¶ The Lost Tribes of Israel
Israel is known as a country in the Middle East, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the southwest, and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively. Israel has a rich history dating back thousands of years and is significant in the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But is this actually the case according to the Bible?
The first question we must ask ourselves is where does the name Israel come from?
The name is first mentioned in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 32, when Jacob (PBUH) wrestles an angel.
That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
- The Holy Bible, Book of Genesis Chapter 32, Verses 22-32
So we see that Prophet Jacob became Israel. So Israel was originally the name of a Messenger, not a land.
We also find in Genesis, Chapter 35:
After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.
Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.
Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.
Jacob had twelve sons:
The sons of Leah:
Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.
The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali.
The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad and Asher.
These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
- The Holy Bible, Book of Genesis, Chapter 35, Verses 9-26
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.
- The Holy Bible, Book of Genesis, Chapter 37, Verse 3
We read in 1 Kings, Chapter 11:
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
- The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Kings, Chapter 11, Verses 1-13
Because Solomon disobeys the command of God, God said that he will tear Solomon’s kingdom away from him and tear it out of the hands of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. So who does God give the Kingdom to?
We read in 1 Kings, Chapter 11:
About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. I will do this because they have[b] forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.
“‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes. I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’”
- The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Kings, Chapter 11, Verses 29-39
So from here, we see that God gave part of Solomon’s kingdom to Jeroboam, ten tribes, while Rehoboam was given the other two tribes. Therefore, the 12 tribes of Israel (the 12 tribes of Jacob) split into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom was ruled Rehoboam and was supported by two of the tribes of Jacob. The northern kingdom was ruled by Jeroboam and was supported by ten of the tribes of Jacob.
And this can be found in 1 Kings, Chapter 12:
When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.
When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.
But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.
- The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Kings, Chapter 12, Verses 20-24
The ten tribes of Jacob resided in the north and Jeroboam established a kingdom which they called the 'Kingdom of Israel', however, it was not united because there were still two tribes, Judah and Benjamin who resided in the south and supported Rehoboam and established a kingdom which they called the 'Kingdom of Judah' where the city of Jerusalem resides in. In desperation, Jeroboam commits a great mistake:
Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.
- The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Kings, Chapter 12, Verses 26-33
And because God became angry at Jeroboam and punished him for this. We read in 1 Kings, Chapter 14:
At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said and went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh.
Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”
So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me.
“‘Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!’
“As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good.
“The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. Even now this is beginning to happen. And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”
- The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Kings, Chapter 14, Verses 1-16
God almighty brings down a punishment upon Jeroboam because he made idols out of golden calves and the prophet Abijah (the one who told Jeroboam that God had chosen him to be king) told Jeroboam that because of the sins that Jeroboam committed and the sins he caused Israel to commit, God was very angry with Jeroboam and that his kingdom will be taken over.
And it was taken over by the Assyrians, ending the Kingdom of Israel.
We read in 2 Kings, Chapter 17:
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.
Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser’s vassal and had paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison. The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.” The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left.
- The Holy Bible, Book of 2 Kings, Chapter 17, Verses 1-18
So no more Israel. There's only now the Kingdom of Judah.
God did not only punish Jeroboam, he also punished Rehoboam. We read in 1 Kings, Chapter 14:
Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.
Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.
As for the other events of Rehoboam’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. And Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.
- The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Kings, Chapter 14, Verses 21-31
And later, the Kingdom of Judah was taken over by Nebuchadnezzar. We read in 2 Kings, Chapter 25:
So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[b] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city. Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
- The Holy Bible, Book of 2 Kings, Chapter 25, Verses 1-26
So what happened to the tribe of Judah?
They're still captured in Babylon and they're under Nebuchadnezzar, and they remain captured for many years until they end up returning back after Cyrus and the rebuilding of the temple once again. And they go back and they live in the land that was once called Israel. But the people that come back to Israel are only those from the Kingdom of Judah.
We read in Ezra, Chapter 1:
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:
“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”
Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. All their neighbours assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
- The Holy Bible, Book of Ezra, Chapter 1, Verses 1-8
So why does God allow the people to return to the Kingdom of Judah? He does so to keep His promise that He made to David (PBUH). And that promise was that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. So the only reason why God saves and returns Judah back to the homeland is because he promised that he was going to send to them Jesus the Messiah.
So when Jesus was sent, he came to the Kingdom of Judah or the Jews, And that's why they're called Jews because they are from the tribe of Judah. So the religion that is now called Judaism is not the religion of ‘Israel’. It's the religion of the Tribe of Judah. It's their understanding of it. It's their writings of it. They named themselves after Judah, not after Israel. So to call the country today, ‘Israel’ is actually a fallacy. Because the people that are in there are Jews. They're not Israelites. They are Jews. It's the return of the Kingdom of Judah, which is mixed with a bunch of Gentiles who claim to be Jews, but they're not really descendants of the Kingdom of Judea, along with some real descendants from Judah.
And it's actually the tribe of Judah who now oppresses the Messiah and who is guilty of rejecting him and guilty of basically causing him death by crucifixion.
And after that, the punishment takes place in 70 A.D. And the Romans come and sack Jerusalem. And they disperse and exile the Jews. And now many of the Jews become scattered amongst the nations. The ten tribes and the ones that got dispersed and scattered, they all forget their identity. And the idea is that the lost tribes of Israel exists on the earth today, and they don't even know who they are. They don't know that they are actual descendants of the Prophet Jacob. That is why they are called the Lost Tribes of Israel.
