There were many Prophets in the world who came from Allah (swt) to guide us, one of them is the prophet Yunus (as). I always wondered what his story is all about and what we can learn from it.

It all started in a city called Nineveh. The people of Nineveh believed in idols and had a shameless life. Prophet Yunus (as) was sent by Allah (swt) to those people to convince them to believe in Allah (swt), but they rejected him. He even told them that a severe punishment would come above them. They wouldn’t let anyone interfere with their Gods. They said “Our forefathers believed in them and no harm has come on us.” so they carried on praying to the idols. Instead of fearing Allah (swt), they told the Prophet they were not scared of the threats. The Prophet was disheartened by now, so he said that he will leave them in this misery. After saying that, he left Nineveh.

After the Prophet left Nineveh, the sky began to change colour to red and it was thundering. The people remembered what the Prophet said about the punishment and they realised they were wrong and the Prophet was right. So, they prostrated to Allah (swt) for forgiveness.

The Prophet Yunus (as) knew that Allah (swt) would punish him, because he left the city without Allah (swt)’s commands. However, he decided to travel to a different land. He set off on a boat, the sea was calm by that time. But when it turned to night, the sea was horrid, and the waves were huge. The captain told the passengers to drop their things in the sea, but it didn’t work. They had no option rather than reducing passengers, so Allah (swt) made the Prophet jump from the boat and Allah (swt) commanded a whale to swallow him.

When the Prophet was in the Whale’s belly, he realised the mistakes he had made. He was in a dark area and he was alone without food and companions. No one could see him or hear him; he was in the deepest part of the ocean. Just imagine if you were in such a situation as the Prophet, how would you feel? You would feel horrified!

The Prophet kept asking for forgiveness and mercy from Allah (swt) to leave this horrible situation. Do you know the Dua that prophet asked to Allah (swt)?

LA ILAHA ILLAH ANTA (There is none worthy of worship besides you) SUBUHANAKA (Glorification of Allah swt) INNI KUNTU MINAZ-ZALIMIN

(Surely, I’m from among the wrongdoers).

His mistakes were that he did not have hope in Allah (swt) from the beginning and did not have patience with his own people. Does anyone have patience in our family, the most likely answer is NO! When the Prophet had patience and hope in Allah (swt), Allah (swt) told the whale to go to a land and let the Prophet out. If the Prophet did not have hope in Allah (swt), then he would have been in the Whale’s belly until the Day of Judgement.

So how was the story everyone and what did you learn? You should have learnt that you have to have patience and hope in Allah (swt) in any difficult situations.

To conclude the moral of the story of Prophet Yunus (as) is that it is the same situation we are in now in the Coronavirus pandemic. The Prophet was in the Whale’s belly and we are stuck at home. As the Prophet never lost hope in Allah (swt) in the Whale’s belly, we too should never lose hope during this pandemic. If we don’t want to be stuck at home, have online classes and injure our eyes, then ask Dua from Allah (swt) and be patient. Also never forget that Allah (swt) gave this virus for a reason!!!

Aini Irfan

Year 4