Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (2/290)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

Ibn Jarīr said(1): al-Muthannā related to us; Isḥāq related to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us; ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil told me that he heard Wahb say:

When Allah informed Jesus, son of Mary, that he was about to leave this world, he was troubled by the prospect of death and found it hard to bear. He therefore summoned the disciples and prepared food for them. He said, “Be with me tonight, for I have a request of you.” When night fell and they had gathered, he served them supper and stood to wait upon them. After they had finished, he began to wash their hands and perform ablution for them with his own hands(2), drying their hands with his garment. They regarded this as too great a service and balked at it. He said, “Whoever refuses anything I do for him tonight(3) is not of me, nor am I of him.” They yielded, and when he had completed this he said:

“As for what I have done for you this evening—serving you at the table and washing your hands with my own hands—take it as an example from me. You see me as the best among you, so let none of you exalt himself over another; rather, let each of you offer himself for his brother(4) just as I have offered myself for you. As for the need on account of which I sought your help tonight, it is that you pray to Allah for me and strive in supplication that He delay my appointed term.”

They readied themselves to pray and intended to exert themselves, but sleep overcame them so thoroughly that they could not pray. He kept waking them, saying, “Glory be to Allah! Can you not stay awake for me a single night to assist me?” They replied, “By Allah, we do not know what has come over us! We used to stay up late and converse at length, yet tonight we cannot keep awake, and whenever we wish to pray, something stands between us and it.” He said, “The shepherd will depart and the flock will scatter,” and he continued with words of this sort, lamenting his own fate.

Then he said, “In truth, one of you will disown me before the cock crows three times, and another will sell me for a few dirhams and will eat the price.” They went out and dispersed while the Jews were searching for him. They seized Simon, one of the disciples, saying, “This man is one of his companions.” He denied it, saying, “I am not his companion,” so they let him go. Others seized him again, and he denied it in the same way; then he heard a cock crow and wept in sorrow.

At daybreak one of the disciples came to the Jews and said, “What will you give me if I lead you to the Messiah?” They promised him thirty dirhams, so he accepted the money and led them to him. Previously Allah had already cast Jesus’ likeness upon someone else, so they seized that man, bound him securely, and tied a rope around him. As they dragged him along they said, “You used to revive the dead, rebuke Satan(5), and cure the madman—will you not save(6) yourself from this rope?” They spat on him and threw thorns over him until they brought him to the stake on which they intended to crucify him. Allah then raised Jesus up to Himself, and they crucified only what had been made to resemble him. The crucified man remained for seven days.

Later his mother and the woman whom Jesus had treated—the one Allah had cured of madness—came weeping to the place where the crucified man had been. Jesus approached them and said, “Why are you weeping?” They replied, “For your sake.” He said, “Allah has raised me up to Himself, and nothing but good has reached me. What you have seen is something that was merely made to appear to them.”

(1) His Tafsir, vol. 6, pp. 10–11; the report also appears in Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Dimashq, vol. 20, p. 136. (2) In the printed edition—consistent with al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr—and in manuscripts A and B: “he makes them perform ablution and washes their hands with his own hand.” (3) In the printed edition—matching al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr. In manuscript B: “shay’an ‘alayya”; in A: “al-layla shay’an.” (4) In the printed edition and in al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr: “ba‘ḍ nafsihi.” (5) Similarly in the printed edition and in al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr. In A: “wa tanhar al-shayāṭīn.” (6) Likewise in manuscript B, the printed edition, and al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr. In A: “taftakk.”

