Tafsir of Surah Al-Anbiya' - Verse 86

The Prophet Ayyub Allah tells us about Ayyub (Job), and the trials that struck him, affecting his wealth, children and physical health.

He had plenty of livestock, cattle and crops, many children and beautiful houses, and he was tested in these things, losing every thing he had. Then he was tested with regard to his body, and he was left alone on the edge of the city and there was no one who treated him with compassion apart from his wife, who took care of him. It was said that it reached the stage where she was in need, so she started to serve people (to earn money) for his sake. The Prophet said:

«أَشَدُّ النَّاسِ بَلَاءً الْأَنْبِيَاءُ، ثُمَّ الصَّالِحُونَ، ثُمَّ الْأَمْثَلُ فَالْأَمْثَل»

(The people who are tested the most severely are the Prophets, then the righteous, then the next best and the next best). According to another Hadith:

«يُبْتَلَى الرَّجُلُ عَلَى قَدْرِ دِينِهِ، فَإِنْ كَانَ فِي دِينِهِ صَلَابَةٌ زِيدَ فِي بَلَائِه»

(A man will be tested according to his level of religious commitment; the stronger his religious commitment, the more severe will be his test.) The Prophet of Allah, Ayyub, upon him be peace, had the utmost patience, and he is the best example of that. Yazid bin Maysarah said: "When Allah tested Ayyub, upon him be peace, with the loss of his family, wealth and children, and he had nothing left, he started to focus upon the remembrance of Allah, and he said: `I praise You, the Lord of lords, Who bestowed His kindness upon me and gave me wealth and children, and there was no corner of my heart that was not filled with attachment to these worldly things, then You took all of that away from me and You emptied my heart, and there is nothing to stand between me and You. If my enemy Iblis knew of this, he would be jealous of me. ' When Iblis heard of this, he became upset. And Ayyub, upon him be peace, said: `O Lord, You gave me wealth and children, and there was no one standing at my door complaining of some wrong I had done to him. You know that. I used to have a bed prepared for me, but I forsook it and said to myself: You were not created to lie on a comfortable bed. I only forsook that for Your sake."' This was recorded by Ibn Abi Hatim. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said:

«لَمَّا عَافَى اللهُ أَيُّوبَ أَمْطَرَ عَلَيْهِ جَرَادًا مِنْ ذَهَبٍ، فَجَعَلَ يَأْخُذُ مِنْهُ بِيَدِهِ وَيَجْعَلُهُ فِي ثَوْبِهِ، قَالَ: فَقِيلَ لَهُ: يَا أَيُّوبُ أَمَا تَشْبَعُ؟ قَالَ: يَا رَبِّ وَمَنْنَيشْبَعُ مِنْ رَحْمَتِك»

(When Allah healed Ayyub, He sent upon him a shower of golden locusts, and he started to pick them up and gather them in his garment. It was said to him, "O Ayyub, have you not had enough" He said, "O Lord, who can ever have enough of Your mercy) The basis of this Hadith is recorded in the Two Sahihs, as we shall see below.

وَءَاتَيْنَـهُ أَهْلَهُ وَمِثْلَهُمْ مَّعَهُمْ

(and We restored his family to him (that he had lost) and the like thereof along with them) It was reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "They themselves were restored to him." This was also narrated by Al-`Awfi from Ibn `Abbas. Something similar was also narrated from Ibn Mas`ud and Mujahid, and this was the view of Al-Hasan and Qatadah. Mujahid said: "It was said to him, `O Ayyub, your family will be with you in Paradise; if you want, We will bring them back to you, or if you want, We will leave them for you in Paradise and will compensate you with others like them.' He said, `No, leave them for me in Paradise.' So they were left for him in Paradise, and he was compensated with others like them in this world."

رَحْمَةً مِّنْ عِندِنَا

(as a mercy from Ourselves) means, `We did that to him as a mercy from Allah towards him.'

وَذِكْرَى لِلْعَـبِدِينَ

(and a Reminder for all those who worship Us.) means, `We made him an example lest those who are beset by trials think that We do that to them because We do not care for them, so that they may take him as an example of patience in accepting the decrees of Allah and bearing the trials with which He tests His servants as He wills.' And Allah has the utmost wisdom with regard to that.

Commentary

Whether Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl was a prophet or a saint and his strange story

Three persons are mentioned in the above two verses. Out of these three there is no doubt about the prophethood of Sayyidna Isma1 (علیہ السلام) and Sayyidna Idris (علیہ السلام) as they are mentioned in the Qur'an as such several times. Ibn Kathir is of the opinion that the mention of the name of Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl along with the other two prophets in the above verse shows that he too was a prophet. However, some other versions do not include him in the category of prophets. They say that he was a saint or a pious person.

