وَأَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُۥٓ أَنِّى مَسَّنِىَ ٱلضُّرُّ وَأَنتَ أَرْحَمُ ٱلرَّٰحِمِينَ · فَٱسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُۥ فَكَشَفْنَا مَا بِهِۦ مِن ضُرٍّ وَءَاتَيْنَٰهُ أَهْلَهُۥ وَمِثْلَهُم مَّعَهُمْ رَحْمَةً مِّنْ عِندِنَا وَذِكْرَىٰ لِلْعَٰبِدِينَ
Wa Ayyūba idh nādā rabbahu annī massaniya'ḍ-ḍurru wa anta arḥamu'r-rāḥimīn · Fa'stajabnā lahu fa-kashafnā mā bihi min ḍurrin wa ātaynāhu ahlahu wa mithlahum maʿahum raḥmatan min ʿindinā wa dhikrā li'l-ʿābidīn
"And Job, when he called to his Lord: 'Affliction has touched me, and You are the most merciful of the merciful.' · We answered him and lifted the affliction that was on him, and gave him his household and the like of them with them — a mercy from Us and a reminder for those who serve."
"Job ascribes the affliction to Satan: massaniya'sh-shayṭān. But the one he calls to is his Lord: nādā rabbah. […] That is, there is no reproach in the sentence."
I rely on that treatment. And now I set the two sūras side by side; the comparison is wholly a datum of wording:
| Ṣād 38/41-44 | al-Anbiyāʾ 21/83-84 | |
|---|---|---|
| The opening | wa'dhkur ʿabdanā Ayyūb — "Our servant" | wa Ayyūba — without an attribute, with a conjunction |
| The verb | idh nādā rabbah | idh nādā rabbah |
| To whom the affliction is ascribed | al-shayṭān — massaniya'sh-shayṭānu bi-nuṣbin wa ʿadhāb | To no one — massaniya'ḍ-ḍurr |
| How the prayer ends | (It does not end; the answer comes directly) | wa anta arḥamu'r-rāḥimīn |
| The answer | urkuḍ bi-rijlik — a command | fa'stajabnā lahu fa-kashafnā — an act |
| The household | wa wahabnā lahu ahlahu wa mithlahum | wa ātaynāhu ahlahu wa mithlahum |
| A reminder for whom | dhikrā li-uli'l-albāb — for those of understanding | dhikrā li'l-ʿābidīn — for those who serve |
The first: in Ṣād the affliction is ascribed to Satan; in al-Anbiyāʾ it is ascribed to no one. Massaniya'ḍ-ḍurr — "affliction has touched me". The agent is not named.
The second: in al-Anbiyāʾ the prayer ends with an attribute: wa anta arḥamu'r-rāḥimīn. This is the pattern of the series and will be seen once more in the eighty-ninth verse.
The third and most striking: the same reminder is directed in the two sūras to two different companies — uli'l-albāb and al-ʿābidīn. One looks to the intellect, the other to service. I record this as my own reading, its ground being the wording of the two sūras; and it fits the general weave of the sūras as well: al-Anbiyāʾ uses the word ʿābidīn twice more in the series (73: wa kānū lanā ʿābidīn; 106: li-qawmin ʿābidīn).
| Part | What it conveys |
|---|---|
| annī massaniya'ḍ-ḍurr | A statement of the case — what is with me |
| wa anta arḥamu'r-rāḥimīn | An attribute of the one addressed — what is with You |
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the elements of the sentence: the prayer contents itself with setting two states side by side. And the eighty-fourth verse says the answer came: fa'stajabnā lahu.
And this structure will be seen once more in the eighty-seventh verse (Jonah) — there too there is no petition. Both prayers are without a request, and both are answered with the same sentence. It is a fact that can be verified within the sūra.
ٱلضُّرّ — root ض-ر-ر: harm, distress, an evil that strikes the body or the condition. And the word is definite: al-ḍurr. The grammarians explain the definiteness as "the known affliction" or as generic; the detail is not given.
Kashafnā — root ك-ش-ف: to uncover, to lift a covering. And the picture of the verb is worth recording: the affliction is not annihilated; its covering is opened and lifted away. The affliction is conceived as something laid over him.