Some thoughts over Surah Yunus. Hope it benefits…

وَقَالَ مُوسَى رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ آتَيْتَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلأهُ زِينَةً وَأَمْوَالاً فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا رَبَّنَا لِيُضِلُّواْ عَن سَبِيلِكَ رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَلاَ يُؤْمِنُواْ حَتَّى يَرَوُاْ الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ

“And Musa said: “Our Lord! You have indeed bestowed on Fir’awn and his chiefs splendour and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord, that they may lead men astray from Your Path. Our Lord! Destroy their wealth, and harden their hearts, so that they will not believe until they see the painful torment.”
[Yunus: 88]

Fawa’id:

• From the ayah, it is clear that only Musa (`alayhisalam) made the du’a for Fir’awn’s destruction. However, in the next verse, Allah `azza wa jall responds by saying: قَالَ قَدْ أُجِيبَت دَّعْوَتُكُمَا – “Verily, the invocation of you both is accepted.” It was Musa who made the du’a but in the response Harun was also included as if he too made the du’a.

This is because Harun was in the presence of Musa and according to the mufassirin: كان يؤمِّن – he was saying ‘Amin after his brother. Now, there is the existing rule: المؤمن يأخذ حكم الداعي – the Mu’ammin (one saying ‘Amin) takes the same ruling as the Da’i (one making du’a) and as Imam al-Tabari said in his tafsir of this verse: فلذلك نسبت الإجابة إليهما لأن المؤمن داع – ‘For this reason the answer came for both for them because the mu’ammin is also a da’i’. Hence, the du’a of a person becomes the du’a of another if they pronounce the Ta’min (Amin) and consequently because of this strong link, if the du’a is answered for the da’i it is also answered for the mu’ammin.

• The end of Musa’s supplication was a call for destruction. But as a lesson for Fir’awn and his mala’ (chiefs), Musa asked that this punishment take place just after they saw the indisputable signs of Allah which would leave with no choice except to believe. Allah `azza wa jall fulfilled this completely when the end came for Fir’awn and his mala’:

وَجَاوَزْنَا بِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْبَحْرَ فَأَتْبَعَهُمْ فِرْعَوْنُ وَجُنُودُهُ بَغْياً وَعَدْواً حَتَّى إِذَا أَدْرَكَهُ الْغَرَقُ قَالَ آمَنتُ أَنَّهُ لا إِلِـهَ إِلاَّ الَّذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَنَاْ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

‘And We took the Children of Israel across the sea, and Fir’aun (Pharaoh) with his hosts followed them in oppression and enmity, till when drowning overtook him, he said: “I believe that none has the right to be worshipped but He in Whom the Children of Israel had believed, and I am one of the Muslims.’

• Allah `azza wa jall says ‘حتى إذا أدركه الغرقُ’ – this literally means: ‘until the deep sea/drowning’ caught up with him.’ The فاعل (subject) here is the sea, although it’s غير عاقل (an inanimate object); and this in the Arabic language is what’s referred to as تشخيص – personification.

The sea has been made out to be a living & moving entity, almost as if Allah `azza wa jall describes it as being an army from among His armies which has been sent ahead to take down an enemy – just like one would say: أدرك الجيشُ العدوَ عند مكان ما (the army met their enemy at such and such a place etc), the sea is the force which caught up with Fir’awn and his chiefs. وَمَا يَعْلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ إِلَّا هُوَ – ‘… And no-one knows the forces of your Lord except He Himself…’ [al-Muddathir: 31] 

• Fir’awn’s disbelief blinded him. He saw how Allah saved Musa by parting the sea for him and the believers, but he forgot the ultimate qadhiyya and Divine plan: That he was destined to be drowned and that the sorcerers’ news from beforetime was to take place any moment (the news that a man from Bani Isra’il would take over his kingdom was what caused Fir’awn to begin killing every male newborn on alternate years). The reason the ayah says بغيا و عدوا (in oppression and enmity) is because these characteristics are what blind a person from the truth and encourage him to persist in wrongdoing and in seeking unachievable (and often wrong) aims. These two characteristics are what caused Fir’awn to go after the believers and hasten to his place of destruction – so it should be realized that if these characteristics persist in a person (enmity and oppression of the believers), they will also eventually cause a person’s destruction in this world and ruin their affairs in the Hereafter.

• The audacity and boldness of Fir’awn didn’t seem to halt even at the time of destruction. The ayah states his ‘shahadah’ (testimony of faith) but we find that it is devoid of the Name of Allah. He surrendered, but in his own words he surrendered to ‘the One whom Bani Isra’il believed in’ – even though he may have intended to avoid uttering the name of Allah, in effect he ended up giving Bani Isra’il full credit for being right and him being wrong.

This highlights 2 things: Firstly, when Signs come to a person, if they’ve previously lived a life of arrogance, this arrogance will not let him fully and completely acknowledge or submit to a superior being or even allow him to have the humbleness he needs to surrender to Allah `azza wa jall. And secondly, opposing the believers doesn’t do a person any good because in the end he will be forced to recognize the virtue of the believers and the correctness of the path they have taken. So every oppressor and opponent of a believing people should realize that he will one day be humbled to these ‘Ibad and forced to recognize them as being superior.

