Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:83
And [mention] Job, when he called to his Lord, "Indeed, adversity has touched me, and you are the Most Merciful of the merciful."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
And Ayyūb, when he called upon his Lord: "Verily, adversity has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful."
The exegesis of His word, the Exalted: And Ayyūb, when he called upon his Lord: "Verily, adversity has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful." The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to His prophet Muḥammad, the Prophet ﷺ: And remember Ayyūb, O Muḥammad, when he called upon his Lord while adversity and trial had afflicted him. The adversity that struck him and the trial that descended upon him were a testing from Allah for him and a trial. And the cause of that was as [follows]:
18673 - Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar al-Bukhārī related to me, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Hishām related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me, saying: I heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: The beginning of the affair of Ayyūb the truthful, the blessings of Allah be upon him, was that he was patient, an excellent servant. Wahb said: Jibrīl has with Allah a rank that none of the angels has with respect to nearness to Allah and favor with Him; and Jibrīl is the one who receives the word. When Allah remembers a servant with good, Jibrīl receives it from Him, then Mīkāʾīl receives it, and around him are the near angels, ranged about the Throne. And when this spread among the near angels, the benediction over that servant was [performed] by the inhabitants of the heavens; and when the angels of the heavens performed the benediction over him, they descended with it to the angels of the earth. And Iblīs was barred from nothing of the heavens; he stood therein wherever he wished as they desired, and from there he reached Ādam when He expelled him from the Garden. He kept ascending thus into the heavens, until Allah raised up ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, after which he was barred from four [heavens] and ascended into three. When Allah sent Muḥammad ﷺ, he was barred from the three remaining; thus he is barred, he and all his hosts, from all the heavens until the Day of Resurrection, except him who steals a hearing, then there pursues him a clear flame (15:18). And for that reason the jinn denied what they used to know, when they said: And we touched the heaven and found it filled with stern guards (72:8) up to His word: a watching flame (72:9).
Wahb said: Iblīs was disturbed by nothing except the angels' calling back and forth with the benediction over Ayyūb, and that was when Allah had remembered and praised him. When Iblīs heard the benediction of the angels, rebellion and envy overcame him, and he ascended swiftly until he stood before Allah at a place where he used to stand, and he said: "O my God, I have looked at the affair of Your servant Ayyūb, and I found him a servant upon whom You have poured out favors, whereupon he thanked You, and to whom You have granted health, whereupon he praised You; but You have not afflicted him with adversity nor tested him with calamity. And I guarantee You: if You were to strike him with calamity, he would surely renounce You, forget You, and worship one other than You!" Allah, sanctified and exalted, said to him: "Go, for I have given you power over his wealth, for that is the matter on account of which you claim he thanks Me; you have no power over his body nor over his mind!" Then the enemy of Allah plunged down until he landed upon the earth, then he gathered the ʿifrīts of the devils and their notables. Ayyūb possessed al-Bathaniyya, of all of Syria, with all that was in it, of its east and its west; he had in it a thousand sheep with their shepherds, and five hundred fields worked by five hundred slaves, and every slave had a wife, a child, and wealth; and the implement of every field was borne by a she-donkey, and every she-donkey had a foal — two, three, four, five, and more than that.
When Iblīs had gathered the devils, he said to them: "What strength and knowledge do you have? For I have been given power over the wealth of Ayyūb, and that is the crushing disaster and the trial that men cannot endure." An ʿifrīt of the devils said: "I have been given such strength that, if I wish, I turn myself into a whirlwind of fire and burn everything I pass over." Iblīs said to him: "Then go to the camels and their shepherds." He set off toward the camels, and that was when they had laid down their heads and settled in their pastures. The people noticed nothing until from beneath the earth there rose a whirlwind of fire, from which blazing poisonous winds blew; no one could approach it without being burned. It kept burning them and their shepherds until it reached the last of them. When it had finished with that, Iblīs took on the form of one of the mounts among them with their shepherds, and set off toward Ayyūb, until he found him standing in prayer. He said: "O Ayyūb!" He said: "Here I am!" He said: "Do you know what your Lord, whom you have chosen, worshiped, and declared to be One, has done with your camels and their shepherds?" Ayyūb said: "It is His property which He has lent to me, and He has more right to it; when He wills, He takes it away. Long ago I set my soul and my wealth toward transience." Iblīs said: "And your Lord sent down fire upon them from the heaven, so that they and their shepherds were burned, until it came to the last of them and of their shepherds. It has left the people bewildered; they stand by and marvel. Some of them say: Ayyūb worshiped nothing at all and was only in delusion; others say: if the god of Ayyūb were able to prevent any of that, he would have protected his protégé; and yet others say: no, He did what He did to let His enemy gloat over it and to strike His friend with it." Ayyūb said: "Praise be to Allah when He gave to me and when He took from me. Naked I came from the belly of my mother, and naked I return to the dust, and naked I shall be gathered to Allah. It does not befit you to rejoice when Allah lent you something and to despair when He took back His loan. Allah has more right to you and to what He has given you. If Allah had known good in you, O servant, He would have conveyed your soul with the angel of souls, then I would have been rewarded on your account and you would have become a martyr; but He knew evil in you, and therefore He has delayed you, and Allah has spared you from the disaster and purified you of the trial as the weeds are purified from the wheat."
Then Iblīs returned to his companions, humiliated and defeated, and said to them: "What strength do you have? For I could not touch his heart." An ʿifrīt of their notables said: "I have such strength that, if I wish, I can utter a single shout that no living being hears without its breath of life departing from it." Iblīs said to him: "Then go to the sheep and their shepherds!" He set off toward the sheep and their shepherds, and when he was in their midst, he uttered a shout by which they all fell down dead, they and their shepherds. Then Iblīs went out in the form of the overseer of the shepherds, until he came to Ayyūb and found him standing in prayer. He said to him the first words, and Ayyūb gave him the same answer as the first time. Then Iblīs returned to his companions and said to them: "What strength do you have? For I could not touch the heart of Ayyūb." An ʿifrīt of their notables said: "I have such strength that, if I wish, I turn myself into a tempest that sweeps away everything I pass over, until I leave nothing." Iblīs said to him: "Then go to the plowmen and the farmland!" He set off toward them, and that was when they had brought the plows near and had begun plowing, and the she-donkeys and their foals were grazing. They noticed nothing until a tempest rose up that swept all this away so that it was as if it had never been. Then Iblīs went out in the form of the overseer of the farmland, until he came to Ayyūb while he was standing in prayer, and he said to him the same as his first words, and Ayyūb gave him the same answer as the first time.
