"And mention Our servant Ayyub."

Ibn Ishaq said: The most correct view is that he was from the Children of Israel, though nothing regarding his lineage has been verified except that his father's name was Amos. Ibn Jarir said: He is Ayyub son of Amos, son of Rum, son of Esau, son of Isaac, peace be upon them. Ibn 'Asakir narrated that his mother was the daughter of Lot, and that his father was among those who believed in Ibrahim; according to this, he was before Musa. Ibn Jarir said: He was after Shu'ayb. Ibn Abi Khaythama said: He was after Sulayman.

His saying (Exalted is He), "And mention," is a conjunction to "And mention Our servant Dawud." The reason for not beginning the story of Sulayman (peace be upon him) with this title is the perfect connection between him and Dawud (peace be upon them both). "Ayyub" is an explanatory substitute (badal bayān) for "Our servant," or a substitute in place of the whole (badal kull min kull).

His saying (Exalted is He), "When he called to his Lord," is a substitute of inclusion (badal ishtimal) for the aforementioned or for "Ayyub." "That I," meaning, "that indeed I." Isa recited it with a kasra on the hamza (innī).

"Have been afflicted by Satan with nuṣb (fatigue/hardship)." Nuṣb has been read with the ya silenced, and with it dropped; also with the nun having a damma and the sad silenced (nuṣb), which is fatigue, like naṣab with two fatḥas. It is said: It is the plural of naṣab, like wutun and wathan. Abu Ja'far, Shaybah, Abu 'Amarah from Hafs, al-Ja'fī from Abu Bakr, and Abu Mu'adh from Nafi' read it with two dammas (nuṣub), which is a dialect; there is no obstacle to the second damma being incidental for the sake of assimilation (ittibāʿ). It is sometimes said that this contains a symbol of the heaviness of his fatigue and its intensity. Zayd ibn Ali, al-Hasan, al-Suddi, Ibn Abi 'Ablah, Ya'qub, and al-Jahdari read it with two fatḥas (naṣab), which is also a dialect, like rushd and rashad. Abu Haywah, Ya'qub in one narration, and Hubayrah from Hafs read it with a fatha on the nun and a silence on the sad (naṣb). Al-Zamakhshari said: "Based on the root of the verbal noun." Ibn 'Atiyyah emphasized that this is also a dialect. He said after mentioning the recitations: "All of these have the same meaning, which is hardship." Often, naṣab is used for the hardship of exhaustion. Some people distinguish between these terms, but the correct view is that they are dialects with the same meaning, from their saying: "The matter has exhausted (anṣabanī) me," if it has burdened me.

The tanwin is for magnification, as is the case in His saying (Exalted is He), "And a punishment." By it, he intended pain, which is what is meant by "harm" in the phrase, "that indeed I have been touched by harm." It is said that naṣab and "harm" refer to the body, while "punishment" refers to the family and wealth.

This is a narrative of his speech (peace be upon him) with which he called upon his Lord (Exalted and Majestic is He) in his own wording; otherwise, it would have been said that he was touched by it, etc., in the third person. Attributing the "touching" to Satan: it is said to be literal, in that he (the cursed one) heard the praise of the angels for Ayyub (peace be upon him), so he envied him and asked Allah (Exalted is He) to grant him power over his body, wealth, and children, and He (Exalted is He) did so as a trial for him. The story is famous.

In some traditions, it is said that the one who touched him was a devil called Masut. Al-Zamakhshari denied this, saying: "It is not permissible for Allah (Exalted is He) to grant Satan power over His prophets (peace be upon them) so that he may follow them, torture them, and expel them. If he were capable of that, he would not have left a single righteous person without harming and destroying him." It has been repeated in the Quran that he has no authority except for whispering alone. He considered the attribution of the "touch" to him here to be metaphorical, saying: "Since his whispering to him and his obedience to him in what he whispered was a cause for what Allah (Exalted is He) touched him with of fatigue and punishment, he attributed it to him."

He (peace be upon him) observed etiquette in this, as he did not attribute it to Allah (Subhanahu) in his supplication, even though He (Glorified and Exalted is He) is the doer of it, and no one else is capable of it. This whispering, it is said, was his whispering to him (peace be upon him) that he should ask Allah (Exalted is He) for the trial to test and experience his patience regarding what afflicted him, as Sharf al-Din Umar ibn al-Farid said: "And test me with whatever You will in Your love, for my choice is what lies in Your pleasure." Asking for the trial instead of well-being is a sin relative to his station, not in reality, and the purpose of his calling out with that was the acknowledgment of the sin.

It is said that a man sought his aid against an oppressor, but Satan whispered to him to abandon helping him, so he did not help him, and thus Allah (Exalted is He) touched him because of that with what He touched him. It is also said that his livestock were in the territory of a disbelieving king, and he flattered him and did not raid him due to the whispering of Satan, so Allah (Exalted is He) chastised him with the trial. It is said he whispered to him, and he became prideful of the abundance of his wealth and children, so Allah (Exalted is He) tried him for that.

All of these statements, in my view, contain what does not befit the status of the prophets (peace be upon them). A group maintained that the "fatigue" and "punishment" were not what he had of sickness and pain, or the loss of family and wealth, but rather two matters that occurred to him while he was already sick and bereft of family and wealth. It is said that they were the whispers of Satan to him during his illness—the greatness of the trial, the despair of mercy, and the temptation toward impatience. Satan used to whisper these to him, and he would struggle against him in repelling them until he became tired and pained by the trial he was already in, so he called to his Lord to relieve him of it and sought His help against it: "That indeed I have been afflicted by Satan with fatigue and punishment."

It is said that they were from Satan's whispering to others. It is said that Satan approached his wife in the form of a physician, and she said to him: "There is someone afflicted here; will you heal him?" He said: "Yes, on the condition that if you heal him, you say: 'You healed me.'" She was inclined to this and presented his words to Ayyub (peace be upon him), and he knew it was Satan, and that was more painful to him than what he was already in. "So he called to his Lord, that I..."

It is said that Satan asked her to slaughter for other than Allah (Exalted is He) if he were to be healed, and she was inclined to it, so the matter was grave for him (peace be upon him), and he called out. It is said that three believers used to visit him, and one of them apostatized, so he asked about him. It was said to him: "Satan cast into him that Allah (Exalted is He) does not try the prophets and the righteous," so he was greatly pained by that and said what he said. In another narration, a group of the Children of Israel passed by him, and some said to others: "This did not afflict him except because of a sin he committed," and this is a type of Satan's whispering. This was grave for him, so he said what he said. The attribution in all that has been mentioned is with regard to the whispering. Other things have been said as well, and Allah (Exalted is He) knows best.