Job (a)
 an alleged burial place of Job (a) in Hillah, Iraq. | |
| Name inthe Qur'an: | Ayyub |
|---|---|
| Name in the Bible: | Job |
| Place(s) of Residence: | Batanea (al-Bathaniyya in Arabic) |
| Well known Relatives: | Abraham (a) |
| Religion: | Monotheism |
| Age: | 200 |
| Repeat in the Qur'an: | 4 |
| Important Events: | Patience of the Job (a) |
Job or Ayyūb (Arabic: اَیّوب) was a prophet of God, afflicted with disease and the loss of his children and wealth. He remained patient during his trial and never ceased to worship and give thanks to God.
The Qur'an does not mention the details of Job's trial, but the Bible and some Muslim traditions report that the people began to distance themselves from Job (a) because of his disease. According to Islamic beliefs, on the other hand, the prophets would never be afflicted with things that repelled people.
Moreover, according to the Bible and some Muslim traditions, Job (a) failed to remain fully patient during his trial, but the Quran does not mention anything to that effect but rather praises him for his patience.
Adducing to Quran 38:41, which speaks of Satan's afflicting Job (a) with weariness and chastisement, some people have stated doubted Job's infallibility because the verse indicates that Satan was able to affect him. However, it is said in response that Satan merely affected Job's body and belongings but not his soul, and therefore it does not tarnish his infallibility.
According to the commentators, Job (a) made an oath to strike his wife a hundred lashes but later he regretted making such an oath. It was revealed to him to strike her instead one time with a bundle of one-hundred sticks and keep his oath in this way. There is disagreement among the commentators as to the reason behind Job's oath.
There is no reliable information as to the place where Job (a) was buried. However, there are several tombs in different countries attributed to him, such as a tomb near Hillah in Iraq.
Family and Lineage
Job (a) was a prophet of God[1] from the descendants of Abraham (a),[2] who was Job's fourth[3] or fifth[4] paternal great-grandfather. He was also a descendant of Lot (a) on his mother's side.[5]
According to al-Allama al-Majlisi, his wife was a descendant of Joseph (a),[6] but according to some reports she was the daughter of Joseph (a)[7] or Jacob (a).[8]
The Quranic figure Dhu l-Kifl is said to have been the son of Job (a), whose given name was Bishr. He was also a prophet.[9]
Job's Trial
According to the Qur'an, Job (a) was tried by the loss of his children and wealth and was also afflicted with a disease. He remained patient in the face of all the suffering and successfully passed this trial.[10] He regained his health and children.[11] The Qur'an mentions him by such titles as "our servant," "What an excellent servant!" "patient," and "penitent".[12]
| Table | Text | Sura | Verse | About |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | And We gave him Isaac and Jacob and guided each of them. And Noah We had guided before, and from his offspring, David and Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses and Aaron—thus do We reward the virtuous | al-An'am | 84 | From the descendant of Abraham or Noah[13] |
| 2 | We have indeed revealed to you as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him, and [as] We revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, Jesus and Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon—and We gave David the Psalms— | Nisa' | 163 | Prophethood |
| 3 | And [remember] Job, when he called out to his Lord, 'Indeed distress has befallen me, and You are the most merciful of the merciful.' [83] So We answered his prayer and removed his distress, and We gave him [back] his family along with others like them, as a mercy from Us and an admonition for the devout.[84] | al-Anbiya' | 83-84 | Fulfilment of his prayer and his regaining his health and children. |
| 4 | And remember Our servant Job [in the Quran]. When he called out to his Lord, 'The devil has visited on me hardship and torment,' [41] [We told him:] 'Stamp your foot on the ground; this [ensuing spring] will be a cooling bath and drink.' [42] We gave [back] his family to him along with others like them, as a mercy from Us and an admonition for those who possess intellect. [43] [We told him:] 'Take a faggot in your hand and then strike [your wife] with it, but do not break [your] oath.' Indeed, We found him to be patient. What an excellent servant! Indeed he was a penitent [soul]. [44] | Sura Sad | 41-44 | Recovery from the disease, regaining his family, the story of the oath, Job's patience and his being penitent. |
Story of Trial
According to a hadith of Imam al-Sadiq (a), God had blessed Job (a), and Job (a) would always give thanks for his blessings. But Satan said to God, "If You take away Your blessings from Job (a), he will cease to give thanks." Thus, God allowed Satan to afflict Job (a) in his wealth and children. Job (a) lost his wealth and children, but he continued to give thanks, even more than before. Then, he lost his crops and cattle, but he remained thankful to God. Afterwards, Satan breathed onto Job's body, creating many wounds on it. Worms and infection began to appear on Job's body to the extent that the people banished him from the village because of his repulsive smell. But Job (a) still remained thankful. Then, one day Satan together with some of Job's companions visited him and told him that his affliction must have been because of a sin that he had committed. In response, Job (a) stated that he had never eaten any food except that he shared it with an orphan or a weak person, and that he had never had the choice between two acts of worship except that he chose the more difficult act. Finally, God sent an angel, who washed Job (a) with the water of a spring that welled up when Job (a) stamped his foot on the ground and thus he was healed.[14]
