الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
There is an ayah (ayah # 46) in Surat al-Kahf that tells us:
الْمَالُ وَالْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَالْبَاقِيَاتُ الصَّالِحَاتُ خَيْرٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًا
“Wealth and children are the attractions of this worldly life, but lasting good works have a better reward with your Lord and give better grounds for hope.” (al-Kahf, 18:46). The Qur’an makes it quite clear that wealth and children are an adornment of this life and that we will be tested through our love for them.
The story of Prophet Ayub is slightly different than other prophets and messengers in the sense that through his story, we are able to view mankind’s struggle on a more personal level. Allah does not tell us about Ayub (AS)’s methods of preaching or how his people reacted to his warnings and admonitions. Allah does not tell us about the fate of Ayub (AS)’s people. Instead, He tells us about Ayub (AS)’s patience while encountering adversities, and praises him by saying,
إِنَّا وَجَدْنَاهُ صَابِرًا نِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ إِنَّهُ أَوَّابٌ
“We found him patient. What an excellent slave, he truly turned to his Lord.” (Sad, 38:44)
Ayub was a descendant of Ibrahim (AS). Referring to Ibrahim (AS), Allah says: “We gave him Ishaq and Yaqub, each of whom we guided as we had guided Nuh before. Among his descendants were Dawud and Sulayman, and Ayub, Yusuf, Musa, and Harun. Thus do we reward the righteous.” (al-An’am, 6:84)
He was a Prophet on whom revelation descended from Allah. This is from the Qur’an, which says: “We have revealed to you as We revealed to Nuh, and the prophets after him, and we revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqub and his descendants, and ‘Isa and Ayub and Yunus and Harun and Sulayman and to Dawud, we gave the Psalms.” (an-Nisa’, 4:163).
Ayub (AS) loved Allah, and was a devoted worshipper of Allah. He was patient and steadfast and often sought forgiveness from Allah. Satan overheard a group of angels discussing that Ayub was the best man of his generation and Satan’s dark heart was filled with jealousy and rage. His plan was to tempt Ayub (AS) away from goodness and have him fall into disbelief and corruption. Satan attempted to distract Ayub (AS) from his prayers but Ayub (AS) remained steadfast and prayed with commitment and concentration.
This caused Satan’s rage to grow even more and he complained to Allah saying that Ayub was a devoted worshipper only because he had been blessed with wealth and possessions. It is narrated that Ayub was a man having much wealth of all kinds: beasts, slaves, vast lands, and many children.
Allah allowed Satan and his helpers to destroy Ayub’s possessions, but Ayub remained true to his belief and acknowledged saying: “What Allah has taken away from me belongs to Him. I was only its trustee for a while. He gives to whom He wills and withholds from whom He wills.” With these words, Ayub (AS) again prostrated to his Lord.
Satan became even more frustrated and returned to Allah saying that Ayub only hid his disappointment because of his large happy family. Satan and his helpers were given permission by Allah to destroy Ayub’s home. The building came crashing down killing all of his children.
Once again, Ayub (AS) turned to Allah for comfort and accepted this most heavy test without complaint. Then Satan disguised himself and approached Ayub in the form of an old man. The old man sympathized with Ayub and suggested that Allah was not rewarding him for his devotion and prayers, but Ayub replied that Allah sometimes gives and sometimes takes, and that he was well pleased with His Creator.
On hearing this, Satan’s anger grew even more. He returned to Allah saying that Ayub was fit and healthy and therefore had hopes of regaining his wealth and having more children. Satan asked permission to destroy Ayub’s health. Allah granted Satan’s this request as well, except that he would not be able to harm Ayub’s soul, heart, or intellect. So, Satan and his helpers began to harm Ayub’s body, by the will of Allah.
There are different opinions on how long he suffered but it is reported that he was reduced to skin and bones and suffered severe pain until he was like a skeleton. His body was inflicted with different kinds of diseases so that not one of his limbs was sound except for his heart and his tongue by which he used to remember Allah. He was stricken with diseases that made people turn away from him with revulsion and his friends and relatives began to desert him.
Only his wife remained with him. She cared for him and showered him with kindness. She nursed him and gave him his rights remembering his kindness to her in earlier times. She helped him even when he had to answer nature’s call. She even had to earn a living and she worked for it so that she could feed him in his weakness. May Allah be pleased with her and bless her. She was patient with him over what had happened in their loss of property and children, with what had happened to her in affliction over her husband and the tightening of their financial position, and in her need to work for other people after the easy and comfortable life they had been used to.
