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Posted by -Umm_Abdullah- - 06-18-2007, 04:31 PM

Words Of Wisdom From Behind Bars - Babar Ahmad

Part 10

29-12-2004

“And Ayub 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 (alayhis salam) known in English as ‘Job’. This begs the question: if the purpose of the prophets was to propagate Allah’s Message, what 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 (alayhis salam) 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 (alayhis salam)?

Allah blessed Ayub (alayhis salam) 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 (alayhis salam) nevertheless remained patient and thankful.

One day, his wife felt unable to take the strain and she cried out to him, “How long 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 (alayhis salam) 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 (alayhis salam) told her.

Eventually, as the story goes, Ayub (alayhis salam) 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 (salallahu ‘alayhe wassalam) 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 (alayhis salam) 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 (alayhis salam) over his son, Yusuf (alayhis salam), “Indeed I complain of my grief and sorrow only to Allah…” (Quran 12:86)

Read through parts 1-14 of words of wisdom from behind bars by Brother barbar here:

From Behind Bars

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