However, Allama Tabataba'i doubts the authenticity of this hadith, considering its incompatibility with other hadiths,[15] such as the hadith in which Imam al-Baqir (a) is reported to have said that Job (a) did not have any infection, worm, or facial deformity, and the people left him only because of his poverty and apparent weakness. They were not aware of his special place in the eyes of God and did not know that he would be healed soon.[16] The hadith is also incompatible with the doctrine of infallibility,[17] according to which prophets are free from repulsive defects that drive people away from them, as that would make them fail in their mission.[18]
The Biblical Account
The Book of Job is one of the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Bible, which describes the blessings of God upon Job (a)[19] and the story of his trial.[20] In the biblical account, Job (a) does not remain patient until the end[21] and there is no mention of his oath.[22]
Wisdom Behind Job's Affliction
Job's affliction is considered God's test for him. According to some commentators, Job (a) maintained his gratefulness to God prior to, during,[23] and after the trial. According to a hadith, Job (a) was afflicted so that the people do not consider him divine because of the blessings that were given to him, and also in order not to despise weak, poor, or sick people and to know that it is God who afflicts whomever He wants and heals whomever He wills.[24]
Job's Oath
It is said that Job (a) made an oath to strike his wife a hundred lashes after his recovery.[25] However, when he was recovered, he decided to forgive her, but he had made an oath and could not break it.[26] Thus, it was revealed to him to strike her instead one time with a bundle of one-hundred sticks in order not to break his oath.[27]
There is disagreement among the commentators as to the story behind Job's oath. Ibn Abbas is reported to have said that Satan appeared to Job's wife and told her, "I will heal your husband if you say after his recovery that only I healed him." Having become tired of her husband's illness, Job's wife accepted Satan's offer, and this was why Job (a) made an oat to flog her.[28] Some others have mentioned that Job (a) sent his wife to do something but she delayed, and Job (a) made such an oath to punish her.[29] It is also said that she used to hurt Job (a) by her words during his illness, and that is why Job (a) made that oath. Yet, according to a report, Job (a) made that oath after he was healed, because during his illness his wife went to the village to bring some bread, and she sold her tresses in exchange for bread. When she came back to Job (a), he was healed and got upset with his wife for selling her tresses and then made that oath, but when he learned about the reason why she had sold her tresses, he regretted making the oath.[30]
The authenticity of some of these reports are doubted because they are in contradiction with the doctrine of the infallibility of prophets[31] and also because of the unreliability of their chains of transmitters.[32]
Infallibility
Some commentators have mentioned that the verse "And remember Our servant Job [in the Qur'an]. When he called out to his Lord, 'The devil has visited on me hardship and torment'[33] indicates that Job (a) was not infallible because it states that Satan was able to affect him. In response, it is said that Satan could only affect Job's body, wealth, and children, not his soul, and this does not negate his infallibility.[34]
A discussion on Job's infallibility can be found in the book Tanzih al-anbiya' by al-Sharif al-Murtada.[35]
Burial Place
Job (a) lived in a region called Aws in the south-west of the Dead See and the north of the Gulf of Aqaba, or in Batanea (al-Bathaniyya in Arabic) between Damascus and Adhri'at.[36] There is also a cave in Şanlıurfa, Turkey, which is allegedly the place were Job (a) resided during his illness.[37]
It is said that Job (a) lived two-hundred years,[38] and according to the Bible, he lived 140 years after his recovery.[39] It is also reported that his affliction lasted seven[40] or eighteen years[41] and that he was buried near the spring in which he was healed.[42]
It is not known where Job (a) was buried, but there are tombs in various countries that are attributed to him, such as a tomb near Hillah in Iraq, which is more well-known because of its nearness to Job's place of residence.[43]
There are tombs attributed to Job (a) near the Port of Salalah (Oman), in Garmab village near Bojnord (Iran), and in Bukhara (Uzbekistan).[44] The latter is said to have been simply an invention of the Tamerlane.[45]
In Art
The story of Job is reflected in the works of art. The movie Job the Prophet directed by Farajollah Salahshoor was produced in 1993-4 and broadcasted on Iranian national television, depicting the life and trial of Job (a).[46]
Notes
- ↑ Qurʾān 4:163.