And then we come to the question of, “Okay, well, what happens now to these lost tribes?” Let us look at the Book of Revelation, Chapter 7:
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
- The Holy Bible, Book of Revelation, Chapter 7, Verses 1-8
And so now we know that the Messiah, which they rejected and attempted to kill, is the one who comes back in the end times with a character called ‘The Son of Man’, which the Christians consider to be Jesus (PBUH). And it is in that time of Jesus and the Mahdi that brings forward the lost tribes of Israel and brings them home. And so the real state of Israel comes, but it comes only with the return of the true Messiah of Israel. Because Israel only means the collective voice of the 12 tribes. Without the 12 tribes, there is no Israel. For Israel to exist. It has to be 12.
So the question is where are they today? Well let us look at the Qur'an and the narrations of Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed (From Them Is Peace).
We find a narration that states that,
On the authority of Abu Dawud, who heard from Prophet Mohammad (PBUH & His Family) saying:
"I am Abdullah whose name is Ahmed, and I am Abdullah whose name is Israel. Whatever He had commanded him, He has commanded me, and whatever was meant for him was meant for me."
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 24, p. 397; Tafsir Al-Ayashi, Mohammed ibn Masoud Al-Ayashi, Vol.1, p. 44
And in another hadith the Ahlul-Bayt (From Them Is Peace) said that any verse in the Qur'an, which is positively speaking about the Israelites, is actually speaking about Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed (From Them Is Peace).
On the authority of Harun ibn Mohammed Al-Halabi, he said: I asked Abu Abdullah (PBUH) about God’s saying: “O children of Israel.” He said: "They are us in particular."
On the authority of Mohammed ibn Ali, on the authority of Abu Abdullah, (PBUH) he said: I asked him about his saying: “O children of Israel.” He said: “It is especially for the Family of Mohammed (PBUT).”
- Tafsir Al-Ayashi, Mohammed ibn Masoud Al-Ayashi, Vol.1, p. 44
¶
From the Words of the Qaim Aba Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace)
Aba Al-Sadiq (From Him Is Peace) states in the episode, ‘The Lost Tribes of Israel with the Mahdi’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWJjIM_ZYxk&t=927s&ab_channel=TheMahdiHasAppeared
So how can we have the verse in the Qur'an speaking about the children of Israel, but it also applies to the Prophet Mohammed (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi) and his family and his true followers? Because people that are from the Family of Mohammed are also people like Salman, who are not physically his descendants, but people that are close to him. Unless the lost tribes of Israel became followers of the religion of Islam and followers of the Prophet Mohammed (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi).
And so here we get the secret. The secret's unlocked in this hadith where the prophet says, “Israel is my name, I'm Israel."
And so his followers, because he said, I am the father of the nation. So anybody who's a follower of Mohammed is a ‘Bani Mohammed’. And if Mohammed is name is ‘Ahmed’ then they're ‘Bani Ahmed’ or ‘Bani Mustafa’ or ‘Bani Mahmoud’ or ‘Bani Israel’ - is the followers, the true followers of the Prophet Mohammed (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi). And so we find out that the ten tribes that made up the Kingdom of Israel, they became scattered and they went past the Euphrates into Iraq and then to these different countries that now became Muslim countries, and they ended up following Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed. And so he has followers that are Muslim. These tribes now are Muslim tribes that recognize the Prophet Mohammed (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi). They're still scattered. It doesn't mean that like all of Iran or all of Iraq or all of Lebanon are member. No, but particular true believers that are amongst these people, but they recognize Mohammed. These are where the ten tribes are and it is the Mahdi (alayhi salam) who will be able to distinguish them. Because out of all of these Muslims, the ones that pledge allegiance and recognize the Mahdi... And you can only recognize Jesus the Son of Mary if you're with the Mahdi, because Jesus, according to the narrations, he appears while the people are praying with the Mahdi. So only those who pledge allegiance to the Mahdi recognize the Mahdi are going to be able to recognize Jesus. And it is those who are with Jesus and with the Mahdi who are the 144,000 or the 12 tribes of Israel. And from them obviously is also from the Tribe of Judah, because there will be people in the current so-called state of Israel that will end up actually recognizing and converting to the religion of the Mahdi. And there's also descendants of Judah, they're still around the world that are not citizens of Israel. All of those people will end up following the Mahdi. And so that is the reason why the name ‘Israel’... it's not allowed to call the state of Israel ‘Israel’. It would be offensive to those other tribes. And it’s just not a reality. It's not a reality by the standards of the Torah. It's not a reality by the standards of the Gospels. You can't be a Jew and you can't be a Christian if you are calling the current state ‘Israel,’ because it's just not what it is. And now we know who they are. And now we know that this war, this ancient war that has been taking place between the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah is still going on today in the form of this war between the Jews and the Muslims.So now we have this name and that all of the Arabs are cursing. And they're saying, “down with Israel” and “death to Israel”, when in reality they shouldn't say it because it's a name of the Prophet Mohammed (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi).
And it's time now for those tribes of Israel and the Ansar of Imam Al-Mahdi to reclaim back those symbols that are being stolen by the Tribe of Judah and being hoarded as if it only belongs to them. And it needs to be taken away from them and proudly raised up by the true 12 tribes. And those are the ones whom follow the Mahdi (alayhi salam) and Jesus the Messiah of the children of Israel in this time. And this name ‘Israel’ it's a holy name that belonged to a Prophet. And it was Jacob, and it is a holy name. And is one of those names that belonged to the Prophet Mohammed (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam). So Israel (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi) is a name of the Prophet Mohammed (sall Allahu alayhi wa alihi), the best of creation.