A man named Mark was a very successful tech giant in 2021. He had created multiple start-ups and was known as the face of Silicon Valley for a long time. Mark was very smart and a very personable person. His biggest social media platform was Hinker and it was a huge success. Mark had a very large family and had a very strong love for material things. He spent his money without thinking, making impulse purchasing a hobby. Each week he felt as if he needed to make another purchase, whether it was a new car or a tech product.
Allah, who was Mark's god and god of the land, took notice of Mark's love of material objects and lack of praise being given to his god. Therefore, he sought to test Mark's faith and gave him a horrid skin disease that smelled similar to rotten milk. In addition to this, all of Mark's assets were seized after being convicted of fraud. Mark began having a plethora of problems within his daily life, such as his cars breaking down and his home appliances failing. In addition to this, court fees began to gradually build up as he hired the best lawyers the area could offer.
Fortunately, the legal procedure was a very long process, which gave him time to fight the case. Despite this, his skin disease was growing worse. His wife, Gina, took care of Mark through this hard time. Every day they would praise Allah from their home. Allah took notice of this, but wanted to see how strong Mark's faith truly was. Allah knew that Mark had strong love for his family and wanted to see if his faith would prevail through more hardship.
Mark's children began to grow very sick and in a matter of months all passed away. Mark was devastated and confided in his wife explaining that he trusted in Allah's plan and was still thankful to be alive. He explained how no matter the circumstances, he would always trust his god.
"Gina, as long as I live I have never felt such pain as I have these previous months. I am growing weary, but still am trusting in Allah's plan."
"Mark, faith is the most important aspect of our lives."
As a result of this, Allah began to realize that Mark’s faith truly was stronger than he had previously thought.
Months later, Allah came to speak to Mark and his wife. Allah didn't come in a form, instead he spoke from the sky. Allah explained how he was testing their faith to see how strong it really was. Mark and Gina began to weep and praise their god. Allah told them to remember this lesson and to always trust in his plan. Allah restored Mark's health and also brought his children back. In addition to this, Allah made Gina beautiful as she was in her younger days. Additionally, Allah cured Mark of his horrid skin disease. Mark and his family were now all in good health as they finally settled back in to their normal lives.
Mark eventually won the lawsuit and gained all of his assets back. It became clear to him how important his faith truly was. From that day forward Mark and his family always put Allah first. For they knew the importance of maintaining a relationship with him instead of praising material things. Mark no longer craved material objects that he could purchase. Mark now knew what really was most important in life.
As Mark sat with his family in their home he thought to himself
"Without faith, I am nothing. With faith, everything makes sense as I have true purpose."
Author's Note: The original story was about Ayub (this is the arabic spelling of Job) who was a very rich man. Allah took away all of Ayub’s worldly possessions in hopes to test Ayub’s faith. Allah gave the man a skin disease that smelled horribly. For seven years his wife took care of him, but during this time his children all grew sick and died. Ayub continued to praise Allah and as a result he was talked to by an angel named Gabriel. Gabriel healed him and Allah brought all of Ayub’s children back. In addition to this, Allah gave him all of his worldly possessions back. I recreated the story with the same central theme and plot line. While the characters are different, I made a point to keep the same general story the same. I wanted to put a modern twist on the story to make it more understandable for the contemporary reader. I made some minor changes to plot and characters. I didn’t add the angel Gabriel as a messenger because I felt that is wasn’t relevant to my story. I wanted to think of Mark as a very successful person, so I made him a social media platform owner. I hope that you all find this interesting.
Story source: Folklore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian, and Jewish: Job and his Family by J. E. Hanauer (1907).
Image: Man sitting in front of cross: Source