Jacob (a): Difference between revisions

  | Age = 147 years old

  | Repeat in the Qur'an =16 times

'''Jacob''' or '''Ya'qūb''' (Arabic: {{ia|یَعْقوب}}) or '''Israel''' was the son of the prophet [[Isaac]] and a grandson of the prophet [[Abraham]]. He is one of the [[prophets]] mentioned in the [[Qur'an]]. Shiite exegetes of the Qur'an take “Israel” to mean the servant of God, but according to the [[Torah]], Jacob was called so because he struggled with an angel and won. In some Islamic sources, it is appealed to the story of [[Joseph]]’s brothers asking Jacob to intercede and ask God for their forgiveness in order to show the permissibility of [[tawassul]] to someone other than God. Some people have appealed to Jacob’s marrying two sisters at the same time to show the permissibility of such marriage before Islam. Jacob died in [[Egypt]] at the age of 147, and according to his own will, his corpse was moved from Egypt and buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron in Palestine.

Jacob was the son of Isaac and a grandson of Abraham. He was a prophet. He went to Paddan Aram to his maternal uncle, Laban, served as a shepherd for a while and married two of his uncle’s daughters. According to Quranic verses, before Islam it was permissible to marry two sisters at the same time. But according to some [[hadith]]s, Jacob married the second sister after the death of the first one. He had 12 sons from his wives. [[Joseph]] and [[Benjamin]] were born from Rachel. According to the Qur'an, Jacob went blind after the disappearance of his son, Joseph, because he cried for many years: “And he turned away from them and said, "Oh, my sorrow over Joseph," and his eyes became white from grief, for he was [of that] a suppressor.” (Sura Yusuf: 84).

==Annunciation of Jacob’s Birth==

According to the Qur'an, the birth of Isaac and Jacob was annunciated to Abraham: “And We gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - all [of them] We guided” ([[Sura al-An'am]]: 84). The Qur'an mentions “Ya'qub” (Jacob) 16 times in 10 [[Sura]]s of the Qur'an. And “Isra'il” (Israel) is mentioned twice in [[Sura Al 'Imran]] and [[Sura Maryam]]. In his ''[[Majma' al-bayan]]'', [[al-Tabrisi]] takes “Isra'il” to be the same person as “Ya'qub”, adding that “Isra” means a servant, and “'Il” means God, and so the term means the servant of God. The Qur'an also mentions the story of Jacob’s children and his intercession for them to ask for God’s forgiveness: “And if, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you, [O Muhammad], and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Accepting of repentance and Merciful” ([[Sura al-Nisa]]: 64).

==Jacob’s Complaint to God==

According to Shiite [[hadith]]s, Jacob suffered a separation from his son, [[Joseph]], because he and his family ignored the begging of a hungry poor man. According to other hadiths, Jacob was very patient, citing a supplication by Jacob according to which: “I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allah, and I know from Allah that which you do not know” (Sura Yusuf: 86). And “the most fitting patience” is interpreted as taking one’s complaints to God, rather than people, just as Jacob did.