Kitāb al-Zuhd 1, record 287 of the digital edition

Translation

1.Al-Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd narrated to us from al-Naḍr ibn Suwayd, from Yaḥyā al-Ḥalabī, from Hārūn ibn Khārijah, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “Verily Allah sent to the Banī Isrāʾīl a Prophet called Irmiyā[1] and said [to him], ‘Ask them: what city considered itself to be among the noblest of cities, having the best of plants grown within it, after I had cleared it of all the weeds [and unwanted plants], yet it went back and started growing karnoub?’ [2] So they laughed at him and mocked him. He complained about them to Allah, so Allah revealed to him, ‘Tell them: verily the city is Jerusalem (al-bayt al-maqdis), the plants are the Banī Isrāʾīl – I cleansed them of every [harmful] foreign element and turned away from them every tyrant, but they went back and committed acts of disobedience [and sin]. Therefore, I will surely give authority over them to one who will spill their blood and seize their wealth! If they cry, I will not be sympathetic to their weeping, and if they supplicate, I will not answer their supplication! They have failed, and their actions have failed. I will surely lay waste to it for a hundred years and then I will rebuild it.’ When he told them this, the scholars [among them] were alarmed and they said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what was our sin, for we did not act the way they did? Go back to your Lord on our behalf [and ask about our fate].’ So he fasted for seven days but no revelation came to him. He then ate a little and fasted for another seven days [and then repeated this again]. When it was the twenty-first day, Allah revealed to him, ‘Go back [and turn away] from what you are doing, and do not come to Me regarding a matter that I have [already] decreed, otherwise I will certainly turn your face upon your back!’ Then Allah revealed to him that he should tell them, ‘You saw evil [being committed] but you never rejected [or forbade] it.’ He then made Nebuchadnezzar their ruler and he did with them what has reached you [in the chronicles of history].”

Translation: Shaykh Tahir Ridha Jaffer — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.