The testing of Ayyub
0 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Wednesday, September 8 at Wednesday, September 08, 2004.
Biblical parallels are always fun, especially in Egypt.
So Aly, one of the members of my team here, is a fundamentally good person. Considerate, caring, peaceful, non-aggressive, religious, tolerant. He opens the door for women. In fact, when we were at the big formal dinner of international congress in Germany, he was sitting next to a girl who he was in deep conversation with. The food arrived, but the girl didnt start eating. Now I know that Aly was starving hungry. We had talked about it just 10 minutes before. But ever the gentlemen, Aly didnt lay a hand on knife, fork or food until the girl did. And she didnt. So Aly didnt. Aly is going to heaven. Aly is a good human being.
And so was Job (Jobe), or Ayyub as he is known in Arabic. If you don't know the story of Job, then have a quick read of the simple version here. Basically, Job, nice guy, never harmed a soul, good man. God and the Devil make a deal. The Devil gets to fuck Job over. Hard. Kill his kids. Take away all his stuff. Inflict terrible physical pain. God believes in Job and bets the devil that at no point will this make Job doubt God. The devil thinks otherwise. Because this is the Bible we are talking about here, of course the story has a happy ending.
Aly drives an immaculate 60's era Volkswagen Beetle. This is one part of what makes Aly supremely cool. It is in beautiful condition. Or at least it was, until for the last few days in a row, someone, or something, has fucked with Aly's pristine piece of German automobile-art. Today was day three, and as we were stopped in traffic, a taxi driver slowly, and calmly, just scraped along the side of Aly's car. It was in such slow motion, and so flagrantly stupid, that it felt deliberate. Even my usually non-violent blood was ready to boil.
But not Aly's. He is made of sterner, better, more Godly stuff. Yeah, he was sad that his beatiful car has been screwed over, again, for the second day in a row - but not angry. And as we were discussing why this is happening, the conclusion became clear.
"You are being punished for something you have done in the past", I told him.
"I don't do bad things" Aly replied. And its true. He doesn't, and hasn't.
"Then you are being punished for something you will do in the future"
"I will not do bad things in the future"
I belived him, but wanted to probe this a little further. "You never know man, anything could happen"
"I will not do bad things in the future".
He was right. This wasnt the correct path to be going down. Then, it came to me. Job. Aly is being tested. God picked a subject that he was supremely confident in. God picked Aly. The Devil isnt going to win this won.
Devil, you're going to have to try a lot harder if you think you can crack this peanut. In fact, I don't think you have it in you. You can't. Wanna know whay? Because Aly is Good. And you are not. And Aly, and God, and all the believers, will win this battle.
And thus the sermon is concluded. Peace be upon you all.
So Aly, one of the members of my team here, is a fundamentally good person. Considerate, caring, peaceful, non-aggressive, religious, tolerant. He opens the door for women. In fact, when we were at the big formal dinner of international congress in Germany, he was sitting next to a girl who he was in deep conversation with. The food arrived, but the girl didnt start eating. Now I know that Aly was starving hungry. We had talked about it just 10 minutes before. But ever the gentlemen, Aly didnt lay a hand on knife, fork or food until the girl did. And she didnt. So Aly didnt. Aly is going to heaven. Aly is a good human being.
And so was Job (Jobe), or Ayyub as he is known in Arabic. If you don't know the story of Job, then have a quick read of the simple version here. Basically, Job, nice guy, never harmed a soul, good man. God and the Devil make a deal. The Devil gets to fuck Job over. Hard. Kill his kids. Take away all his stuff. Inflict terrible physical pain. God believes in Job and bets the devil that at no point will this make Job doubt God. The devil thinks otherwise. Because this is the Bible we are talking about here, of course the story has a happy ending.
Aly drives an immaculate 60's era Volkswagen Beetle. This is one part of what makes Aly supremely cool. It is in beautiful condition. Or at least it was, until for the last few days in a row, someone, or something, has fucked with Aly's pristine piece of German automobile-art. Today was day three, and as we were stopped in traffic, a taxi driver slowly, and calmly, just scraped along the side of Aly's car. It was in such slow motion, and so flagrantly stupid, that it felt deliberate. Even my usually non-violent blood was ready to boil.
But not Aly's. He is made of sterner, better, more Godly stuff. Yeah, he was sad that his beatiful car has been screwed over, again, for the second day in a row - but not angry. And as we were discussing why this is happening, the conclusion became clear.
"You are being punished for something you have done in the past", I told him.
"I don't do bad things" Aly replied. And its true. He doesn't, and hasn't.
"Then you are being punished for something you will do in the future"
"I will not do bad things in the future"
I belived him, but wanted to probe this a little further. "You never know man, anything could happen"
"I will not do bad things in the future".
He was right. This wasnt the correct path to be going down. Then, it came to me. Job. Aly is being tested. God picked a subject that he was supremely confident in. God picked Aly. The Devil isnt going to win this won.
Devil, you're going to have to try a lot harder if you think you can crack this peanut. In fact, I don't think you have it in you. You can't. Wanna know whay? Because Aly is Good. And you are not. And Aly, and God, and all the believers, will win this battle.
And thus the sermon is concluded. Peace be upon you all.
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