The Supplication of Yunus (as)

The Supplication of Yunus (as)

The supplication of Yunus ibn Mattā —may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet and upon him— is a powerful supplication and an effective means of having one’s supplication answered. The essence of the well-known story of Yunus (as) may be summarized as follows:

He was cast into the sea and swallowed by a great fish. The sea was stormy, the night was terrifying and dark, and all hope was exhausted. It was in such a desperate situation that he made the supplication:

لاَۤ اِلٰهَ اِلاَّۤ اَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ اِنِّى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

which served as a swift means of deliverance.

The profound secret behind the power of his supplication is this:

In that distressing situation, all ordinary causes had ceased to function. Yunus (as) was in urgent need of One Who holds under His command the fish, the sea, the night, and the expanse of the heavens. The night, the sea, and the fish had together assumed a hostile stance against him. Only One Who could subdue all three at once had the power to bring him safely to the shore. Even if the whole of creation had become his servants and helpers, it would have made no difference. For causes have no real effect.

Because Yunus (as) saw with the certainty of direct witnessing that there was no refuge apart from the Causer of Causes, and because the mystery of Divine Oneness was disclosed within the light of Tawhid, through this supplication, Allah made the night, the sea, and the fish subservient to him. He transformed the belly of the fish into a submarine, and the surging sea, with its tumultuous, mountain-like waves, into a peaceful plain, a pleasant place of excursion. Moreover, He swept the sky clear of clouds and caused the moon to shine above Yunus (as) like a night-lamp. The creatures that had pressed upon him and threatened him from every side now showed him kindness from every direction. At last he reached the shore of safety and witnessed this favour of his Lord beneath the Yaqtīn Tree.

Now we are in a condition a hundred times more severe than the first condition of Yunus (as). Our night is the future. When we look toward our future, it is a hundred times darker and more terrifying than his night. Our sea is this storm-tossed globe. Every wave of this sea carries thousands of corpses with it, and is therefore a thousand times more frightening than his sea. Our nafs, which pursues base desires, is like the fish that threatens our eternal life and strives for its destruction. This fish is a thousand times more dangerous than his. For his fish could destroy only a life of a hundred years, whereas ours strives to destroy a life that lasts for hundreds of millions of years.

Since this is our true condition, we too, like Yunus (as), must turn our attention away from all causes and take refuge directly in our Lord, the Creator of causes. We too must utter:

لاَۤ اِلٰهَ اِلاَّۤ اَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ اِنِّى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

and understand at the level of ayn al-yaqīn that only He Who holds the future, the world, and our nafs under His command and authority can save us from the harms of the future, the world, and the nafs-i ammāra, which, because of our heedlessness and misguidance, have united against us.

Indeed, what cause other than the Creator of the heavens and the earth could know the most subtle and hidden desires of our heart? Who could illumine the future for us by bringing the Hereafter into existence, and save us from the countless suffocating waves of the world? No; apart from that Necessarily Existent One, nothing can in any way offer help or deliverance except by His permission and command.

Since all this is the truth, and since, as a result of his supplication, the fish served him as a vehicle and a submarine, the sea became a peaceful plain, and the night took on a pleasant appearance with its moonlight, we too must make the same supplication and say:

لاَۤ اِلٰهَ اِلاَّۤ اَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ اِنِّى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

With

لَٓا اِلٰهَ اِلَّٓا اَنْتَ

we must draw the merciful gaze of Allah toward our future; with

سُبْحَانَكَ

toward our world; and with

اِنّٖى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمٖينَ

toward our nafs, so that our future may be illumined through the light of īmān and the moonlike radiance of the Qur’an, and so that the fear and desolation of our night may be transformed into peace and familiarity.

In our world and upon our earth, where, according to an unbelieving gaze, the waves of years and centuries—through the constant cycle of life and death—carry countless corpses and cast them into non-existence, we must enter the truths of Islam, woven by the Qur’an and serving as a spiritual ship. In this way, we may sail peacefully across that sea until we reach the shore of safety and complete the duty of our life. Thus the storms and tremors of that sea—like scenes continually renewed upon cinema screens—will, instead of spreading fear and dread, caress, delight, and illumine the contemplative eye. Through that mystery and that disciplining of the Qur’an, our nafs will no longer mount and lead us; rather, it will become a mount that we ride, serving as a powerful means for the attainment of our eternal life.

In conclusion: since the human being possesses an expansive nature, he is distressed by various experiences, such as illness, earthquakes, and the great convulsion that will occur at the end of the world. Just as he fears microscopic bacteria, he also fears the comet that appears among the heavenly bodies. Just as he loves his house, he loves the wide world. And just as he cherishes his small garden, he also loves the eternal Paradise with ardent longing. Surely, the Ma‘būd, the Lord, the refuge, the deliverer, and the ultimate aim of such a human being can only be the One Who holds the entire universe—both atoms and stars—under His authority. Surely such a human being needs, in the manner of Yunus (as), to say repeatedly:

لاَۤ اِلٰهَ اِلاَّۤ اَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ اِنِّى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَٓا اِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَٓا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلٖيمُ الْحَكٖيمُ