PROPHET AYYUB (AS)
Ayyub (young)
Wife
Shaytan
Shaytan's accomplice
Ayyub (old)
Narrator Voice
Angels
RECITATION OF AYATS 41 to 44 IN ARABIC – RECORDED ON CD
Narrator: Allah has never left his people without a guide. Beginning with the Prophets, 124000 of them, they had many messages for us. Prophet Yunus' (AS) message was: never give up calling people to Allah. Sulaiman's (AS) message was: Allah is able to subject the universe to man and man should employ it to worship Allah. Dawud (AS) conveyed to us how the entire universe praised Allah- and Ayyub's (AS) message was the faith of patience.
"The greatest patience when it reaches its pinnacle is like the patience of Ayyub". Ayyub has become the paragon of patience in every language, religion and culture.
Prophet Ayyub, known in other scriptures as Job was born 3642 years after Prophet Adam. He was one of the prophets of Bani Israel. He was the grandson of Prophet Ishaq, son of Prophet Ibrahim and was married to Rahmah, daughter of Ifra'im, from the descendent of Prophet Yusuf. Rahmah bore seven sons and three daughters from prophet Ayyub. Allah endowed him with prophethood and bestowed upon him unlimited kindness. He had great many flocks of sheep, tracts of cultivated lands, honour and grace.
Prophet Ayyub was always grateful to his Lord for all His bounties. He was generous and entertained orphans and needy people with two square meals. He treated his relations and well-wishers with kindness and generosity.
SCENERY – Heavens
Since Shaytan's entry to the heavens was not banned at that time, he saw that by virtue of his gratitude to Allah Prophet Ayyub was enjoying a happy, prosperous and affluent life and was on a vey exalted position, so much so that even the angels held him in high regard and great esteem. Since Shaytan has always been on the lookout for trapping noble and pious people into miseries and causing them go astray, he decided to make prophet Ayyub his target. This will be portrayed in the following visual narration.
SCENE 1
(Shaytan listening to angels praising Ayyub)
Angels: "Ayyub the worshipper! Ayyub the thankful one! Ayyub the patient one!"
SCENERY - Fire
Shaytan: (Addressing the public)
I have just visited the heavens and heard the angels speak highly of Ayyub. They said: "No one is better than Ayyub. He is one of the greatest believers and worshippers, and he is thankful for Allah's favours".
(angry) BUT how is this possible? He worships Allah only for worldly purposes. He only worships Allah because he has been blessed with wealth, sons and land!!
I will have to take some actions...I will have to defeat Ayyub!!!
(Addressing Allah)
'O Lord of Ayyub, your worshipper Ayyub who cherishes you does not worship you because you are worthy of it. He does it because You have bestowed upon Ayyub all your and kindness, by which he has become so grateful to you. If you withdraw these bounties from him and put him into hardship and trouble, he will never remain grateful to you. Give me control so that he is put into hardships and miseries for want of your benevolence/ne'hmah.'
SCENERY – light from sky
Voice: (every time the voice speaks, narrator to say: "And Allah said")
'Ayyub is a worshipper, a true and pure believer. He is a model of faith and an ideal example of patience. I give you all the bounties of Prophet Ayyub under your control but not his soul, intellect or heart, for in these places reside the knowledge of Me and My religion.'
(Shaytan off stage)
SCENE 2
SCENERY - Thunder + fire
Narrator: Shaytan was very happy. He gathered his helpers and set about destroying Ayyub's cattle, servants and farm until he was left with no possessions. Prophet Ayyub was suddenly thrust down from the summit of wealth to the abyss of poverty. Shaytan waited for Ayyub's reaction.
(Ayyub on stage, sees shaytan's actions and consequences)
Ayyub: God protect us! What's going on tonight? What a frightening night! (looking at the thunder and fire)
(pause)
Is this a test? Oh my Lord, enlighten me, all my crops, cattle and sheep are destroyed. You had blessed me with these bounties, forgive me Oh merciful one!
(ayatul mulk)
"Qulillahuma malikal mulk, tu'til mulka man tashaau wa tanzi'ul mulka mim man tashaa, wa tu'izu man tashaa, bi yaddihil khair, wa huwa 'ala qulli shay-in qadeer, wa huwa alaa kulli shayin kadir"
"O Allah, Master of the Kingdom! You give the kingdom to whomsoever You please, and you take away the kingdom from whomsoever You please! And You exalt whom You please and abase whom You please; In Your hand is the good; Surely You have power over all things."
