Al-Qalam (The Pen)

48. Thus, wait patiently for the Command of your Lord and be not like the Companion of the Fish [Jonah], when he made haste in invoking us to inflict his people with chastisement and was entangled with the chastisement of abandonment of priorities (tark ula) when he cried out unto Lord while he was in deep sorrow.

49. Had not a Grace from his Lord reached him, he would indeed have been cast out [of the stomach of the fish] while he was to be blamed.

50. But, his Lord chose him and made him one of the righteous.

The obduracy and insensibility of the polytheists and the enemies of the Islamic faith imbued the Noble Prophet’s (S) heart at times such that he was on the verge of cursing them. God Almighty consoles His Messenger and bids him to be patient and wait for Divine Command to pave the path for his and his companions’ victory and the total defeat of his enemies.

He is asked to make no haste and be aware that the respites accorded to them are a kind of chastisement in time. Thus, the Muslims’ victory is intended by Divine Command (hukm rabbika). Some Qur’an exegetes, however, maintain that the blessed Verse is bidding the Noble Prophet (S) to be patient and remain steadfast in imparting the Divine Message.

The blessed Verse forbids the Noble Prophet (S) to be like Jonah (as) who made haste in invoking God Almighty to inflict his disobedient people with torment and was thereby entangled with the chastisement for abandoning priorities calling onto God Almighty while he was in the stomach of the fish and his heart was imbued with sorrow.

The same invocation is reflected elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an¹ :

“But he cried through the darkness, saying: 'there is no god, but You Alone.”

Thus, Jonah (Dhu ’l-Nun) called unto his Lord from the shadows saying:

“Glorified are You! Truly, I have been of the wrong doers,”

thereby confessing to having abandoned the priorities and invoking God Almighty for forgiveness.

It is worthy of note that the Arabic past participial for makthum, derived from k-th-m, denotes throat and the Arabic kathm siqa’ is used in the sense of tying the mouth of the leather bottle after its being filled.

The Arabic present participial form kathim is applied to those who suppress their intense anger and sorrow. The word kathm may also connote confinement, thus makthum may herein imply being imbued with anger and sorrow or being confined in the stomach of the fish, though the former sense seems to better fit the context.

The blessed Verse 49 is saying that had Divine Bounty and Grace not reached him, he would have been cast out of the stomach of the fish while he was worthy of being blamed. It is mentioned elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an² that finally Jonah was cast on a desert, termed as ‘ara’, while his repentance had been accepted by God Almighty and he was granted Divine Grace and he was never blameworthy.

Thus, the blessed Verse 50 is saying that his Lord chose him and made him one of the righteous and vested him once more with the obligation of guiding his people. He returned to his people and they all believed in him and were granted Divine Bounties for quite some time.