Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

The historians and some of the mufassireen

have stated that her name was Rahmah bint Meesha ibn Yoosuf ibn Ya’qoob.

But this is something which is not proven

in any clear sound text, rather it was transmitted from the books of

the People of the Book, or by some Muslims from them. We shall list

those who were of this view and transmitted it:

1 – Al-Suyooti said: Ibn ‘Asaakir narrated that Wahb

ibn Munabbih (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The wife of Ayyoob

(peace be upon him) was Rahmah (may Allaah be pleased with her) bint

Meeshaa ibn Yoosuf ibn Ya’qoob ibn Ishaaq ibn Ibraaheem (peace be upon

them).

(al-Durr al-Manthoor, 7/197. Also

in Tafseer al-Baydaawi, 3/310; Tafseer al-Qurtubi,

9/265; Tafseer al-Baghawi, 2/451)

2 – Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may

Allaah have mercy on him) said:

But these Israa’eeli (i.e., Jewish) reports

to be mentioned for the purpose of proving a point, they are not to

be believed. They are of three types:

(i)Those which we know are

sound because of evidence which we have which proves them to be true.

These are saheeh.

(ii)Those which we know are

false because of evidence which we have which contradicts them.

(iii)Those which we do not know

whether they are true or false. So we do not believe in them and we

do not disbelieve in them, but it is permissible to narrate them for

the reasons given above.

Most of them are things which serve no

religious purpose, hence the scholars of the People of the Book differ

greatly concerning such things. The mufassireen also differed concerning

them as a result of that, as they mentioned, for example, the names

of the People of the Cave, the colour of their dog and their number,

or what kind of tree the staff of Moosa came from, and other matters

which Allaah did not mention in detail in the Qur’aan because knowing

the specific details does not serve any worldly or religious purpose.

(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 13/366-367).

Al-Shanqeeti (may Allaah have mercy on

him) said:

What the mufassireen have said

concerning the name of their dog – some said that its name was Qitmeer,

and some said that its name was Hamdaan, etc. – we need not dwell on

at length, because it serves no purpose. There are many things in the

Qur’aan which neither Allaah nor His Messenger has explained to us in

detail, and there are no proven reports concerning them; there is no

benefit to be gained by researching such matters.

(Adwaa’ al-Bayaan, 4/48)

And Allaah knows best.