(Ayyub going to Sajdah)
MUNAJAAT
SCENERY - Fire
Shaytan: (frustrated and talking to the public)
I have stripped Ayyub of all his possessions, but he still remains grateful to Allah. However he is only hiding his disappointment, because he still has his many children to hold on to. The real test of a parent is through his children. You will see how Ayyub will reject Allah!'
(sarcastic laugh)
SCENERY - earthquake and corpses
Narrator: Shaytan again gathered his helpers and set about his evil deeds. He shook the foundation of the house in which Ayyub's children were living and sent the building crashing, killing all of them.
Ayyub: (2:156) "Inna lillayi wa inna ilayhi raaji'un"
"We are from Allah and to Him we shall return"
Seven sons and three daughters, all lost in an instant!
(sit down and look at bodies)
Who should I caress or whom should I cry on? I watched you die but I am still alive! Lord, I have nothing other than You. You are the only One to go to in hopelessness.
. "Al-maalu wal banoon zeenatul hayaati-duniya"
"Wealth and Children are an adornment of the life of this world."
Allah sometimes gives and sometimes takes. He is sometimes pleased and sometimes displeased. I will remain firm in my belief and remain thankful to my Creator. (Prostate)
MUNAJAAT
(Ayyub off stage)
SCENERY - Fire
Shaytan: (really angry addressing the public)
'Ayyub's wealth is gone, his children are dead, and he is still healthy in body!!!!!
Ah !! As long as he enjoys good health, he will continue to worship Allah in the hope of regaining his wealth and producing more children.'
SCENERY – Desert /Barren Land
Narrator: The blessing of good health was taken away and Prophet Ayyub fell ill. But through all the suffering Ayyub remained strong in his faith, patiently bearing all the hardships without complaining. He praised Allah for the days of health as well as the affliction of his disease.
(Ayyub on stage)
Ayyub: (talking to himself) The physician Himself has given me this. He Himself should cure it. (Those who love god accept His gifts and misfortunes equally.) Should Allah bring me harm, then there is none who could remove it save He; and if he wills any good for me, there is none who could take away his grace. (He brings it unto whom he wills of his servants; and he is oft-forgiving, merciful.)
(praying to God) My lord, I thank you and have no complaints for all the sufferings. "O Allah! By Your might, You know that I will endure on my body the hardest when it comes to your obedience and your worship".
MUNAJAAT
SCENE 3
SCENERY – desert/barren land
Narrator: Allah's righteous servant did not despair or turn to others for help but remained hopeful of Allah's mercy. Even close relatives and friends deserted him. Prophet Ayyub started passing his time in utmost gratitude to Allah. Only his kind, loving wife stayed with him. In his hour of need, she showered her kindness on him and cared for him. She remained his sole companion and comforter through the many years of suffering.
SCENERY – Fire Shaytan
Several years passed by and prophet Ayyub's patience and steadfastness became exemplary. Shaytan became vexed. He did not know what he could do. Then Shaytan called his consultants among the devils and told them about prophet Ayyub's perseverance and despair, and how he refused to give up thanking Allah.
(Shaytan, on stage, pacing really frustrated)
Shaytan: Where are you? Where are you? Come here now! I have been defeated. I cannot believe that Ayyub still worships Allah.
S's accomplice: "How is it that your cleverness cannot work against Ayyub, yet you succeeded in misleading Adam, the father of man, out of Paradise?"
(pause)
As your best friend, I think you should use his wife, Rahmah, as no other person is in contact with him except his wife. She is very loyal to him and is always by his side. I am sure she will soon give in after so many years of afflictions! Now isn't that a good idea?
Shaytan: Yes, yes! I had already thought of that! Go!
(Accomplice off stage)
Great! Rahmah will be my next target! (Shaytan talking to himself)
(shaytan off stage)
(Costume change for Shaytan)
SCENERY – Desert /Barren land
Narrator: Shaytan then went to prophet Ayyub's wife and filled her heart with despair. Shaytan went to Rahamah on many occasions in order to turn her and prophet Ayyub against Allah. The following is one of the incidents:
(Rahmah on stage, in despair + crying)
Rahmah: A second day without food. What am I going give to the prophet of Allah? What can I do to get this food? How can the people reject a prophet of Allah? How could they do this? When is this going to end? When will we be relieved from this suffering?
"Fa inna ma al usri yusra, inna ma al usri yusra" à "Verily with every hardship comes relief, with every hardship comes relief"
(Satan change into a man)
Shaytan: O lady! Why are you so sad?
