Prophet Ayyub (Job) (أيوب) — Complete Story in the Quran

Allah remembers Ayyub as His servant. Distress does not undo that relationship. The suffering man remains the servant whose call is heard.

“Satan has touched me with weariness and torment,” Ayyub says to his Lord. He does not merely speak of a trial in general. He names its burden: weariness and pain.

But his call remains directed to Allah. Ayyub describes what has struck him and seeks his Lord within that very distress. Pain brings him to prayer; it does not stand between him and the One he calls upon.

This call does not end the scene. The answer will be joined to a concrete instruction. From the distress he has named, the next step leads to water.

Ayyub is instructed to strike with his foot. His call is not answered by a demand to conceal his distress. He is shown an action to take.

Then cool water is pointed out to him: for washing and for drinking. The answer names both. The water belongs to a relief that reaches the suffering servant.

Washing and drinking now stand where weariness and torment had been named. The prayer is no longer only a description of what Ayyub endures. Allah's answer opens something he can receive.

The call from suffering has reached a turning point. Nor does the gift stop with the water. The distress itself is removed; his family is given to him.

Allah answers Ayyub and removes the harm from him. The call with which the account began receives its answer. The distress Ayyub brought before his Lord is lifted from him.

His family is also given to him, together with the like of them. The gift is therefore more than the lifting of personal affliction. His family belongs to what he is granted as well. The concise call receives an answer whose reach extends beyond the distress alone.

Both Quran passages name this gift mercy from Allah. One speaks of a reminder for those who worship Him; the other of a reminder for people of understanding. The answer thus also carries meaning for those who hear Ayyub's account.

At the beginning, Ayyub called upon Allah as the most merciful. Now the answer bears the same name: mercy. Between the call and the gift there is no claim through which the servant binds his Lord. The call is answered and the gift granted. Yet Ayyub's account also includes an oath for which a way will be opened.

Ayyub receives a further instruction: take a bundle in his hand and strike with it. In this way he is not to break his oath. Here too he is shown not only a goal but a concrete way.

The instruction joins the bundle to the oath. The oath remains serious; its fulfilment is connected to this action. The mercy associated with water and family extends to this obligation.

Allah then names Ayyub patient. He is an excellent servant, constantly turning back to his Lord. The account that opened with a call from suffering closes here with this judgement upon the one who called.

His distress has been lifted, his family given to him, and a way opened concerning the oath. But the last word of this Quran passage is not possession. It is turning back: Ayyub returns to Allah. The same servant who brought his affliction before Him remains joined to his Lord at the close.

A separate prophetic report relates that Ayyub was bathing when golden locusts fell upon him.

He gathered them into his garment.

His Lord asked whether He had not made him wealthy enough to do without them.

Ayyub answered, “Yes, my Lord. But I cannot do without Your blessing.”