Download PDF: [S] Nabi ‘Isa and the Gold

It is mentioned that one day a person came to Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – and requested that he would like to join Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – in his journey. They began to walk and as they came near a river, Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – removed three pieces of bread from his bag and placed it on the eating mat. They consumed two of these bread and one remained. Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – then went to the river to drink some water and when he arrived, he noticed that the one piece of bread had disappeared. He then asked the person where the other piece of bread was and the person replied that he had no idea.

 

They then continued to walk and this person accompanied Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him. On the road they noticed a buck who had two smaller bucks with her. Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – called one of the babies and had it slaughtered. They prepared the meat and after eating, Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – placed all the bones together and commanded the buck to come alive with the Divine Permission of Allah and it immediately came alive and stood up. Nabi ‘Isa then looked at the person and said, “In the Name of that Divine Being Who has shown you this miracle, tell me, who took the other piece of bread.” The person again replied that he had no idea who had taken the bread.

 

As they walked forward, they came across a large valley of water. Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – then held the hand of the person and they walked across the water and reached the other side safely. Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – asked the person, “I ask you in the Name of that Diving Being Who has shown you this miracle, who had taken that piece of bread?” The person replied that he had no idea.

 

As they walked forward, they entered a lush and a green area. Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – sat on the floor and gathered some sand. He commanded this sand to become gold. It instantly became gold. Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – divided this heap of gold into three parts and said to the person, “One part is mine, one part is yours and one part belongs to the person who took the one piece of the bread.”

 

The person immediately replied that he had taken the one piece of bread. However, Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – handed him the entire heap of gold and walked away from there.

 

At that moment, two strangers also came to that spot and noticed this person sitting alone with a large heap of gold. They decided that they would kill this person and take away his gold, however, the owner of the gold said that there was enough for them to share. They decided that one of them will go to the marketplace and purchase some food while the other waited with the gold. Little did they realise that their worlds were about to change.

 

The person who walked to the market place suddenly had a change of intention. He thought that it would be better if he kept all of the gold for himself and hatched a plan that he would place poison in the food without his companions realising it.

 

However, on the other side, his two companions decided among themselves that there were would be no need to share this three ways as it would be more for each other if they shared this two ways. They decided that when this other person returns from the market place, they will jointly kill this person and split the gold between themselves.

 

When the person returned with the food which was poisoned, they attacked their companion and killed him. They then started to eat thinking that they were now very rich and wealthy. However, a few minutes later, they also died from the poison.

 

In another report from Ishaq bin Ismail, it is mentioned that later as Nabi ‘Isa – peace be upon him – walked past this same area, he noticed the three dead bodies and also the pile of gold which was laying in between them. He then advised his companions that they should indeed be very careful of the world.