Imam of Tafsir Ibn Jarir (رح) has reported on the authority of Mujahid (رح) that where Sayyidna Yasa' (علیہ السلام) (who is referred to as a prophet in the Holy Qur'an) became old and weak, he thought of appointing someone who could perform the duties of a prophet on his behalf during his life time. He assembled all his companions for this purpose and told them of his desire to appoint someone who would act as his deputy but who must fulfill three conditions namely that he should fast all the year round, should spend the nights in prayers and does not ever lose his temper. A relatively unknown person who was held in contempt by the people, stood up and offered himself for the job. Sayyidna Yasa' (علیہ السلام) asked him whether he fasted all the year round, spent his nights in prayers and never lost his temper. The man replied in the affirmative and confirmed that he fulfilled all the three conditions. Perhaps Sayyidna Yasa' (علیہ السلام) did not believe his claim and rejected him. After a few days Sayyidna Yasa' (علیہ السلام) reconvened the meeting and repeated his conditions and asked his companions if any of them met the requirements. Everyone remained seated but the same man stood up again and claimed that he fulfilled the three conditions. Then Yasa' (علیہ السلام) appointed him his deputy. When Shaitan realized that Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl had been selected as a deputy to Yasa' (علیہ السلام) he asked all his aides to go to Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl and inveigle him into doing something which would result in his removal from the post of deputy. All his aides excused themselves and said that he was beyond their power to harm. The Satan (Iblis) then said "Alright, leave him to me. I will take care of him."

Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl, true to his claim, used to fast during the day and pray the whole night and had a little nap in the afternoon. Satan went to him just when he was about to take his afternoon nap and knocked at the door. He got up and enquired who was there. The Shaitan replied "I am an old tortured man". So he opened the door and let him in. The Shaitan came in and started a yarn about the cruelty and injustice which he suffered at the hands of his community and relatives. He stretched the story so long that no time was left for Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl to take his usual nap. So, he told the old man (Shaitan) that he should come to him at the time when he came out, and he would cause justice to be done to him.

Later on Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl sat in his court and waited for the old man but he did not turn up. Next morning he again waited for the old man in his court but again he did not come. Then in the afternoon when he was about to have his nap, the old man came and started beating at the door. He enquired who he was, and the Shaitan replied again - "an old tortured man" so, he opened the door and asked him "Didn't I tell you to come to my court yesterday but you failed to appear, nor did you come this morning?" To this the Shaitan answered "Sir, my enemies are very wicked people; when they learnt that you were sitting in your court and would force them to give back to me what was my due, they agreed to settle the matter out of court. But as soon as you left your court, they went back on their promise'. Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl asked him again to come to his court when he was there. All this conversation continued for such a long time that he could not have his usual nap on that day also. He then went to the court and waited for the old man, who again did not turn up. The next day again he waited for him until late in the noon but to no avail. When he returned home on that day, he was very sleepy because of lack of sleep for last two days. Therefore, he asked the family members not to allow anyone to knock at the door. The old man came again and wanted to knock at the door but the family members stopped him, so he entered the house through a ventilator, and started knocking at the door of his room, Sayyidna Dhul-Kifl got up again and saw that the old man had come inside the house while the door was still closed. So he asked him as to how he had entered the house.

Then suddenly he became aware that the man standing before him was Shaitan and asked him "Are you the God's enemy Iblis?" He admitted that he was Shaitan and remarked, "You have thwarted all my plans and frustrated all my efforts to entice you in my design. My intention was to make you angry somehow, so that one of your claims before Yasa' (علیہ السلام) could be proved false." It was because of this episode that he was given the title Dhul-Kifl, which means a person who is true to his covenant and performs his duties faithfully, and this title was fully deserved by him. (Ibn Kathir)

Another narrative is quoted in Masnad of Ahmad but has the name of the person Alkifl instead of Dhul-Kifl. That is why Ibn Kathir has observed after quoting this narrative that he was a different person and not Dhul-Kifl, who is mentioned in this verse. The narrative is as follows:

Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn ` Umar ؓ has reported that he had heard a hadith (حَدِیث) from the Holy Prophet ﷺ not once, but more than seven times that there was a man by the name Kifl among the Bani Isra'il who did not abstain from any type of sin. Once a woman came to him and he persuaded her to have sexual intercourse with him on payment of sixty guineas. When he got down starting the intercourse, the woman started crying and trembling. So he enquired from her as to what the matter was because he had not used any kind of force on her. The woman replied that the cause of her distress was that she had never in all her life committed adultery and that it was only her adverse circumstances which had forced her to agree to the act. Hearing this, the man got up and told her to go away and keep the money he had given her. He also promised her that he would never again indulge in any sin. Then it so happened that he died the same night and in the morning it was seen that there was a hidden writing on his door that Kifl had been pardoned by Allah غَفَرَاللہ لکدفل . Ibn Kathir observed after quoting this from Masnad of Ahmad that none of the six authentic books on hadith has reported this tradition and its authority is weak. Even if the tradition is true, it mentioned the name as Kifl and not Dhul-Kifl, which means he was some other person. (Allah knows best).

The sum and substance of this story is that Dhul-Kifl was the deputy of Prophet Yasa' (علیہ السلام) and it is possible that because of his virtuous deeds his name has been mentioned along with prophets. It is also possible that initially he was the deputy of Sayyidna Yasa` (علیہ السلام) and later on he was elevated to the status of a prophet by Allah Ta` ala.

Ishmael (Isma‘il) was the Prophet Abraham’s son. Some commentators (of the Quran) have held that Idris is the prophet who has been mentioned in the Bible by the name of Enoch. Similarly, Dhul Kifl is perhaps that prophet who has been mentioned in the Bible by the name of Hizti-El. The prophets are refered to as patience personified. The reason for this is that the root of all God-worshipping actions is patience. Patience means abstaining from reaction. A person who is unable to refrain from reaction can never maintain himself on the path of the God-favoured life in this world of trial. The fact is that patience is the door leading to all God’s mercies, in this world as well as in the life after death.