Ibn ʿAsākir reports, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik and ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, that ʿUzayr lived during the era of Moses son of ʿImrān (peace be upon him). He sought permission to enter upon Moses, but Moses refused him because of the question he had raised about the Divine Decree. ʿUzayr therefore withdrew, saying, “A hundred deaths are easier than a single hour of humiliation.”

Echoing ʿUzayr’s words—“A hundred deaths are easier than a single hour of humiliation”—one of the poets said:
A free man may endure the slash of the sword,
Yet he loathes to endure oppression;
He will choose death over a condition
In which he cannot honor his guest.

As for the account transmitted by Ibn ʿAsākir and others—from Ibn ʿAbbās, Nauf al-Bikālī, Sufyān al-Thawrī, and additional narrators—that ʿUzayr questioned the Divine Decree and was consequently erased from the roll of prophets, it is baseless; its authenticity is doubtful and it appears to derive from Israelite lore.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq and Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd have narrated, through Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān, from Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī, from Nauf al-Bikālī, that ʿUzayr said while confiding in his Lord: “My Lord, You create creatures, then lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will.” He was told, “Turn away from this,” yet he returned to the question. It was then said to him, “Either you desist, or I shall erase your name from among the prophets. I am not to be questioned about what I do; they are the ones who will be questioned.” This does not imply that the threatened punishment would certainly have been carried out had he persisted; he did not repeat the question, and his name was not erased. Allah knows best.

A group of scholars other than al-Tirmidhī have also transmitted—from Yūnus ibn Yazīd, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, from Saʿīd and Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah—as well as Shuʿayb, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“A prophet once stopped beneath a tree, and an ant bit him. He ordered that his belongings be moved from beneath the tree and then commanded that the entire ant colony be burned. Allah revealed to him: ‘Could you not have destroyed only a single ant?’”

Isḥāq ibn Bishr narrated—from Ibn Jurayj, from ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Mujāhid, from his father—that this prophet was ʿUzayr. The same has been reported from Ibn ʿAbbās and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī as well. Allah knows best.