Rahmah: My husband is ill for a long time now and we have seen a lot of hardship and miseries and everyone has rejected the prophet of Allah.
Shaytan: Rahmah! You have withstood untold miseries. Your husband is sick, weak and old. There is no reason why you should suffer all these any further.
(Rahmah starts crying, hearing Shaytan's words:)
Shaytan: Don't be upset, I have a solution for this!
Rahmah: A solution?
Shaytan: Listen to me take this lamb to Prophet Ayyub and ask him to slaughter it NOT in the name of Allah, but taking MY name, so that he may get cured of his afflictions.
Rahmah: Thank you!
(Shaytan + Rahmah off stage)
(Ayyub on stage)
Rahmah: (approaches Ayyub) Look what I have brought? We haven't had food for two days.
Ayyub: Where did you get this from?
Rahmah: I met a great kind man who has offered us this lamb and the only request from him was to slaughter it in HIS name, and you will be relieved from your ills.
Ayyub: Do you know who this man was?
Rahmah: No
Ayyub: This was Shaytan, the enemy of my Lord.Has Shaytan come and whispered something to you to go against Allah? And have you accepted? Are you listening to the whispering of Shaytan?
Rahmah, Allah has warned us: (7:27): "O children of Adam, do not allow Shaytan to seduce you in the same way as he caused your ancestors to be driven out of the garden." Don't you realise from whom we got all that kindness and favours?
Rahmah: (distressed) From our Lord!
Ayyub: For how long did we enjoy those favours and benevolence?
Rahmah: Eighty years
Ayyub: And for how long have we been under this trial?
Rahmah: Seven years
Ayyub: Pity on us! Why should we not bear all these afflictions for the same period of time in which we lived happily. Let the period of our troubles equalise the period of our happiness. By Allah, if my Lord relieves me of my afflictions, I will flog you with hundred lashes for this transgression.
(Ayyub stays on stage, Rahmah leaves the stage)
MUNAJAAT
SCENE 4
Narrator: Prophet Ayyub found himself in a more severe state of agony and turned to Allah, to seek His mercy. He rubbed his forehead on the ground in total submission to the will of Allah and implored The Almighty.
Ayyub: O My Lord! "Shaytan has afflicted me with utter distress and suffering" (38:41)
I am surrounded by my troubles and I have endured them. Give me more strength to bear them, if you please to let me put up further with my agonies. O my lord! The Most Merciful of the merciful have Mercy on me!'
Voice: SCENERY – light from sky
(Quran 38:42) "Strike the ground with your foot; this is a spring for a cool bath and drink"
(Pause whilst Prophet in action) SCENERY - fountain/spring
(Old Ayyub off stage.)
Narrator: Ayyub straight away complied with these instructions from his Lord. Immediately, two springs gushed forth: one of warm and the other cool. He first bathed in the warm water and his physical ailment recovered and his youth returned, then drank a drop of the cool water and his inner ailment recovered. Ayyub had been rewarded for his patient sufferings and steadfastness. Allah says in the Holy Quran (38:43): "And we restored to him his family and many more with them as a grace from Ourselves and a reminder for the people of understanding."
SCENERY – Recovered land of Ayyub
(Young Ayyub on stage)
Ayyub: O Allah, I had made an oath to flog Rahamah with 100 lashes. This is so hard. O My Lord, how I am to fulfil this oath?
Voice: (38:44) "Take in your hand a bunch of grass and strike her with it, and do not break your oath"
Narrator: As we have just seen Allah sent his revelations to him and commended him to flog his wife not with a lash, but by using a bunch of grass, so as to literally fulfil his vow and to save her from being physically hurt as a token of her devotion to her husband, whom she had served in times of great trial.
Allah rewarded Ayyub for his patience to the point that He praised Ayyub in the glorious Qur'an by saying: "Truly! We found him patient. How excellent (a) slave! Verily, he was ever off-returning in repentance (to Us)!"
Conclusion: Patience is the core of Islam. The evidence is that the story of Prophet Ayyub (AS) is about patience, not prophecy. The only attribute that has been mentioned ninety times in Holy Qur'an is patience, and after it there is always a mention of optimistic news such as, "...give glad tidings to the ones who patiently persevere..." (Al-Baqarah: 155).
This story is addressed to two kinds of people: those who have misfortune, such as an ailing family member, those who became bankrupt, those who loose a son and the like; and others who live a blessed life without even realizing that they do, or that they might lose it one day.
END - APPEARANCE OF CHARACTERS