Uzair was one of the pious men within Bani Israel, who lived after the time of Musa AS. He was a firm believer who committed the Taurat (Torah) to memory, and was famed for being so pious that all his supplications to Allah came true. There is speculation that he might have been a prophet, but this is something that was never confirmed by the Qur’an or the Sunnah.
One day, Uzair was travelling, and passed by a ruined and abandoned village where all the inhabitants had been killed. He wondered: “Oh! How will Allah ever bring it to life after its death?” Uzair had no doubt about Allah’s omnipotence, but puzzled at the mechanics of how resurrection would be effected in practice.
He dismounted from his donkey and took refuge in a cave, bringing with him some dried bread and some fresh grapes which he then pressed into a juice. He soaked the bread into the juice to soften it, as was the customary way of eating the bread during those days, and then fell asleep.
In actual fact, Allah had caused him to die for one hundred years. This is not to be confused with the long sleep that the Companions of the Cave underwent for 300 years, nor is it the normal death that we will all experience. In Uzair’s case, the angel of death came and plucked his soul temporarily. Uzair was physically dead for a century – the full details are something that is in the realms of unseen knowledge.
Over time, Uzair’s donkey decomposed, its flesh and skin decayed and disintegrated, and only its skeleton remained.
After a century had passed, Uzair was brought back to life. He heard a voice: “How long did you remain dead?” Uzair replied “ (Perhaps) I remained (dead) a day or part of a day.” This meant that Uzair, in his death state, had no awareness of his surroundings, not even the passing of time.
