The Man Of The Fish - Yunus | Episode 5

Dear viewers of Imam Hussein Alayhis Salaam TV, salaam alaykum and welcome to another episode of Quranic stories that change lives. Where we deep Where we delve deep into the verses of the Holy Quran where Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, as eloquent as he is, mentions stories where we are able to learn from and implement within our daily lives. Tonight and in today's episode, I'd like to mention the story of a unique prophet, unique in multiple regards. This is the first prophet that was mentioned to our beloved Rasul Allah as a way of stories. Now, generally, when Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala mentions any stories, especially mentions any prophet, it is for the benefit of Rasul Allah to tell him, "Ya Rasul Allah, this is what the prophets before you also faced. For example, be like the patient prophets before you. Be like the persevering prophets before you. Be like the hardworking prophets before you." However, the uniqueness of the story that I'm about to mention and the uniqueness of the prophet whose story I am about to mention is a prophet that not only is the first one to be mentioned, but he is mentioned in a way where Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala goes against the norm. Rather than saying, "Ya Rasul Allah, be like the following prophet that has come before you." Here, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, for example, in Surat Al-Qalam, chapter number 68, verse number 48, says somewhat the complete opposite. He says, "Fasbir li hukmi Rabbik. Rabbik. Be patient with your Lord's decree. Wa la takun ka sahibil Hut. And do not be like the man of the fish." The man of the fish is a title that is given to Prophet Yunus, alayhis salaam, Jonah, as we may all know him as. Jonah is a prophet that is mentioned in five separate surahs of the Holy Quran. Suratul Qalam being one of them, Suratul Anbiya being another, Suratus Saffat being another. Prophet Jonah is also a prophet that is mentioned in the Judeo-Christian traditions. In fact, if we look at the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which is meant to be one of the most spiritual, most holiest of days in the Jewish calendar, it is a day which is a day of atonement, a day of seeking forgiveness, but it is a day of also recounting the story of Prophet Yunus, alayhis salaam, recounting the story of Prophet Jonah. And therefore, in tonight's episode titled The Man of the Fish, we will inshallah look into verses of the Holy Quran, most specifically from Suratul Anbiya, chapter number 21, verses 87 and 88. And Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala has a very unique way of mentioning some stories in the Holy Quran. And like Prophet Yunus, alayhis salaam, he mentions the story and he continues part of the story in another uh aspect of the Holy Quran, which is in Surah Saffat. And Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala sometimes uses a different camera angle of where to and how to say the story. In one angle, we take specific lessons. In another angle, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala will mention the same story, but in a slightly different way, so that we're able to take another set of lessons from them. And therefore, tonight we start with the story of Prophet Yunus alayhis salaam. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Surah Anbiya, chapter number 21, verse number 87, starts the story. And he says, Wa dhan-nooni And when the man of the fish, like we said, it's a title given to Prophet Jonah, Yunus alayhis salaam. Wa dhan-nooni idh dhahaba mughadhiban left in a rage. Now, what is the context of the statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Prophet Yunus alayhis salaam was sent to the community of the city of the people of Nainawa. Not the Nainawa that is meant to be a different name of the land of Karbala, but the Nainawa which is meant to be around the city of Mosul, um in Iraq. In Surah Saffat, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala places the population at over 100,000 people. And if we look at the book of Jonah, uh the book of Jonah places the inhabitants or the population of the city of Nainawa to 120,000 people. So, a sizeable community. And Prophet Yunus alayhis salaam was tasked with his mission of being a prophet to this specific community from the age of 33. And he spends the next three decades, the next 30 years, a sizeable portion of his life trying to propagate the message of the one true Lord. And after 30 years worth of hard work, how many people convert from a city with a population of 120,000 people? Two. Imagine. 30 years worth of hard work, and only two people convert. A man by the name of Rubil, who is a wise individual and another by the name of Tanukhiya who is a man of worship a man of rituals. And these two individuals as well, the man of wisdom and the man of worship, Rubil and Tanukhiya, they interact with Yunus Alayhis Salaam in slightly different ways. And inshallah we'll try and derive some lessons for our own practical life from these interactions and from the story of Yunus Alayhis Salaam. And so after 30 years, Yunus Alayhis Salaam is subjugated, he's humiliated, he's tormented by his people, his inhabitants of the city of Nineveh, 120,000 people, only two of them convert and they rebuke him. So Yunus Alayhis Salaam has had enough and he prays to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, "Ya Allah, now is the time to punish these people. Ya Allah, I am tired of these people. They don't want to change. Only two people have changed." After much insistence, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala says, "Very well. Like I have done with the previous prophets the punishment of your people will come but in a specific time in the future. For example and the narrations mention, it says in the middle of the month of Shawwal, on the middle of the day. So, the middle of the month of Shawwal and the middle of the day, punishment is meant to come. So Yunus Alayhis Salaam and now goes to these two individuals. He goes to Rubil and he explains him the situation. Rubil says look in essence, I would have been a little bit more patient. As a prophet, you should have been a little bit more patient rather than praying to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala to um punish them. But given that you have now asked for punishment, the least thing you could do is inform the people that the punishment is coming. What is Tanukhiya said that look, you've done enough 30 years, I wouldn't even bother. However, this time Yunus Alayhis Salaam listens to Rubil and he says he goes to the people and he says that look at the allotted time on the allotted day on allotted month the punishment of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala will come. Change your ways. Again the people of Yunus Alayhis Salam rebuke him, torment him, humiliate him. And again Yunus gets enraged. And we go back to the story in Surah Al-Anbiya chapter number 21 verse number 87. Wa Dhan Nuni and when the man of the fish Idh dhahaba mughadiban left in a rage fa dhanna al lan naqdira alayhi thinking we would not punish him. Here Allah says that Yunus thought that we would not punish him. Why would Yunus think that we would not punish him? Firstly because Yunus didn't do anything out of the ordinary in the sense that people before him, prophets before him, Nuh, Lut etc. Their fam- their communities faced punishment. They also left before Yunus Alay- they also left before the punishments came. Similarly Yunus Alayhis Salam thought that I'm not going to wait around until the punishment is going to come. I am going to leave slightly before that. Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala saw that as turk awla. Not that something he did something wrong because he followed the uh what the previous prophets had followed and had performed but he did something that was slightly different. The previous prophets had stayed with their communities up until the last moment until Allah commanded Nuh and Lut and so on and so forth to leave before the punishment comes. However Yunus Alayhis Salam he left in a rage without waiting for the direction and the command and the uh call of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala to tell him now is the moment for you to leave which is why Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala says to the Rasul Allah fasbir li rabbik wa la takun ka sahibil hut Be patient with the decree of your Lord and not be impatient like that of Yunus Alayhis Salam. So Yunus didn't really think that he did anything wrong. However Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala says fa dhanna al lan naqdira alayhi He thought we did not we will not punish him. The verse continues with the noon. So, he cried out in the depths of darknesses. What's happened here is the verse of the Holy Quran first says he the man of the the man of the fish left in a rage thinking we will not punish him and he cries out in the depths of the darknesses. There's a chunk of the story missing like I said Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala mentioned the same story but it through different camera lenses and through different surahs. So, now they go to Surah Saffat. In Surah Saffat we understand that when Yunus Alayhis Salaam he left in he left in a rage Rubil the man of wisdom he stayed behind and he said look I'm going to try a little bit longer. The Nukia left with him. Now, Yunus Alayhis Salaam reaches to a port and there's a ship which is now completely full. Yunus Alayhis Salaam asks look I need to leave this place. The people say the captain says look there's no space. After much insistence he says very well come embark on the ship. Now, Surah says that something happened along the way either a storm comes or a animal or a fish a whale starts circling around uh the ship and so the people say that we need to now drop a individual. We need to draw lots and Yunus's name came not once not twice but three times. So, Yunus Alayhis Salaam realized that now he needs to disembark the ship in the middle of the sea in the middle of the ocean. He jumps. As soon as he comes off the ship this big whale this fish comes and eats him alive. Now, what happens when a fish eats an individual alive? The fish obviously starts digesting the food that it's just eaten. Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala however tells the fish that look what you have just eaten is a servant of ours. It is not your risk. It is not your food. It's not your nourishment. Yes, you have eaten this individual, but do not digest it. Do not eat it. And so, Yunus alayhis salaam is now in the belly of the fish. We go back to Surah al-Anbiya, chapter number 87. Fanada fiz zulumati. Here, he cries out in the depth of the darknesses. Imam al-Baqir has been quoted to have said that Yunus alayhis salaam was in three stages of darknesses and he stayed there for three days. The first darkness was the belly of the fish. The second darkness was the darkness of the ocean and the third darkness was that of the night. In three stages of darknesses, Yunus alayhis salaam cries out. And he recites dua. Now, before we even continue with the beautiful story of Yunus alayhis salaam, let's take a pause. Let's reflect and think about this a little while. What lessons can we take from this? Firstly, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala hears our duas, even if we may be in depths and in darknesses, as the verse mentioned. Sometimes, we may think, it may be the middle of the day, but we may think to ourselves, "Does Allah even know I exist? With all of that happening around the world, does Allah even know that I have this dua of him?" Here, Yunus alayhis salaam was in three stages of darknesses, but yet, he never his faith never faltered. He knew Allah listens to him. That's lesson number one. Lesson number two, is sometimes, a hardship comes and it helps us awaken our asleep souls. Yunus never thought he did something wrong. But, because he was now in a hardship, he realized that I need to go back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Similarly, in our lives, what happens is we may be cruising through life like it doesn't matter. And then something comes along our life and we realize and we go back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and sometimes that hardship is a blessing in disguise because it gets us closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It makes us connect with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It makes us communicate with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. On the third level, we understand that sometimes a single action that you and I may do can lead a person through layers of spiritual darkness. And just like Yunus alayhis salaam was thrown into these multiple layers of darkness because he left in a rage, not waiting for Allah's command, sometimes we understand that maybe the way I act, maybe the food that I may have eaten, maybe one of the things that I might I may have done or behaved in a certain way, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't like this. And that may be sufficient enough for us to go down a spiral of spiritual darknesses. Now we continue the same verse of the Holy Quran, Surah Al-Anbiya, chapter number 21, verse number 88, wa nunin idh dhahaba mughadiban fa dhanna an lan naqtadira alayhi fa nada fi dhulumati. He cries out from the depths of the darknesses. What does he cry out? La ilaha illa ant. Subhanaka inni kuntu minadh dhalimin. He recites a dua. And he says there is no god but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Glory be to you. Indeed, no doubt, certainly I am the one that has wronged myself. This is a dua known as the dhikr Yunusiyah. In fact, Rasulullah has been quoted to have said that whoever recites the dhikr of Yunus, recites the dua of Yunus alayhis salaam, that his dua will be accepted and his dua will not be rejected. A man, a companion comes to Rasulullah and he says, "Is this dua only for Yunus to recite or can you and I as believers also recite?" Rasulullah says, "Have you not read the Quran?" Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa kadhalika nunjil mu'minin. And we save the believers in the sense that this is a dua that you and I should recite and we should continue to recite. Now, before we go on to the next verse of the story of Yunus Alayhis Salaam, let us again take a pause and understand what is the beauty of this dua. There are three elements of this dua. La ilaha illa anta, there is no god except you. That ya Allah, you are the powerful, you are the creator. There is nothing that happens except that you wish for it to happen. La ilaha illa anta, first you understand that Allah is the only powerful entity. Then the second aspect of the dua was subhanaka, glory be unto you. You are majestic, you are glorious. Subhanaka. Inni kuntu min al-zalimin. And third is the acknowledgement that anything that bad happens is not because of you. You are perfect, you glory be to you. It is because of me. Certainly I have wronged myself and it is because of what I have done, how I have behaved, what actions I have performed is how I have wronged myself. And this is the beauty of this dua. La ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min al-zalimin. This was verse number 87. We go to the next verse of the same surah, verse number 88. Fastajabna lahu. Wanajjainahu min al-gham. Wakazalika nunjil mu'minin. Then we answered the prayer of Yunus Alayhis Salaam and saved him from the anguish. Thus, we saved the believer. Question. What was the dua that Yunus Alayhis Salaam recited? Did he say ya Allah save me from the darknesses? Ya Allah save me from the belly of the fish? Ya Allah please come let me come back to the surface? No. His dua was la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min al-zalimin. Three distinct statements that we've just gone through a few moments ago. Where in these three statements does he ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala anything? He doesn't. But Allah says we answered his dua. What does this mean? Yunus alayhis salaam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows what is in our hearts and what is in our tongue. Yunus alayhis salaam used the opportunity that he had when he was in these layers of darknesses to build a relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He didn't even need to utter the dua, "Ya Allah, save me from the belly of the fish." No. He just had to build a relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah understood and he knows what's in the hearts of the believers and he knows what was in the heart of Yunus alayhis salaam and he saved Yunus alayhis salaam. Now, we continue. The story continues. Not in Surat al-Anbiya like I said, it goes back to Surat al-Saffat. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that we saved Yunus alayhis salaam and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala orders the whale to now go spit Yunus alayhis salaam out into uh the surface. And the verses continue and they say that we provided shade and we provided nourishment through a vegetable, the gourd, because what happens? When you've been in the belly of the fish for three days, yes, you haven't been digested as the rest of the fish, but there are still acids in the stomach of the fish. Your skin is still deteriorated. You still haven't eaten. You haven't had any nourishment. So, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says we delivered him into safety. We gave him a shade and we gave him some nourishment, the vegetable gourd, and Yunus alayhis salaam was able to be saved. But, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues the story and he says for Lola and now Kona mineral masala bean and he glorified and he not constantly glorified before and during the experience of being in the belly of the fish and let me see but in your middle camera he would have certainly remained in the belly of the fish until the day of judgement. Allah is saying what so let's go back so let's go back number 37 verses 143 and 144 Allah says had he not be constantly had he not be had was had he not constantly glorified me in the sense before he was even in the belly of the fish we would have not saved him from the belly of the fish and he would have been in the belly of the fish until the end of times it means what it means remember Allah in the good times and Allah will remember you you when you need him the most Yunus remembered Allah not just when he was in hardship but even in the good times and Allah says that if he had not remembered me in the good times I would have not helped him in the hard times necessarily for this instance and so an example a lesson that you and I can take from the story of Yunus that we should not wait to be in layers of darkness is before we remember Allah yes it may be a metaphoric lash for us to get back into the right path but Allah says constantly remember me not just in the bad times but also in the good times now for all intents and purposes the story may seem that it has finished Yunus Islam was saved by Allah but the beauty of the story is the story continues why what about the people of Yunus the punishment is still coming to them now it's the middle of the month of Shaban middle of the day they see They see coming toward them, and they realize that what punishment is coming. What do they do? The prophet is gone. Yunus is no longer there. The Nuhia, the man of worship, left ages ago. Who do they turn to? Rubil, the man of wisdom. And they say to Rubil, "What do we do?" Rubil says, "Look, you're very late. This is extremely last minute." Rubil says, "Look, all is not lost. Come out in the middle of the valley. Bring your animals, bring your cows, your sheep, your wealth, your households, your children, your families, your wives, in the sense that come to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala with everything that you have. Come into the middle of the valley and to the village and pray to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, "Ya Allah, please, we were in the wrong. Ya Allah, you are right. Ya Allah, save us from this punishment." And they see the clouds coming, and they start crying. And Rubil says, "Make sure you drop tears." Why? Because it helps to get closer to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. And as the clouds were coming and as they were praying in eagerness and in earnest to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, they see the clouds going back. And this is how the story of Yunus Alaihis Salam is unique in a third way. At the beginning of the episode, we mentioned Yunus Alaihis Salam is unique because he's the first prophet mentioned to Rasulullah in the Holy Quran in five separate chapters. He is unique because rather than saying, "Ya Rasulullah, be like Yunus Alaihis Salam." Like he says, "Be like Ibrahim, Nuh, Musa, Isa, Yaqub, Yusuf." He says, "Do not Wala takun kasahibil hut." And do not be like Yunus Alaihis Salam. This was another uniqueness. The third uniqueness that we come to understand of Prophet Yunus Alaihis Salam is that in his story, the people were not punished. And Allah Subhana Wa in fact reverses the punishment, which he has not done for the previous people, but he does so for the community of Yunus Alayhis Salaam. And the most important and the most critical of lessons that I would like myself and invite you to take from this beautiful story is this. And as a conclusion, I will use this to wrap this up. Communities can change. Never for a moment should we think, "Oh, this guy is a lost cause. Never comes mosque. He really comes on Eid, maybe Ashura. He is a lost cause." Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala through the story of Yunus Alayhis Salaam tells us that no one is a lost cause. Try up until the last moment if you can. If Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala's mercy is so vast that it takes away the punishment from the people of Yunus Alayhis Salaam, that then who are you and who am I? That Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala will not engulf us in his infinite mercy and rahmah and maghfirah. And so, the final lesson that we take is communities can change. Never should we judge people that he is beyond repair. He is beyond his religiosity. He barely comes to mosque. What chance does he have? No. The story of Yunus Alayhis Salaam tells us that up until the last moment, everyone [clears throat] has a chance to come back to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. And no, and nor should we just wait for Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala to change ourselves. As Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala says in the Holy Quran in Surah Ar-Ra'd, that never will I change a community until the community themselves enact the change. Be the change that you want to see in your own community. And with this, I end tonight's episode titled The Man of the Fish, Yunus Alayhis Salaam. Wa akhiru da'wana anil hamdulillahi rabbil alameen.