Surah Al-Israa (17) — Ayah 7

(Ayah 7) ➊ {فَاِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ الْاٰخِرَةِ …:’’ لِيَسُوْٓءٗا ‘‘ ’’ سَاءَهُ يَسُوْءُهُ ‘‘} is a present tense verb, which was originally {’’ يَسُوْءُوْنَ ‘‘}. After {’’لام كَيْ‘‘}, due to the implied {’’ اَنْ ‘‘}, the noon was dropped. This verb is transitive, meaning to sadden, to make bad, to spoil. Whether it is happiness or sorrow, physical or emotional comfort or pain, its effect is evident on the face; in happiness, the face shines, and in sorrow, it becomes dark, as He said: «فَلَمَّا رَاَوْهُ زُلْفَةً سِيْٓـَٔتْ وُجُوْهُ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا » [ الملک : ۲۷ ] "So when they see it (the punishment) approaching, the faces of those who disbelieved will become distressed (will be distorted)." Regarding the grief of Lut (peace be upon him), He said: «سِيْٓءَ بِهِمْ » [ ھود : ۷۷ ] "He became distressed because of them (the guests)." And He said: «ظَلَّ وَجْهُهٗ مُسْوَدًّا وَّ هُوَ كَظِيْمٌ » [النحل : ۵۸] "(Upon receiving the news of the birth of a daughter) his face remains dark all day and he is filled with grief." {’’ عَلَوْا ‘‘ ’’عَلَا يَعْلُوْ‘‘} is a past tense, third person masculine plural, its object is omitted, meaning { ’’مَا عَلَوْهُ۔‘‘ ’’ تَتْبِيْرًا ‘‘ } to lay waste, to destroy, to scatter into pieces. The emphasis of {’’ لِيُتَبِّرُوْا ‘‘} is with {’’ تَتْبِيْرًا ‘‘}, so in the translation its meaning is given as "utterly destroyed." From this, it is understood that the first punishment was not complete {’’ تَتْبِيْرًا ‘‘}, i.e., not as utterly destructive as the second time, whereas the second punishment was far greater than the enemy entering their homes and desecrating the mosque; because of this, the Children of Israel were plunged into intense fear and grief, so much so that their faces were distorted, and the enemy destroyed the Children of Israel so utterly that they could not recover for ages.

➋ As for who are meant by the servants in the second time, although the Quran has not specified them, if we see that at the time of the arrival of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the Jews were completely expelled from Jerusalem, the Christians had control there, and the Jews were not even allowed to enter; they were scattered in Medina, Khaybar, and various parts of the world. So, it is evident that by Allah's command, these mighty servants were set upon them, utterly destroying and expelling them from Jerusalem. Historians consider the second attacker to be Titus, the Roman, but in reality, we have no reliable source for this identification. Here, the history of the Israelites ends, because after this, they were scattered in various regions of the world, and thus, after this, the history of the Jews is mentioned only in the context of the histories of those countries. After this, when the Muslims attacked Jerusalem, at that time the Christians ruled there, who, unable to resist, handed over the keys of the city to the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), through a peace treaty in 16 AH. After being expelled from Jerusalem, the Jews remained excluded from it for almost two thousand years. But when the Muslims rebelled against Allah's commands, indulged in shirk and innovation, sectarianism, luxury, adultery, wine, music, befriending and imitating the disbelievers, making their own laws and abandoning the Book and Sunnah, and in their love for the world abandoned jihad, as a result of their misdeeds, Allah Almighty gave His enemies, the Jews, with the help of other disbelievers ({بِحَبْلٍ مِّنَ اللّٰهِ}), the opportunity to capture Jerusalem again in 1967. But to think that now it will remain in the possession of the Jews is not correct; the Muslims will return to their religion, in fact, they have already begun to return, and there will be a war between the Muslims and the Jews, in which Allah Almighty will grant such help to the Muslims as is mentioned in the hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ لَا تَقُوْمُ السَّاعَةُ حَتّٰی يُقَاتِلَ الْمُسْلِمُوْنَ الْيَهُوْدَ، فَيَقْتُلُهُمُ الْمُسْلِمُوْنَ، حَتّٰی يَخْتَبِئَ الْيَهُوْدِيُّ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحَجَرِ أَوِ الشَّجَرِ، فَيَقُوْلُ الْحَجَرُ أَوِ الشَّجَرُ يَا مُسْلِمُ ! يَا عَبْدَ اللّٰهِ ! هٰذَا يَهُوْدِيٌّ خَلْفِيْ، فَتَعَالَ فَاقْتُلْهُ، إِلَّا الْغَرْقَدَ، فَإِنَّهُ مِنْ شَجَرِ الْيَهُوْدِ ] [ مسلم، الفتن، باب لا تقوم الساعۃ حتی یمر الرجل… : ۲۹۲۲ ] "The Hour will not be established until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them, until the Jew will hide behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or tree will say: 'O Muslim! O servant of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, so kill him.' Except for the Gharqad tree, for it is one of the trees of the Jews."

7. 1. This was the second time they caused corruption, when they killed Prophet Zakariya (علیہ السلام) and also attempted to kill Prophet Isa (علیہ السلام), whom Allah saved from them by raising him alive to the heavens. As a result, Allah imposed upon them the Roman king Titus, who attacked Jerusalem, slaughtered them in great numbers, took many captive, looted their wealth, trampled their religious scriptures underfoot, destroyed Bayt al-Maqdis and the Temple of Solomon, and exiled them from Bayt al-Maqdis forever. In this way, their humiliation and disgrace were thoroughly ensured. This destruction befell them in the year 70 CE.

(See) If you do good, you do good for your own selves, and if you do evil, it will be against yourselves. Then, when the time of the second promise came, (the tyrant conquerors) would disfigure your faces and enter the mosque (Al-Aqsa) as they had entered it the first time, and utterly destroy whatever they dominated [8].

[8]
The Services of Sayyiduna Uzair ؑ:

After this destruction, Sayyiduna Uzair ؑ performed the great task of renewing the religion of Musa. He implemented the laws of the Shariah and began to remove those doctrinal and moral evils that had infiltrated Bani Israel under the influence of other nations. He took a firm pledge from Bani Israel to worship Allah anew and to adhere to His commands. He recompiled the Torah from his memory and published it, and also arranged for the religious education of the Jews. In this way, after one and a half centuries, Bayt al-Maqdis was once again inhabited and became the center of Jewish religion and civilization once more.

The Second Mischief of the Jews and Its Punishment:

But later, the same kinds of evils reappeared among Bani Israel. Polytheism, indecency, and immorality became widespread, and when the kingdom was again divided into several parts, the Romans took control of their territory. However, instead of reforming their condition, the Jews once again chose the path of rebellion. So, in 70 CE, the Roman emperor Titus (Qitus) conquered Jerusalem by the sword and devastated the entire region. In the massacre, 133,000 people were killed and about 67,000 were taken as slaves. Beautiful girls were selected for the victors. Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon were reduced to dust, and Jewish influence and power in Palestine were so completely eradicated that they never dared to rise again. And this was the second great punishment that the Jews received from Allah Almighty for their mischief.