Quran 38:44 – Oath Of Prophet Ayub (sws) To Strike His Wife
وَاذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَا أَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَى رَبَّهُ أَنِّیْ مَسَّنِيَ الشَّيْطَانُ بِنُصْبٍ وَّعَذَابٍ. اُرْكُضْ بِرِجْلِكَ هَذَا مُغْتَسَلٌ بَارِدٌ وَّشَرَابٌ. وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ أَهْلَهُ وَمِثْلَهُمْ مَّعَهُمْ رَحْمَةً مِّنَّا وَذِكْرَى لِأُوْلِی الْأَلْبَابِ. وَخُذْ بِيَدِكَ ضِغْثًا فَاضْرِب بِّهِ وَلَا تَحْنَثْ إِنَّا وَجَدْنَاهُ صَابِرًا نِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ إِنَّهُ أَوَّابٌ. And recall Our servant Job when he pleaded before his Lord: “Satan has inflicted me with great sorrow and pain.” We directed: “Strike your foot on the ground.” [He struck it and as a result a stream gushed forth. God said:] “This is cold water for you to bathe and drink. [This will restore your health.” Then] We gave him back his family again and with them more in the same number so as to show Our blessings to Him from Ourselves and so that those endowed with intellect are reminded. And said: “Grab a bunch of twigs in your hand and with them hit yourself and do not break [59] [the oath [60] you had sworn to punish yourself] . In reality, We found him steadfast [in all circumstances]. What a person he was! Without doubt, he was a very penitent servant of his Lord . (Quran 38:41-44) (Excerpt from Al-Bayan: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi) (English Rendering by Dr. Shehzad Saleem) ___ [59] . If an oath is instrumental in infringing on the rights of God, a person’s own self or of others, it is essential to break it. However, since it is actually making God as a witness on a promise and since promises have a great significance in religion, he was directed to fulfil it in this symbolic manner. This will not inflict him with any unwarranted harm and the oath will also stand fulfilled. An atonement for breaking an oath has been prescribed in religion. However, at that time, Job (sws) was neither financially in a position to atone for his oath nor physically able to do so. Thus this was the only option left through which he could assure his heart. This was a favour of God to save a peron from undue harm. One should not be audacious to go as far as to make it a pretext to lift the prohibition of something or to give relief to something mandatory or to fabricate excuses to not do a virtuous deed. [60] . The reason probably for this was that in the times of trial, he uttered something which was against steadfastness and turning towards God. At this, he swore an oath that he will punish himself by whipping himself with a certain number of lashes.