When Iblīs saw that he had destroyed his wealth but achieved nothing by it, he ascended swiftly until he stood before Allah at the place where he used to stand, and he said: "O my God, Ayyūb supposes that, because You have granted him well-being in his soul and his children, You will give him back the wealth. Will You then give me power over his children? For that is the temptation that leads astray and the disaster that the hearts of men cannot withstand, nor can their patience endure it." Allah, the Exalted, said to him: "Go, for I have given you power over his children, but you have no power over his heart, nor over his body, nor over his mind!" Then the enemy of Allah plunged down impetuously, until he came to the children of Ayyūb while they were in their palace. He kept shaking them about until the palace collapsed from its foundations; then he began to strike the walls against one another and to pelt them with beams and boulders, until he had mutilated them in all manner of ways. Then he lifted the palace with them in it, and when he lifted them with it so that they came to lie overturned within it, he went to Ayyūb in the form of the tutor who used to teach them wisdom, wounded, with a shattered face from which his blood and his brains flowed, and so altered that he was hardly recognizable through the severity of the alteration and the mutilation in which he appeared. When Ayyūb looked at him, he was aghast, he was grieved, and his eyes welled with tears, and he said to him: "O Ayyūb, had you but seen how I escaped from where I escaped, and what struck us from above us and from below us; and had you but seen your children, how they were tormented, how they were mutilated, and how they were turned upside down so that they lay overturned upon their heads, while their blood and their brains streamed from their noses and their entrails and dripped from their eyelids; and had you but seen how their bellies were ripped open so that their intestines burst out; and had you but seen how they were pelted with beams and boulders that shattered their brains, and how the beams crushed their bones, tore their skins, and severed their sinews; and had you but seen the sinews laid bare; and had you but seen the bones shattered in the body-cavities; and had you but seen the faces shattered; and had you but seen the walls collapse upon them; and had you but seen what I have seen, then your heart would have broken!" He kept saying this and the like, and he kept softening him until Ayyūb grew soft and wept; and he took a handful of dust and laid it upon his head. Thereupon Iblīs seized his chance at that moment and ascended swiftly, rejoicing at the despair that Ayyūb had shown.
But it was not long before Ayyūb turned in repentance and saw clearly again, and he asked for forgiveness. His companions among the angels ascended with a repentance from him, and they were ahead of Iblīs to Allah; and they found that He already knew what had ascended to Him of Ayyūb's repentance. Iblīs stood ashamed and humiliated and said: "O my God, the only thing that made the loss of his wealth and children easy for Ayyūb is that he supposes that, because You have left him his own life, You will give him back the wealth and the children. Will You then give me power over his body? For I guarantee You: if You afflict him in his body, he will surely forget You, renounce You, and deny Your favor to him!" Allah said: "Go, for I have given you power over his body, but you have no power over his tongue, nor over his heart, nor over his mind." Then the enemy of Allah plunged down impetuously and found Ayyūb kneeling in prayer; he hastened before Ayyūb raised his head, and came to him from the side of the earth, at the place of his face, and blew into his nostril a breath by which his body caught fire. It swelled up, and there grew upon it swellings like the tail-fats of sheep, and an itching overcame him that he could not control. He scratched with his nails until they all fell off, then he scratched with bones, and scratched with rough stones and with pieces of coarse haircloth; he kept scratching himself until his flesh was used up and fell apart. When the skin of Ayyūb began to rot, change, and stink, the people of the village brought him out and laid him on a hill and made for him a shelter. Allah's creatures cast him off, except his wife; she went back and forth to him with what was good for him and what he needed.
There were three of his companions who had followed him in his religion; when they saw with what Allah had afflicted him, they cast him off — without, however, abandoning their religion — and they suspected him. One of them was named Bildad, another Alīfaz, and a third Ṣāfir. Then the three went to him while he was in his trial, and they reproached him. When he heard them, he turned to his Lord, and Ayyūb ﷺ said: "Lord, for what did You create me? Would that, when You disliked me in good, You had left me alone and not created me! Would that I had been menstrual blood that my mother cast out! Would that I had died in her belly, so that I had known nothing and she had not known me! What is the sin that I have committed that none other than I has committed? And what deed have I done that You have turned Your noble face away from me? Would that You had let me die and joined me to my fathers, for death was more fitting for me. Then make me equal to the rulers for whom the armies arrayed themselves, who were warded off from them by the swords of [their men], out of stinginess toward them against death and out of craving for their continuance: they were found in the morning lifeless in the graves, while they had supposed that they would live forever. And make me equal to the kings who amassed treasures, filled storage-pits, gathered armies, and supposed that they would live forever. And make me equal to the tyrants who built cities and fortresses and lived in them for hundreds of years, and who were then found in the morning laid waste, a refuge for the wild beasts and a dwelling-place for the devils."
Alīfaz the Temanite said: "Your affair has made us powerless, O Ayyūb. If we speak to you, we hope to find no entrance for the word with you; and if we keep silent about you concerning what we see of trial in you, then that rests upon us. We used to see of your deeds such deeds for which we hoped reward for you, unlike what we now see; for a man reaps only what he has sown and is requited according to what he has done. I bear witness concerning Allah, whose greatness cannot be estimated at its true worth and whose favors cannot be counted — who sends down the water from the heaven, with it brings the dead to life, with it raises up what is bowed down, and with it strengthens the weak; before whose wisdom the wisdom of the wise goes astray and before whose knowledge the knowledge of the learned falls short, until you see them wandering in darkness through bewilderment — that whoever hopes for the help of Allah, he is the strong one, and that whoever relies upon Him, he is the one who has enough; He it is who breaks and heals, and who wounds and cures!" Ayyūb said: "For this reason I have kept silent and bitten my tongue and, because of the poor service, bowed my head; for I knew that His chastisement has changed the light of my face and that His power has taken away the strength of my body. I am His servant; whatever He decrees concerning me strikes me, and I have no strength except what He imposes upon me. Even if my bones were of iron, my body of copper, and my heart of stone, I could not endure this affair; but it is my trial, and He bears it for me. You have come to me full of wrath; you have been afraid before you were terrified, and you have wept before you were struck. How would it be with me if I were to say to you: give alms for me from your possessions, that perhaps Allah may deliver me, or offer a sacrifice for me, that perhaps Allah may accept it from me and be pleased with me? When I wake, I long for sleep in the hope of resting; and when I sleep, my soul almost forsakes me. My fingers have fallen apart, so that I lift the morsel of food with both hands together and it reaches my mouth only with great difficulty. My uvula has fallen out and my head is eaten through, so that between my two ears there is no longer any partition, so much so that one ear can be seen through the other; and my brains run from my mouth. My hair has fallen out, as if my face had been burned with fire; my two eyeballs hang upon my cheeks; my tongue has swollen until it fills my mouth, so that I cannot put food in it without choking; and my two lips have swollen until the upper lip covers my nose and the lower lip my chin. My intestines in my belly have fallen apart, so that the food I take in comes out again as it went in; I do not feel it and it does not benefit me. The strength of my legs has gone, as if they were two filled waterskins; I cannot carry them. I carry my little blanket with my hand, and my teeth — I cannot carry them until another carries them with me. The wealth has gone, so that I have come to beg with my palm, and the one whom I used to support now feeds me a single morsel and reproaches me for it and mocks me. My sons and my daughters have perished; would that even one of them had remained who might have helped me in my trial and been of use to me. And the punishment of this world is no [real] punishment; it departs from its inhabitants, and they die and leave it behind; but blessed is he who has rest in the House whose inhabitants do not die and are not removed from their dwellings — happy is he who is happy there, and wretched is he who is wretched there!"
