Surah Al-Israa (17) — Ayah 5

5. Then, when the first of the two promises came to pass, We sent against you servants of Ours, mighty in warfare, who penetrated your cities and spread throughout them. This was a promise [6] bound to be fulfilled.

The First Mischief of the Jews and Its Punishment:

When the Children of Israel, who had come from Egypt with Sayyiduna Musa ؑ, entered Palestine, they were commanded to conquer the entire region of Palestine and to avoid falling into the moral and doctrinal corruptions of its inhabitants. However, firstly, they did not conquer the whole area and were content with what they had already taken. Secondly, they became entangled in tribal partisanship and, by dividing the conquered land into twelve parts, each tribe established its own separate government. As a result, their rule never achieved stability. Moreover, the moral and doctrinal diseases of previous nations—such as polytheism, indecency, and immorality—began to spread among them as well. They completely forgot the guidance of Allah Almighty. Sayyiduna Dawud ؑ and Sayyiduna Sulaiman ؑ reformed their affairs to a great extent and once again stabilized the government of the Children of Israel. But soon, the Children of Israel fell back into those same diseases and corruptions. Idolatry and indecency became widespread, and the government was again destabilized. Seeing this situation, the king of Babylon, Bukht Nassar (Nebuchadnezzar), subdued the kingdom of Judah and imprisoned its king. During this period, Sayyiduna Irmiyah (Jeremiah) was sent to them. Despite his admonitions, instead of correcting their actions, they began to conspire and rebel against Babylon in an attempt to change their fate. Finally, in 587 BCE, Bukht Nassar launched a powerful attack and razed all the small and large cities of the kingdom of Judah to the ground. He unleashed a massacre, destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon, took many captives with him, and those who remained were humiliated at the hands of neighboring nations. This was the first corruption about which the Children of Israel had been warned. Among the captives he took with him was ‘Uzair ؑ. After seven years, Bukht Nassar released these captives. When he was returning to his homeland, he saw a ruined and desolate settlement and said, "O Lord! How will You bring this settlement back to life or restore it?" This settlement, too, had been destroyed in the attack of Bukht Nassar. So Allah Almighty caused Sayyiduna ‘Uzair ؑ to die at that very place. This incident has already been discussed in detail under Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 259. As for the question of which book it was in which the Children of Israel were informed of their two rebellions and punishments: some commentators have taken this to mean the Torah itself, but the book currently in the hands of the People of the Book under the name of the Torah, which they call the Old Testament, does not mention this subject as explicitly as it is mentioned in the Quran. However, some of its passages do contain such indications, from which it is understood that this subject must have been present in the original Torah. Some commentators say that the "book" here refers to the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz), which is the book of the decrees and destinies of the entire universe. Both interpretations are plausible.