Reading Notes: Holy Land Folklore, Part A – Job and His Family

An illuminated manuscript that depicts Ayûb and Gabriel. 

(Source:Wikipedia Commons)

Story source: Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish by J. E. Hanauer (1907).

There once was a man named Ayûb who was the richest in his lands. He had an abundance of material riches, the perfect family, and a beautiful wife. Ayûb was a devout Muslim, but Allah did not know if this was just because Ayûb had everything he had ever wished for without having to suffer through any major challenges in his life to be where he was today or if he was just so strongly committed to his faith. Because of this, God took away all of Ayûb’s riches. God also decided to take away Ayûb’s children who disappeared into thin air and were never heard of again. The most apparent consequence of Allah’s test to Ayûb was that he was plagued with a skin disease that caused him unbearable pain and the physical symptoms were absolutely nauseating to witness. The skin disease covered Ayûb’s skin with open ulcers that smelled so bad that nobody ever wanted to be in his vicinity except his wife. 

Although most of these conditions that Allah had placed on Ayûb’s life would have made many other men lose their faith, Ayûb maintained his devotion to Allah. The one person who wanted Ayûb’s pain to end more than him was his wife. She would take care of him for every second that he was awake and then she would go and work at night to make a living to support herself and her husband. One day on her way to work, Iblìs showed up in front of her. He proposed that he would cure Ayûb of all of his ills and provide the wife and husband with everything that they could ever desire in their lifetimes if she would worship him. This was the hardest decision that she would ever make so she went to go ask Ayûb what she should do. When she asked, Ayûb could not believe what he was hearing and started questioning his wife’s sanity. In the middle of cursing at her angrily, Ayûb swore that if Allah ever made him a healthy man again, he would give his wife one hundred lashes. 

This encounter in his life with evil made him immediately start praying to his Lord and Allah sent Gabriel to see Ayûb. When Gabriel appeared in front of Ayûb, he took Ayub by the hand and started lifting him and as he started to raise into the air, a fountain of crystal clear water sprung up from where he was standing. Gabriel told Ayûb to drink the water and when Ayûb did, he felt the water touching every part of his being, instantly closing up the ulcers on his skin and fully restoring Ayûb’s beauty and health. 

As his wife watched, in front of Ayûb appeared his children. Gabriel told Ayûb’s wife to also drink from the fountain and her youth and beauty was restored and she was fit enough to bear twenty six sons. Ayûb and his family saw thousands of gold coins raining from the sky and falling at their feet. Seeing how luxurious of a life he was about to live after all of his suffering, Ayûb almost forgot about his promise to give his wife 100 lashes. He tried to think of any way to get out of this commitment and as Gabriel saw Ayûb struggling with this, Gabriel told him that he could get a palm branch and give his wife the slightest tap and that would fulfill the promise of the beating he was to give her.