Local Traditions Regarding Job
There are at least two locations that claim to be the place of Job's ordeal, and at least three that claim to have his tomb.
In Transjordan folk tradition, Job's place of trial is Al-Jura, a village outside the town of Al Majdal—also called Ashkelon. It was there God rewarded him with a fountain of youth that removed whatever illnesses he had, and gave him back his youth. The town of Al-Joura was a place of annual festivities (4 days in all) when people of many faiths gathered and bathed in a natural spring.
To the northwest of the depopulated Palestinian village of Dayr Ayyub is an area which, according to village belief, contained the tomb of the prophet Ayyub, the Biblical Job.
The town of al-Shaykh Saad in the Hauran region in Syria has been associated with St. Job since at least the 4th-century CE. Karnein was mentioned in Eusebius' Onomasticon as a town of Bashan that was said to be the location of the house of St. Job. Egeria the pilgrim relates that a church was built over the place in March or February 384 CE, and that the place was known as the "town of Job", or "civitas Job." According to Egeria's account the body of St. Job was laid in a stone coffin below the altar. According to tradition, Hammam Ayyub is a fountain in the town where Job washed himself when he had leprosy, and is reputed to have healing powers. Another holy artifact in the town is the "Rock of Job," known in local folklore as the place where he sat when he was afflicted with the disease.
The city of Urfa (formerly Edessa) in southeastern Turkey also claims to be the location at which Job underwent his ordeal. Urfa has a well said to be the one formed when he struck the ground with his foot as described in the Qur'an. There is a tomb of Job located outside of the city of Urfa.
The Tomb of Job is also said to be situated in Jabal Qara outside the city of Salalah in southern Oman.
Additionally, the Druze community also maintains a tomb for the Prophet Job in the El-Chouf mountain district in Lebanon.
The Eyüp Sultan Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, holds the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, not the Biblical Job (Ayyub in Arabic, Eyüp in Turkish), though some locals tend to conflate the two.
Read more about this topic: Job (biblical Figure)
Famous quotes containing the words local, traditions and/or job:
“Surely there must be some way to find a husband or, for that matter, merely an escort, without sacrificing one’s privacy, self-respect, and interior decorating scheme. For example, men could be imported from the developing countries, many parts of which are suffering from a man excess, at least in relation to local food supply.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I think a Person who is thus terrifyed [sic] with the Imagination of Ghosts and Spectres much more reasonable, than one who contrary to the Reports of all Historians sacred and profane, ancient and modern, and to the Traditions of all Nations, thinks the Appearance of Spirits fabulous and groundless.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“This woman is headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self- opinionated.”
—Report by Personnel Officer at I.C.I., rejecting Mrs. Thatcher for a job in 1948.