you to write me a pledge of protection, should you one day come to rule.” [He said, “Are you mocking me?” He replied, “I am not mocking you, but what harm is there in your thereby earning my gratitude?” So he wrote him a pledge of protection and said, “Suppose I come when the people around you stand between you and me?” He replied, “Raise your document upon a reed, and I shall recognize you.”] (1) So he wrote it for him and gave it to him.

Now the king of the Children of Israel used to honor John, son of Zechariah, and give him a place close to him in his gatherings. The king desired his wife’s daughter—or, according to Ibn Abbas, his sister’s daughter—and asked John, son of Zechariah, about marrying her. John forbade him from marrying her. When this reached her mother, she harbored resentment toward John, son of Zechariah.

When the king sat down to drink, she dressed the girl in fine red garments, perfumed her, adorned her with jewelry, and sent her to the king, instructing her to serve him drink. If he sought to seduce her, she was to refuse him until he granted her what she asked for; and when he granted it, she was to ask that the head of John, son of Zechariah, be brought to her in a basin.

She did so. When he sought her, she said, “I shall not comply until you grant me what I ask of you.” He said, “What do you ask of me?” She said, “The head of John, son of Zechariah, in this basin.” He said, “Woe to you! Ask me for something else.” But she said, “I want nothing but this.” When she persisted, he sent for it, and John’s head was brought and placed before him. The head spoke, saying, “She is not lawful for you.”

When morning came, his blood was boiling. He ordered soil to be cast upon it, but the blood rose—that is, it ascended—boiling, while soil continued to be thrown upon it, until it reached the wall of the city, still boiling.

Sakhabin, the king of Babylon, then sent an army against them and appointed Nebuchadnezzar as its commander. Nebuchadnezzar and his men marched until they reached that place. The Israelites fortified themselves against him in their cities. When the siege grew prolonged for him, he wished to turn back. An elderly woman from among the Children of Israel came out to him and said, “Do you intend to turn back before taking the city?” He replied, “Yes. My stay has been long, and my men have grown hungry.”

She said, “If I open the city for you, will you grant me what I ask, kill whomever I command you to kill, and hold back whenever I command you to hold back?” He said, “Yes.” She said, “When morning comes, divide your army into four divisions, station one division at each corner, then raise your hands to heaven and call out: ‘O Allah, we seek victory through the blood of John, son of Zechariah.’ Then the city will collapse.” They did so, and the city collapsed. They entered from all its sides.

She said, “Stay your hand,” and led him to the blood of John, son of Zechariah. She said, “Kill over this blood until it becomes still.” So he killed seventy thousand people over it, until it became still. When it became still, she said, “Stay your hand, for Allah would not be satisfied when a prophet was killed until those who killed him, and those who approved of his killing, were killed.” The bearer of the document then came to him with his document, and he spared him and his household.

Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and cast carcasses into it. The Romans assisted him in its destruction because the Children of Israel had killed John, son of Zechariah. He took with him the leading men of the Children of Israel, Daniel and a group from among the descendants of the prophets, as well as the head of Goliath. When he arrived in Babylon, he found that Sakhabin had died, and so he took his place as king.

Daniel and his companions were the people most honored by him. The Magians envied them and slandered them to him, saying, “Daniel and his companions do not worship your god, nor do they eat from your sacrificial animals.” He questioned them, and they said, “Yes. We have a Lord whom we worship, and we do not eat from your sacrifices.” The king ordered a pit to be dug for them, and they—six in number—were cast into it. He also threw in with them a fierce lion to devour them. Then they left, but when they returned, they found them sitting, while the lion lay with its forelegs stretched out among them, having not scratched any of them. They also found a seventh man with them.

He said, “Who is this seventh man? They were only six.” The seventh man came out, and he was an angel. He struck him a blow, and he became one of the wild beasts; Allah transformed him for seven years.

Wahb related that Allah transformed Nebuchadnezzar into an eagle among the birds, then into a bull among the beasts of burden, and then into a lion among the wild beasts. His transformation lasted seven years, though his heart remained that of a human being. Then Allah restored his kingdom to him, and he believed. Wahb was asked, “Was he a believer?” He replied, “I found that the People of the Book differed concerning him. Some of them said that he was a believer, while others said: ‘He burned Jerusalem and its books and killed the prophets; therefore Allah became angry with him and did not accept his repentance.’”

Al-Suddi said: Then, when Nebuchadnezzar returned to his original form after the transformation and Allah restored his kingdom to him, Daniel and his companions were the people dearest to him. The Magians envied them and said to Nebuchadnezzar, “When Daniel drinks wine, he cannot control himself from urinating,” and this was considered a disgrace among them. So he prepared food and drink for them. They ate and drank, and he said to the gatekeeper, “Watch for the first person to go out to urinate and strike him with the battle-axe. If he says, ‘I am Nebuchadnezzar,’ say, ‘You are lying; Nebuchadnezzar commanded me.’” The first person to rise to urinate was Nebuchadnezzar himself. When the gatekeeper saw him, he rushed at him. Nebuchadnezzar said, “Woe to you! I am Nebuchadnezzar.” He replied, “You are lying; Nebuchadnezzar commanded me,” and struck and killed him.

This is what was mentioned at the beginning. However, the report of those who relate that Nebuchadnezzar raided the Children of Israel when they killed John, son of Zechariah, is mistaken according to the scholars of historical accounts. Rather, they are unanimous that Nebuchadnezzar raided the Children of Israel when they killed Isaiah, during the time of Jeremiah. From the time of Jeremiah and Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem until the birth of John, son of Zechariah, were four hundred and sixty-one years. ⦗207b⦘ This is because they reckoned seventy years from Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem until its rebuilding in the reign of Cyrus, son of Ahasuerus, son of Asayhid, in Babylon, on behalf of Bahman, son of Isfandiyar; [then eighty-eight years from its rebuilding until Alexander’s appearance over Jerusalem; then, from after his reign] (2) until the birth of John, son of Zechariah, three hundred and sixty years.

The sound view concerning this is what Muhammad ibn Ishaq related.

His saying, exalted is He: “And We conveyed to the Children of Israel in the Scripture”—that is, We made known to them and informed them, in the Scriptures We gave them, that they would spread corruption.

The term decree has several senses. It may mean a command, as in His saying: “And your Lord has decreed” (al-Isra’, 23).

It may mean judgment, as in His saying: “Indeed, your Lord will judge between them” (Jonah, 93; and al-Nahl, 78).

And it may mean creation, as in His saying: “So He completed them as seven heavens” (Fussilat, 2).