islamic lectures

PROPHET AYYUB (AS)

We will be going through prophet ayyub (AS) as known in the English language as job (may peace be upon him). He was from the direct descendants of ishaaq (AS),which means he came from the family of Ibrahim (AS) and his wife was one of the direct descendants of the prophet Yusuf (AS) and her name according to some narrations was rahma. His mother was from the descendants of lut (AS).
Ayyub (AS) was sent to huraan,which is the south of Syria. He was granted lots of wealth,he was given livestock as well as large tracks of land and he had many children. Not only this,he was very well respected. Everyone respected ayyub (AS),everyone looked up to ayyub (AS),everyone took advice from ayyub (AS).
People will gather around ayyub (AS) to be part of the gathering of ayyub (AS).
Allah (swt) decided to test ayyub (AS). To see,this worshipper of mine who is in constant ibadah,who always thanks me,who always thanks upon all conditions. I want to see If the condition changes,does he remain on that same path of his.so allah (set) decided,to take his wealth away. He lost his livestock,he losat his property,he lost his wealth,he lost absolutely everything. From being so wealthy into being so poor,have not enough money to eat and drink. From being so wealthy,with a lot of wealth,with a lot of gold,with a lot of money,with a lot of jewelry,with a lot of lands,with a lot of houses,with a lot of slaves into nothing. He was still thanking allah. Ya allah ! I praise you on all conditions. Not a day did he complain to Allah (swt).
Thereafter,Allah (swt) decided to test him further,so Allah took his offspring away,one after the other. They were all gone,they all died in front of his eyes. All of them and he had been given a lot. One after the other,with everyone he would say we all belong to Allah,whatever he has given to us,was always his. If he took it away,it just returned to who it belonged to always. He still says,ya Allah! You have still given me and I thank you,I praise you and I remain in your worship and I continue w ith my work.
So Allah (swt) decided to test him finally with something very very difficult.
Allah (swt) then we decided to take his health away. Firstly the outward and then the inside. He became so sick,he became so ill that people, As I mentioned before that people wanted to be around at tub, No one wanted to be around ayyub. They used to get turned off or disgusted from the scene that ayyub (AS) used to be in. The people around him were saying,allah doesn't love this man. If Allah loved him,this wouldn't have happened to him. He continued he says Never I know that when Allah tests a person,he tests him this way as well and he continued and he persevered until there was a time when nothing was operating besides his heart and his tongue and he still used that tongue to remember allah. He still used that heart,he never allowed it to lead him to frustration against allah (swt).
No wealth,no food,lack of money,no kids[all dead],no one wants to be around him,the only one that stood by him was his wife.she helped him,she supported him,she had wealth and she spent all that money in trying to heal ayyub (AS),in trying to get medications for ayyub (AS),to bring food for ayyub (AS),until there was no more money.so what did she started to do?she start to work for people and she will earn her living from working for people,and then she will use that money to get food for ayyub (AS). Later on,when the condition of ayyub start to worsen,people heard about ayyubs condition and this is wife of ayyub,no one dared to hire her. They are too scared from the sickness to be passed to them through his wife. So at the end no one will dare to go near the wife of ayyub,or allow the wife of ayyub work for him.
One narration says, that his wife after some time asked him a question,how long is this going to last? That made him so upset,so upset,because to him, he was surrendering to the decree of allah. So he asks his wife a question,how long did Allah bless me with goodness? She looked at him and she said 80 years. Now how many years is he testing me for? She looked at him and she says the last seven years. So how do you want me to lose hope in the mercy of Allah when I haven't even reached par with that goodness I had and the difficult i am facing. Its not even equal. This is seven years and that is eighty years of goodness. How can we become upset with Allah when he gave us almost a whole lifespan full of goodness. If I get better,I am going to lash you one hundred lashes.
Ayyub(AS) never used to complain and never raised his hands and said ya Allah!take me out of what I am in. He was too shy to ask Allah for that buy ya Allah! Give me patience. Ya Allah give me strength, this is your test over me,you accept it,I accept it and I am having patience till then and as we mentioned his wife is also striving,his wife is also struggling. She wanted ayyub to come out of the situation that he is in so she could live a better life because she is striving to keep ayyub (AS) alive or she is striving to keep ayyub comfortable,she is striving to keep ayyub (AS) in what he needs of his life or what he needs from food or what he needs from water and the rest of the things.when people start to find out that she is the wife of ayyub,no one will accept her to be working for them and now she needs money. She has got no money and she needs food to feed ayyub (AS),for the food she needs money, there is no money.