Bildad said: "How does your tongue come to this word and how do you utter it? Do you say that the Right does wrong, or do you say that the Strong becomes weak? Weep over your sin and supplicate humbly to your Lord, that perhaps He may have mercy on you and forgive you your sin, and that, if you are innocent, He may make this a treasure stored up for you in your Hereafter! But if your heart is hardened, then our word will not benefit you nor find an entrance with you; far is it that brushwood should grow up in the deserts, and far is it that papyrus should grow up in the wilderness! He who relies on the weak, how can he hope that it will protect him; and he who denies the right, how can he hope that his right will be given to him in full?" Ayyūb said: "Verily, I know that this is the right; the servant will never prevail over his Lord and cannot dispute with Him. What word, then, do I have with Him, even if I had the strength? He it is who raised up the heaven and erected it alone, and He it is who tears it away when He wills, so that it rolls itself up before Him; and He it is who spread out the earth and stretched it forth alone, and planted therein the firm mountains; then He it is who makes it quake from its foundations until its underside becomes its upper side. And when it comes to the word, what word do I have with Him? He who created the mighty Throne with a single word, and with it filled the heavens and the earth and all the creatures that are in them; He encompassed it while He is in a vast expanse. He it is who spoke to the seas, so that they understood His word, and who commanded them, so that they did not transgress His command; and He it is who makes the fish, the birds, and every creeping creature understand; and He it is who speaks to the dead, so that His word brings them to life, and speaks to the stones, so that they understand His word, and who commands them, so that they obey Him."
Alīfaz said: "Tremendous is what you say, O Ayyūb; the skins shudder at it upon hearing what you say. What has struck you did not strike you without a sin that you committed; this vehemence and this word have brought you to this state. Your sin was great, your demands were many, and you took from the possessors of possessions their property; you clothed yourself while they were naked, you ate while they hungered, you closed your door to the weak, your food to the hungry, and your good deed to the needy; you kept that secret and hid it in your house, while you displayed deeds that we saw you perform, and you supposed that Allah would requite you only according to what became visible of you; you supposed that Allah would not perceive what you kept hidden in your house. But how would He not perceive that, when He knows what the earths and what is beneath the darknesses and the air keep hidden?" Ayyūb ﷺ said: "If I speak, the word does not benefit me, and if I keep silent, you do not excuse me! My own scheme has come down upon me; I have angered my Lord with my sin, I have given my enemies cause for gloating and offered them my neck, I have made myself a target for the trial and a mark for the temptation; and with all that, You have given me no respite, but You have made trial follow trial upon me. Was I not for the stranger a home, for the poor a resting-place, for the orphan a protector, and for the widow a provider? Never did I see a stranger without being for him a home in place of his home and a resting-place in place of his resting-place; never did I see a poor man without being for him wealth in place of his wealth and family in place of his family; never did I see an orphan without being for him a father in place of his father; and never did I see a woman without husband without being for her a provider with whose provision she was content. And I am a lowly servant; if I do good, no word concerning that good is due to me, for the favor belongs to my Lord and not to me; and if I do evil, my punishment lies in His hand. Upon me has come down a trial of which, had You given a mountain power over it, it would have been too weak to bear it; how then would my weakness bear it?" Alīfaz said: "Do you wish to dispute with Allah about His decree, O Ayyūb, or do you wish to deal justly with Him while you are a sinner, or to acquit yourself while you are not innocent? He created the heavens and the earth in truth and counted all the creatures that are in them; how then would He not know what you hid, and how then would He not know what you did and requite you for it? Allah has placed the angels in ranks around His Throne and at the extremities of His heavens, and has then veiled Himself with the Light, so that their gazes cannot grasp Him and their strength is weak before Him and the mightiest of them is as nothing before Him; and you claim that He, if He were to dispute with you and come to judgment with you — would you see Him so as to deal justly with Him, or would you hear Him so as to enter into conversation with Him? We have come to know His decision in you: verily, whoever wishes to exalt himself, He humbles, and whoever humbles himself before Him, He exalts." Ayyūb ﷺ said: "If He destroys me, who then is it who addresses Him concerning His servant and questions Him about his affair? Nothing wards off His wrath but His mercy, and nothing benefits His servant but humble supplication to Him!" He said: "Lord, turn to me with Your mercy and let me know what my sin is that I have committed! Or why have You turned Your noble face away from me and made me an enemy before You, while You first honored me? Nothing is hidden from You; You count the drops of the rain, the leaves of the trees, and the motes of the dust. My skin has become like a rotten garment; wherever I grasp it, it falls apart in my hand. Grant me then from Yourself an offering and a deliverance from my trial, with the power by which You bring to life the dead among the servants and by which You make the dead lands bloom again; and do not destroy me without letting me know what my sin is, and do not ruin the work of Your hands, even though You have no need of me! In Your judgment no wrong is fitting and in Your retribution no haste; only the weak has need of wrong, and only he who fears to lose something hastens. Do not remind me of my errors and my sins; remember how You created me from clay and made me a clot, then created the clot into bones and clothed the bones with flesh and skin, and made the sinews and veins for them a firmness and a support; You saw me when I was small and You provided for me when I was grown; then I kept Your covenant and performed Your command. If, then, I have erred, make it clear to me and do not destroy me through grief, and let me know my sin! For if I do not please You, then I deserve that You should punish me, even though You count my deed against me among all Your creatures; I ask You for forgiveness, so do not [leave me in ignorance]. If I do good, I do not raise my head, and if I do evil, You do not grant me to swallow my own saliva and You do not mend my fall. You see my weakness beneath You and my humble supplication to You; for what then did You create me? Or why did You bring me out of the belly of my mother? Were I as one who had never been, that would be better for me; this world does not outweigh Your wrath for me, and my body cannot endure under Your chastisement. Have mercy on me, then, and let me taste the savor of well-being before I land in the narrow grave, the darkness of the earth, and the straits of death!"
