9. PROPHETS’ DU’A (PRAYER) IN THE QUR’AN (4) 6. Job (Ayyῡb)

9. PROPHETS’ DU’A (PRAYER) IN THE QUR’AN (4)

6. Job (Ayyῡb)

          Prophet Job (Ayyūb) a.s.  is mentioned in the Qur’an by name four times (Q. 2:163; 6:84; 21:83; and 38:41). He is mentioned very briefly in the Qur’an, whereas in the Old Testament the story of Prophet Job was mentioned in the Book of Job containing 42 chapters, although mostly contain discourses between him and his friends.  He lived in an area South of Damascus in Syria or West of the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, or north-east corner of Palestine. He was one of the descendants of the Prophet Ibrahim a.s. and a nephew of Prophet Ya‘qub a.s. He was sent by Allah to advise people to do good and shun evil.

          Prophet Job (Ayyūb) a.s. was a wealthy man with firm faith in Allah. Allah gives us an excellent example of a person who had the utmost patience upon the trial with his wealth, family and health.[1] He had plenty of livestock, cattle and crops, beautiful houses and children, and a healthy body, and then he lost all of them. With his wealth:  thieves attacked his big farm, killing many of his servants and taking away his crops and cattle; with his family: the roof of his houses fell down crushing many members of his family; with his health: he suffered from skin disease. Parts of his body were covered with loathsome sores. His  friends  attributed his calamities to his sins. People abandoned him for the ugly looking ulcers on his face and hands.  He was left alone on the edge of the city, and no one took care of him except his wife. In his extremely pathetic condition, he prayed to Allah as mentioned in the Qur’an as follows:

وَأَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَى رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الضُّرُّ وَأَنْتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ . فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ

 فَكَشَفْنَا مَا بِهِ مِنْ ضُرٍّ وَآتَيْنَاهُ أَهْلَهُ وَمِثْلَهُمْ مَعَهُمْ رَحْمَةً مِنْ عِنْدِنَا وَذِكْرَى
 لِلْعَابِدِينَ (الأنبياء:83-84)

And (remember) Ayyῡb (Job), when he cried to his Lord:

“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 and

 We restored with them as a mercy from Ourselves

 and a Reminder for all those who

worship Us.” (Q. 21:83-84)

        The Qur’an mentioned further that Allah reminds us of him, as follows:

وَاذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَا أَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَى رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الشَّيْطَانُ بِنُصْبٍ وَعَذَابٍ.

ارْكُضْ بِرِجْلِكَ هَذَا مُغْتَسَلٌ بَارِدٌ وَشَرَابٌ . وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ أَهْلَهُ وَمِثْلَهُمْ مَعَهُمْ

رَحْمَةً مِنَّا وَذِكْرَى لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ . وَخُذْ بِيَدِكَ ضِغْثًا فَاضْرِبْ بِهِ وَلَا

تَحْنَثْ إِنَّا وَجَدْنَاهُ صَابِرًا نِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ إِنَّهُ أَوَّابٌ (ص:41-44)

And remember Our slave Ayyub (Job), when he invoked

his Lord (saying), “Verily Satan has touched me with distress

 (by ruining my health) and torment (by ruining my wealth!)

 (Allah said to him): “Strike the ground with your foot. This is

 (a spring of) water to wash in, cool and a (refreshing) drink.”

 And We gave him (back) his family, and along with them

 the like thereof, as a Mercy from Us, and a Reminder for

those who understand. “And take in your hand a bundle

 of thin grass and strike therewith (your wife), and

 break not your oath.” Truly We found him patient.

 How excellent a slave! Verily, he was ever oft-

returning in repentance (to Us).  (Q. 38:41-44)

          The Qur’an commentator Ibn Kathīr gives us his commentary on the above verses as follows:

Here Allah tells us about His servant and Messenger Ayyūb

(Job) and how He tested him. These tests afflicted his body, his

 wealth and his children, until there was no part of his body that

was healthy except his heart. Then he had nothing left in this world which he could use to help him deal with his sickness or the predicament he was in, besides his wife, who retained her devotion to him because of her faith in Allah and His Messenger. She used to work for people as a paid servant and she fed and served him (Ayyūb) for nearly eighteen years. Before then, he was very rich and had many children, being well off in worldly terms. All of that had been taken away until he ended up being thrown into the city dump where he stayed all this time, shunned by relatives and strangers alike, with the exception of his wife—may Allah be pleased with her. She did not leave him, morning and evening, except for when she was

serving people, then she would come straight back to him. When

this had gone on for a long time, and things had gotten very

bad, and the time allotted by divine decreed had come to an

end, Ayyūb prayed to the Lord of the worlds, the God

of the Messengers, and said

,أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الضُّرُّ وَأَنْتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ

(“verily, distress has seized me, and you are the

most merciful of all those who show mercy.”)

