Today you will learn about the life of one of the best people that ever lived. These were men sent by Allāh. You will learn why they were sent and what lessons we can learn from their lives. They were known as the Prophets of Allāh.
The Story of Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām)
A very long time ago, a man called Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) was sent as a Prophet to a group of people. They were worshipping idols instead of Allāh. They did so many other things which Allāh did not like.
Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) told them to worship Allāh alone and to do good.
He tried his best to make them listen to him, but they carried on the way they were. In the end, Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) warned them that Allāh will punish them. The people did not take him seriously, so Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) got angry with them and left. He told them before going that the punishment of Allāh would come in three days.
As a Prophet, Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) should have waited until Allāh told him to leave.
The Sailors
After Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) left his people, he met a group of sailors who about to leave on their boat. He decided to join them so he could travel across the sea.
At first, the weather was good and the boat was moving slowly. Suddenly, it became dark, and the waves were getting bigger and bigger. There was a big scary storm. The ship was moving from side to side.
The storm was getting worse. The people on the boat thought that this was happening because someone did something bad. They decided to throw someone out of the boat. So they wrote everyone’s name on a paper and chose someone who they would throw off. The paper that came out had Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām)’s name on it. But all the people knew that Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) was the best from among them, so they did not want to throw him out. They chose someone’s name again.
The same thing happened again and the name of Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) came out. They did it for the third time and again his name came out!
Inside the Sea
Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) realised that this was from Allāh. So he jumped off the boat himself and disappeared into the waves.
Suddenly, a big whale came and swallowed Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām). He was now inside the belly of the whale.
Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) was in three darknesses! The first was the darkness of the night. The second was the darkness of the ocean, and the third was the darkness of the belly of the whale.
In the loneliness of the dark, Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) thought about what he had done wrong. He realised that he had left his people without the order of Allāh. He asked Allāh to forgive him. He told Allāh that he was sorry.
The People of Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām)
While Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) was away, the people of his city knew that the punishment of Allāh was coming. They knew that Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) was telling the truth. They remembered what had happened to the people before them. They were scared and sorry for they had done.
The whole city came out into the desert and begged Allāh to forgive them. Allāh forgave them all and stopped the punishment from coming.
After this, the people asked Allāh to send Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) back to them so he can teach them. The finally believed in what Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) was teaching them.
In the Belly of the Whale
Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) carried on begging Allāh to forgive him. After a few days, Allāh became happy with him. Allāh told the whale to throw Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) out of the sea and back on to the land.
Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) had become very ill and weak. The sun was really bright and hot. To give protection to Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām), Allāh made trees with fruits grow around him.
The people found Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām) and they were really happy to see each other.
Lessons from the Story of Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām)
We must remember some very important lessons from the story of Yūnus (ʿalayhi s-salām):
We learn that if we make a mistake and ask Allāh to forgive us, He will always forgive us.
We learn that whenever we are in trouble, we should ask Allāh for help. Only Allāh is the one that can help us.
We learn that whenever something bad happens, we should blame ourselves for our mistakes. We should think about what we have done wrong. We should never blame Allāh or other people.
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