Ṣāfir said: "You have spoken, O Ayyūb, and no one can silence your mouth; you claim that you are innocent — but does it benefit you that you are innocent, while there is one watching over you who counts your deed? And you claim that you know that Allah forgives you your sins: do you know how high the heaven is and how far it is removed? Or do you know how deep the air is and how far it reaches? Or do you know which part of the earth is the broadest? Or do you have for it a measure with which you measure it? Or do you know which part of the sea is the deepest? Or do you know with what He holds it back? If you possess this knowledge — and if you do not possess it, then Allah has created it and counts it — if you would refrain from much speaking and turn to your Lord, then there would be hope that He may have mercy on you; by that you draw out His mercy. But if you persist in your sin and raise your hands to Allah in your need, while you cling obstinately to your sin like flowing water on a slope that cannot be held back — then, at the supplication for the needs to the All-Merciful, the faces of the wicked are blackened and their eyes darkened; and at that moment those are gladdened with the granting of their needs who have abandoned the desires in order to adorn themselves thereby before their Lord and who went foremost in humble supplication, that they might thereby become worthy of the mercy when they needed it; they are the ones who wrestled through the night, shunned the bed, and watched for the hours before dawn."
Ayyūb said: "You are a people who have become self-satisfied. Formerly the men used to honor me, while my right was acknowledged, I obtained justice against my adversary and overcame him who today overcomes me; he asks me about the knowledge of the unseen of Allah, which I do not know, and he questions me. By my life, thus does a brother give his brother no sincere counsel when the trial befalls him; rather, he weeps along with him. And if you are in earnest, then my mind falls short of what you ask of me; ask, then, the birds of the heaven, will they inform you? Ask the wild beasts of the earth, will they answer you? Ask the beasts of prey of the desert, will they answer you? Ask the fish of the sea, will they describe to you all that you have enumerated? Then you will know that He has made this with His wisdom and arranged it with His subtlety. Does the son of Ādam perhaps know more of the word than what he has heard with his two ears, tasted with his mouth, and smelled with his nose? And that knowledge about which you ask, none knows it but Allah, who created it; to Him belongs the wisdom and the omnipotence, to Him the tremendousness and the subtlety, and to Him the majesty and the power. If He ruins something, who then is it who mends it? And if He makes something mute, who then is it who makes it eloquent? If He looks at the seas, they dry up out of fear of Him; and if He permits them, they swallow up the earth; He bears them up only by His power. He it is before whose kingship the kings stand bewildered, before whose knowledge the learned lose their way, before whose wisdom the wise become helpless, and before whose dominion the vain are driven back. He it is who causes the forgotten to be remembered and the remembered to be forgotten, and who makes the darknesses and the light go forth. This is my knowledge, and His creation is too tremendous for my mind to count it, and His tremendousness is too great for one such as me to comprehend it."
Bildad said: "Verily, the hypocrite is requited according to the hypocrisy that he hid; the public show with which he deceived goes astray from him, and he who performed it is handed over to its requital; his memory perishes from this world and his light is darkened in the Hereafter; his way is made desolate, and his inward part casts him into the snare; his name is cut off from the earth, so that upon it there is no memory of him and no habitation; no righteous child inherits him after him, and there remains for him no root by which he is recognized; whoever sees him is bewildered, and poetry halts at the mention of his name!" Ayyūb said: "If I am one who errs, then my error comes down upon myself; and if I am innocent, what protection do I then have? If I cry out, who then is it who comes to my aid? And if I keep silent, who then is it who excuses me? My hope has gone, my dreams have come to an end, and my acquaintances have turned against me; I called my slave, but he did not answer me, and I supplicated humbly to my slave-girl, but she had no mercy on me; the trial came down upon me, and they cast me off; you were heavier upon me than my disaster. Look and marvel at the wondrous things that are in my body! Have you not heard what has struck me, and has what you see in me not turned you away from me? If a servant could dispute with his Lord, I would hope to gain the upper hand at the judgment; but I have a tremendous Lord, exalted above His heavens, and He has cast me here; I have become lowly in His eyes; He has not excused me for my excuse, nor has He brought me near so that I might plead for myself. He hears me, but I do not hear Him; He sees me, but I do not see Him; and He encompasses me. If He were to show Himself to me, my two kidneys would melt and my soul would collapse; and if He were to give me respite so that I might speak with a full mouth and take away from me the tremendous fear, I would know for which sin He has punished me!" Then a call was made, and it was said: "O Ayyūb!" He said: "Here I am!" He said: "I am this One to whom you have drawn near; arise, then, gird your loins and stand up like a mighty one, for it does not befit Me that anyone dispute with Me except a mighty one such as I, and it does not befit that anyone dispute with Me except him who puts the bridle in the mouth of the lion, and the lambs in the mouth of the ʿAnqāʾ, and the flesh in the mouth of the dragon, and who measures out a measure of the light, and weighs a weight of the wind, and binds a bundle of the sun, and brings back yesterday in place of tomorrow. Verily, your soul has prompted you to a matter that none with a strength like yours can attain; and when your soul prompted you to that and called you to it, had you considered what aim you had set yourself: did you wish to dispute with Me with your wrong, or did you wish to oppose Me with your error, or did you wish to surpass Me with your weakness? Where were you with Me on the day I created the earth and set it upon its foundation? Do you know by what measure I measured it out? Or were you with Me when I went along its edges? Or do you know how far its corners extend? Or upon what I laid its sides? Was it by your obedience that the water bore the earth, or by your wisdom that the earth was a covering for the water? Where were you with Me on the day I raised the heaven as a roof in the air, without bonds holding it from above and without pillars supporting it from below? Does your wisdom reach so far that you make its light flow, or make its stars move, or that at your command its night and its day alternate? Where were you with Me on the day I made the seas surge and the rivers gush forth? Was it your power that held back the waves of the seas within their bounds, or was it your power that opened the wombs when their term had come? Where are you with Me on the day I poured the water upon the dust and raised up the towering mountains? Do you have an arm that can bear it? Or do you know how much weight is in it? Or where is the water that was sent down from the heaven? Do you know whether a mother bears it or a father begets it? Was it your wisdom that counted the rain and apportioned the provisions, or your power that drives on the clouds and covers them with the water? Do you know what the sounds of the thunder are? Or of what the flame of the lightning consists? Have you seen the depth of the seas? Or do you know how far the air reaches? Or have you stored up the souls of the dead? Or do you know where the storehouse of the snow is, or where the treasuries of the hail are, or where the mountains of hail are? Or do you know where the storehouse of the night within the day is, and where the storehouse of the day within the night, and where the