the Qur’ān (21:87-88) says: “And remember Dhu’l-Nūn, when he went away in anger, thinking that We would not force him into a tight situation! But then he cried out in the deep darkness: ‘There is no deity other than You! Limitless are You in Your glory! I have done wrong indeed!’ So, We responded to him and delivered him from his distress. Thus, do We deliver those who have faith.”
Prophet Younus is here called Dhu’l-Nūn, which means ‘man of the whale’ because he was swallowed by the whale and then thrown out. He was sent to a particular city, and he called on its people to believe in Allah, the Exalted, but they rejected both him and his message. By way of response to their stubbornness, he left in anger. He showed little inclination to persevere with them on account of their rejection. He thought that Allah would not restrict him to a particular place, given there were many cities and communities, and that he would thus be directed to go somewhere else. This is what is meant by the expression rendered here as “thinking that We would not force him into a tight situation!”
Angry and frustrated, he walked away, and found himself sometime later by the sea, where he saw a laden boat. He boarded it. When the boat was in the middle of the sea, it was apparent that its load was too heavy, therefore, one passenger must be thrown overboard in order to give the rest a chance to survive. They all drew lots and the draw fell to Prophet Younus.
The other passengers threw him into the sea, or he might have jumped overboard. It was then that the whale swallowed him and he found himself in a most tight situation. He felt shrouded by several layers of darkness: the darkness of the whale’s belly, the darkness of the deep blue sea and the darkness of the night. At this moment, he cried out: “There is no deity other than You! Limitless are You in Your glory! I have done wrong indeed.”
Allah answered his prayer and saved him from the distress he was suffering. The whale thus threw him out near the shore. The remainder of his story is taken up in Surah Al-Saffat.
There are in Prophet Younus’s story some significant points we need to reflect upon. First, Prophet Younus did not initially show enough patience and willingness to endure the difficulties of delivering Allah’s message. He quickly became fed up, abandoned his people and moved on, angry and frustrated. He felt his situation to be very tight. But Allah exposed him to a much tighter and harder distress as compared with the opposition of unbelievers. Had he not turned to his Lord in repentance and admitted that he had wronged himself by leaving his position of duty, he would not have been relieved of his distress. It was Allah’s care that saved him.
The moral lesson here is that the advocates of a message must be ready to bear the burden involved in such advocacy, remain patient in the face of rejection and vicious opposition. When a person is certain of the truth of the message he advocates, he finds the opposition of people who accuse him of false inventions and deliberate lying difficult to handle. Yet to remain patient in the face of such adversity is only part of the duties of such advocacy. Those who are entrusted with delivering a message and advocate the truth must remain patient, face the difficulties and persevere with their advocacy. They must continue to present their message to people and call on them to believe in it, time after time.
Such advocates cannot give in to despair. They cannot give up on people, believing that they will never respond to the truth, no matter how much opposition they face, and how often they are rejected and accused of falsehood. If their hundred attempts to touch people’s hearts meet with failure, their next attempt may have a positive result.
The way a message must follow in order to touch people’s hearts is neither easy nor comfortable. Positive responses may not be forthcoming. A great heap of false beliefs, erring practices, customs, traditions and situations weigh heavily on people’s hearts and minds. This heap must be removed, and hearts must be revived in every possible way. A touch on every sensitive receptor must be made to try to find the effective nerve. With determination and diligence, the right touch will inevitably be made, and a complete transformation of the addressee is achieved.
A comparison may be made with trying to find a particular radio station. We turn the tuning key to and fro, but we miss it despite taking full care to find it. Then suddenly a casual touch may hit upon it and we enjoy a good reception. The human heart is akin to a radio receiver. Advocates of the divine message must try hard to find the right spot that enables every heart to receive that message. When one thousand attempts have failed, the next one may succeed.
It is easy for an advocate of the divine message to be angry when people turn away from him. To give up and quit is always easy. It may enable us to cool down. But of what service is that to the message itself? It is the message that is most important, not its advocate. If we are angry, we should remain patient. It is infinitely better for us not to lose heart and not to give up. An advocate is merely a tool in Allah’s hand, and Allah preserves His message better than us.
We must discharge our duty however hard the opposition we may face. We then leave the matter to Allah and He gives guidance to whomever He pleases. In the story of Prophet Younus we thus have a good example to reflect upon. His return to his Lord and acknowledgement of his error provides a good lesson. Furthermore, in the grace Allah showed him, answering the prayer he addressed through the compounded darkness, gives us great hope: “Thus do We deliver those who have faith.”
The prayer of Prophet Younus is invoked by all people at all times and for all their needs. “Thus, do We deliver those who have faith.” That is, just as We released Prophet Younus from his misery and distress, so do We deliver other believers when they turn towards Us repenting their sins sincerely.
According to a hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, if a Muslim prays to Allah, the Exalted, for the grant of a wish in the words used by Prophet Younus when he was in the stomach of the fish i.e. la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu minaz-zalimin “There is no deity other than You! Limitless are You in Your glory! I have done wrong indeed!”, He would accept his prayer and grant his wish. (Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Mazhari)