of sheep. An itching came upon them, and he scratched them with his nails until they all fell off. Then he rubbed them with coarse sackcloth until he cut them open, and then with pottery shards and rough stones. He continued scratching them until his flesh became ulcerated, torn apart, discolored, and foul-smelling.
The people of the town expelled him and placed him upon a rubbish heap, setting up a shelter for him. All of Allah’s creatures shunned him except his wife, Rahmah, daughter of Ephraim, son of Joseph, son of Jacob. She would regularly come to him with what would tend to his needs and remained devotedly by his side.
When his three companions—Yaqin, Yaldad, and Safir—saw the affliction with which Allah had tested him, they suspected him and abandoned him, even though he had not forsaken his religion. When his affliction had endured for a long time, they went to him, rebuked and blamed him, and said, “Repent to Allah from the sin for which you have been punished.”
A young man, who believed in him and affirmed him, was present with them. He said to them, “You have spoken, old men. By reason of your age, you had more right to speak than I did; yet you have left unsaid words better than those you uttered, judgments sounder than those you made, and conduct finer than what you have done. Job had greater rights and claims upon you than what you have described. Do you know, old men, whose right you have diminished, whose sanctity you have violated, and what man you have disparaged and accused?
“Do you not know that Job is Allah’s prophet, His chosen one among His creation, and His elect among the people of the earth up to this very day? Yet you have not known, nor has Allah informed you in any matter concerning him, that He has been displeased with Job in any respect since Allah granted him what He granted him until this day; nor that He has taken from him any part of the honor with which He honored him; nor that Job has ever spoken falsely about Allah throughout all the time you have accompanied him until this day.
“If it is his affliction that has lowered him in your estimation and diminished him in your hearts, then you know that Allah tests the believers, the utterly truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous. His testing of such people is not evidence of His displeasure with them or of their insignificance before Him; rather, it is an honor and a special distinction for them.
“Even if Job had held no such rank with Allah, but were merely a brother whom you loved in companionship, it would not be fitting for a forbearing man to reproach (1) his brother in affliction, shame him for his calamity, or find fault with him for something he does not know, while he is distressed and grieving. Rather, he should show him mercy, weep with him, seek forgiveness for him, grieve over his grief, and guide him to what is right in his affairs. Whoever is ignorant of this is neither forbearing nor rightly guided.
“So fear Allah, old men! The majesty and grandeur of Allah, and the remembrance of death, should be enough to silence your tongues and break your hearts. Do you not know that Allah has servants whom awe of Him has rendered silent, not because they are incapable of speech or mute? They are eloquent, articulate, noble, intelligent, and knowledgeable of Allah. Yet, when they remember Allah’s greatness, their tongues fall silent, their skins tremble, their hearts are broken, and their minds are overwhelmed in reverence and veneration for Allah. When they recover from this state, they hasten to Allah with pure deeds, considering themselves among the wrongdoers and sinners, though they are righteous and innocent; and among the negligent and remiss, though they are discerning and strong.”
Job said, “Allah plants wisdom, through mercy, in the hearts of young and old alike. Whenever it takes root in the heart, Allah causes it to appear upon the tongue. Wisdom does not come merely through age, gray hair, or long experience. When Allah makes a servant wise in his youth, his standing is not diminished in the eyes of the wise, for they see upon him the light of honor from Allah, glorified is He.”
Then Job turned away from them and turned to his Lord, seeking His aid and humbly beseeching Him. He said, “My Lord, why did You create me? If You had hated me, would that You had not created me! Would that I knew the sin I committed and the deed I did for which You turned Your noble face away from me. If only You had caused me to die and joined me to my noble forefathers—for death would have been better for me. Was I not a home for the stranger, a refuge for the poor, a guardian for the orphan, and a caretaker for the widow?
“My God, I am Your servant. If I have done well, then all favor belongs to You; and if I have done wrong, then my punishment is in Your hand. You have made me an object of affliction and a target for trial. A calamity has befallen me which, if You had imposed it upon a mountain, would have left it too weak to bear it; so how can my weakness bear it? Your decree is what has humbled me, and Your authority is what has made me ill and wasted away my body.
“If only my Lord would remove the awe within my breast and loosen my tongue, so that I might speak freely with what a servant ought to say in arguing his own case, I would hope that He would then cure me of what afflicts me. But He has cast me aside and withdrawn far above me: He sees me, but I do not see Him; He hears me, but I do not hear Him. He has not looked upon me so as to show me mercy, nor has He drawn near to me, nor brought me near, that I might offer my excuse, speak of my innocence, and argue [20/a] on my own behalf.” (2)
When Job said this, while his companions were with him, a cloud overshadowed him, and his companions thought it was a painful punishment. Then he was called: “O Job, Allah says: Here I am—I have drawn near to you, and I have never ceased to be near you. Rise, then offer your excuse; speak of your innocence and argue on your own behalf. Tighten your belt, and stand as a mighty one disputing with the Almighty, if you are able. For none should dispute with Me except one mighty like Me.
“O Job, your soul has made you aspire to something your strength cannot attain. Where were you when I created the earth and set it upon its foundations? Were you with Me, stretching out its edges? Did you know by what measure I determined it, or upon what I set its sides? Was it through your obedience that the water bore the earth, or through your wisdom that the earth became a covering for the water?
“Where were you when I raised the sky as a roof in the air, suspended by no cord above it and supported by no pillar beneath it? Could your wisdom set its light in motion, cause its stars to travel, or make its night and day alternate at your command? Where were you when I caused the rivers to gush forth and restrained the seas? Was it your authority that held back the waves of the seas within their bounds? Or was it your power that opened the wombs when their terms were completed?