path of the light is, and in what language the trees speak, and where the storehouse of the wind is, how the locks hold it back, and who placed the mind in the inward parts of men, and who opened the hearing and the sight, and who [made it] that the angels submit to His kingship and that the tyrants are overwhelmed by His omnipotence and that the provisions of the animals are apportioned by His wisdom? And who has apportioned for the lion its provision, and taught the bird its way of life and made it incline toward its young? Who has freed the wild beast from servitude, and made its dwelling-places in the wilderness, so that they do not become familiar with the sounds and do not fear the overlords? Is it by your wisdom that the young of the birds and the young of the beasts branch off from their mothers? Or is it by your wisdom that their mothers have mercy on them, so that they bring forth the food for them from their bellies and prefer life for them over themselves? Or is it by your wisdom that the eagle sees [keenly] and in the morning finds itself at the places of the fallen? Where were you with Me on the day I created Bahmūt, whose place is where the dust ends, and whose two veins bear the mountains, the cities, and the inhabited places — its ears as though they were tall pine trees, its head as though it were the hills of the mountains, the veins of its thighs as though they were iron pegs, and its skin as though it were the clefts of the rocks, and its bones as though they were pillars of copper? They both are the chief ones of My creation which I created for the battle. Have you filled their skins with flesh? Or have you filled their heads with brains? Or have you any share in their creation? Or have you two hands with the strength with which I made them? Or does your strength reach so far that you can curb their noses, or lay your hand upon their heads, or sit for them on the road to hold them back, or hold them off from their food? Where were you on the day I created the dragon, whose provision is in the sea and whose dwelling-place is in the clouds? Its two eyes are flames of fire, and its two nostrils make smoke rise; its ears are like the bow of the cloud; from them shoots up a flame as though it were a dust-whirl; its inward part burns and its breath blazes; its foam is like boulders; the gnashing of its teeth is like the sound of the thunderclaps, and the glance of its eyes like the flash of the lightning; its inward part is entered by no cares; the armies pass by it while it lies reclining, and nothing terrifies it; in it there is no joint; the [pieces of] iron are to it like figs, and the copper is to it like threads; it does not fear the arrows and does not feel the impact of the boulders upon its body; it laughs at the meteors and moves in the air as though it were a sparrow; and it destroys everything it passes by — the king of the wild beasts; I have favored it above My creation with strength. Do you perhaps catch it with your snare and then bind it by its tongue, or put the bit in the corner of its mouth? Do you think that it will keep your covenant or supplicate out of fear of you? Do you count its lifespan, or do you know its appointed term, or do you make its provision perish? Or do you know what it has laid waste of the earth, or what it will yet lay waste in the rest of its lifespan? Can you endure its wrath when it grows wrathful, or do you command it so that it obeys you? Blessed be Allah, the Exalted!"
Ayyūb ﷺ said: "I fall short before this matter that has been set before me; would that the earth had split open with me so that I had gone away in my trial and had said nothing that angers my Lord! The trial has gathered itself upon me, my God; You have made me an enemy before You, while You used to honor me and knew my sincerity; and I have known that what You have mentioned is the work of Your hands and the arrangement of Your wisdom, and more tremendous than this You have done what You willed; nothing renders You powerless, nothing is hidden from You, and nothing escapes You; who is it who supposes that he can keep a secret hidden from You, while You know what arises in the hearts? I have learned in this trial of mine something of You that I did not know, and I feared, when I experienced Your affair, more than I used to fear. I used only to hear of Your might by hearsay; but now it is the seeing with the eye. I spoke only, when I spoke, that You might excuse me, and I kept silent, when I kept silent, that You might have mercy on me; one word I have slipped, but I will not return [to it]. I have laid my hand upon my mouth, bitten my tongue, fastened my cheek to the dust, trodden down my face for my nothingness, and I have kept silent as my sin has made me keep silent; forgive me, then, what I have said, for I will not return to anything that You dislike of me!" Allah, sanctified and exalted, said: "O Ayyūb, My knowledge has been carried out in you, and by My forbearance I have turned My wrath away from you; when you erred, I forgave you, and I have given you back your family, your wealth, and the like thereof with them. Wash, then, with this water, for in it is your healing, and offer for your companions a sacrifice and ask forgiveness for them, for they have disobeyed Me concerning you!"
* — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of one who is not suspected, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih the Yemeni and others among the people of the first Books: that it is part of the story of Ayyūb that he was a man from the Rūm (Byzantines), and Allah had chosen him and made him a prophet and tried him in wealth with numerous children and possessions, and had spread out the world for him and given him ample provision. He possessed al-Bathaniyya in the land of Syria, its high and its low, its plain and its mountainous parts. He had in it of every kind of wealth: camels, cattle, sheep, horses, and donkeys, so much that no man was more excellent than he in number and multitude. And Allah had given him a family and children, men and women. He was pious, God-fearing, merciful toward the poor; he fed the poor, bore the burden of the widows, cared for the orphans, honored the guest, and helped the traveler. He was grateful for Allah's favors upon him and fulfilled Allah's right in the wealth; he had guarded himself against the enemy of Allah, Iblīs, lest he should attain from him what he attains from the wealthy of arrogance, heedlessness, negligence, and being diverted from Allah's command by what they possess of worldly things. With him were three [men] who had believed in him, held him truthful, and knew the excellence of what Allah had given him above others; among them a man from Yemen named Alīfaz, and two men from his land, one named Ṣūfar and the other Bildad; they were elderly men from his land.
Iblīs, the enemy of Allah, had a place in the seventh heaven where every year he arrived at a fixed spot where he was questioned; he ascended to the heaven on that day on which he used to ascend, and Allah said to him — or it was said to him on Allah's behalf —: "Have you been able to obtain anything from My servant Ayyūb?" He said: "O Lord, and how should I obtain anything from him? You have only tried him with abundance, favor, ease, and well-being, and You have given him family, wealth, children, riches, and well-being in his body, his family, and his wealth; why then should he not thank You, worship You, and obey You, while You have done that with him? Were You to try him by taking away what You have given him, he would change from what he was of gratitude to You, he would abandon Your worship, and he would turn from Your obedience to something else!" — or as the enemy of Allah said. He said: "I have given you power over his family and his wealth!" — and Allah knew him best, and He gave him power over him only out of mercy, that the reward might become great for him through the trial that struck him, and that He might make him a lesson for the patient and a remembrance for the worshipers at every trial that strikes them, that they might take him as an example and hope, from the outcome of patience in the transience of this world, for the reward of the Hereafter and for what Allah did with Ayyūb.
