9. AS.H.ĀB AL-UKHDŪD (THE MAKERS OF THE PIT OF FIRE)

There were three babies who talked miraculously in their childhood. One of them was in the story reported by Imām Ah.mad b. H...anbal in a long tradition narrated by S.uhayb al-Rūm [the Roman, being from the Eastern Roman empire], that Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) said a story the summary of which is as follows:
“There was a king in the past who had an old magician. Being old and feeling that his death was approaching, the magician asked the king to give him a boy whom he could teach his magic. He found the boy, but the boy also learned secretly from a monk whom he admired. Therefore, he always came late to the magician and came home late. He was beaten by the magician and was asked, ‘What makes you late?’. At home he was beaten by his parents and was asked, ‘What makes you late?’ When he complained to the monk, the monk advised him to say to the magician, when he wanted to beat him for being late, that he had been detained by his parents, and to his parents, when they wanted to beat him for coming home late, that he had been detained by the magician.
“One day a huge animal [it was not mentioned what kind of animal it was] prevented people from passing by. The boy said to himself: ‘Today I shall see which of the two, the monk of the magician, is loved by Allah.’ He took a stone, saying, ‘O Allah, if You prefer the monk to the magician, kill this monster, so that people can pass by.’ Then he threw the stone at it. The monster was killed and the people could pass by. He told the monk what had happened. The monk said to him: ‘Now you become better than me, and you will be tested. When this happens don’t tell people about me.’
“The boy became a healer. He healed the blind and the lepers, and other ill people. The king had an associate who heard about the boy. He was blind, so he told him: ‘Cure me and I’ll give you a present.’ The boy said: ‘I don’t heal anybody. It is Allah who heals. If you believe in Him, He will heal you.’ The man did, and he was healed.
‘The king was surprised to see that his friend could see again.
‘Who healed you?’ asked the king.
‘My Lord,’ said the man.
‘Me?’, asked the king.
‘No, Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’
‘Is there any Lord other than me?', asked the king.
‘Yes, my Lord and your Lord is Allah,’ said the man.
“The man was tortured until he mentioned the boy. The boy was summoned and was interrogated. He, too, was tortured until he mentioned the monk. The monk was summoned, interrogated, and asked to abandon his religion, or he would face persecution. He refused. He was persecuted in a terrible way. His head was cut off with a saw. The king’s associate, refusing to abandon his faith, was also persecuted in the same way.
“Now it was the boy’s turn. He was to receive a special treatment. He was sent to a high mountain where he would be dropped from a cliff. But his prayer was accepted. The mountain shook, and the people who where assigned to carry the persecution perished. The boy was saved. He told the king that Allah had saved him.
“The king sent the boy to the sea where he would be dropped and drowned. Again Allah saved him. The waves drowned the king’s men. The boy said the to king: ‘You cannot kill me until you do what I say’.
‘What is that?' asked the king.
‘Collect people, crucify me on a trunk of the tree, take an arrow from my quiver, and say [before shooting me] بِسْمِ اللهِ رَبِّ هَذَا ْالغُلَام (“In the name of Allah, the Lord of this boy”).
“The king did what the said. He hit the boy in his temple with his arrow. He felt the wound with his fingers and died. The crowd cried, ‘We believe in the boy’s Lord’. The king’s adviser said to him: ‘I have warned you not to do what the boy had suggested. Now it has happened. You see, all people have become believers.’
“So the king blocked the road with a huge pit, put fire in it, and said: ‘Whoever abandons his faith will be spared. But nobody listened to him. They had solid faith. They pushed each other into the burning pit. A woman with a baby in her arms looked hesitant to jump. Her baby suddenly talked to her: ‘Be patient, mom, you are on the right way.’” (A similar version was also reported by Muslim and al-Nasā’ī).
This is one of many examples of solid faith. This reminds us of Bilāl, ‘Ammār b. Yāsir, and the magicians of the Pharaoh who defied threat and punishment.
Allah said in the Qur’ān:
وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الْبُرُوجِ. وَالْيَوْمِ الْمَوْعُودِ. وَشَاهِدٍ وَمَشْهُودٍ.
قُتِلَ أَصْحَابُ الْأُخْدُودِ. النَّارِ ذَاتِ الْوَقُودِ. إِذْ هُمْ عَلَيْهَا قُعُودٌ. وَهُمْ عَلَى مَا
يَفْعَلُونَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ شُهُودٌ. وَمَا نَقَمُوا مِنْهُمْ إِلَّا أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ. الَّذِي
لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ. إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ
(البروج : ‍‍‍١-٠‍‍١).
“By the sky, with its constellation; by the promised day
(of judgement); by one that witnesses and the subject of the witness,
woe to the makers of the pit (of fire), the fire supplied (abundantly)
with fuel; Behold! They sat over against the (fire)and they witnessed
(all) that they were doing against the believers. And they ill-treated
them for no other reason than that they believed in Allah exalted in
power, worthy of all praise! Him to Whom belongs the dominion
of the heavens and the earth! And Allah is witness to all things.
Those who persecute [i.e., burning alive] the believers, men
and women, and do not turn in repentance, will have
chastisement of the burning fire.” 31
Another interpretation is that the above verses referred to the following story: One of the kings of the Himyarite dynasty in Yemen was Dhū Nuwās (490-525 C.E.). After visiting Yathrib (now called Madinah) where many inhabitants were Jews, he converted to Judaism. Then he invaded Najran (now a small town in Saudi Arabia located near the border with Yemen), to crush the flourishing Christianity there. He made a trench filled with fire and threw the Christians into it. The Orientalist historian Sir William Muir said that there were no less than twenty thousand Christians perished.
Then persecution of the Christians in Yemen (not only in Najran) made the prince of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), who was a Nestorian, to revenge. He sent an expedition in 525 C.E. ending with the death of Dhū Nuwās and the subjection of Yemen. However, in general sense, the above verses refer to any people who tortured and burned the believers alive, Allah will punish them in the same way, with fire, unless they repent.

Footnote:
31. Qur’ān, Burūj, [85]:1-10