“Where were you when I poured water upon the soil and set up the lofty mountains? Do you know upon what I anchored them, or by what weight I weighed them? Do you possess an arm capable of bearing them? Do you know the source of the water that I send down from the sky? Do you know from what I form the clouds? Do you know where the storehouses of snow are, where the mountains of hail are, where the storehouse of night within the day is and the storehouse of day within the night is? (3) Where is the storehouse of the wind? In what language do the trees speak? Who placed minds within men’s bodies? Who fashioned hearing and sight? Whose sovereignty humbled the angels, subdued the tyrants by His might, and apportioned provision by His wisdom?”
He mentioned to Job many such manifestations of His power. Job then said, “My standing has become small; my tongue has failed, my mind has left me, and my strength is too weak for this matter You have set before me, my God. I know that all that You have mentioned is the work of Your hands and the ordering of Your wisdom; and if You willed, You could do things still greater and more wondrous. Nothing can frustrate You, and nothing hidden is concealed from You.
“My God, when affliction overtook me, I spoke without having command of my tongue; it was the affliction that made me speak. Would that the earth had split open for me and swallowed me, and that I had never said anything that displeased my Lord. Would that I had died from my grief at the height of my affliction before that. I spoke when I spoke only that You might excuse me, and I was silent when I was silent only that You might show me mercy. It was but a word that slipped from me, and I shall never return to it. I have placed my hand over my mouth, bitten my tongue, and pressed my cheek to the earth.
“Today I seek refuge in You from You, and I seek Your protection from the severity of affliction, so grant me protection. I call upon You for help against Your punishment, so help me. I seek Your aid in my affair, so aid me. I place my trust in You, so suffice me. I hold fast to You, so preserve me. I seek Your forgiveness, so forgive me. I shall never again do anything that You dislike from me.”
Allah Most High said, “O Job, My foreknowledge concerning you has come to pass, and My mercy has preceded My wrath; so I have forgiven you. I have restored your family and your wealth to you, and the like of them with them, so that you may be a sign for those whom I have created, a lesson for people of affliction, and a consolation for the patient. Strike the ground with your foot: here is cool water for bathing and drinking, in which lies your cure. Offer a sacrifice on behalf of your companions and seek forgiveness for them, for they have disobeyed Me concerning you.”
So he struck the ground with his foot, and a spring gushed forth for him. He entered it and washed, and Allah removed from him every affliction that had befallen him. Then he came out and sat down. His wife came looking for him in his resting place, but she did not find him. She rose, distraught and wandering to and fro. (4)
Then she said, “O servant of Allah, do you know anything of the afflicted man who was here?” He said to her, “Would you recognize him if you saw him?” She replied, “Yes. Why should I not recognize him?” He smiled and said, “I am he.” She recognized him by his smile and embraced him.
Ibn Abbas said, “By Him in whose hand is the soul of Abdullah, she did not part from his embrace until all their wealth and offspring passed before them.” (5)
This is the saying of Allah Most High: “And Job, when he called to his Lord, ‘Indeed, adversity has touched me.’” They differed concerning when he made this supplication, the reason for which he said, “Indeed, adversity has touched me,” and the duration of his affliction.
Ibn Shihab narrated from Anas, in a report traced back to the Prophet, that Job remained in his affliction for eighteen years. (6)
Wahb said, “Job remained in affliction for three years, without a day more.” (7)
Kab said, “Job remained in his affliction for seven years, seven months, and seven days.”
Al-Hasan said, “Job lay cast upon a rubbish heap in a refuse pit belonging to the Children of Israel for seven years and some months. Beasts came and went over him, and no one approached him except Rahmah, who remained sincerely patient with him. She brought him food and praised Allah with him whenever he praised Him. Throughout all this, Job never ceased remembering Allah and patiently enduring his trial.” (8)
Iblis then let out a cry by which he gathered his troops from every region of the earth. When they assembled before him, they said, “What is the cause of your grief?” He said, “This servant has wearied me. I left him with neither wealth nor children, yet he only increased in patience. Then I was given power over his body, and I left him as a festering sore cast upon a rubbish heap, approached by none but his wife. I have sought your assistance that you may help me against him.”
They said to him, “Where is the guile by which you destroyed those who came before?” He said, “All of it has failed me in Job. So advise me.” They said, “We shall advise you. By what means did you approach Adam until you caused him to leave Paradise?” He replied, “Through his wife.” They said, “Then approach Job through his wife, for he cannot disobey her, and no one but she comes near him.” He said, “You have spoken rightly.”
So he went to his wife while she was giving charity, and appeared before her in the form of a man. He said, “Where is your husband, O female servant of Allah?” She said, “There he is, scratching his sores, while vermin move to and fro within his body.” When he heard her say this, he hoped it was an expression of despair. So he whispered to her, reminded her of the blessings and wealth she had once possessed, and reminded her of Job’s beauty, youth, and the hardship in which he now was, telling her that it would never cease from them.
Al-Hasan said, “She cried out, and when she cried out, he knew that she had become distressed. He brought her a lamb and said, ‘Let Job slaughter this for me, and he will recover.’ She came crying out, ‘O Job, how long will your Lord torment you? Where is the wealth? Where are the children? Where are your friends? Where is your fair complexion? Where is your sound body? (9) Slaughter this lamb and be at ease!’
Job said, ‘Allah’s enemy has come to you and breathed into you. Woe to you! Tell me: the wealth, children, and health over which you weep—who gave them to me?’ She said, ‘Allah.’ He said, ‘For how long did we enjoy them?’ She said, ‘For eighty years.’ He said, ‘And for how long has He tested us?’ She said, ‘For seven years and some months.’ He said, ‘Woe to you—’ [20/b]