Then the enemy of Allah descended swiftly, gathered the ʿifrīts of the jinn and the rebellious devils of his hosts, and said: "I have been given power over the family of Ayyūb and his wealth; what do you have?" One of them said: "I will become a whirlwind in which there is fire, so that I pass nothing of his wealth without destroying it"; he said: "You and that." He went out until he came to his camels and burned them and their shepherds all. Then the enemy of Allah came to Ayyūb in the form of his overseer over them, while he was in his place of prayer, and said: "O Ayyūb, there came a fire that covered your camels and burned them and whoever was with them except me; and I have come to bring you the news of that." Ayyūb recognized him [as the truth] and said: "Praise be to Allah, who gave them and took them, who brought you out of it as the weeds are removed from the pure grain." Then he departed from him, and he began to strike his wealth, piece by piece, until he passed by the last of it; whenever the destruction of a portion of his wealth reached him, he praised Allah, gave Him sincere praise, was content with the decree, and set his soul toward patience at the trial. Until there remained for him no wealth, he came to his family and his children, while they were in a palace of theirs, with their favorites and their servants; he took on the form of a tempest and lifted the palace from its sides and cast it upon his family and his children, so that he crushed them beneath it. Then he came to him in the form of their overseer, with a shattered face, and said: "O Ayyūb, there came a tempest that lifted the palace from its sides and then cast it upon your family and your children, so that it crushed them except me; and I have come to bring you the news of that." Over nothing that struck him did he show as much despair as over his family and his children; he took dust and laid it upon his head, and then said: "Would that my mother had not borne me and that I had been nothing!" The enemy of Allah rejoiced at that and ascended rejoicing to the heaven. But Ayyūb returned to repentance for what he had said, and he praised Allah, and his repentance was ahead of the enemy of Allah to Allah; and when the latter came and mentioned what he had done, it was said to him: "His repentance and his turning back were ahead of you to Allah." He said: "O Lord, then give me power over his body!" He said: "I have given you power over his body, except over his tongue, his heart, his soul, his hearing, and his sight." Then the enemy of Allah went to him while he was kneeling, and blew into his body a breath that made him catch fire from his crown to his foot like the burning of fire; then there came out in his body swellings like the tail-fats of sheep, and he scratched with his nails until they disappeared, then with earthenware and stones until his flesh fell off, and there remained of him nothing but the veins, the sinews, and the bones; his eyes rolled in his head for the sight, and his heart [remained] for the mind; and the [corruption] did not penetrate to anything of the contents of the belly, because there is no continuance of the soul except thereby, so that he ate and drank despite the distortion of his entrails. He remained thus as long as Allah willed that he should remain.
— Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Ibn Dīnār, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, that he used to say: Ayyūb remained in that trial seven years and six months, cast down upon a dunghill at the side of the village.
Wahb ibn Munabbih said: There remained of his family no one but a single woman, who cared for him and earned [his keep] for him, and the enemy of Allah could attain from him neither little nor much of what he wished. When the trial lasted long for him and for her and the people grew weary of her, while she earned for him what she gave him to eat and to drink — Wahb ibn Munabbih said: I was told that one day she sought [food] for him to feed him, but she found nothing, until she cut off a braid from her head and sold it for a loaf of bread, and brought it to him and fed him with it. He remained in that trial those years, until a passerby used to pass by and say: "If this man had with Allah anything of good, He would have delivered him from what he is in."
— Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: — and Wahb ibn Munabbih used to say: He remained in that trial three years, not a day more; and when Ayyūb proved too strong for him and he could attain nothing from him, he appeared to his wife in a form that was not like the form of the children of men in size, body, and height, upon a mount that was not among the mounts of men, with a grandeur, splendor, and beauty that she did not have. He said to her: "Are you the wife of Ayyūb, this afflicted man?" She said: "Yes." He said: "Do you recognize me?" She said: "No." He said: "I am the god of the earth, and I am the one who has done with your husband what I have done, and that because he worshiped the god of the heaven and abandoned me, so that he angered me; had he knelt to me a single kneeling, I would give back to him and to you all that you had of wealth and children, for it is with me!" Then he showed them to her in what she supposed she saw, in the bottom of the valley where he met her. He said: And I have heard that he only said: "If your husband were to eat food and not pronounce the name [of Allah] over it, he would be healed of the trial he has," — and Allah knows best. The enemy of Allah wished to approach him by way of her side. She returned to Ayyūb and informed him of what he had said to her and what he had shown her; he said: "Has the enemy of Allah come to you to seduce you away from your religion?" Then he swore: if Allah healed him, he would give her a hundred lashes.
When the trial lasted long for him, that group of [men] who had been with him, who had believed in him and held him truthful, came to him, and with them a youth, young of age, who had believed in him and held him truthful; they sat down by Ayyūb and looked at the trial that struck him, and they found that tremendous and abominable; and Ayyūb, the blessings of Allah be upon him, had come to the utmost of his capacity, and that was when Allah willed to take away from him what struck him. When Ayyūb saw that they found tremendous what had struck him, he said: "O Lord, for what did You create me? Would that, when You decreed the trial upon me, You had left me alone and not created me! Would that I had been blood that my mother cast out." Then he mentioned something like the story of Ibn ʿAskar, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm, up to: "and they wrestled through the night, shunned the bed, and watched for the hours before dawn"; then he added to it: "They are the ones who are safe, who do not fear, do not worry, and do not grieve; where then is the outcome of your affair, O Ayyūb, compared with their outcomes?"
A youth who was present among them and heard their word — but they did not notice him and paid no heed to his presence, and Allah had only decreed him for them on account of the wrong they had committed in their speaking and the excess [they had committed]; for Allah wished to make their souls small through him and to confound their minds through his youth — when he spoke, he proceeded in his discourse, and he only increased in wisdom. The people were accustomed to listen and to be humble when counsel or admonition was given to them. He said: "You have spoken before me, O elders, and you had more right and claim to the word than I, on account of your age, and because you have before me experienced, seen, and known what I do not know, and have known what I do not know; and despite that, you have left out of the word a better [form] than what you have said, and of opinion a more correct one than that which you have held, and of the matter a more beautiful one than that which you have committed, and of admonition a wiser one than that which you have described; and Ayyūb had upon you a right and a claim more excellent than what you have described. Do you know, O elders, whose right you have diminished and whose inviolability you have violated, and who the man is whom you have blamed and suspected? Do you not know, O elders, that Ayyūb is the prophet of Allah, His chosen one and His select among the inhabitants of the earth on this day of yours? Allah has chosen him for His revelation, selected him for Himself, and entrusted to him His prophethood; and moreover, you have no knowledge, and Allah has not informed you of it, that He has disapproved of anything of his affair since there befell Him what befell Him up to this day of yours, nor that He has taken away from him anything of the honor with which He honored him since there befell Him what befell Him up to this day of yours, nor that Ayyūb has changed the right in all the time that you have accompanied him up to this day of yours. If, then, it is the trial that has lowered him in your eyes and brought him down in your souls, then you have known that Allah tries the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous; and His trying them is no proof of His wrath over them, nor of their lowliness with Him, but it is an honor and a choosing for them. And even if Ayyūb were not with Allah in this rank, not in prophethood, not in being chosen, not in excellence, and not in honor, but only a brother whom you had loved by reason of companionship, even then it would not befit a wise man to rebuke his brother at the trial, nor to reproach him at the disaster with what he does not know, while he is distressed and grieved; rather, he has mercy on him, weeps along with him, asks forgiveness for him, grieves at his grief, and directs him to the right of his affair; and neither wise nor rightly guided is he who does not know this. So Allah, Allah, O elders, [fear Him] in your souls!"
