120. For details of the Prophet Yunus’s life please see Surah Yunus Note No.147 and Surah Anbia Notes Nos. 117 and 118.

121. Prophet Yunus was sent to the nation inhabiting the city of Nyneveh (Iraq) as Divine messenger. His period is said to be eight centuries before Christ. When he presented his Dawah, his nation rejected it. When he was disappointed with these people, he became upset and left the town in a huff, and probably decided to go to Palestine by sea. At the coast he found a laden boat about to sail and he boarded it with the intention of going to Yafa.

122. The ship or the boat on account of heavy weight perhaps became unsteady and the authorities decided to draw lots to lessen the weight by throwing the person drawn the lot into the sea. Perchance Prophet Yunus’s name was drawn in the lots and he was thrown into the sea.

123. Allah created such conditions that a very big fish came and swallowed him. It might have been a whale or a shark.

124. ‘Muleem’ means one who reproaches. It means that when the fish swallowed him he was sorry for his error and he was reproaching himself.

125. As is narrated in Surah Anbia, ayah No. 87, Prophet Yunus recited Allah’s praises in the belly of the fish and the words of these recitation were: (La Ilaha Illa Anta Subhanaka Inni Kuntu minaz-zalimeen – There is no god except You, Immaculate are you, verily I am the wrong-doer). From this recitation the path for his deliverance was thrown open.

It guides us to this important point that if a man is confronted with some difficulty, recitation of this auspicious ‘tasbih’ can be a means of his prayer being answered.

It may be noted that Prophet Yunus’ being among the recites of Allah’s praises does not mean that he recited this tasbih in the belly of the fish only, it means that he was one of the slaves of Allah who worship Him only and who sing His praises only. Having these attributes, he recited these auspicious words in time of his difficulty.

126. It was the auspiciousness of the words of Allah’s praises that the fish threw him out, otherwise the belly of the fish would have remained his grave till the Doomsday. ‘The words of the ayah are not clearly indicative that he would have remained alive in the belly of the fish till the Day of Resurrection, but they mean that he would have remained in the belly till that day. -And Allah only knows the mysteries of His own words.

127. And by the command of Allah the fish threw him on the bank of the sea. It was a desolate sea shore and Prophet Yunus had become very exhausted and weak.

128. Seeing his helplessness, Allah gave him support, and in that treeless land caused a gourd-tree to grow miraculously near him, which provided much needed shade for him. Thus he got the desired comfort and peace.

129. When his health was a little restored, Allah commanded him to go to the town whose population was over one lakh people, the city of Nyneveh, whose population was very large. There Prophet Yunus was sent for the second time for completing his mission of Dawah.

It has become clear that the error which was committed by Prophet Yunus was in connection with the duties of prophethood. He had not committed any sin willfully, but it was only a lapse, and that too in support of the truth. But in the sight of Allah it was an objectionable thing that he should have left the city where he was sent to convey Allah’s message, without doing his duty and completing his task. Therefore, He subjected him to a very severe test. But as soon as he realised his error, he admitted his mistake and engaged himself in reciting praises of Allah. Allah delivered him from his suffering and helped him miraculously. From this it has also become clear that a prophet being innocent does not commit sin, but being a man he is liable to commit lapses, which Allah rectifies in good time. It is only Allah’s being that does not commit any lapse. He is pure, innocent and without any blemishes.

130. When Prophet Yunus went to Nyneveh second time, his Dawah was accepted by the entire nation, and when they embraced Islam, Allah blessed them with His favour and gave them opportunities in the world to prosper.

This is the only example of the whole nation accepting the prophetic message, which can be found in the prophetic world. It has been prominently presented in the ayah No.98 of Surah Yunus.

131. The polytheists used to believe that angels were the daughters of Allah. To imagine sons or daughters for Allah is the most senseless thing. To think that Allah had daughters and they did not like to have daughters was the most absurd thought. To bring into focus this absurdity they are being asked as to why they imagine daughters for Allah when they themselves do not like to have daughters? Why do you not feel any reluctance in suggesting for Allah what you yourselves do not like? This is a taunt which exposes the absurdity of their belief.

132. How do they know that the angels are females. Were they present and eye witnesses when the angels were created?

And they have imagined kinship between Him and the jinns, and the jinns know well that they will all be brought up before Him.(AL-Quran)

133. A thing which is utterly foolish, how do you attribute it to Allah? The misguidance in the matter of belief in Allah is on account of man’s not using his common sense in the matter, and man accepts blindly whatever unreasonable thing is related to him. Quran takes great exception to this and says that in the matter of belief in God man should use his intellect and before attributing anything to him he should judge it in the balance of intellect. If the people of religions were to use their intelligence they could have avoided being misguided.

