Prophet Yusha [Joshua] (Peace be upon him)
Allah revealed the following to Hz. Yusha:"O Yusha! I will destroy forty thousand good people and sixty thousand evil people from your nation."Hz. Yusha asked:"O Lord! You will destroy sixty thousand evil people due to their evil deeds; you want to punish them because of the sins they committed. Why do you want to punish the other forty thousand good people?’He received the following answer:"Those forty thousand good people joined the sixty thousand evil people by keeping silent; they deserve the same punishment because they kept silent when the others committed sins."
THE PROPHET YUSHA
As we have mentioned earlier, Hz. Yusha was the person with whom Hz. Musa went to see Hz. Khidr and whom he appointed as his successor after his death. Hz. Yusha was the son of Hz. Musa’s sister.
After the death of Hz. Musa, the Prophet Yusha became the leader of Children of Israel.
During the 40-year period in the desert, a new generation replaced the generation of Children of Israel that refused to fight when they were asked to fight. This generation was not oppressed by the oppression and cruelty of the Pharaoh like their fathers and they were brought up by the ideal of the holy land; therefore, they were a dynamic generation ready for war.1
Indeed, it is impossible to make a degenerated generation without an ideal do anything. In that case, the best way of improving them is to aim the young children and to bring them up in a way that is desired. This necessitates a long time. As a matter of fact, the young generation of Children of Israel became ready only after 40 years.
Thus, Hz. Yusha started with such an energetic generation. Three days after the death of Hz. Musa, he led Children of Israel out of the desert to the bank of the River Sharia. His old friend Caleb was with him.
After crossing the River Sharia with a miracle of Hz. Yusha, Children of Israel besieged the city of Ariha and conquered it after clashes. Thus, Children of Israel moved from desert life to city life.
With the conquest of Ariah, Children of Israel entered the holy land; after that, they started to fight the local tribes in order to conquer the whole holy land. Eventually, they invaded the whole holy land by conquering Palestine, Jordan and Damascus.2
It is narrated that Hz. Yusha ruled Children of Israel for about twenty-eight years. Hz. Yusha died when he was about 100 years old. He was buried in Palestine but the location of his grave is not known.
It is also stated that Hz. Yusha's grave is on Yusha Hill, in the township of Beykoz, Istanbul. There is no definite evidence that he was buried there but it is possible that he came and lived there for a while. (*)
THE PERIOD OF JUDGES IN CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
After Hz. Yusha, the Period of Judges started in Children of Israel. During this period, many judges ruled. There were also some prophets among them.
During the Period of Judges, Children of Israel committed several wrong deeds; therefore, they were hit by several misfortunes. They were sometimes enslaved by their enemies and regained their independence after a while;3 thus, they led a life full of struggle and hardships. As it was the case in the past, when they had a trouble, they applied to their prophet; when they were saved from the trouble, they opposed their prophet and acted contrarily to their shari'ah. They even killed their prophets from time to time.4
FOOTNOTES
1 Çantay, I/162, not:39; Bilmen, II/754; Kısas-ı Enbiya, I/32.
2 Kısas-ı Enbiya, I/33.
(*) It is said that Yahya Efendi, the foster brother of Sulayman the Magnificent, discovered the place of Hz. Yusha and repaired it. (Hayat Tarih, June 1978, 88)
3 Kısas-ı Enbiya, I/33
4 See: at-Tabari, VI, 285-286. Abu Ubayda b. Jarrah narrates that Children of Israel killed their prophets as follows: "I asked the Prophet,
'O Messenger of Allah! Who will be punished the most severely on the Day of Judgment?' He said, “Those who killed a prophet and those who ordered bad deeds and prohibited good deeds.' Then, he read the following verses:
'As to those who deny the Signs of Allah, and in defiance of right, slay the Prophets, and slay those who teach just dealing with mankind, announce to them a grievous penalty. They are those whose works will bear no fruit in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.'
After that, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, 'O Abu Ubayda! One day in the morning, Children of Israel killed 43 prophets in an hour. One hundred and twelve chivalrous people among them ordered those who killed them to do good deeds and prohibited them from doing bad deeds. Thereupon, they were also killed on the same day in the evening. They are the people mentioned by Allah in the verse.'"
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