ‘Uzayr?’ The old woman replied ‘yes’ but also asked him why he was enquiring about ‘Uzayr. It has been a hundred years since he was last seen. After saying this, she began to cry. Then Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr revealed his identity to her. She replied by saying, ‘. ‘ how can you be ‘Uzayr?’ He said, ‘O old lady! Allah kept me dead for 100 years, and then revived me. Now I have returned home.’ The old woman said, ‘Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr was such a blessed person that all of his supplications would be granted. If you are Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr , then supplicate for restoration of my eyesight and for healing of my paralysis.’ Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr supplicated for her, and she recovered. When she looked at him, she recognized his blessed face and proclaimed, ‘I bear witness that you are Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr .’ Then she took him to a street of the Bani Israel with her. Coincidently, the Bani Israel were in a gathering including the son of Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr who was 118 years of age at that time. Some of his grandsons were also there and they too had grown into the old age. The old lady announced witness in the gathering, ‘O people! No doubt, he is Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr ‘, but nobody accepted this statement.
Meanwhile, the son of Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr said that my father had a black mole in the middle of his shoulders that looked like the moon. Therefore, Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr removed his shirt and showed the mole! Then people said, ‘Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr had memorized the Torah. If you are Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr , then recite Torah.’ Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr immediately recited the whole Torah without any hesitation.
Bakht Nasr killed 40,000 religious scholars of Torah whilst destroying Bayt-ulMuqaddas and left no written script of the Torah in the world. Now another question arose that whether the recited script was the original Torah or not? One person said that I heard from my father that the day they were arrested by Bakht Nasr, they buried a script of the Torah in the roots of a grape-tree. If you can find that grape-tree, then I can take out the script of Torah. Then we will come to know whether the recited script of Torah by Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr is original or not. After a struggle, they found the tree and after digging it, they found the buried Tor ah. Amazingly, there was a word to word resemblance between Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr’s recitation and the script!
Witnessing this amazing and marvellous event, everyone was astonished and said he is ‘Uzayr , the son of Allah Therefore, it is since then that this corrupt belief spread among Jews that Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr is the son of Allah Even till date, Jews around the world are maintaining this corrupt and false belief about Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr
(Iafseer Jamal ‘alal Jalalayn, vol. t pp. 322; part 3, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 259)
Allah J;.-9J.0 has described this event in the Holy Quran, in Surah Al-Baqarah in the following words:
Or like he (Nabi ‘Uzayr) who passed through a village and it was laying collapsed on its roof He said, ‘How will Allah revive it (its dwellers), after it had perished?’ So Allah left him dead for a hundred years, then brought him back to life. He (Allah) asked, ‘For how long have you remained here?’ He submitted, ‘I stayed maybe for a day or a part of it.’ He (Allah) said, ‘No, you have spent but a hundred years, and observe your food and drink which has not yet produced a stale odour, and observe your donkey (the bones of which were not even intact); all this was done so that We may make you a sign for the people, and observe the bones as to how We raise them and then cover them with flesh.’ So when the matter became clear to him, he said, ‘I know very well that Allah is Able to do all things.’
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)] (Part 3, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 259)
Moral:
1. From these Ayahs of the Holy Quran, it can clearly be seen that at the same place and in the same environment, the donkey of Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr had died and his bones had decayed, but there was no change in the fruits, the grapes juice and to the blessed body of Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr . Even his blessed hair had not turned white in hundred years. It is proven from this that the corpses of dead people decay in the graveyard but the bodies of chosen people of Allah remain blessed with peace and protection in the same environment and even their shrouds are not soiled. This has happened a number of times in history and this Quranic event of Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr is a clear proof.
2. After seeing the destruction of Bayt-ul-Muqaddas, Sayyiduna ‘Uzayr was saddened and said out of sadness that how Allah will rebuild this city after such destruction and desolation. This proves that loving and having affection towards ones city and country is an attribute of the pious and chosen people of Allah.