134. If you have any documentary proof, present it. Documentary proof means anything in the Divine scripture about God. There was no Divine scripture with the Arabs, nor does any Divine book has a mention of angels as females. This belief of the polytheists was based neither on any documentary evidence nor on any intelligent argument. It was merely an imaginary thing, attributed to Allah. The belief of the polytheists of India about goddesses is also false and imaginary, for in its support there is neither any intelligent argument nor any documentary evidence.

135. Some Arabian tribes had this belief about the jinns that they had some kinship with Allah. Refuting this it is stated here that the jinns (i.e. satan jinns) will be hauled up before Allah on the Day of Resurrection, and they also know of this fate, but these polytheists give them divine position.

136. This is a parenthetical sentence which refutes the belief of the polytheists.

137. It is related to the above ayah in which the hauling up of the jinns on the Day of Resurrection has been stated. This exception means that the selected and sincere slaves of Allah among the jinns will not be brought up before Allah for punishment. Among the jinns the majority is of the satan jinns, but there are also righteous and virtuous slaves of Allah.

138. The address is to the polytheists.

139. That is: You can mislead only those, and your idols too mislead only those, who have decided to take the path to the Hell. The sincere and selected slaves of Allah are not affected by this.

140. This is the statement of the angels, which Allah has quoted in the Quran. In the beginning of the Surah what was stated about the angels, the same statement is narrated here in their own words.

The angels said that their place is fixed, that is the duty which is to be performed by an angel, the same duty will continue to be performed by him in connection with the worship as well as in obeying other commands. It means that they are Allah’s obedient slaves and whatever duty is entrusted to any one of them he is busy performing it.

From this statement of the angels this idea of the polytheists is refuted that they are the daughters of God and that they have some say in running the affairs of the world.

141. That is: We are those who stand in ranks, in worshipping Allah. Standing in ranks in worship is the attribute of the angels which is very much liked by Allah. For this reason Islam has laid down that in the salat during congregation worshippers should stand in ranks (rows) in straight lines, five times daily.

142. We are busy reciting praises of Allah. To recite Allah’s praises or His immaculateness (tasbeeh) is a high ranking form of worship, in which angels are busy all the time. Here the statement of the angels is over.

143. That is: The polytheists of Makkah used to say this.

144. As the Jews and the Christians received Divine scriptures, if we would have also received such a divine book.

145. Their claim was that had they received any divine scripture they would have become sincere slaves of Allah, but when they got this Divine Book (Quran), they denied it.

146. That is: Very soon they will know what is in store for them or what will be their fate.

147. That is: This promise of Allah has been made to the Divine messengers long before.

148. Whatever trials and tribulations a Divine messenger has to pass through, Allah’s help is only with him. Therefore, Rasool’s say always gains the day, and only he gets the honour and triumph. His arguments win over the heart and mind, and when the show down between the Truth and Falsehood takes place, then the Truth which is always with the messenger comes out victorious.

149. Allah has termed people of faith who support the prophet as his army and said that ultimately this army will only be victorious. The history of prophets confirms this. The Bani Israil were successful in opposition to Firaun. In the case of other messengers also similar results were obtained, their opponents were destroyed and people of faith only were saved, and finally they came to power. This statement of the Quran proved to be true in the case of the Arabian Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam. The army of the people of faith ultimately triumphed and in the land of Arabia the rule of Islam was established.

150. That is: When they are bent on denying, leave them to their condition for some time.

151. That is: Wait for the consequences.

152. Very soon they will have to face their adverse fate. Accordingly soon after the series of the battles with Muslims began, the disbelievers were put to death by Muslims, to such an extent that they were totally destroyed.

153. The battle of Badr was also fought in the morning, when the swords of Muslims fell on the disbelievers like a divine punishment, and the victory of Makkah also took place in the morning, when the Prophet entered Makkah triumphantly with an army of ten thousand people, and he took the possession of Ka’ba and stayed in the Sacred Mosque (Masjid-e-Haram). From there he issued commands to arrest and or kill the disbelievers. Thus the divine punishment descended on the people of Makkah in the form of the swords of Muslims. And this morning proved to be very inauspicious for the disbelievers. Thus the statement of Quran proved to be true, word by word.

154 . “ Rabbul Iz z at” mea ns L ord of Power, Victorious, and Exalted and also Lord of Majesty.

155 . Tha t is: A bove a l l the d ef ects, deficiencies and weaknesses which the polytheists attribute to him.

156. For all prophets there is security and peace with Allah. They are safe from every kind of trouble, and they are worthy of being praised by the people of faith and sending of good wishes and blessings for them. Salamun Alal Mursaleen. (peace be upon the Divine Messengers.)

157. Hints at the point that Allah is worthy of praises and thanks for the manner in which He helped His messengers and elevated their ranks according to the tests towhich they were subjected. For the explanation of ‘Hamd’ (Praise) please see Surah Fatiha, Note No.2.