and abundant wealth, so much so that Allah poured riches upon him as one pours water, sending down a prodigious “rain” of golden locusts. He likewise restored to him his family, as the Most High says:
“And We gave him back his family, and the like of them along with them.”
[Ṣād 38:43]
Some scholars said that Allah resurrected his family in their very persons; others maintained that He compensated him for those who had passed away, granted him substitutes for them in this world, and will reunite him with all of them in the Hereafter.
As for His words, “as a mercy from Us” and “so We removed the harm that was upon him” [Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:84], they mean that We lifted his hardship out of mercy, compassion, and beneficence, “and as a reminder for the worshippers”—that is, a lesson for anyone tried in body, wealth, or children. Such a person has in the Prophet of Allah, Job, an exemplary model: Allah tested him with something even greater, yet he remained patient and hopeful until Allah granted him relief.
Whoever has inferred from this verse that Job’s wife was named “Raḥmah” has strayed far from the mark and overreached the text. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk reported from Ibn ʿAbbās that Allah restored her youth and increased it, so that she bore him twenty-six sons.
Job thereafter lived for seventy more years in the land of the Romans, steadfast upon the primordial monotheism, until they later altered the religion of Abraham.
Concerning the divine command, “Take in your hand a bundle, strike with it, and do not break your oath. Truly We found him patient—what an excellent servant! Indeed, he was ever returning [to Us]” [Ṣād 38:44], this is a concession from Allah to His servant and messenger Job (peace be upon him) regarding his oath that he would strike his wife one hundred lashes.
One view holds that he swore because she had sold her braided hair; another holds that Satan approached her in the guise of a physician who prescribed a remedy for Job. When she informed Job, he realized it was Satan and swore to lash her one hundred times. After Allah healed him, He directed him to take a “diġth”—a bundle resembling a palm stalk with many thin branches—gather them together, and strike her once with it. In legal effect this counted as one hundred lashes, allowing him to fulfill his oath without harming her or breaking his word.
Such is the relief and way out that Allah grants to those who fear and obey Him—especially in respect to a wife who had been patient, expectant, long-suffering, truthful, and dutiful.
For this reason Allah concluded the concession and justified it by saying, “Indeed, We found him patient; what an excellent servant! He was truly oft-returning.” Many jurists have employed this concession in the chapters on oaths and vows, while others expanded upon it, compiling treatises on legal stratagems for release from oaths, opening them with this noble verse and including therein astonishing and curious examples. We shall mention some of that in the Book of “Aḥkām” (1) when we reach it, if Allah wills.
Ibn Jarīr (2) and other historians relate that when Job (peace be upon him) died he was ninety-three years old; some say he lived even longer. Layth narrated from Mujāhid, conveying the meaning that on the Day of Resurrection Allah will use Solomon (peace be upon him) as an argument against the wealthy, Joseph (peace be upon him) against those who were enslaved, and Job (peace be upon him) against those afflicted by trials.