A dialogue story
Teacher: This story is about one of the villages in one rural area which was the village of our Prophet Ayyub (pth)[Peace is Through Him. ]. My children, God the Almighty informs us of a story which contains a great meaningful and everlasting lesson. It is about the people of this village. They inclined deeply to the love of this world and that caused them to forget the true religion of their Creator. For that, they turned away from their Provider and became neither commanding good nor prohibiting wrong and that was the greatest loss to them in this world and in the hereafter. Yet, the greatest Godly Mercy refused to allow them stay in that darkness and loss, so God the Almighty sent a great, kind, dignified, holy and merciful prophet (pth) to them. Then, He commanded him to guide the people of his village and others from the next clan ((next villages)). i.e. to take them out of the darkness into God’s Light by giving them a helping hand…get them out of the darkness of evils, crimes, dupe, cheating, hypocrisy, envy, disobedience, lying, betraying or misguidance…and of all what is inhumane by the grace of his Provider, to the light of God to get happiness in this world before the hereafter. Then, Prophet Ayyub determined to do that hard work in spite of he knew the difficulties, the suffering and the obstacles that he would face in guiding them and rescuing them totally from the strong love of this passive world even if that kind duty would lead to the disappearance of his body and soul.
Bilal: Indeed Our Prophet Ayyub was in a great state with a strong desire of guiding his people.
Teacher: Exactly, this is his sublime state which like all Prophets’ of God in their struggle to guide people and rescue them from the strong love of this inferior world and what follows it such as: loss’ heartbreak, pain and the torment of fire in the hereafter. Whereas, all the Prophets already knew the dishonour and the worst state of disbelievers on the Day of Judgment which would lead them to seek refuge in Al’lah’s Fire. That is the reason why they ((the noble prophets)) used to struggle hard in order to rescue the disbelievers and get them out of disbelief into true belief and worship sincerely God the Almighty alone. In fact the heart of prophet Ayyub was full of mercy, tenderness and kindness got through his prayers (Communication with God) and his link to his Provider. That made him chosen by God as a Prophet to guide people. He started that long process with his people trusting God and hoping that they respond to his guidance and follow his calling to Al’lah the Highest.
Saami: Did they respond positively and believe in God?
Teacher: In fact only a small group of his village’s people believed and another small one from the neighboring next village did so. But Chiefs, Nobles and Leaders of his village never believed in God, they remained practising the false religion of their fore fathers going astray with fake ideas and most of people followed them.
Baadi-u: What was the reason behind their disbelieving even though Prophet Ayyub (cpth) had manifested the fact to them? And why did they not follow his guidance?
Teacher: My son, this is a very good question...! God the Almighty has explained that to us in His holy Book by the honored tongue of Prophet Ayyub (cpth), when he called his Provider complaining the state of his people to Him. God says: ((Remember our worshiper Ayyub when he called his Provider that, Satan has touched me with distress and anguish)) [ Fortress Saad Verse 41.]. The meaning of the word: ((Satan has touched me)) i.e. afflicts me, harms me with what he whispered in the people’ spirits. ((with distress and anguish)) i.e. hardship and tiredness.
So, whenever our Prophet Ayyub met his people he showed them the convincing evidences and proofs which stood up for his call to God, explaining the clear evidence of the Oneness of God, His Blessing, His Mercy, His Compassion, His Justice and all His sublime Names…as he did explain God’s Wisdom in creating this wide uniVerse and creating man, he also showed them their wrong faith and all the evils behind their practising of idols worshiping, till they became satisfied and convinced of his factual speech and clear explanation. But after he had left them, Satan came to them whispering in their spirits, some ill, negative and bad ideas about our master Ayyub’s calling to God; saying for instance that: ‘Please, Ayyub aimed by his calls to become your leader or king, ruling you as he wished. Is it right to submit yourselves to a single man!? And he is telling you now that he doesn’t want your wealth nor your reward while he will request all that in the future. Who knows what he may do to you if he becomes your king? You will see what he will be doing to you and your wealth! There is something very great that is hidden behind his calls, so beware he may get you out of the religion of your great Ancestors. He is alone, so how can he be the only man on the right way while you, your nobles and your great Ancestors are all on the wrong…! No, very impossible, his words are not truthful!’
