The first devastation took place when Nebuchadnezzar came, carried the people off to Babylon, and the Sanctuary lay in ruins for seventy years. The second devastation occurred roughly seventy years after the Messiah.

It has been said that this is the meaning of His words: “Those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and of Jesus, son of Mary” ⦗5:78⦘.

After the second destruction they scattered over the earth and their sovereignty was gone. Between the two calamities they lived under the domination of unbelieving kings, and the Messiah—peace and blessings be upon him—was sent while they were in that very condition.

It is said to the Christians: You remained subdued, defeated, and dispersed across the earth until Constantine arose, enforced Christianity by the sword, and killed the pagans and Jews who opposed him. Yet he promoted a religion that had been altered and distorted, one that was not the faith of the Messiah—peace be upon him. Even so, the lands of Iraq and Persia still belonged to the unbelievers—Zoroastrians and others—Magians and idolaters who at times overpowered the Christians in their own territories. As for the lands of the East and the West, they were inhabited by various nations of idolaters, and idolatry and unbelief were openly practiced in Yemen, the Ḥijāz, al-Shām, and Iraq. Then, when Allah sent Muhammad—may Allah bless him