In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The Story of Jonah

Young Enlightened Submitters

Once upon a time there was a righteous man who lived among bad people who did not believe in God and never did good for each other. His name was Jonah. His people were known for being mean. They were never kind or loving. They would hurt any one who would tell them about how bad they were behaving.

One day God told Jonah to go to his people and tell them to worship God alone and do good for each other and stop their bad ways. God also told him to warn them that if they do not listen to God they will be punished.

Jonah got so scared because he knows his people are mean and decided to get away from his people. He thought that if he gets away from them he would not have to follow God's commands to warn them and give them the message. He decided to take a ship and sail away.

Actualy, Jonah thought he can run away from God. Joanh found a ship leaving and he got on board. After the ship sailed to the middle of the sea, a storm came upon the ship and the sea start to be very difficult to sail. The waves were getting very high and the ship was about to turn upside down. The sailors threw Jonah overboard trying to save the ship from sinking. . As Jonah fell overboard, he was swallowed by a whale.

Jonah realized his mistake and knew for sure that he cannot run away from God. He also realized that he cannot disobey God becuase God is running evrything. If he does not obey God, everything will be difficult for him in his life and after his life. Jonah prayed and repented all the time while in the whale's belly. GOD then forgave him and he was spewed out onto the shore. Jonah was tired and exhausted, he fell asleep. When he wake up he saw a fruit tree above him giving him shade and food. He knew that God blessed him with the tree to save his life in the desert. He praised God and thanked Him and promised to go to his people and give them the message of God.

God sent Jonah to his people, they were a hundred thousand or more and they believed in God and decided to worship Him Alone, and to be righteous, caring for each other and loving each other and following God's commands. God rwarded them and made them successful and made life easy for them.

Quran

I seek refuge in God from Satan the rejected

[4:163] We have inspired you (O Muhammed), as we inspired Noah and the prophets after him. And we inspired Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, the Patriarchs, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon. And we gave David the Psalms.

[21:87-88] And Zan-Noon (Jonah, "the one with an `N' in his name"), abandoned his mission in protest, thinking that we could not control him. He ended up imploring from the darkness (of the big fish's belly): "There is no god other than You. Be You glorified. I have committed a gross sin." We responded to him, and saved him from the crisis; we thus save the believers.

[37:139-148] Jonah was one of the messengers. He escaped to the loaded ship. He rebelled and thus, he joined the losers. Consequently, the fish swallowed him, and he was the one to blame. If it were not that he resorted to meditation (on God), he would have stayed in its belly until the Day of Resurrection. We had him thrown up into the desert, exhausted. We had a tree of edible fruit grown for him. Then we sent him to a hundred thousand, or more. They did believe, and we let them enjoy this life.

[10:98] Any community that believes will surely be rewarded for believing. For example, the people of Jonah: when they believed, we relieved the humiliating retribution they had been suffering in this world, and we made them prosperous.

[68:48-50] You shall steadfastly persevere in carrying out the commands of your Lord. Do not be like (Jonah) who called from inside the fish. If it were not for his Lord's grace, he would have been ejected into the desert as a sinner. But his Lord blessed him, and made him righteous.

Quiz
  1. What did Jonah do wrong?
  2. Can you run away form God ?
  3. Jonah did not believe that his people will listen to him, was he right? Did God leave Jonah's people without sending them the message?
  4. What happens if you do not listen to God? What happens if you listen to God?
  5. God is the Most Merciful, how does Jonah's story show us that fact?
  6. FIND THESE WORDS IN THE FOLLOWING TABLE:

    JONAH, FISH, WHALE, GOD, SUBMIT,

    ACHONORP
    HQLFVEEA
    WAKINGOD
    HRJSWMAE
    AIZHKATN
    LTSUBMIT
    EYPJONAH
    WFALDTEM