among the Children of Israel. They competed for kingship until some of them killed others, while their prophet Isaiah was among them, yet they would not accept what he said. When they did this, Allah said to Isaiah, “Stand among your people; revelation shall be spoken through your tongue.”
When the prophet Isaiah stood, Allah caused his tongue to speak the revelation, and he said:
“O heaven, listen; O earth, give ear. Allah wishes to recount the affair of the Children of Israel: those whom He nurtured through His favor, chose for Himself, singled out with His generosity, and favored above His servants. Yet they are like lost sheep with no shepherd: He sheltered their strays, gathered their lost ones, mended their broken, treated their sick, fattened their emaciated, and protected their well-fed. But when He had done this, they became insolent. Their rams began butting one another, and some killed others, until not a sound bone remained to which another broken bone might be set.
“Woe to this sinful community, who do not know from where their good has come. Even the camel remembers its homeland and returns to it; the donkey remembers the fodder-place where it was filled and goes back to it; and the ox remembers the pasture where it grew fat and returns to it. Yet these people do not remember from where their good has come, though they possess understanding and reason; they are neither cattle nor donkeys. I shall set forth a parable for them, so let them hear it.
“Tell them: What do you think of a land which had long lain empty, desolate, and dead, with no habitation in it, but which had a wise and powerful master? He set about cultivating it, for he disliked that his land should remain ruined while he was powerful, or that it should be said that he had neglected it while he was wise. So he enclosed it with a wall, built palaces in it, caused a river to flow through it, and planted in it olive trees, pomegranates, date palms, grapevines, and every variety of fruit. He then entrusted it to a strong and trustworthy overseer, a man of sound judgment and resolve. When it brought forth its produce, did its yield emerge blighted?”
They said, “What a wretched land this is! We think its wall and palace should be demolished, its river filled in, its overseer dismissed, and its plantings burned, until it becomes as it was at first: desolate, dead, and devoid of habitation.”
Allah said to them: “The wall is My religion, the palace is My law, the river is My Book, the overseer is My prophet, the plantings are they themselves, and the blighted yield produced by the plantings is their wicked deeds. I have decreed against them the judgment which they have brought upon themselves. This is a parable I have set forth for them.
“They seek to draw near to Me by sacrificing cattle and sheep, though their flesh does not reach Me, nor do I eat it. Yet they neglect to draw near to Me through taqwa and by refraining from killing the souls whom I have forbidden them to kill. Their hands are stained with their blood, and their garments are wrapped in it. They build houses of worship for Me and cleanse their interiors, while defiling and polluting their own hearts and bodies. They adorn and beautify the mosques for Me, while ruining and corrupting their minds and understanding. What need have I for the building of houses when I do not dwell in them? And what need have I for the adornment of mosques when I do not enter them? I only commanded that they be raised so that I might be remembered and glorified therein.
“They say: ‘We fasted, yet our fasting was not raised; [we prayed, yet our prayer was not illuminated] (1); we gave charity, yet our charity was not purified; and we supplicated with the cooing of doves and wept with the howling of wolves, but in all of this we were not answered.’
Allah said: “Ask them: What prevents Me from answering them? Am I not the One who hears all who hear, sees all who see, and is the nearest