What Happened to the Seventy Men Chosen by Moses

18-11-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamualaikum,What finally happened to seventy men who went with Prophet Musa alaihis-salam?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

What happened to the seventy men that Moosa (Moses) had chosen from his people is that Allah informed us that they were seized by the earthquake. Allah Says (what means): {And Moses chose from his people seventy men for Our appointment. And when the earthquake seized them, he said, "My Lord, if You had willed, You could have destroyed them before and me [as well]. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? This is not but Your trial by which You send astray whom You will and guide whom You will. You are our Protector, so forgive us and have mercy upon us; and You are the best of forgivers.} [Quran 7:155]

Allah did not mention anything else other than this, and did not mention whether He had brought them back to life after this or not. Also, there is nothing in the Sunnah about this.

But there are some statements of some Companions and the Taabi’is (the generation that followed that of the Companions) that Allah has revived them.

Ibn Abu Shaybah reported in his Musannaf on the authority of ‘Ali that Allah revived them and made them all prophets.

Ibn Katheer said about this statement (of the Companion –i.e. ‘Ali) that it is very Ghareeb (A Hadeeth narrated by only one narrator at any stage of its chain of narrators); only Allah knows what happened to them.

A Muslim should be keen on asking questions about what benefits him in his worldly matters and his Hereafter, and totally avoid asking questions of no benefit at all, as knowing the answer to them does not benefit and ignoring the answer does not harm.

Allah knows best.