Blessings and Trials

 

 

“And Ayub (AS) when he called upon his Lord, ‘Verily,

affliction has touched me and You are the Most

Merciful.’” (Quran 21:83)

 

Out of all the prophets of Allah mentioned in the

Quran, there is only one about whom no mention is made

about his call, his dawah (propagation) or his

followers: that prophet is Ayub (AS) known in English

as ‘Job’. This begs the question: if the purpose of

the prophets was to propagate Allah’s Message, wh

at

is

the point of talking about a prophet without

mentioning his dawah? The answer is that everything in

the Quran is mentioned for a reason; nothing is

redundant. Ayub’s (AS) story is mentioned because of

his sabr (patience and steadfastness) and the lessons

that we can derive from it. And what is the story of

Prophet Ayub (AS)?

 

Allah blessed Ayub (AS) with health, wealth and

children, then He decided to test him by taking it all

from away him. His children died, his livestock died,

his farmland was destroyed and he was afflicted with

all sorts of diseases, including one in which

insects

would eat from lesions on his skin. As the years

passed and he remained in this near-vegetative state,

his relatives, friends and people eventually

ostracised and abandoned him. They stopped visiting

him for fear of catching his disease themselves. Even

his wife, who would go out and work to earn a living

for herself and her husband, was marginalised by the

community who feared that what afflicted her and her

husband, might also afflict them. Ayub (AS)

nevertheless remained patient and thankful.

 

One day, his wife felt unable to take the strain and

she cried out to him, “How lo

ng is

this going to go on

for? When is it going to end? Why don’t you ask your

Lord to relieve our suffering?...” Upon hearing this,

Ayub (AS) became filled with anger and he asked his

wife: “How long did we enjoy Allah’s blessings for

before this trial?” “70 years,” she replied. “And how

long have we been tested by Allah like this?” Ayub

asked her. “Seven years,” she replied (other

narrations put the figure at three or eighteen years,

but the point is that it was far less than 70 years).

“If we enjoyed Allah’s blessing for 70 years and now

He has tested us for only seven years, I am ashamed to

go to my Lord and complain to Him

. As for

you, your

iman has suffered so go and repent to Allah,” Ayub

(AS) told her.

 

Eventually, as the story goes, Ayub (AS) made his

famous supplication (which even then, was polite and

indirect) mentioned in the Quran (21:83): “Verily,

affliction has touched me and You are the Most

Merciful.”Allah responded to his supplication and

returned to him his health, wealth and children (by

bringing them back to life) and on top of that, Allah

blessed him with even more, due to his patience and

gratitude.

 

O prisoner for the Sake of Allah, how long have

you

been in prison? One year? Five years? Ten years?

Twenty years? And how many years did you enjoy Allah’s

blessings? How many years were you free to walk the

streets? How many years did you enjoy with your family

and friends? How many years did you eat the tastiest

of foods, drink the best of drinks and wear the finest

of clothes? You will find that you enjoyed Allah’s

blessings for a time much longer than you have spent

in prison. How dare you then moan and complain to

others about being in prison for the Sake of your

Lord? Are you not ashamed to grumble to people about

your situation? Have you already forgotten all

those

years in which you enjoyed Allah’s blessings? “Indeed

man is ever oppressive and ungrateful.” (Quran 14:34).

By the Lord of the Magnificent Throne, even if you

were to spend 1000 years in solitary confinement for

His Sake, it would not even pay Him back for the

blessing of your thumb, which you use to eat, read,

write, pick, grab, handle and inspect things everyday.

In a narration, did the Prophet (SAWS) not say,

 

“If a man was to be dragged upon his face for the Sake

of Allah, from the day he was born to the day he died,

even then he would regret on the Day of Resurrection

that

he had

not done enough good deeds.”

 

Be content with Allah’s decree upon you. It is when

you consider everyday of your imprisonment as torture

and punishment, and not as a blessing and mercy, that

you will feel pain every second of it. If Prophet Ayub

(AS) was ashamed even to ask his Lord to end his

suffering, what gives you the right to complain to

other people about your family and friends? Think of

all the delicious foods you ate. Think of all the

wonderful places you visited. Be grateful to Allah for

those blessings and He will give you more of them: “If

you are grateful, then I will surely increase for

you

(My blessings)…” (Quran 14:7)

 

If you wanted to make a comparison based on equality,

you would at least wait in prison for the time

equivalent to what you enjoyed outside prison, before

asking Allah to relieve your situation. So, if you

spent 30 years outside prison, you would at least want

another 30 years IN prison before crying to Allah. But

Allah is More Merciful than that. When you feel you

cannot take it any more, complain to Him and Him

alone, then wait patiently until he answers your

supplication. Seek solace with the supplication of

Yaqub (AS) over his son, Yusuf

(AS),

 

“Indeed I complain of my grief and sorrow only to

Allah…” (Quran 12:86)

 

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