My children, this is how the folk of Ayyub would change their minds after he had done his best to guide them, they followed Satan instead of seeking refuge in God from him and his evil whispers. Then they would go back to what they were of disbelief. So, prophet Ayyub (pth) suffered hard conditions of extreme sorrow and worry out of his high mercy and he pitied their sorrowful conditions a lot and then called his Provider complaining to Him as in the holy Verse. God says: ((And Ayyub when he called his Provider that I am touched with harm and you are the most Merciful)) [ Fortress An’biyai (The Prophets) Verse 83.]
Bilal: Dear teacher, now I have understood the real meaning of: ((Satan has touched me with distress…)) that is to say; he had been touched by Satan through what Satan whispered in the spirits of prophet’s people infecting them with evils, illness and suspicion against the Prophet’s Call. Can you please, explain to us the meaning of this Verse ? I wish I could understand the meaning of the word harm that our Prophet Ayyub (cpth) used to feel.
Teacher: Oh my son it is my pleasure; the word harm is the distress and pain the prophet used to feel within himself about his people. So he called his Provider supplicating and hoping that He should take off the pain and the restlessness or the distress that were worrying his merciful heart due to the disobedience of his people by guiding them to God. For their converting into true religion would release his spirit and cure it from this pain and sorrow, knowing well that God is the most Merciful to him and to them.
Saami: Why are there all these distress and pain in his noble heart so long as they were the ones who refused his guidance!?
Teacher: My child, actually the kind heart of this Prophet (cpth) was full of pity, mercy, and kindness to his people. He is like the pitiful and merciful father whose son is infected with chronic illness and great pain which almost destroy him, how worried and sorrowful will the father be whenever he looks at his sick son!? Obviously it will be so great... and that was the state of Prophet Ayyub (cpth). It was owing to his people’s situation. Actually, he was more merciful and pitiful than this father influenced of his sick son. Especially when he knew that his people had great quality to be cured from the love of this terrestrial world and be rescued from the torment of the Hell fire on the Day of Judgment. Was it possible to him in this situation to be calm and put down his eyelid without guiding and rescuing them?
Saami: I am able now to understand His holy saying: ((… I am touched with harm and you are the most Merciful)) So, it was very difficult to Prophet Ayyub (cpth), owing to his great love and pity to his people, to see them in such avoidance, being astray, loss and bad acts. If they remained in that state, they would end in the Hell fire losing the everlasting Paradise that God the Almighty promised them. For that reason, his pain was very severe, his heart was very distressed and he was very sorrowful. Then he complained to God the most Compassionate– most Merciful to show him the way of guiding them.
Teacher: Saami, you are blessed with your understanding! so, all the holy prophets are so kind and more merciful to people than the parents to their children. That mercy was due to their communication with God and their coming close to Him the Almighty. For that reason they are worthy to be chosen by their Provider as the guidance to people. Although our master prophet Ayyub’s people strongly opposed him during the long period he spent patiently calling them to God, the holy Qur’an praised him that he was very patient he never gave up in the struggle to guide his people. Indeed, his holy work, his struggle and his requests from God fruited leading to success. Thus at the end, they were guided and saved from the torment of the Hell fire when God the Almighty, the most Hearer and the most respondent answered his calling.
Badi-u: How did God the Almighty answer the call of His Prophet? I mean which way did he use to guide them although he had previously explained to them everything linked to God’s religion and they did not believe?
Teacher: Yes, he left nothing unexplained to them, for he elucidated to them what matter they had to know. In addition to that they also witnessed his actions, his glorious merits and he overwhelmed their hearts with his kindness and mercy in adjacent to their hearing his miraculous explanation guiding to God but they became arrogant being attentive to Satan. For that reason another new plan was revealed to him by the Almighty God teaching him how to treat those ignorant losers. That new plan was a migration from his village to the next one!
Bilal: What Sir? A migration! Oh God! Do you mean like our Prophet Mohammad (cpth)?
Teacher: Really… it is a migration.
Bdi-u: Sir, can I say something?
Teacher: You are free my son, I am glad to listen to you.
Badi-u: Thank you sir, in fact I love our merciful Prophet Ayyub (cpth) very much through this blessing story and for what the Holy Qur’an praises him. After hearing the word ((migration)) which reveals to us that his story resembles that of our master Mohammad’s (cpth), my heart becomes passionately in love with God the Almighty Who sent him. How Kind and Merciful is God to His Prophet and humankind! I hope to know more before you finish.
Teacher: Indeed I am very happy of that, all of us are on the point of listener.
