Bismillāh.
فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلَا تَكُن كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ إِذْ نَادَىٰ وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ
So, submit patiently to the judgement of your Lord, and do not be like the Man of the Fish who called out as he choked with grief.
(Sūrat al-Qalam No. 68, Āyat 48)
One of the Prophets of Allah whose story is briefly referred to in different chapters of the Quran and further expounded upon in narrations, is Prophet Yūnus the son of Mattā (a). He is known as Jonah the son of Ammittai in English, and one of the books of the Old Testament is dedicated to his story. Unsurprisingly, the Judeo-Christian account of his story differs in many ways from the Islamic account.
Prophet Yūnus ‘alayhis-salām was from the descendants of Prophet Ya‘qūb ‘alayhis-salām, and hence he is one of the many Prophets of the Banū Israel mentioned in the Noble Quran. In some verses he is referred to by name, whereas in other verses such as the one above, he is called the companion of the whale or the man of the fish (sāhib al-hūt or dhūn-nūn) because he was swallowed by a whale and remained in its belly for three days.
Yūnus (a) had been sent to a large city called Nineveh. According to Quranic verse 37:147, the city had a population of over one hundred thousand people. For thirty-three years he preached to the idol-worshipping people of this city but during this time only two people accepted his message. Finally, his patience wore thin, and he asked God to send down his worst punishment upon the people of Nineveh. After Allah informed him that His punishment was nigh, Yūnus (a) abandoned his people without receiving express permission to do so.
As with all prophets of God, Yūnus (a) was infallible. By becoming impatient with his community, it was not the case that he shirked one of his duties or that he acted for the sake of anything other than Allah’s pleasure. This discussion is something clearly proven by both intellect and tradition in books of Shī‘ī theology. Nonetheless, amongst these infallible prophets some have a higher station than others:
تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ
These are the apostles, some of whom We gave an advantage over others (Q 2:253)
For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (s) is being told in the verse quoted at the beginning to not be like Yūnus (a), rather to go beyond his level and exhibit more patience than him. His actions were good, but even better actions could have been performed. Yūnus (a) could have prayed for his community’s guidance rather than their punishment. He could have remained amongst his community patiently bearing their abuse and continuing to perform his duty. In such verses the Quran is not just telling the Messenger of Allah (s) but also all mankind to strive to attain the highest levels of perfection. This is an important lesson for us, we should not suffice with the level we are at; we must always seek to attain higher levels of perfection. The journey to God is infinite and regardless of how much knowledge we attain, how much we worship, or how much service to mankind we perform, it is still insignificant.
We pray to Allah that He allows us to wake up from the heedlessness of our current state and spend the remaining short days of our life in His servitude.
Sources: Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī, Sīreh-ye Payambarān dar Qur’ān (Tafsīr-e Mawdu’ī, vol. 7), Rizwan Arastu, God’s Emissaries Adam to Jesus.