"The scholars mentioned some reasons for the killing of the Prophet Yahya, I will mention only the well-known ones," Wary continued.
"When Prophet Yahya began to call people to the Deen, he also told them that after him, a bigger and more illustrious prophet was going to appear, the Jews started bearing hatred and enmity towards him. They could not tolerate his preaching and one day they gathered around him and asked him, "Are you the Messiah?" He replied, "No" Then they said to him, "Are you that prophet?" He replied, "No" Then they asked him, ’Are you Eliah the prophet?" He replied, "No" Then they all asked him, "Then, who are you? Who preach to us like this and call thus?" He replied, "I am the voice of him who calls in the desert, who has been raised up for the truth." Hearing this the Jews rose up in anger and in the end killed him.
According to one report by Wahb bin Munabbih, it is said that when the Jews had already killed Prophet Yahya, they turned towards Prophet Zechariah with the intention of killing him too. When Prophet Zechariah saw this he fled from them. Ahead of him was a big tree and he entered into a crevice of the tree. The Jews followed him. They tried to force him to come out of the crevice, by shooting arrows in his direction. When the arrow started reaching him Allah sent revelation to him, "If you are going to complain of their treatment of you, then I shall destroy this whole earth but if you are going to be patient and stead-fast then I will refrain from sending down My wrath and anger over them."
Prophet Zechariah chose to have patience and bore their persecution without any complaints. The Jews cut down the tree and split it into two ports and with that they also split Prophet Zechariah into two, killing him.
The Ulama of history and biography are divided as to whether Prophet Zechariya had a natural death or whether he was also martyred. The other report says that they did shoot arrows but Prophet Zechariah was not killed he later died a natural death. However, the well-known story is that the Jews did in fact kill him. As for how that happened and where, the best seems to say: Allah knows best.
From the account of Ibn Jarir, according to Ibn Mas'ud and some companions of the Prophet (ﷺ), "An Israelite saw in a dream that the destruction of the Temple and the Israelites was to come about through the son of a widow in Babylon-an orphaned youth called Nebuchadnezzar. They believed the vision, and it proved true. The man began to inquire about the youth (in his dream) and then came to the boy's mother while her son was gathering firewood. The youth arrived with a bundle of firewood on his head, threw it down, and sat down near the house. Then the Israelite spoke to him and gave him three dirhams, saying, "Buy food and drink with these." For a dirham he bought meat; for another, bread; and for the third, wine. They ate and drank. The next day, the same (thing) happened, and again on the third day. Then the Israelite said, "I should like you to write a guarantee of safe-conduct for me, in case you should some day become king. The youth replied, "You are poking fun at me, " to which the Israelite said, "No, I am not; but it would not hurt you to shake hands over it." The mother of the young man spoke, saying to her son, "What is it to you? If it happens, so be it; if not, it won't hurt you." So he wrote a guarantee of safe-conduct for the man. The latter now said, "Suppose you come, and people around you separate us; make a sign by which you will recognize me." The youth said, "Lift your document on a pole, so that I may recognize you." Then the man gave him clothes and gifts.
The king of the Israelites honored Prophet Yahya. He favored him and consulted him, never deciding on a matter without him. But the king wanted to marry the daughter of one of his wives. He asked Prophet Yahya about it, and the latter forbade it, saying, "I do not approve of your marrying her." Word of this reached her mother and she hated Prophet Yahya for forbidding the king to marry her daughter. She betook herself to the maiden when the king sat down for his wine, dressed her in fine red clothes, with perfume and jewels; and over all (this finery), a black garb. Sending her (daughter) to the king, she instructed her to give him wine to drink and to serve him; and should he desire her, she should refuse until he grants her wish. If he grants her wish, she should ask that the Baptist's head be brought to her on a platter. She acted thus, starting to serve him drink, and offering more. When he was overcome with wine, he desired her. She said, "I shall not comply until you give me what I ask of you." He said, "What are you asking of me?" She replied, "I ask of you that you send for Yahya and that his head be brought to me on this platter." "Woe, ask me for something else," he said; whereupon she stated, "I do not want to ask for anything else."
