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Encyclopedia of Religion entry forEzra
. Arabic ‘Uzair. The son of Sharahya, the scribe. Mentioned only once by name in the Qur’an, Surah ix, 80: - "The Jews say ‘Uzair (Ezra) is a son of God." Al Baizawi says that during the Babylonish captivity the taurat (the law) was lost, and that as there was no one who remembered the law when the Jews returned from captivity, God raised Ezra from the dead, although he had been buried a hundred years. And that when the Jews saw him thus raised from the dead, they said he must be the son of God. This story is supposed to have been revealed in the Qur’an, Surah ii, 261: - "[Hast thou not considered] him who passed by a city (which was Jerusalem), riding upon an ass, and having with him a basket of figs and a vessel of the juice of grapes and he was Uzair, and it was falling down upon its roofs, Nebuchadnezzar having ruined it? He said, wondering at the power of God, How will God quicken this after its death? - And God caused him to die for a hundred years. Then He raised him to life; and He said unto him, How long hast thou tarried here? - He answered I have tarried a day, or part of a day. - For he slept in the first part of the day, and was deprived of his life, and was reanimated at sunset. He said, Nay, thou hast tarried a hundred years; but look at they food and thy drink; they have not become changed by time; and look at thine ass. - And he beheld it dead, and its bones white and shining. - We have done this that thou mayest know, and that We may make thee a sign of the resurrection unto men. And look at the bones of thine ass, how We will raise them; then We will clothe them with flesh. So he looked at them, and they had become put together, and were clothed with flesh, and life was breathed into it, and it brayed. Therefore, when it had been made manifest to him he said, I know that God is able to accomplish everything." citations: Dictionary of Islam, Hughes
article created 2006-04-12 , last updated 2006-04-12 |
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