- ↑ Qurʾān 6:84.
- ↑ Ibn Ḥabīb, al-Muḥabbar, p. 5.
- ↑ Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, vol. 1, p. 555; Thaʿlabī, al-Kashf wa l-bayān, vol. 6, p. 287.
- ↑ Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, vol. 1, p. 555; Thaʿlabī, al-Kashf wa l-bayān, vol. 6, p. 287.
- ↑ Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, vol. 1, p. 555.
- ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 2, p. 239-242.
- ↑ Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, vol. 1, p. 555.
- ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa al-mulūk, vol, 1. p. 325.
- ↑ Qurʾān 38:44.
- ↑ Qurʾān 21:84.
- ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 9, p. 239-242.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 7, p. 242.
- ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 2, p. 239-42; Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, vol. 1, p. 559-65.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 214-17.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, vol. 2, p. 339-400.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 214-217.
- ↑ Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-Jinān, vol. 13, p. 213; Subḥānī, Manshūr-i ʿaqāʾd -imāmīyya, p. 114.
- ↑ Job 1: 1-6.
- ↑ Job, 1:1-2.
- ↑ Kalbāsī, Naqd wa barrasī-yi ārā-yi mufassirān dar tafsīr-i āya-yi 44 sūra-yi Ṣād, p. 120.
- ↑ Kalbāsī, Naqd wa barrasī-yi ārā-yi mufassirān dar tafsīr-i āya-yi 44 sūra-yi Ṣād, p. 120.
- ↑ Qurtubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān, vol. 16, p. 216.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 17, p. 214-217.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 10, p. 210.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 19, p. 299.
- ↑ Qur'an 38:44; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 10, p. 210.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 19, p. 299; Jazāʾrī, Qiṣaṣ al-anbīyāʾ, p. 198.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 19, p. 299.
- ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 2, p. 239-242; Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, vol. 1, p. 559-565.
- ↑ Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-Jinān, vol. 13, p. 213; Subḥānī, Manshūr aqa'id imāmīyya, p. 114.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 17, p. 214-217.
- ↑ Quran 38:41
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 209.
- ↑ Sayyid Murtaḍā al-Hudā, Tanzīh al-anbīyā', p. 59-64.
- ↑ Shuqī, Aṭlas-i Qurʾān, p. 109.
- ↑ Bīāzār-i Shīrāzī, Bāstanshināsī wa jughrāphīyā-yi tārīkhī-yi qiṣaṣ-i Qurʾān, p. 350.
- ↑ Ibn Ḥabīb, al-Muḥabbar, p. 5.
- ↑ The Bible, Job 1:42.
- ↑ Jazāʾirī, Qiṣaṣ al-anbīyāʾ, p. 198-200.
- ↑ Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 672; Jazāʾirī, Qiṣaṣ al-anbīyāʾ, p. 198-200.
- ↑ Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 672.
- ↑ Rāmīn-nizhād, Mazār-i payāmbarān, p. 59-63.
- ↑ Rāmīn-nizhād, Mazār-i payāmbarān, p. 59-63.
- ↑ Rāmīn-nizhād, Mazār-i payāmbarān, p. 59-63.
- ↑ A summary of the movie Job the Prophet (Persian)
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- Rāmīn-nizhād, Rāmīn. Mazār-i payāmbarān. Mashhad: Bunyād-i Pazhūhishha-yi Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1387 Sh.
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- Thaʿlabī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Kashf wa l-bayān ʿan tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1422 AH.
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- A summary of the movie Job the Prophet (Persian)
- Kalbāsī, Zahrā and others. Naqd wa barrasī-yi ārā-yi mufassirān dar tafsīr-i āya-yi 44 sūra-yi Ṣād. Amūzahā-yi Qurʾānī. no 22, 1394 Sh.