Al-Qalam 68:49

<h2>The Command to be Patient and to refrain from being Hasty like Yunus was</h2><p>Allah says,</p><p>فَاصْبِرْ</p><p>(So wait with patience) `O Muhammad, persevere against the harm your people cause you and their rejection. For verily, Allah will give you authority over them, and make the final victory for you and your followers in this life and the Hereafter.'</p><p>وَلاَ تَكُن كَصَـحِبِ الْحُوتِ</p><p>(and be not like the Companion of the Fish) meaning, Dhun-Nun, who was Yunus bin Matta, when he went off angry with his people. Various things happened to him, such as riding on a ship at sea, being swallowed by a (large) fish, the fish carrying him off into the ocean, being in the darkness and depth of the sea and hearing the sea's and its dwellers glorification of the Most High, the Most Able (Allah). For He (Allah) is the One Whose execution of divine decree cannot be resisted. After all of this, he (Yunus) called out from the layers of darkness,</p><p>أَن لاَّ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ أَنتَ سُبْحَـنَكَ إِنِّى كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّـلِمِينَ</p><p>("That none has the right to be worshipped but You (O Allah), Glorified (and Exalted) are You! Truly, I have been of the wrongdoers.") (21:87) Then Allah said concerning him,</p><p>فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ …

Had it not been that favour from his Lord had reached him he surely had been cast into the wilderness while he was reprobate.

Had not Grace from his Lord reached him, he would indeed have been cast off on the naked shore, in disgrace.

Had not a Grace from his Lord reached him, he would indeed have been (left in the stomach of the fish, but We forgave him), so he was cast off on the naked shore, while he was to be blamed.

Were it not for his Lord’s favor that reached him, he would have been thrown into the wilderness, fully despised.