قال ابن جرير (١) : وحدّثنا المثنى، حدّثنا إسحاق، حدّثنا إسماعيل بن عبد الكريم، حدّثني عبد الصمد بن مَعْقِل أنه سمع وَهْبًا يقول: إن عيسى ابن مريم لما أعلمه الله أنه خارج من الدنيا، جَزعَ من الموت وشق عليه، فدعا الحواريين وصنع لهم طعامًا، فقال: احضُروني الليلة فإن لي إليكم حاجةً، فلما اجتمعوا إليه من الليل عشّاهم وقام يخدمهم، فلما فرغوا من الطعام أخذ يغسل أيديهم ويوضئهم بيده (٢) ، ويمسح أيديهم بثيابه، فتعاظموا ذلك وتكارهوه، فقال: ألا من ردّ عليّ شيئًا الليلة (٣) مما أصنع فليس مني ولا أنا منه، فأقرّوه حتى إذا فرغ من ذلك قال: أمَّا ما صنعت بكم الليلة مما خدمتكم على الطعام وغسّلت أيديكم بيدي، فليكن لكم بي أسوة فإنكم ترون أني خيركم فلا يتعظّم بعضكم على بعض، وليبذل بعضكم نفسه لبعض (٤) كما بذلت نفسي لكم، وأما حاجتي الليلة التي استعنتكم عليها فتدعون لي الله وتجتهدون في الدعاء أن يؤخر أَجَلي، فلما نصبوا أنفسهم للدّعاء وأرادوا أن يجتهدوا أخذهم النوم حتى لم يستطيعوا دعاءً، فجعل يوقظهم ويقول: سبحان الله أما تصبرون لي ليلة واحدة تعينوني فيها؟ فقالوا: والله ما ندري مالنا! واللّه لقد كنّا نسمر فنكثر السّمر وما نطيق الليلة سمرًا، وما نريد دعاءً إلا حِيْل بيننا وبينه! فقال: يَذهب الراعي وتتفرّق الغنم، وجعل يأتي بكلام نحو هذا ينعى به نفسه. ثمّ قال: الحق ليكفرن بي أحدكم قبل أن يصيح الديك ثلاث مرات، وليبيعني أحدكم بدراهم يسيرة وليأكلنّ ثمني. فخرجوا وتفرّقوا، وكانت اليهود تطلبه، فأخذوا شمعون أحد الحواريين فقالوا: هذا من أصحابه، فجحد وقال: ما أنا بصاحبه، فتركوه. ثمّ أخذه آخرون فجحد كذلك، ثمّ سمع صوتَ ديك فبكى وأحزنه. فلما أصبح أتى أحد الحواريين إلى اليهود، فقال: ما تجعلون لي إن دللتكم على المسيح؟ فجعلوا له ثلاثين درهمًا، فأخذها ودلّهم عليه، وكان شبّه عليهم قبل ذلك، فأخذوه واستوثقوا منه وربطوه بالحبل، وجعلوا يقودونه ويقولون: أنت كنت تُحمي الموتى وتنتهر الشيطان (٥) وتبرئ المجنون، أفلا تنجي (٦) نفسك من هذا الحبل، ويبصقون عليه، ويلقون عليه الشوك حتى أتَوا به الخشبة التي أرادوا أن يصلبوه عليها، فرفعه الله إليه وصلَبوا ما شُبّه لهم، فمكث سبعًا. ثم إن أمه والمرأة التي كان يداويها عيسى فأبرأها الله من الجنون جاءتا تبكيان حيث كان المصلوب، فجاءهما عيسى فقال: عَلامَ تبكيان؟ قالتا: عليك. فقال: إني قد رفعني الله إليه ولم يُصِبْني إلّا خير، وإن هذا شيء شُبّه لهم.

(١) تفسيره (٦/ ١٠ - ١١). والخبر في مختصر تاريخ دمشق (٢٠/ ١٣٦). (٢) كذا في ط. وهو موافق لما في تفسير الطبري. وفي أ و ب أخذ يوضئهم ويغسل أيديهم بيده. (٣) كذا في ط. وهو موافق لما في تفسير الطبري. وفي ب. شيئًا عليَّ. وفي أ: الليلة شيئًا. (٤) في ط. وتفسير الطبري لبعض نفسه. (٥) كذا في ط. وتفسير الطبري. وفي أ: وتنهر الشياطين. (٦) كذا في ب. و ط. وتفسير الطبري. وفي أ: تفتكّ.