Jonah (Yunus)

Commentary

(a) Those who are anxious about the Hereafter are generally slow to accumulate worldly things as compared to those who, completely neglecting the Hereafter, rush towards worldly benefits. A lessening of worldly prosperity is the cost of being mindful of the Hereafter and material prosperity is attained at the cost of being neglectful of the Hereafter. Moreover, one who has worldly glory and worldly things in abundance, develops a superiority complex. The result is that such people lose the innate capacity to recognise and appreciate the Truth when expounded by another and to bow down before it. Had they considered as a gift from God the resources they possessed, they would have spent them in supporting the cause of Truth. But, they consider these gifts of God stemming from their own talents. So, they utilise them to suppress the Truth and in this way maintain their supremacy. ‘Whereby they lead people astray from Your path.’ means that they used the wealth and resources granted by God solely for the purpose of alienating God’s subjects from Him: instead of devoting them to the service of Truth, they utilized them in the service of falsehood. Here, for the sake of making statements more forcefully, the style of discourse has changed. Moses called upon Pharaoh and his entourage to accept the true religion, and with the help of his great talents and God’s asssistance, he made his message clear down to the last detail. In spite of this, Pharaoh and his nobles did not accept the message of Moses. At that time Moses prayed: ‘O, God, give Pharaoh and others such punishment as arrogant people are destined to receive in accordance with Your law.’ The curse of a prophet, although issuing from the mouth of God’s representative, is actually a declaration made by God Himself. (a) The aforesaid prayer of Moses was accepted. However, as recorded in some traditions, there was a span of forty years between the prayer of Moses and the destruction of Pharaoh. (at-Tafsir an-Nasafi). This means that, even after that, for a long time the same conditions, in which Moses and his companions found themselves helpless, continued to prevail, while Pharaoh and his court continued as ever to enjoy a position of pomp and glory. Under these circumstances, if a man is unaware of God’s way of allowing some respite to arrogant people, he will, in haste, give up his main task and fall a victim to disappointment and frustration.