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as to belief and conduct broke out anew, and
again the one concern of the Jewish doctors became the
promotion of their own selfish purposes, and the reforms
that had obtained in Ezra's time were changed
to perversity and corruption. The situation worsened
to such a degree that time and again, the armies of the
republic of Rome and of its rulers conquered Israelite
territory. Finally the warlike Titus, commander of the
Roman forces, trampled the Jewish homeland into
dust, putting every man to the sword, taking the women
and children captive, flattening their houses, tearing
out their trees, burning their books, looting their treasures,
and reducing Jerusalem and the Temple to an
ash heap. After this supreme calamity, the star of Israel's
dominion sank away to nothing, and to this day,
the remnant of that vanished nation has been scattered
to the four winds. "Humiliation and misery were
stamped upon them." (47) These two most great afflictions,
brought on by Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, are
referred to in the glorious Qur'án: "And We solemnly
declared to the children of Israel in the Book, `Twice
surely will ye commit evil in the earth, and with great
loftiness of pride will ye surely be uplifted.' And when
the menace for the first of the two came to be executed,
We sent against you Our servants endowed with terrible
prowess; and they searched the inmost part of
your abodes, and the menace was accomplished...
And when the punishment threatened for your latter
47. Qur'án 2:58.
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