In a long tradition recorded by Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim that Anas Ibn Mālik r.a. said that the Prophet s.a.w. said about Prophet Ayyūb who suffered for eighteen years from his affliction. He was shunned by his relatives and as well as strangers, except two men who were the closest of his brothers to him. They visited him every morning and every evening. They told him that he might have committed a grave sin which nobody in the world had ever committed, because of his eighteen year suffering. Whenever he went out to answer the call of nature, when he finished, his wife would take his hand until he returned home. One day he took a long time, and Allah revealed to him  ارْكُضْ بِرِجْلِكَ هَذَا مُغْتَسَلٌ بَارِدٌ وَشَرَابٌ  “Strike the ground with your foot. This is  (a spring of) water to wash in, cool and a (refreshing) drink.”  (Q. 21:42) He did and washed himself and drank the spring water, and suddenly recovered from all of the ailments and afflictions. His wife who came to find him for his being late saw him and said: “May Allah bless you! Have you seen Allah’s prophet, the one who is sorely tested? By Allah, I have never seen a man who looks more like him than you, if he were healthy.” He said: “ I am he”…

Prophet Ayyūb (Job) was upset about something his wife had done, and he swore an oath that if Allah healed him, he would strike her with one hundred blows. When Allah healed him, how could he repay her kindness and service with a beating? Allah gave him a way out to fulfil his oath without breaking his vow: وَخُذْ بِيَدِكَ ضِغْثًا فَاضْرِبْ بِهِ وَلَا تَحْنَثْ  “And take in your hand a bundle of thin grass and strike therewith (your wife), and break not your oath.” (Q. 38:44). The term “your wife” is not in the text, but in the translation between brackets. This is apparently to avoid mentioning wife beating, and to indicate the importance of fulfilling the oath, and of knowing the science of tafsīr (commentary of the Qur’an).

          The Qur’an commentator Mujahid said that Allah told Prophet Ayyub that his family would be with him in Paradise, and if he wished Allah would bring back to him, or left them in Paradise and Allah would compensate him with others like them in this world. He chose the latter, so he became prosperous again. [2]

          Allah praised Prophet Job for his long patience, and said: “Truly We found him patient. How excellent a slave! Verily, he was ever oft-returning in repentance (to Us).” 

          A person who is very patient is called doing صَبْرُ أَيُّوْب   (“Job’s patience” who had been patient for 18 years.

8. Yūnus (Jonah)

Prophet Yūnus (Jonah) a.s. is mentioned four times in the Qur’an (Q. 4:163; 6:86; 10:98; and 37:139). Like the Old Testament where we have the Book of Jonah, we also have chapter 10 in the Qur’an called sūrat  “Yūnus (Jonah”), although he is mentioned once only in one verse in this chapter.”   He was son of  Amittai, lived in Gath-hepher, near Nazareth in lower Galilee. He was sent by Allah to the people of Nineveh (Ninawa), the capital of Assyria in Mesopotamia, a town near Mosul (Mawṣil) [in northern modern Iraq], east of the Tigris river, with a population over one hundred thousand.[3]  He called them to worship Allah, but they did not believe him. He left them in anger abandoning the mission entrusted to him by Allah, and running away to board a ship, and threatening them with punishment after three days.[4] When they realized that he was telling the truth, like any other prophet, they went out to the desert with their children and livestock. They separated the mothers from their children and prayed and beseeched Allah to spare them from the punishment. Their camels and their young were groaning, the cows and their calves were mooning, and the sheep and their lambs were bleating, and they themselves cried for forgiveness. Their prayer was accepted, and Allah did not punish them. Allah said:

فَلَوْلَا كَانَتْ قَرْيَةٌ آمَنَتْ فَنَفَعَهَا إِيمَانُهَا إِلَّا قَوْمَ يُونُسَ لَمَّا آمَنُوا كَشَفْنَا

عَنْهُمْ عَذَابَ الْخِزْيِ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَمَتَّعْنَاهُمْ إِلَى حِينٍ(يونس:98)    

    Was there any town that believed (after seeing the

punishment) and its faith saved it? Except the people

 of Yunus; when they believed, We removed from them

the torment of disgrace in the life of the world, and

 permitted them to enjoy for a while.(Q. 10:98)

This is the only example where people  obeyed their prophet before Allah sent them His punishment.

