Jacob (a): Difference between revisions

  | Important Events = Jacob went blind after the disappearance of his son

'''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 (a) 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 (a) 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 (a) was the son of [[Isaac (a)]] and a grandson of [[Abraham (a)]]. 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 (a)]] and [[Benjamin]] were born from Rachel. According to the Qur'an, Jacob (a) went blind after the disappearance of his son, Joseph (a), 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).<ref>{{ia|قالَ يا أَسَفى‏ عَلى‏ يُوسُفَ وَ ابْيَضَّتْ عَيْناهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ فَهُوَ كَظيم}}</ref>

According to the Qur'an, the birth of Isaac and Jacob was annunciated to Abraham (a): "And We gave to Abraham (a), Isaac (a) and Jacob (a) - all [of them] We guided" ([[Sura al-An'am]]: 84).<ref>{{ia|وَ وَهَبْنَا لَهُ إِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ ۚ كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا}}</ref> The Qur'an mentions "Ya'qub (a)" (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 (a)", 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 (a) 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).<ref>{{ia| لَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ جاؤُكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا اللَّهَ وَ اسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا اللَّهَ تَوَّاباً رَحيماً}}</ref>