He said: Then he turned to Ayyūb and said — and he was in [contemplation of] the tremendousness of Allah and His majesty and the remembrance of death —: "What cuts off your tongue, breaks your heart, and makes you forget your arguments? Do you not know, O Ayyūb, that Allah has servants whom the fear of Him has made silent, not out of incapacity or muteness, while they are rather the eloquent, the well-spoken, the noble, the keen-witted, the knowers of Allah and His signs? But when they remember the tremendousness of Allah, their tongues are cut off, their skins shudder, their hearts break, and their minds are thrown into disorder, out of awe of Allah, reverence, and glorification; and when they recover from that, they vie toward Allah with pure deeds, while they reckon themselves among the wrongdoers and the sinners — while they are pure and innocent — and among the deficient and the negligent — while they are keen-witted and strong; but they do not count the much as much before Allah, and they are not content with the little before Allah, and they do not boast before Him of their deeds; so they are frightened, alarmed, distressed, humble, fearful, lowly, and confessing, wherever you see them, O Ayyūb." Ayyūb said: "Verily, Allah sows wisdom through mercy in the heart of the small and the great; and when it has arisen in the heart, Allah causes it to appear upon the tongue; and wisdom does not come from age, nor from youth, nor from long experience. And when Allah makes the servant wise in his young years, his rank does not fall among the wise, and they see upon him the light of Allah's honor; but you have become self-satisfied and you supposed that by your well-doing you have been preserved, and therefore you became arrogant and proud; and if you would look at what is between you and your Lord and then be honest with yourselves, you would find in yourselves faults that Allah has covered through the well-being in which He has clothed you. But as for me, I have awakened today such that I have no judgment and no word with you; formerly my word was heeded, my right acknowledged, I obtained justice against my adversary and overcame him who today overcomes me, my place was awe-inspiring, and the men kept silent before me at that and honored me; but today I have become such that my hope is cut off, my caution is removed, my family is weary of me, my relatives are disobedient toward me, my acquaintances have turned against me, my friend has turned away from me, my companions have abandoned me, the people of my house have denied me, my rights are denied and my good deeds are forgotten; I cry out and they do not come to my aid, I offer excuse and they do not excuse me; and truly it is His decree that has humbled me, brought me down, and cast me away, and it is His power that has made me sick and emaciated my body. And if my Lord were to take away the awe that is in my breast and loosen my tongue so that I might speak with a full mouth, and it then befitted the servant to plead for himself, then I would hope that He would thereby heal me of what afflicts me; but He has cast me away and exalted Himself above me; He sees me, but I do not see Him, He hears me, but I do not hear Him; He has not looked at me to have mercy on me, nor has He come near me or brought me near so that I might advance my excuse, utter my innocence, and plead for myself!"
When Ayyūb said that while his companions were with him, a cloud overshadowed him, until his companions supposed that it was a punishment; then there was a call from within it, and it was said to him: "O Ayyūb, verily Allah says: Here I am, I have drawn near to you, and I was ever close to you; arise, then, and advance your excuse that you claimed [to have], utter your innocence and plead for yourself, and gird your loins!" Then he mentioned something like the story of Ibn ʿAskar, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, to the end, and he added to it: "And My mercy is ahead of My wrath; stamp, then, with your foot — this is a cool washing-water and a drink in which is your healing; and I have granted you your family and the like thereof with them, and your wealth and the like thereof with it" — and they claimed: "and the like thereof with it" — "that you may be a sign for those who come after you and that you may be a lesson for the people of trial and a consolation for the patient!" Then he stamped with his foot, and there gushed forth for him a spring, into which he went and washed himself, and Allah took away from him all that struck him of trial. Then he went out and sat down; and his wife came seeking him in his resting-place, but she did not find him; she stood up, helpless and bewildered, and then said: "O servant of Allah, do you have knowledge of the afflicted man who was here?" He said: "No"; then he smiled, and she recognized him by his smile and embraced him.
18674 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of one of the people of knowledge, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: I related to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās his story and her embracing of him, and ʿAbd Allāh said: "By Him in whose hand is the soul of ʿAbd Allāh, she did not release him from her embrace until all their wealth and children passed by her."
* — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: And I have heard some of those who relate the report on his authority say that he called her when she asked about him, and said to her: "Would you recognize him if you saw him?" She said: "Yes, and why should I not recognize him?" Then he smiled and said: "Here I am, it is he; Allah has delivered me from what I was in." Thereupon she embraced him.
Wahb said: Then Allah revealed to him concerning his oath to strike her for what she had said to him, that Take a bundle [of twigs] in your hand and strike with it, and do not break your oath (38:44) — that is to say: your oath is fulfilled. Allah, the Exalted, says: Verily, We found him patient, an excellent servant; verily, he was penitent (38:44). Allah says: And We granted him his family and the like thereof with them, as a mercy from Us and as a remembrance for the possessors of understanding (38:43).
18675 - Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa al-Yarbūʿī related to us, saying: Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: Ayyūb remained seven years and some months cast down upon a dunghill, without asking Allah to take away what afflicted him. He said: And upon the face of the earth there was no creature nobler with Allah than Ayyūb. And they claim that someone said: "If the Lord of this man had need of him, He would not have done this with him!" — and at that moment he called upon [Allah].
18676 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: Ayyūb remained upon a dunghill of the Banū Isrāʾīl seven years and some months, while the creeping creatures crawled over him.
18677 - Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: Ayyūb had no gnawing disease; there came out upon him only something like the breasts of women, which he would then pierce.