Badi-u: Our Prophet Ayyub commanded all his people who believed in him to migrate with him to the next village where some people had already believed in him, exactly like the Emigrants from Mecca ((Al-Muhajereen)) and the proponents of Medina ((Al-Ansaar)). That was how Prophet Ayyub had enough population of the believers and started forming forces.
Teacher: Exactly, that was what really happened. Then he migrated by the command of God the Almighty Who says: ((Race by your leg, this is a cool lavatory and drink)) Fortress Saad, Verse 42. I.e. go out of your country in which you are facing heartedly hardship, distress and pain because the opposition and disobedience, to a different country nearer to yours in which there is a cool lavatory and drinks. So the people of Mecca and their leaders opposed our Prophet Mohammad (cpth) making their case as impossible to be guided as they were still opposing Prophet Mohammad (cpth). Then, God commanded the prophet to migrate to Medina with the Mecca’s believers. There in Medina, the Prophet joined those who had already believed there and others of Medina, then he formed a strong holy force, and this made Quraish people ((the disbelievers)) feel more wrath and decided to eradicate this new state, here the prophet (cpth) was constrained to hit them, overcome and discipline them, destroy their force, and eventually he quenched their ignorance and became able to guide them, treated them mercifully and forgave all their past. This is exactly what happened to the holy Prophet Ayyub (pth). God Says: ((And We gave him (back) his family, and along with them the like thereof, as a Mercy from Us, and a Reminder for those who understand)). [ Fortress Saad:43.]
The word: ((his family)) means those who believed in him among the people of his village, and the word: ((and along with them the like thereof)) means: people from the neighboring village who believed like them. ((as a Mercy from Us)) meaning a Mercy to our Prophet Ayyub so as to rescue him from such distress he felt, We guided him by the blessing plan of migration that led to the overwhelming good which overwhelmed him and later his people.
Bilal: Does the holy Qur’an mention what you have just said Sir about the dispute that occurred between him and the disbelievers of his people?
Teacher: Yes my son. God has explained to us how those opposers were guided through the conflicts that occurred between them and the prophet (cpth). God says: ((Take a bundle with your hand then beat with it and don’t retreat)) [Fortress As Saad:44]
((Bundle)) means, ‘all what is mixed and gathered from the same source despite its difference…it also means all what is jointly gripped by hand’. Thus ‘bundle’ here means different groups from the companions of Prophet Ayyub (pth) who migrated with him and those companions to whom they migrated. That is exactly as we mentioned in the biography of the Meccan
Emigrants (Al-Muhajereen) and the Medina proponents (AlAnsaar). They all gathered in the belief in God despite their different places and became brothers in God in the hand of our master Prophet Ayyub and under his blessed leadership. So, God commanded him to beat the opposition of his village with his believers i.e. ((Then beat with it)). Indeed he disciplined them and broke all their bad plans as a mercy to them so that they might believe, abandon their disbelief and repent to God their Provider.
Saami: Did the disbelievers of his village confront as Quraish people did against the noble Prophet Mohammad (cpth)?
Teacher: Of course my son, they aggressively did so at the beginning of his Divine calling and armed to meet him aiming at killing him and his noble companions. For that reason, God commanded him to beat them strongly. God says ((…then beat with it and don’t retreat..)). And the word: ((don’t retreat)) shows the power of the enemies that his people set up to block and fight him. And ((and don’t retreat)) means don’t give up your call or preaching, be patient when you meet your enemy I am your supporter and your defender against them, they might be guided and follow your call after I discipline them. He instantly did as his Provider commanded. God says: ((Indeed we found him patient, how excellent worshiper!, he is oft-returning)). Indeed our favour was bestowed upon him and We honored him with such honour due to his patience which faced them with and because he is oft-returning. Actually that is the meaning of his honourable name – Ayyub i.e. it is derived from ((returning to Al’lah)) … always return to God with all his matters.
In fact we have seen in the Prophet Ayyub’s story, mercy and patience gathered in his Divine call trying to guide astray people to Al’lah the Almighty… No one can be patient to this extreme level unless his heart is full of mercy, kindness and pity to others. So, God the Almighty wants to put in our hearts an appreciation and love to His noble messengers through this high story. That is because they are the owners of God’s words, truth, favour, virtue, perfection and the keys of goodness. He also wants us to be always patient like them in our Da’awa (when calling people to God) as our master prophet Ayyub (pth) did. Certainly God is seeing, He is Nearer and He shall never neglect the reward of he who does good deeds.