When she refused, he sent for Prophet Yahya; his head was brought, and the head kept talking until it was placed before the king. It was saying, "She is forbidden unto you." When the king awoke, lo and behold, Prophet Yahya's blood was boiling. The king asked for dust to be thrown over it, but the blood rose boiling above the dust. More dust was thrown upon it, but the blood rose above it. He continued throwing dust upon it until it reached the city wall, yet the blood kept boiling. This reached Sayha'in who appealed to the people. He wanted to send an army there, and to appoint a man to lead it. Nebuchadnezzar came to him and said, "The force you sent that time was too weak. But I entered the city and heard the people talk; therefore, send me." So he sent him. Nebuchadnezzar set out and reached that place (Palestine], where they fortified themselves against him in their towns. He was thus unable to subdue them. When his situation became grave, and his men were hungry, he was on the verge of retreat.
Then an old Israelite woman came out and inquired, "Where is the commander of the army?" Brought before him, she said, "I have learned that you are about to retreat with your army, without conquering this city." He said, "Yes. Our stay has been long, my men hunger, I cannot go on with the siege." She then said, "Do you suppose that if I open the city to you, you will grant my request, ( that is,[ kill whom I order you to kill, and stop when I ask you to do so?" "Yes," he replied to her. She then said, "In the morning, divide your army into four parts; place one part at each corner, raise your hand to heaven, and call out, 'We ask victory of You, O Rabb, for the blood of Yahya.' The city will surely collapse." They did accordingly and the city did collapse. Then they entered it from all sides.
She now said to him, "Keep killing over this blood until it subsides." She led him to the Baptist's blood which was rising over a wall of dust. Over it he killed until the blood subsided. He killed seventy thousand men and women. When the blood calmed down, she said to him, "Stop ." For if a prophet is slain, Rabb will not be satisfied until the slayer is slain, and he who approved the slaying.
Then the possessor of the guarantee of safe-conduct came before him with his document. Nebuchadnezzar refrained from killing him and his family, but he destroyed the Temple, and upon his order it was strewn with corpses . He said, "Whoever threw a corpse there, will be exempt from the annual poll-tax."
The Romans helped him in the destruction because the Israelites had slain Prophet Yahya. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it, he led into captivity the notables and chieftains of the Israelites, among them Daniel, Eli, Azariah and Mishael, all of them children of the prophets ; he also took the exilarch with him. When he arrived in Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar found that Sayha'in had died. He thus came to rule in his stead, and he held Daniel and his friends in the highest regard. But the Magians were envious of them, and denounced them to Nebuchadnezzar, "Daniel and his friends do not worship your god, and they do not partake of your slaughtered animals." Nebuchadnezzar now summoned the exiles and questioned them.
According to Ibn Jarir, the historian, that it was Nebuchadnezzar who waged war on the Israelites after they slew Yahya, is erroneous in the opinion of Muslim and non-Muslim experts in pre-Islamic history and lore. For they are unanimous in saying that Nebuchadnezzar waged war on the Israelites when they slew their prophet Isaiah, in the age of Jeremiah bin Hilkiah; and that according to the Jews and the Christians, 461 years separate the age of Jeremiah and the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar from the birth of the Baptist. They state that that is clearly established in their writings and scriptures, for they count seventy years from the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to its reconstruction in the age of Cyrus son of Ahasuerus, the governor (isbahbadh) of Babylonia on behalf of Ardashir Bahman ibn Isfandiyar ibn Bishstasb and then on behalf of his daughter Khumani; then eighty-eight years after the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the victory of Alexander over Khumani, and the annexation of her empire to his; then 303 years from Alexander to the birth of Yahya. This, they say, makes 461 years.
The Zoroastrians agree with the Christians and Jews about the period of the destruction of Jerusalem and about Nebuchadnezzar. They also agree about the story of the Israelites down to Alexander's victory over Jerusalem and Palestine, and the death of Darius. But they contradict them about the duration of the period between Alexander' s reign and the birth of Yahya, as they maintain that it was fifty-one years. Between the Zoroastrians and the Christians there is a controversy, about the length of the period between Alexander's reign and the birth of Yahya.
The Christians assert that Yahya was born six months before 'Isa, and that it was an Israelite king named Herod who put him to death on account of Herodias who was the wife of Herod's brother Philip. Herod loved her, and she consented to lie with him. She had a daughter, Salome. Herod wanted to live with Herodias, his brother's wife, but the Baptist forbade it and told him that it was not permissible. Herod admired the daughter and one day she aroused him, and then asked for a favor; he agreed, and instructed one of his men to carry out her request. She then ordered the man to bring her Yahya's head, and he complied. When Herod learned about it, he was shocked and thoroughly frightened.
