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Among the prophets between David and Zakariah is Isaiah (pbuh),
Ibn Amoz (Amisiah). According to Muhammad Ibn Ishaaq, Isaiah (pbuh)
appeared before Zakariah (pbuh) and Yahya (John the Baptist) (pbuh).
He is among those who prophesied about Isa (Jesus) (pbuh) and
Muhammad (pbuh). The king during his time was called Hezekiah (Hazkia).
He listened and was obedient to Isaiah in what he advised him to
do and prohibit for the good of the state. Affairs took momentum
among the Israelites. The king became sick with an infected
foot. While he was sick, King Sennacherib (Sinharib) of Babylon
advanced towards Jerusalem with sixty thousand men.
The people were greatly terrified. The King asked Isaiah: "What
did Allah reveal to you regarding Sennacherib and his army?" He
replied: "He has not yet revealed anything to me." Then the
revelation came down for King Hezekiah to appoint a successor,
as he wished, because his end was at hand. When Isaiah told him
this, the king turned to the qibla (the direction faced in
prayer); he prayed, glorified Allah, invoked Him, and wept.
Weeping and invoking Allah the All-Powerful and majestic with a
sincere heart, trust and patience, he said: "O Lord of lords,
and God of gods! O, Benevolent and Merciful One Whom neither
sleep nor nodding can overpower, remember me for my deeds and my
just judgment over the children of Israel; and all that was from
You, and You know it better than I do, my open acts and my
secrets are with You."
Allah answered his prayers had compassion on him. He revealed to
Isaiah to tell him the glad tidings that He had compassion for
his weeping and would extend his life for a further fifteen
years and save him from the enemy, Sennacherib. When Isaiah told
this to Hezekiah, his disease was healed. Evil and sadness
departed, and he fell prostrate, saying: "O Lord, it is You Who
grants kingship to whomsoever You wish and dethrones whomsoever
You wish and elevates whomsoever You wish and degrades
whomsoever You wish, Knower of the unseen and the evident. And
lo! You are the First and the Last; the Manifest and the
Perceived; You grant mercy and answer the prayers of the
troubled ones."
When he raised his head, Allah revealed to Isaiah to command the
king to extract the water of the fig and apply it to his sore,
and he would be whole and cured. He did so and was cured.
Then Allah sent death upon the army of Sennacherib. In the
morning they were all corpses, except Sennacherib and five of
his companions, among them Nebuchadnezzar (Bukhtanasar). The
kings of Israel immediately sent for them, put them in shackles
and displayed them in the land for seventy days to spite and
insult them. Every day each of them was fed a loaf of barley
bread; after seventy days he confined them in prison.
Allah then revealed to Isaiah that the king should send them
back to their country so that they might warn their people what
would happen to them. When they returned, Sennacherib gathered
his people and told them what had happened to them. The priests
and magicians said to him: "We told you about their Lord and
their prophets, but you did not listen to us. It is a nation
which, with their God, nobody can overcome." So, Sennacherib was
afraid of Allah. He died seven years later.
Ibn Ishaaq also reported that when King Hezekiah of Israel died,
the Israelites' condition deteriorated; there was political
confusion, and their wickedness increased. Isaiah preached to
them what Allah revealed to him, directing them to righteousness
and warning them of Allah's severe punishment. His preaching
made him their enemy and they decided to kill him, so he escaped
from them.
Ibn Ishaaq also reported an Israelite interpolation which said
that when Isaiah was passing by a tree, it opened, and he
entered therein; but Satan saw him and held onto the loop of his
garment so that it stuck out. When they saw it, they brought a
saw and sawed the tree and him with it. Indeed, from Allah we
come and to him we return.
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