• The response of Allah `azza wa jall to Fir’awn was clear:

آلآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ

“Now? When you had refused to believe before and you were from the Mufsidin?’

• Fir’awn proclaimed the testimony of belief but his time had run out (hence: ءآلآن وقد عصيت قبل…؟) and his soul had reached the point of yaqin (certainty) – the point at which no-one’s Iman or deeds are accepted any longer. His was an Iman of اضطرار (coercion) and not إختيار (choice), and thus it was further rejected.

• It is interesting to note how Allah `azza wa jall responded. It wasn’t a direct answer, in fact it was a question – a rhetorical one: استفهام إنكاري – i.e. ‘Do you claim belief now?’ Fir’awn’s act was insulting and didn’t deserve a direct response. He claimed by saying ‘… And I am one of the Muslimin.’ But Allah responded by saying , ‘… You were from the Mufsidin.‘  – Fasad (corruption and wrong-doing) is therefore not something compatible with one’s true practice of Islam and to be a Muslim means to be a Muslih (one who rectifies things) and not a Mufsid (who corrupts).

• As is known, when Fir’awn claimed belief at this point, Jibril (`alayhisalam) stuffed the dirt from the seabed into the mouth of Fir’awn out of fear that Fir’awn would praise Allah which in turn would bring the Mercy of Allah*. This act of Jibril tells us a number of things:

1) The knowledge that Jibril had of the Greatness of Allah’s Mercy (that it can reach even the staunchest of enemies)

2) His hatred of Fir’awn, and we know this from his own statement in a hadith narrated by al-Tabarani: يا محمد ما أبغضت أحدا كبغضي لفرعون عندما قال: “ما علمت لكم من إله غيري” – ‘O Muhammad, I have never hated anyone as much as I’ve hated Fir’awn when he said (to the people): ‘I do not know of another God for you, apart from me.’ [Al-Qasas: 38]

3) The angels are aware of the slaves of Allah `azza wa jall and accordingly they love and hate for the sake of Allah.

Major point of benefit: These details of how Fir’awn decided to believe at the last minute and utter his (rejected) statement of belief are mentioned in the Qur’an here only. Nowhere else in the Qur’an is this statement of his quoted. Why? Well, perhaps this is where the name of the Surah comes into the discussion:

Surah Yunus is the first surah (in chronological order) named after a Prophet and interestingly it tells us of one major exception that took place in the history of the Da’wah of the Messengers and in the history of Mankind – an exception to the rule of disbelief and destruction. As is known, nations who belied and disbelieved in their Messengers were often destroyed, and their belief at time of punishment was not accepted nor did it benefit them in the least. But…

فَلَوْلاَ كَانَتْ قَرْيَةٌ آمَنَتْ فَنَفَعَهَا إِيمَانُهَا إِلاَّ قَوْمَ يُونُسَ لَمَّا آمَنُواْ كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمْ عَذَابَ الخِزْيِ فِي الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَمَتَّعْنَاهُمْ إِلَى حِينٍ

“And there was not a single town which believed (at the time of destruction) and whose faith saved them, except the people of Yunus (Jonah); when they believed, We removed from them the torment of disgrace in the life of the world, and permitted them enjoyment for a while.”
[Yunus: 98]

Belief at the time of halak (destruction) never benefited a person or a nation, except for the people of Yunus (`alayhisalam). The scholars differed as to why this nation was exempt from the Sunnah of perished Nations, but it’s something that happened by the Will of Allah for a wisdom that none knows except the Lord of Mankind, `azza wa jall.

Therefore, for Fir’awn, claiming to believe when he saw the descent of halak, was a lost cause. It is impossible for a disbelieving nation to be saved at the time of destruction, and the one & only exception to this Divine Law had already taken place with the people of Yunus – for they were given what everyone else (including Fir’awn) was denied; Decree thereafter is sealed upon Mankind:

يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ لاَ يَنفَعُ نَفْساً إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِن قَبْلُ أَوْ كَسَبَتْ فِي إِيمَانِهَا خَيْراً

“… The day that some of the Signs of your Lord do come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he did not believe before, nor earned good (deeds)…”
[Al-An’am: 158]

• Verses 90 and 91 are held by some scholars and linguists to be from the most eloquent verses in the Qur’an which hold the greatest form of balagha (rhetoric).

الله تعالى أعلى وأعلم

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* According to the narration:

قال جبريل: يا محمد لو رأيتني وأنا آخذ من حال البحر وأدسه في فيه مخافة أن تدركه الرحمة
Jibril said: ‘O Muhammad, if you could but see me as I took from the dust of the sea and thrust it into his mouth out of fear that Mercy would come to him.’ – Sahih (al-Tirmidhi, Ahmad)

– Some points were based on Silsilat Ta’ammulat al-Qur’an by Shaykh al-Maghamisi