THE PROPHET AZIZ (UBAIR OR EZRA) (peace be upon him):
Ahmad Israr Kamal
The lineage genealogy of the Prophet 'Aziz (peace be upon him) linked with that of Harun bin 'Umran. The name of his father was Khalqiyah. The Holy Quran has made mention of him in the Surah Immunity. The Jews regarded him as the son of Allah as the Christians thought 'Esa (peace be upon him) as His son. The Holy Quran affirms:

The Jews say: 'Aziz is the son of Allah and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. Such they say in their mouth! These resemble the sayings of the infidels of old. Allah do battle with them. How are they misguided ? (9:30)

He was the son of Sharahya, the Scribe. He was in his teens when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and put it to rout. When he attained the age of forty years the crown of Prophet hood was conferred upon his head. He began to perform the duty of showing the path of righteousness to the depraved humanity. He was held in high esteem among his followers. When the Israelites planned to reconstruct the Bait-ul-Muqaddis, he exercised his influence to gain co-operation of the Government officials. He assisted the Jews to carry out their plan.

Al-Baizawi says: During the Babylonish captivity the Torah was lost and there was none who remembered it. Allah raised up Aziz (peace be upon him) from the dead one century after his burial. He dictated to the scribes from his memory the whole Jewish law (Torah). He would have been fully worthy of having been the law-giver if Musa (peace be upon him) had not preceded him. History bears testimony to this fact that the Prophet 'Aziz (peace be upon him) guided the Israelites during the period which lasted from the destruction of Jerusalem to the reconstruction of Bait-ul-Muqadis.

It has been narrated that a person rode upon an ass and passed near a city called Jerusalem. He possessed a basket of figs and a vessel of the juice of grapes. He wondered at the power of Allah and said: How will Allah re-build and populate it again? 'Aziz (peace be upon him) was much shocked at the sight of dilapidated dwellings. When he was under the sway of utter disappointment, Allah caused him to die for a hundred years. Then He raised him to life and said: How long have you tarried here? He replied: I have tarried for a day or a part of it. He slept in the first part of the day and was deprived of his life. He was reanimated at sunset. Allah, the Exalted said: You have tarried a hundred years. Look at your food and drink. They are as fresh as you have left them. They have remained unchanged even after the passage of century. Look at the ass. It has been decomposed and reduced to skeleton of bones. I have wrought this miracle to make manifest to you that I have the power to immune or destroy anything. The Holy Quran narrates this miracle in the following Verses:

And how He demeaned him who passed by a city which had been laid in ruins. He said: How shall Allah give life to this city after it had been destroyed. And Allah caused him to die for a hundred years and then raised him to life. He said: How long have you waited? He said: I have waited a day or part of a day. Allah said: look on your food and your drink; they are not corrupted. Look on your ass, We would make you a sign for men and look on the bones of your ass, how We will raise them, then clothe them with flesh and when this was shown to him, he said: I acknowledge that Allah has power to do all things. (1:270)

Allah commanded the Prophet 'Aziz (peace be upon him) to go to Jerusalem to render services to the cause of religion. He passed away at Sa'irabad near 'Iraq. He was buried there. Some historians say that his grave is in Damascus.