Prophet Yunus a.s. wanted to flee to Tarshish (a city near Gibraltar) in southern Spain and sailed with some people. The ship tossed about on the sea, and they were afraid that they would drown. They cast lots to choose one of them would be thrown into the sea. Three times the lot fell to him, but they refused to throw him overboard. So, he removed his garment and threw himself into the sea.[5] Allah inspired a big fish to make its belly a prison for him without devouring his flesh or breaking his bones, as if inspiring it that he was not food for it. In the darkness upon darkness, the darkness in the sea and inside the belly of the fish, he prayed,  لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ  “None has the right to be worshipped but You, and Glorified are You, truly I have been of the wrong doers.” Allah said:

  وَذَا النُّونِ إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ

 أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ. فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ

وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْغَمِّ وَكَذَلِكَ نُنْجِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (الأنبياء:87- (88

And (remember) Dhun-Nūn [Yunus (Jonah)], when he went

off in anger, and imagined that We shall not punish him (i.e.,

the calamities which had befallen him)! But he cried through

the darkness (saying): “Lā ilāha illā Anta [none has the right to

be worshipped but You (O Allah)], Glorified (and Exalted) are

You [above all that (evil) they associate with You]! Truly, I

have been of the wrong doers.” So, We answered his call,

and delivered him from the distress. And thus We do

deliver the believers (who believe in the Oneness

of Allah, abstain from evil and work

righteousness). (Q. 21:87-88)
 

Other verses dealing with Prophet Jonah are as follows:

وَإِنَّ يُونُسَ لَمِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ. إِذْ أَبَقَ إِلَى الْفُلْكِ الْمَشْحُونِ. فَسَاهَمَ فَكَانَ

مِنَ الْمُدْحَضِينَ. فَالْتَقَمَهُ الْحُوتُ وَهُوَ مُلِيمٌ . فَلَوْلَا أَنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُسَبِّحِينَ. لَلَبِثَ

 فِي بَطْنِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ. فَنَبَذْنَاهُ بِالْعَرَاءِ وَهُوَ سَقِيمٌ. وَأَنْبَتْنَا عَلَيْهِ شَجَرَةً مِنْ

 يَقْطِينٍ . وَأَرْسَلْنَاهُ إِلَى مِائَةِ أَلْفٍ أَوْ يَزِيدُونَ. فَآمَنُوا فَمَتَّعْنَاهُمْ

إِلَى حِينٍ (الصافات:139-148)

And verily, Yūnus (Jonah) was one of the Messengers. When

 he ran to the laden ship: Then he (agreed to) cast lots, and he

 was among the losers. Then a (big) fish swallowed him as he had done an act worthy of blame. Had he not been of them who glorify Allah, He would have indeed remained inside its belly (the fish) till

 the Day of Resurrection. But We cast him forth on the naked

shore while he was sick,  And We caused a plant of gourd to

 grow over him. And We sent him to a hundred thousand

people) or even more.  And they believed; so We gave

 them enjoyment for a while. (Q. 37:139-148)

The city of Nineveh was rediscovered in the mid-1800 after more than 2,500 years of obscurity. It was found buried beneath an ancient mound called by its local name “Nabi Yunus.” (Prophet Jonah).  As for the big fish that swallowed Prophet Jonah most people assumed that it was a cachalot (a sperm whale), and may have been a white shark. According to the Biblical account he remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. These two creatures had been known to Mediterranean sailors since antiquity, and these two species was described by Aristotle in his Historia Animalium (History of Animals) in 4^th Century B.C

           It is said that the reason for Prophet Jonah’s running, was that he did not like the Assyrians  who were idolatrous, proud and ruthless,  had been a threat to Israel.                          (CIVIC, 29 August, 2014)

المراجع:

المكتبة الشاملة 

تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ (

تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ(

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(

Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi . Atlas of the Qur’an. Riyadh, Darussalam, 2003

Ali, A.Yusuf.  The Meanings of the Holy Qur’an
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an
The Holy Bible: New International Version. East Brunswic k, N.J, 1984.
 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/job_in_Islam
www.itsislam.net/articles/prophet­_ayub.asp
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_(biblical_figure)
 Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi . Atlas  of the Qur’an. Riyadh, Darussalam, 2003
www.gotquestions.org/Jonah-whale.html ـ

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[1] According to the Old Testament he “had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:2-3)

[2] According to the Old Testament, Allah gave Prophet Job twice as much as he had before. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three beautiful daughters. Moreover, he lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation (Job: 10, 12-16)

[3] Q. 37:147; according to the Old Testament its population at that time was over 120 000 (Jonah 4:11)

[4] This was according to Ibn Kathīr. According to the Old Testament when Jonah came to Nineveh for the second time, he threatened people that the town of Nineveh would be overturned in forty days if they did not obey him. (Jonah 3:4)

[5] Instead of throwing himself into the sea, according to the Old Testament he was thrown overboard, so that the raging sea became calm. He had confessed to the sailors that the tempest was caused by his sin, i.e., he had “fled from the presence of the Lord.”(Jonah 1:3-15)