Former Prophets
The Spring of Ayyub
The cool spring of healing of Ayyub (Job), peace be upon him (Q 38:41-44)
Time of Ayyub (peace be upon him)
Educational historical reconstructionWhere
The valley of Ayyub near Salalah, Dhofar (the traditional site of Nabi Ayyub)
17.0830, 54.0300 · View on OpenStreetMap
Background
The Qur'an honours the prophet Ayyub (Job, peace be upon him) for his patience under a long and severe trial. In Surat al-Anbiya he calls upon his Lord: affliction has touched me, and You are the most merciful of the merciful (Q 21:83); and Allah answers him, removing the harm and restoring to him his family and the like of them with them, as a mercy and a reminder to the worshippers (Q 21:84). In Surat Sad the trial and the relief are told again: Ayyub calls out that Satan has touched him with weariness and suffering (Q 38:41), and the command comes: strike with your foot, this is a cool bath and a drink (Q 38:42); his family is restored to him and the like of them with them (Q 38:43); and Allah testifies, we found him patient, an excellent servant, ever turning back to Him (Q 38:44). The same passage records the gentle resolution of an oath he had sworn, that he take a bundle of grass in his hand and strike with it once, so that he should not break his word (Q 38:44). The Sunni qisas al-anbiya' tradition (Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari) places Ayyub among the descendants of Ibrahim through the line of Ishaq, in the generations before Musa (peace be upon them), and describes his great wealth and many children, the stripping away of all of it, his bodily affliction and the loyalty of his wife, and finally his restoration. The Qur'an fixes neither a date nor a single place. Two regional traditions preserve his memory: one in Dhofar in the far south of Oman, where the shrine of Nabi Ayyub stands in the green uplands behind Salalah beside a spring, and one in the Hawran of southern Syria, with a spring and rock of Ayyub. This scene uses the southern Arabian tradition: the unusually green, spring-fed valley near Salalah, the reeds and palms, the cool spring and a plain water jar. No figure is shown.
What you see
A green, well-watered valley at the foot of monsoon-touched uplands in the far south of Arabia, far lusher than the surrounding desert: reeds, grass and date palms fed by springs. This is the Dhofar country behind Salalah.
A clear spring wells up at the valley floor, cool water spreading among the reeds, a plain water jar set beside it. By the Qur'an the command was: strike with your foot, this is a cool bath and a drink (Q 38:42, urkud bi-rijlika hadha mughtasalun baridun wa-sharab).
This is the spring of healing: the place where, by the Qur'an, Ayyub (peace be upon him) was told to stamp the ground, and a cool spring gushed out for him to wash in and to drink, and he was restored after long affliction.
The subject is the patience of Ayyub (peace be upon him): we found him patient, an excellent servant, ever turning back to his Lord (Q 38:44, sabiran ni'ma al-'abd innahu awwab). The spring is the place of relief after trial, and his family was restored to him (Q 38:43).
No figure is present. The reeds, the date palms, the water jar and the cool spring carry the meaning of healing; the valley stands quiet.
The narrative is Q 21:83-84 (Surat al-Anbiya) and Q 38:41-44 (Surat Sad). The Sunni qisas (Ibn Kathir) places Ayyub among the descendants of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), before Musa (peace be upon him); the Qur'an fixes no date and no single place.
Primary sources
The Qur'an, Surat al-Anbiya (21:83-84) and Surat Sad (38:41-44): The trial of Ayyub, his supplication, the cool spring of healing, the restoration of his family, and the testimony to his patience. The primary source.
Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya' and Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim (14th c.): Standard Sunni narrative and exegesis: the lineage of Ayyub among the descendants of Ishaq, the affliction and the healing.
al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa-al-Muluk and Jami' al-Bayan: Standard Sunni history and tafsir for the story of Ayyub and his place among the prophets.
Further reading & cross-references
Yaqut al-Hamawi, Mu'jam al-Buldan (13th c.): Standard Sunni geographical encyclopaedia; the places traditionally associated with Ayyub.
The traditional sites at Salalah (Jabal Ittin) and the Hawran (extant, local tradition): The Dhofar shrine and spring near Salalah and the Hawran spring of Ayyub are devotional traditions, not documented forensic locations; the Qur'an fixes no place. The scene depicts the spring and valley, not the later shrine building.
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