So what did she do? She had a very long hair,and back then they used to sell their hair and she had nice hair that she cut one of the sides of her hair and she sold it to one of her friends with that money she bought food for ayyub (AS). Ayyub knew that she has no money this day she came with food,where did you get this food from? She did not want to respond to ayyub because she knows ayyub will get angry and she was covered. So mentioned that I was working,I made the living and I bought food with the money that I made. The next day she needs money,she spent the money for ayyub (AS) on ayyub. So she went and sold the rest of her hair. She shaved her hair off for the sake of selling that hair to get money to buy food for ayyub (AS) and for herself. When she came to ayyub (AS), this time ayyub insisted on her where did you get the money? Ayyub knows that no one is accepting her to work and she was complaining to him.where did you get this money from? He insisted on her until he made her promise that she is going to tell him the truth.she uncovered her hair.when ayyub saw that scene he calls out to Allah (swt). Allah says- And [mention] job, when he called to his lord," Indeed,adversity has touched me, and you are the most merciful of the merciful." (Surat al-anbya 21:83). Remember when our servant ayyub called out to us telling us that; O my rabb! Evil has touched me, and yet you are the most forgiving,most merciful. Which means cure me ya Allah.You are most merciful,and evil has touched me,your mercy will dictate to remove that evil.
So we responded to him (Surat al-anbya 21:84). We responded, how? And remember our servant job,when he called to his lord,"Indeed,Satan has touched me with hardship and torment." Remember our slave when he called out to his rabb, he called out to say look shaytaan has definitely harmed me with this and that with difficulty,with hardship,with sickness in wealth as well as in health,loss in wealth as well as health and Allah (swt) says we told him,when he was standing. [So he was told]," strike [the ground] with your foot;this is a [spring for] a cool bath and drink".(Surat sad 38:42). Strike the ground with your foot; this is cold water,for you to wash yourself with and to drink. So he struck the ground with his foot, a spring gushed,water, cold water started gushing from his feet. As he washed,his blister started disappearing. As he drank,the internal organs came in order again to the degree that in a short space of time,his skin was renewed totally. Renewed totally,a new man,allahu Akbar! And his internals were made again as good as they were before and even better,by drinking this water.
His wife comes,she was looking for ayyub (AS) and she asked did you see that righteous servant of Allah,ayyub sitting around here? By allah ,he look very close to him when he was healthy. So he responded back to her smiling saying its me. So she didn't believe him,she said are you making mock? Are you making a mockery? Are you making fun? Where is he? He said Allah (swt) gave me the health.Allah gave me the health again and he was ayyub (AS) healthy,and fit and strong as he was.
And we granted him his family and a like [number] with them as mercy from us and a reminder for those of understanding. (Surat sad 38:43). After that,not only did we return his health to him, but his family we gave back family members double than what he had before. In a short space of time,Allah says we gave him double what he had before. Allah says we gave it to him,as a blessing from us and as a reminder for those with sound intellect,those who want to take heed and is he is bathing, this hadith is in sahih al bukhari,as he is bathing without his clothes on,he is bathing, Allah sent locusts,that fell from the heaven,from jannah. They came,pure gold locusts falling. He started gathering them and he was thankful to Allah. Allah asks him O ayyub! You know we will take care of you,why you gathering these locusts? He says ya Allah!this is mercy from you,I must gather it.subhanallah! He had one issue,one more issue.
He swore that he would lash his wife a hundred lashes if he was cured, now he is cured,so Allah (swt) revealed to him [we said],"and take in your hand a bunch [of grass] and strike with it and do not break your oath." (Surat sad 38:44). Allah says don't break your promise,we will show you a way out. You can take a little bunch full of grass like branch very light and use that to whip,Allah says .so imagine now you taking a few bundle of little grass and you are using that. It has no pain but you are not breaking your promise. Look how Allah taught him a way out of this. Because he was genuine,he did not make a qasm for some silly reason. But it was because of Allah and because of his love for allah (swt). So Allah showed him a way out. Indeed,we found him patient,an excellent servant. Indeed,he was one repeatedly turning back [ to Allah]. (Surat sad 38:44). We found him to be very patient, what an excellent worshipper of ours, indeed he was off returning to us.