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"Tabari (5:267) relates from Ibn Abbas that the Israelites in one of the town of Syria were afflicted by the epidemic of plague. They were 4000 people who left their town fleeing the plague. They said, "Let us go to a land which is free from death." They arrived at Dawardan near Wasit in Iraq. As they reached the place, God said to them, "Die!." They were so badly afflicted by a calamity that death struck them. After a long time, the Prophet Ezekiel (or Hizqil bin Buzi) passed by their corpses, which had been dismembered and the bones were scattered by beasts and birds. The Prophet prayed to his Lord to bring them back to life. According to Tafsir-i Anwar al-Bayan (Bawnagar, 1901, p. 183), "God ordered the Prophet to sprinkle water on the bones, which he did and the dead restored to life." The Koran describes the event in these words: "Have you not considered those who went forth from their homes in the thousands for fear of death? God said to them: