The Prophets Of Allah

Prophet Yunus (Jonah) PBUH

Seasons came and went, and again the memory of Allah faded from the hearts and minds of humankind. Communities lapsed to their old traditions of their forefathers and became disbelievers and idol worshippers.

Against this backdrop, a Messenger was sent to the community of disbelievers. However, this is a unique story which had never occurred before or since. Allah chastised this particular Messenger with a curious punishment which is stranger than fiction.

Yunus ibn Matta (Jonah) AS preached to a community in Iraq which scholars identify as the town of Niniveh. According to the Qur'an, it had a population of around 100,000 people: And We sent him to [his people of] a hundred thousand or more. (Qur'an 37:147) Yunus AS was a direct descendant of Yaqub AS and was also referred to in the Qur'an by the name of Dhan-Nun.

His people were idolators and led decadent and shameless lives. As with his brothers in prophethood before him, Yunus AS attempted to instil monotheistic belief and to promote good behaviour. He was met with resistance, and received similar reactions and accusations as that of the previous Messengers and Prophets.

He preached day and night but to no avail. The community clung on to their licentious lifestyles. They resisted the path of the truth and the efforts of Yunus AS bore little fruit.

As time dragged on, Yunus AS became discouraged and enraged by the dismal results. All Prophets and Messengers are granted one supplication of their choice which Allah will fulfill, and when Yunus AS finally had enough of his community, he prayed for their destruction, and warned them of the impending torture of Allah.

However, Yunus AS made one error in judgment for which he later paid a heavy personal price. He took it upon himself to leave the town in anger, without waiting for Allah's command. He assumed that the townspeople were beyond salvation and thus abandoned them to face Allah's retribution. In doing so, he incurred Allah's displeasure.

This may have seemed like an innocuous oversight for most of us, but it was a terrible mistake for a man of Yunus' AS stature. Unlike ordinary human beings, Prophets and Messengers are compelled to display the highest possible levels of human piety and obedience to Allah. Therefore, whenever Prophets and Messengers disobeyed, their mistakes were amplified, and their chastisement was swift and often severe.

THE FATE OF THE TOWNSPEOPLE

Accounts of the previous Prophets and Messengers had a common thread, which was that only a handful of people followed the teachings of the Messengers sent to their midst, while the rest of them were destroyed by some catastrophe or other.

In this case, however, something peculiar occurred. Allah sowed into the hearts of the disbelievers the fear of Him. The abrupt departure of Yunus AS made his community realize that it was a portent of their own doom. Suddenly, every man, woman and child understood the gravity of their actions and became regretful of their treatment of their Messenger.

Discarding their normal clothing, they donned hairclothes as part of their repentance, went outside the valley and unanimously prayed, beseeched and begged Allah for mercy and forgiveness. This was a momentous occasion and must have been extremely moving to watch, for never before had the hearts of a people collectively become united in such penitence.

This in itself was a trial and lesson for Yunus AS, for having left them before his mission had been completed. Allah demonstrated that while all efforts may have been made by Yunus AS, it was ultimately Allah who could open the hearts of the people to His guidance, with or without the intervention of a Messenger.

Allah shows through this story that when it comes to guiding others, it is not the ability of the person that reaps the results. If we want to propagate Islam, we must learn the correct manner and give thanks to Allah that He selected us. We should deal with others with mercy and compassion, and leave the result to Allah. The spreading of the faith has nothing to do with our own intellect or eloquence. Instead, we do our best, and perform our duties in the way demonstrated by Prophets and Messengers and instructed in Qur'an and sunnah.