She continued to work for other people and tend to Ayub. However there came a time when people stopped employing her because they feared she might carry on to them some part of the disease of Ayub. When that happened she sold part of her hair to some ladies and bought some excellent food for her husband. He asked her how she got it and she answered that she had been in the service of some people. The next day she did the same thing and he refused to eat it until she told him how she got it. She uncovered her head and when he saw that it was shaved he turned to Allah and said, “‘Indeed, adversity has touched me, and you are the Most Merciful of the merciful.'”
It is related in a hadith that the Prophet Muhammad (S), when asked which people are the most severely tested, said: “The prophets, then those nearest to them, then those nearest to them. A man is tried according to his religion; if he is firm in his religion, then his trials are more severe, and if he is frail in his religion, then he is tried according to the strength of his religion. The servant shall continue to be tried until he is left walking upon the earth without any sins.”
All the trials and hardships that Ayub (AS) went through did not but increase him in patience and gratitude towards Allah. Throughout his ordeal, he remained devoted to Allah. His lips and tongue remained moist with the remembrance of Allah and he never despaired or complained. He continued to thank Allah even for this great calamity that had befallen him.
Satan was at a loss, and did not know how to entice Ayub away from his devotion to Allah; so he decided to harass Ayub’s wife. He came to her in the form of a man and reminded her of the old days and how easy their life had once been. Ayub’s wife burst into tears and confronted Ayub saying, “Ask your Lord to remove this suffering from us.”
Ayub was saddened and reminded his wife that Allah had blessed them with good health, wealth, and children for eighty years and that this suffering had been upon them for a relatively short period of time. He declared that he was ashamed to call on Allah to remove the hardship and admonished his wife saying that if he ever regained his health he would beat her with 100 strokes. Ayub’s loving wife was devastated. Crying bitterly, and with a heavy heart, she had no choice but to leave him and seek shelter elsewhere. In this helpless state, Ayub (AS) turned to Allah, not to complain but to beg for mercy. He cried out, as we are told in Surat al-Anbiya’:
“Verily! Distress has seized me and you are the Most Merciful of all those who show mercy.” So we answered his call, and we removed the distress that was on him, and we restored his family to him (that he had lost), and the like thereof along with them as a mercy from ourselves and a Reminder for all who worship Us.” (al-Anbiya’, 21:83-84)
And we are told in Surat Sad, where Allah says: “And remember our servant Ayub, when he cried out to his Lord, “Satan has afflicted me with distress and suffering.”Strike with your foot, here is a cold spring to wash with and to drink. And we gave him back his family, twice as many, as a mercy from Us and a lesson for people of reason.” (Sad, 38:41-43)
Allah rewarded Ayub’s patience abundantly. His health was restored, his family was returned to him and multiplied, and he once again became a wealthy man.
Ayub (AS)’s wife could not bear to be parted from her beloved husband for very long so she returned and was amazed when she saw his recovery.
Ibn Abi Hatim has transmitted a tradition narrated by Ibn ‘Abbas, which says: “Ayub was given the clothing of Paradise which he wore and sat down at his corner. His wife came but did not recognize him so she asked him, “O ‘Abdullah where has the sick man who was sitting here gone?” He said, “What’s with you?! I am Ayub.” She said, “Will you joke with me O ‘Abdullah?!” He said, “What’s wrong? I am Ayub – Allah has returned to me my body.”
She cried out her thanks to Allah, and on hearing her words, Ayub became worried. He had taken an oath to punish her with a hundred strokes if he regained health, but he had no desire to hurt her for he loved her dearly. Allah wanted to ease the heart of his devoted, patient servant so he advised him and said: “Take in your hand a bundle of thin grass and strike therewith your wife, and break not your oath.” (Sad, 38:44)
Imam Ahmad has transmitted a hadith from Abu Hurayrah (RA) that the Prophet (S) said: While Ayub was naked taking a bath, a swarm of gold locusts fell on him, and he started collecting them in his garment. His Lord called him, ‘O Ayub! Have I not enriched you enough to be satisfied?’ He said, ‘Indeed my Lord but I cannot shun your blessings!”
Allahtells us that Ayub’s story is a reminder for all those who worship Allah. When one truly worships Allah with full submission, it is necessary to have patience. And this requires consistency in worship and devotion. Prayer at night requires patience, fasting requires patience, living with trials and tribulations requires patience. The life of this world is a test and in order to successful, and be rewarded with Paradise, we need to acquire the quality of patience within us.
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Resources and References:
Imam Ibn Kathir – Stories of the Prophets
Mufti Menk – Lessons from the Stories of the Prophets in the Qur’an (https://muslimahlifestyle.com/lessons-stories-prophets-quraan-mufti-menk-creation-of-aadam-as/)
Anwar Al-Awlaki – The Lives of the Prophets (https://www.kalamullah.com/anwar-alawlaki.html)
Aisha Stacey – The Religion of Islam (islamreligion.com)
