that he had merely said to her, “If your companion were to eat some food without mentioning Allah’s name over it, he would be cured of the affliction he is suffering from.” (1) And Allah knows best.

In some books it is stated that Iblis said to her, “Prostrate to me once, and I will restore to you your wealth and children and cure your husband.” So she returned to Job and told him what he had said to her [and what he had shown her]. (2) He said, “The enemy of Allah has come to you in order to tempt you away from your religion.” Then he swore [if Allah cured him] (3) that he would give her one hundred lashes. At that point he said, “Adversity has touched me because Iblis desires that my wife should prostrate to him, and because he has called both her and me to disbelief.”

Then Allah, exalted is He, showed mercy [a mercy] (4) to Job’s wife on account of her patience with him through the affliction. He lightened the matter for her and willed that Job should fulfill his oath. So He commanded him to take a bundle containing one hundred small twigs and strike her with it only once, as Allah, Most High, says: “Take in your hand a bundle and strike with it, and do not break your oath.” (Sad 38:44)

It is also related that Iblis made a medicine chest, placed remedies in it, and sat along the path frequented by Job’s wife, treating people. Job’s wife passed by him and said, “[O shaykh,] (5) I have a sick man; will you treat him?” He replied, “Yes, by Allah, (6) I want nothing except that, when I cure him, he should say, ‘You cured me.’” She mentioned this to Job, and he said, “It is Iblis; he has deceived you,” and he swore that, if Allah cured him, he would give her one hundred lashes.

Wahb and others said: Job’s wife used to work for people and bring him his provisions. But when his affliction became prolonged and people grew weary of her, so that no one would employ her, she sought something for him to eat one day but found nothing. She therefore cut off a braid from her hair and sold it for a loaf of bread, which she brought to him. He asked her, “Where is your braid?” She told him, (7) and it was then that he said, “Adversity has touched me.”

Others said that he said this only when the worms made their way toward his heart and tongue, and he feared that he would become weakened in remembrance and reflection.

Habib ibn Abi Thabit said: He did not supplicate to Allah to remove his affliction until three things occurred. The first was that two friends came to him after news of him had reached them. They found that nothing remained of him but his eyes, and they saw a dreadful sight. They said, “Had you possessed any standing with Allah, this would not have befallen you.” The second was that his wife sought food but could find nothing to feed him, so she sold her braid and brought him food. The third was Iblis’s statement: “I will treat him on the condition that he says, ‘You cured me.’”

It was also said that Iblis insinuated to him that his wife had committed adultery and had therefore cut off her braid. At that point his patience was exhausted, so he supplicated and swore that he would give her one hundred lashes. It was also said that the meaning of “Adversity has touched me” was: I have been afflicted by the gloating of my enemies. It has even been related that he was told [after he had