As for Ibn Ishaq's version, he Israelites flourished after that, meaning, after their return from Babylonia to Jerusalem. They transgressed, and Rabb again sent messengers to them. Some of them were rejected, some slain, until the last prophets sent to them were Zechariah, Yahya (John the Baptist), the son of Zechariah, and 'Isa, the son of Mary. They were descended from David.
When Allah took 'Isa from their midst to heaven, they slew Yahya. Some say when they killed Yahya, Allah sent against them a Babylonian king called Khardus. He marched against them with a Babylonian host and entered Palestine. When he defeated them, he summoned one of his military chieftains, a man addressed as Nabuzaradhan the executioner, to whom he said, "I have sworn by my deity that if I defeat the people of Jerusalem, I shall kill them until their blood flows amidst my encampment , and until I find none to kill." The king commanded Nabuzaradhan to slay them until such was done.
Nabuzaradhan entered the Temple. He stood over the spot where they used to offer their sacrifice, and he found blood there that was boiling. He asked them, "O Children of Israel, why is this blood boiling? Tell me about it and do not conceal anything." They said, "It is the blood of a sacrifice which we had offered and which was not accepted from us ; and therefore it is boiling, as you see. We have offered sacrifices for eight hundred years, and the sacrifice has always been accepted, except this one." He said, "You have not told me the truth." They replied, "If things were as they used to be, it would be accepted; but we have been deprived of kingship, prophecy, and inspiration, and that is why this sacrifice of ours was not accepted." Nabuzaradhan slew seven hundred seventy of their leaders on that spot, but the blood did not calm down. Upon his order seven hundred of their young men were brought and slaughtered over the blood, but it did not calm down. He ordered that seven thousand of their sons and their spouses be slain there, but the blood did not cool. When Nabuzaradhan saw that the blood was not calming down, he said to them, "O Children of Israel, woe unto you. Tell me the truth, and endure for the sake of your Rabb. For a long time you have been in possession of the land, acting in it as you please. [Tell me], before the last of you is slain, male or female." When they saw the gravity of the mayhem, they told him the truth, "This is the blood of a prophet of ours who often sought to forewarn us of divine wrath. Had we been obedient to him, he would have guided us . He used to tell us about you, but we did not believe him. We killed him, and this is his blood ."
Nabuzaradhan then asked, "What was his name?" They answered, "Yahya, the son of Zechariah." He exclaimed, "Now you have told me the truth. That is why your Rabb is taking revenge upon you."
When Nabuzaradhan perceived that they had told him the truth, he prostrated himself and said to those around him, "Lower the gates of the city, remove from it those who were here of the host of Khardus." He remained with the Israelites. Then he exclaimed, "O yahya, son of Zechariah, my Rabb and your Rabb knows the affliction suffered by your people on your account, and how many of them have been slain on your account. Be calm now, by Rabb's grace, before I exterminate your people." Then Yahya's blood subsided so that Nabuzaradhan stopped the killing."
Wary paused, then said, "O my brothers and sisters, there cannot be anyone more wretched and unfortunate then that person who kills such a saintly personality who neither troubles him nor tries to take away his wealth and possessions. In fact, without asking for any payment, he strives to rectify lives and serves them in their character building, their actions and there beliefs in such a manner that it is to their benefit in this world and the hereafter.
Though Allah’s grace, a person should never give up hope and even if at times he prays to Allah with sincerity and his aim is not reached it does not mean that Allah has turned away from him. Some times, Allah in His Knowledge knows that certain things for which a man prays can be harmful to him, which of course that person does not know due to his limited knowledge. And sometimes for the sake of the ' general benefit of all it is required that a person's individual benefit should be postponed. In any case to give up hope for Allah’s grace and bounty is definitely not a praiseworthy thing. And Allah knows best."
- Maulana Hifzur Rahman Seoharwy, Qasasul Ambiyaa, Idara Impex.
- Moshe Perlmann, The History of At-Tabari, Voume IV : The Ancient Kingdom, SUNY Press.
- Ibn Kathir, Stories of the Prophet, Darussalam.
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