Ayyub — Name Meaning in Islam

Origin: Hebrew Iyyov, carried into Arabic as Ayyūb. The Arabic ear also hears the root أ-و-ب (ʾ-w-b), "to return, to turn back repeatedly" — and the Qur'an itself plays on this, calling him awwāb, one who turns back to Allah again and again (Sad 38:44).

From that root: awb (a return), awwāb (much-returning), iyāb (the returning, as in al-Ghashiya 88:25), maʾāb (a place of return).

Who carried it: the Prophet Ayyub, the standing image of patience in the tradition. The Qur'an gives his affliction and his supplication briefly and without dwelling on the suffering: "Adversity has touched me, and You are the most merciful of the merciful" (al-Anbiya 21:83) — a complaint that does not accuse, which is why it is quoted so often. Sad 38:41-44 records the relief that followed.

What his patience is not. The Qur'an does not present him as silent. He asked, plainly. The tradition draws its lesson from the manner of the asking rather than from an absence of it.

Spellings: Ayyub, Ayub, Eyüp (Turkish), Ayub/Ayyub (Indonesian), Ayub (Urdu), أيوب.

Pronunciation: ayy-YOOB, with a doubled y.

Note: the Turkish Eyüp also carries the memory of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, who hosted the Prophet ﷺ in Madina and is buried in Istanbul, which is why the name is so common there.