18678 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Makhlad ibn Ḥusayn related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, and Ḥajjāj on the authority of Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — one adding to the other — who said: Verily, Ayyūb, Allah had given him wealth and made it ample for him, and he had wives, cattle, sheep, and camels. And the enemy of Allah, Iblīs, was told: "Can you seduce Ayyūb?" He said: "Lord, verily Ayyūb has entered a world of wealth and children, and he cannot but be grateful to You; but give me power over his wealth and his children, and you will see how he obeys me and disobeys You!" He said: Then He gave him power over his wealth and his children. He said: He would come to the livestock of his wealth, of the sheep, and burned them with fire; then he came to Ayyūb while he was praying, in the form of the shepherd of the sheep, and said: "O Ayyūb, you are praying to your Lord! Allah has not left for you anything of your livestock, of the sheep, without burning them with fire; and I was aside and came to bring you the news of it." He said: Ayyūb would say: "O Allah, You gave and You took; as long as my soul continues, I praise You for the good of Your trial" — and he could attain from him nothing of what he wished! Then he came to his livestock of the cattle and burned them with fire, then he came to Ayyūb and told him that, and Ayyūb answered him the same. He said: And thus he did with the camels, until he left for him no livestock, until he made the house collapse upon his children, and he said: "O Ayyūb, Allah has sent upon your children one who made the houses collapse upon them, until they perished!" And Ayyūb said the same. He said: "Lord, this is when You have shown me the good in all its fullness; formerly the love of wealth occupied me by day and the love of children occupied me by night out of concern for them; but now I have my hearing, my sight, my night, and my day free for the remembrance, the praise, the sanctification, and the tahlīl!" Then the enemy of Allah departed from him, without attaining from him anything of what he wished.
He said: Then Allah, sanctified and exalted, said: "How have you found Ayyūb?" Iblīs said: "Ayyūb knows that You will give him back his wealth and his children; but give me power over his body, for if adversity strikes him in it, he will obey me and disobey You!" He said: Then He gave him power over his body; he came to him and blew into him a breath, so that he became full of sores from his crown to his foot. He said: The trial struck him, trial after trial, until he was lifted up and laid down upon a dunghill of the Banū Isrāʾīl. There remained for him no wealth, no child, no friend, and no one who approached him except his wife; she stood by him with sincerity, brought him food, and praised Allah along with him when he praised; and Ayyūb did not cease therein from the remembrance of Allah, the praise, the glorification of Allah, and patience at what Allah had imposed upon him as a trial.
Al-Ḥasan said: Then Iblīs, the enemy of Allah, uttered a shout by which he gathered his hosts from the corners of the earth, out of despair at Ayyūb's patience; they gathered to him and said to him: "You have gathered us; what is your news? What has made you powerless?" He said: "Powerless has been made me by this servant over whom I asked my Lord to give me power over his wealth and his children, and I left for him no wealth and no child, but he thereby only increased in patience, praise of Allah, and praising Him; then I gained power over his body and left him as one wound, cast down upon the dunghill of the Banū Isrāʾīl, and no one approaches him except his wife; but I have become ashamed before my Lord, so I ask you for help — help me, then, against him!" He said: They said to him: "Where is your scheme? Where is your knowledge with which you destroyed those who have gone before?" He said: "All that has been undone with Ayyūb; counsel me, then!" They said: "We counsel you: do you see Ādam, when you expelled him from the Garden — from where did you approach him?" He said: "From the side of his wife." They said: "Then [conduct] your affair with Ayyūb from the side of his wife, for he cannot disobey her and no one approaches him except her." He said: "You have hit upon the right." Then he set off until he came to his wife while she was [asking for] alms, and he appeared to her in the form of a man and said: "Where is your husband, O servant of Allah?" She said: "There he is, scratching his sores while the creeping creatures crawl back and forth over his body." When he heard her say that, he hoped that it would be a word of despair; it penetrated into her breast, and he whispered to her and brought to her remembrance what they had had of favors, wealth, and livestock, and brought to her remembrance the beauty and youth of Ayyūb and the adversity in which he was, and that this would never cease from them. Al-Ḥasan said: Then she cried out; and when she cried out, he knew that she had cried out and had despaired, and he brought her a kid and said: "Let Ayyūb slaughter this for me and he will be healed." He said: She came crying out: "O Ayyūb, O Ayyūb, how long will your Lord torment you; does He not have mercy on you? Where is the livestock? Where is the wealth? Where are the children? Where are the friends? Where is your fair color that has changed and become like ash? Where is your fair body that has decayed and in which the creeping creatures crawl back and forth? Slaughter this kid and rest!" Ayyūb said: "The enemy of Allah has come to you and breathed into you, and he found in you compliance, and you have answered him, woe to you! Do you see what you weep over — do you not remember what we had of wealth, children, health, and youth? Who gave me that?" She said: "Allah." He said: "How long did He let us enjoy it?" She said: "Eighty years." He said: "Since how long, then, has Allah tried us with this trial with which He has tried us?" She said: "Since seven years and some months." He said: "Woe to you! By Allah, you have not acted justly nor given your Lord His right! Why did you not have patience until we should be in this trial with which our Lord has tried us eighty years, as we were in prosperity eighty years? By Allah, if Allah heals me, I will surely give you a hundred lashes! Shame on you, you have commanded me to slaughter for one other than Allah; your food and your drink that you bring me are henceforth forbidden to me, and it is forbidden to me to taste of what you bring me hereafter, now that you have said this to me; go far from me, then, that I may not see you!" He cast her off, and she departed; and the devil said: "This man has set his soul for eighty years toward this trial in which he is!" Thus he returned defeated and cast him off.
And Ayyūb looked at his wife, after he had cast her off, and he had no food, no drink, and no friend. Al-Ḥasan said: And two men passed by him while he was in that state — and by Allah, there was on that day upon the face of the earth no one nobler with Allah than Ayyūb — and one of the two men said to his companion: "If Allah had need of this man, He would not have brought him to this [state]!" And Ayyūb heard nothing that was heavier upon him than this word.
18679 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, who said: Ayyūb had two brothers; they came to him and stood at a distance, unable to approach him because of his stench, and one of them said to his companion: "If Allah had known good in Ayyūb, He would not have tried him with what I see." He said: And Ayyūb showed over nothing that struck him as much despair as over the word of the man. And Ayyūb said: "O Allah, if You know that I never passed a night sated while I knew that somewhere there was a hungry person, then confirm me!" And it was confirmed while they both were listening. Then he said: "O Allah, if You know that I never had two shirts while I knew that somewhere there was a naked person, then confirm me!" And it was confirmed while they both were listening. He said: Then he fell down kneeling.
18680 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Makhlad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: Then he said: Lord, verily adversity has afflicted me and then he referred that to his Lord and said: and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful.
18681 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Jarīr, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, who said: Then it was said to him: "Raise your head, for there has been a response."
