Allah reveals His message to His creation, in certain ways, and the Messengers are the instruments by which Allah carries out his Will.
“And
indeed, Yunus was among the Messengers.” [1]
A story about hardship, patience, repentance and
sincerity. One that will continue to
capture the hearts of all those who read and extract wisdom from it. This is
the story of the beloved Prophet Yunus (A.S.).
Nabi Yunus (A.S.) was born to Amittai in the town of Nineveh
located on the banks of the Tigris River, North Western Iraq. He was sent by
Allah to guide the people of his generation as they were idolaters who indulged
in sin.
For a long time Prophet Yunus (A.S.) tried his best to
convince these people to believe in the Oneness of Allah and to abandon idol
worship. They mocked him and refused to listen, telling him that idol worship
is what they have believed in for generations and that they had no intent to
stop. Yunus (A.S.) warned them that if
they persisted with their sin, Allah’s wrath would fall upon them. Instead,
they continued with their mockery, even challenging punishment.
Feeling disheartened and frustrated Nabi Yunus (A.S.) left
the town without realizing that Allah had not given him the command to do so.
After a long distance, he finally reached sea and saw a boat with people in it
ready to depart. Nabi Yunus (A.S.) appearing rather distinguished, was welcomed abroad the boat
ready to set sail. All of a sudden, amidst the smooth sailing, a heavy storm
diverged causing the boat to reach high proximity followed by steeping plunges
down. They realized, that weight had to be reduced onboard in order for the
boat not to sink. So they cast lots in order to reach a decision.
When the lot
was drawn Nabi Yunus’s name appeared and so they decided that since he was so
dignified they would choose again. The second time round, the name of Yunus
(A.S.) was drawn again! They decided to cast lots one more time, but again, the
name of Nabi Yunus (A.S.) surfaced and he was forced to be tossed into the sea.
This is clear proof to us, that no matter how hard we try to do things
according to our plans, Allah is in total control, and His plan will always be above
ours.
All along a whale had been trailing the boat that Yunus
(A.S.) had boarded. Allah commanded it, to find Nabi Yunus (A.S.) and swallowed
him without hurting him or crushing any of his body parts. Nabi Yunus (A.S.)
remained in darkness for a long time in the belly of the whale. His remembrance
was constantly of Allah and his eyes filled with tears as he wept to Allah for
forgiveness. He realized that he should not have left the town neither the idolaters
as he had been sent as a Messenger of Allah, to lead them to the straight path.
Allah tells us in the Qur’an
" And [mention] the man of
the fish, when he departed in wrath: and thought that We would not decree [anything]
upon him. But he cried out within the depths of darkness, "There is no God
except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers."[2]
Allah accepts prayer of those who seek repentance.
Yunus (A.S.) constantly supplicated
to his Creator and Allah accepted his sincere repentance, as we are told in the
next verse of Surah Anbiyaa,
“So We responded to him and saved him from
the distress. And thus do We save the believers.”[3]
Meanwhile, a dark cloud of fury displaying Allah’s wrath had
already formed above the town displaying clear signs of the warning of Nabi
Yunus (A.S.), when he would constantly warn them about the result of their
disobedience.
When the skies began to change into a fiery color, the
people of Nineveh remembered the story of their predecessors, the story of Nabi
Nooh (A.S.) and they feared that they would gain the same fate. Immediately
fear crept into their hearts and they kneeled down into prostration begging
Allah for forgiveness. Their cries for repentance and for the return of their
Leader Nabi Yunus (A.S.) echoed through the mountains and Allah the Most
Merciful accepted their plea.
Allah Says, “When they prayed for Nabi Yunus (A.S.) to
return to them and believed, their punishment was removed.” [4]
The return of their Leader ..
Through Allah’s command, the whale was told to eject Nabi
Yunus (A.S.) onto the shore. His body was inflamed due to the acid in the
stomach of the whale which now covered his body in pain. Allah is so Merciful,
that He caused a plant to grow over Yunus (A.S.) thus covering his body from
the sun and at the same time healing his burns as well as bearing fruit to
sustain him.
Over a period of time Yunus’s (A.S.) flaccid state,
gradually improved and He was commanded by Allah to return to guide the people
of Nineveh.
When he returned, he was surprised to see that they had
abandoned their idol worship and now believed in the Oneness of Allah. Nabi
Yunus (A.S.) thereafter continued to prosper and guide the people of Nineveh
until, just like every other human being he returned to Allah, the Almighty.
His Character ..
As is stated in a Hadith Narrated by`Abdullah:
“The Prophet said, "None of you should say that I am better than Yunus (i.e. Jonah)." Musadded added, "Jonah bin Matta." [5]
Their eyes opened ..
The people of Nineveh shut their eyes to the message of
Islam. They believed that false Gods
would intercede on their behalf, but how can stones intercede on your behalf.
As Allah tells us in Surah Yunus that even the
false Gods shall leave the idolaters and say,
“It was not us that you worshipped” [6].
These false Idols,
were a mere figment of the imagination of those who believed in this false
worship.
From this sincere story in the Qur’an, we learn that even
the greatest of people, A Messenger of Allah, could become frustrated. While in
the belly of the whale, Allah tested Yunus (A.S.) by seeing how much patience
his heart possessed. Could you imagine
being all alone beneath three layers of darkness, i.e. the darkness of being in
the stomach of the whale, enclosed by the darkness of the deep ocean with deep
blue sky encapsulating it all.
We must understand, that within this darkness we gain both a
physical as well as spiritual moral. The physical darkness, refers to the
darkness he could touch and see. The spiritual darkness refers to the dark
feeling he felt in his heart, his distress, which he realized he had brought
upon himself.
It is for this reason that Allah sent his Messengers as
normal people to Mankind, in order that we may understand that everyone makes
mistakes but our test is to seek sincere repentance and find our way back to
Allah.
The beauty of this story, is that amidst the depths of
darkness, Nabi Yunus’s (A.S.) heart filled with repentance and sincerity. As Allah’s servants, we learn that it is never
too late to seek sincere forgiveness, because Allah, is the Most Forgiving, the
Most merciful
.
Love always,
Ayesha
[1]
Quran 37:139
[2]
Qur’an 21:87
[3]
Qur’an 21:88
[4]
Quran 10:98
[5] Sahih al-Bukhari 3412
In-book
reference
Book 60, Hadith 85
English translation
Vol. 4, Book 55, Hadith 624
[6]
(Qur'an 10:28)
References used
Location of Nineveh
For Qur’anic reference: www.quran.com
Various
translation of the Qur’anic text, translation and commentary.
For Hadith reference: English translation
Vol. 4, Book
55, Hadith 624
Mash Allah Ayesha...u had done a great good deed by elaborating the history of Younus Nabi(A.S)which is unknown to many of us.Insh Allah Allah bless u n ur family ..n come up with more religious histories.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the good summary of the history of Yunus. I am studying about the prophet for I have written a novel about the prophet and am trying to improve it. It is not yet clear to me how long Yunus prophesied in Nineveh before he left it and how long he stayed in the whale. Hope you will give a look at my work: http://p.booklog.jp/book/113104/read
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