This is an account of the rebuilding of Bayt al-Maqdis after its destruction, and of how the leaders of the Children of Israel gathered together once more after having been scattered throughout the earth. (1)

Allah the Exalted says in His clear Book—the truest of all who speak:
“Or like the one who passed by a town that lay in utter ruins. He said, ‘How will Allah revive this after its death?’ So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then revived him. He said, ‘How long have you remained?’ He replied, ‘A day, or part of a day.’ He said, ‘Rather, you have remained a hundred years. Look at your food and drink—untouched by time—and look at your donkey; and We will make you a sign for mankind. Look, too, at the bones—how We raise them and then clothe them with flesh.’ When it became clear to him, he said, ‘I know that Allah has power over all things.’” (al-Baqarah 2:259)

Hishām ibn al-Kalbī said:
Then Allah, mighty and majestic, revealed to Jeremiah, peace be upon him, as I have been informed: “I am going to restore Jerusalem, so go there and settle in it.” He set out until he reached the city while it was still a wasteland and said to himself, “Glory be to Allah! He has commanded me to live in this town and has informed me that He will rebuild it. When, then, will it be rebuilt? When will Allah bring it back to life after its death?” He laid down his head and fell asleep, with his donkey and a basket of food beside him. He remained asleep for seventy years, during which Nebuchadnezzar died, as did the king above him—Lahrasab—whose reign had lasted one hundred and twenty years. Lahrasab was succeeded by his son Bishtāsb ibn Lahrasab, and it was during Bishtāsb’s rule that Nebuchadnezzar passed away.

News reached Bishtāsb that the lands of Syria lay in ruin and that wild beasts had multiplied throughout Palestine so that no human remained there. He therefore announced in Babylon among the Children of Israel that whoever wished to return to Syria might do so. He appointed over them a man of the house of David and ordered him to rebuild Bayt al-Maqdis and its mosque. They returned and rebuilt it, and Allah opened Jeremiah’s eyes so that he could watch the city being reconstructed and restored. He remained in that sleep until the full hundred years had elapsed, after which Allah revived him—while he thought he had slept no more than an hour.

He had last seen the city in ruins, but when he now beheld it flourishing and inhabited he said, “I know that Allah has power over all things.” The Children of Israel settled there, Allah set their affairs aright, and they remained so until the Romans overpowered them during the era of the petty kings. Thereafter they had neither unity nor sovereignty (2)—that is, after the Christians gained ascendancy over them. Ibn Jarīr related this from him in his History. (3)

Ibn Jarīr also reported (4) that Lahrasab was a just ruler who administered his kingdom well; peoples, lands, monarchs, and commanders all submitted to him. He possessed sound judgment in the building of towns, canals, and fortresses. When, after a little more than a hundred years, he became unequal to governing, he abdicated in favor of his son Bishtāsb, and it was in the latter’s day that the religion of the Magians first appeared, for a man… (5)