{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/mos18.htm","path":"isl/pro/mos18.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/mos18.htm","text":"The Chieftains and `Iwaj ben `In\u00e2q and what\nHappened With Them\nAs Al-\u00dea`labi mentioned: God promised Moses to make him live with\nhis people in the holy lands, which was the lands of Shem, and there lived\nalso the tyrants, or the giants, the descendants of `Iml\u00e2q ben L\u00e2wi\n(Levi) ben Shem ben Noah [could not find any close record for this names\nchain], so God ordered Moses and his people to go the lands of Shem and\nsaid to him: O Moses I detined it as a living place for you so fight against\nthe foes for I will bring victory to you, and take twelve chieftains from\nyour folks, a chieftain from each tribe to take care of the tribe and take\ntheir covenants to do what they are ordered to do, so Moses then chose\nthe chieftains, one chieftain from each tribe and made them the rulers\nof their tribes and so Moses went along with the Israelites..etc, and in\nthis narration some exaggerations especially about `Iwaj ben `In\u00e2q\nand about him being one of the giants in the lands of Shem [notice that\nin Torah, it is mentioned the name of Anak, a progenitor of giants, and\nthe name is close to Arabic, and even closer when read in Hebrew, so the\nstory might be about one of the children of Anak].\nIn brief what he mentioned is that when Moses walked with the Israelites\ntowards the lands of Shem (Canaan) he sent spies before him to see the\nconditions and so he sent the twelve chieftains to spy for him so one man\nmet them and he was `Iwaj ben `In\u00e2q so he took them all and made\nthem in his cloth and went to his wife and said to her: look to those people\nthat claim that they want to fight against us, and he threw them between\nher hands and said: shall I crash them with my feet? But his wife said:\nno but release them to let them tell their people what they saw, and so\nhe did. They say that `Iwaj lived for three thousands years until he was\nkilled by Moses ben Amram (PUH), and they say that the height of Moses\nwas ten cubits and the length of his staff was also ten cubits and he jumped\nas high as ten cubits and stroke `Iwaj with it (the staff) but he stroke\nonly his foot's top and killed him and then some of his (Moses') people\ncame and cutt of his head, and when he was killed he fell upon the Nile\nof Egypt so he was made as a bridge for a year. his mother was `In\u00e2q,\none of Adam's daughters, and she died during the life of her father Adam,\nand the narration of Al-\u00dea`labi is long about this matter, and he\nmentioned that because of the height of `Iwaj, he used to pick up a whale\nfrom the sea and raise it up with his hands and cook it by the sun and\nthen eat it.\nWhat they have mentioned about his height is unbelievable and it bears\nno fruit to discuss it. They say that during the Flood he came to Noah\nand said to him: carry me with you in the Ark but Noah refused to do so\nand that water covered everything on earth and yet it did not exceed his\nknees. As for the chieftains that Moses sent to the giants in the lands\nof Shem to spy on them, they got back in safe to him from their travel\nand they were absent for forty days and saw strange things and found out\nthat there is no human can fight them (the giants) so they decided to keep\nwhat they saw of strange things as a secret and never tell any one of the\nIsraelites or they will never go with Moses to such a thing, so they made\na covenant with each other that they will keep it as a secret and not tell\nany one except of Moses and Aaron and they will decide what to do.\nSo they went along and they reached their folks and then got to Moses\nand told him about what they saw, but then they broke the covenant and\neveryone of them started to tell his tribe about what they saw and advises\nthem not to go with Moses to fight the giants, except of Joshua ben Nun\nand Caleb ben Jephunneh as it was said, and he (Caleb) is the husband of\nMary the sister of Moses and Aaron. When the folks head from the chieftains\nwhat was scary for them they raised their voices crying and saying: wish\nif we were dead in the lands of Egypt and never were out of it and God\nwere not to let us into these lands so that our fortunes and our women\nwould be a gain for them, then they got ready to get back to Egypt and\ndenied to go with Moses and said to him that there are giant people there,\nso Moses said to them: the One that saved you and splitted the sea for\nyou is able to make you win against them, but they denied to do so and\ndecided to go back to Egypt, so then Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes\nand said to them: go to the giants through the gate and when you go there\nyou will win against them for God will fullfil his promise to you to let\nyou win against them and we've seen them and tested them and they have\nweak hearts although their bodies are powerful, so do not be afraid of\nthem and leave it all for God if you were believers. Then the Israelites\ndesired to throw them with stones and refused their commands and said:\nO Moses, we will never go in there as long they are there so go with your\nLord and fight for we are staying here, so then Moses turned to be so angry\nand prayed against them and said: My Lord! I have control of none but myself\nand my brother, so distinguish between us and the wrong-doing folk(Al-M\u00e2'idah:25),\nand he finished praying a cloud appeared on \"Qobbat Al-Zomor\" [maybe this\nphrase means \"on the crowds\"], and God inspired to Moses: until when they\nwill not believe in you and the miracles? I shall destroy them all and\nmake for you who is mighter and more in number, so then Moses regretted\nwhen he prayed against them and said: O Lord, if You destroyed them all\npeople and nations would say that these people are killed because You could\nnot bring them into the holy lands, and You are the Merciful that forgive\nthe sins, so forgive them for their sins and do not destroy them, so then\nGod said: I forgave them but I forbade them from going into the holy lands\nexcept of my servants Joshua and Caleb, and I shall keep them dwelling\non earth for forty years, as much as the number of days they spent spying\non the giants, and We shall flip their dead bodies in these deserts and\ntheir children will go into it, and that is God's saying: For this the\nland will surely be forbidden them for forty years that they will wander\nin the earth, bewildered. So grieve not over the wrongdoing folk(Al-M\u00e2'idah:26).\nThey were six hundred thousand warriors added to them the families and\nwomen and children, so they were all during these forty years travelling\nhardly and when night comes they find themselves in the same position that\nthey travelled from.\nDuring that time, the ten chieftains that broke their covenant died,\nand they died suddenly in a disgusted way during the Wandering, and also\ndied those who exceeded twenty years old of men except of Joshua and Caleb,\nand none of those who said: So go thou and thy Lord and fight! We will\nsit here(Al-M\u00e2'idah:24) did enter Jericho. So, when all died and\nthe forty years passed and other generations of them appeared, they went\nto fight the giants and God made the victory for them and won against them\nand they lived there after the Wandering. After all these adversities God\ndid say: O Children of Israel! Remember My favour wherewith I favoured\nyou and how I preferred you to (all) creatures(Al-Baqarah:47).\nApparently, the holy phrase points out to the favours of God for the\nIsraelites during the Wandering and before the Wandering and after the\nWandering, for He saved them from the evil of the pharaoh and his deeds\nand got them out of his slavery and destroyed him with his people, and\nthen after the Wandering He made them rule the lands, and we've talked\na lot about the Wandering for it has lot of stories about it, and\nto take the sermons out of what happened to the folks of this story, and\nall is for God the One, and no strength except by Him.","title":"Mos18","type":"page"}