10. Yunus

Noah (Nuh) was a Prophet of the most ancient period. As long as he was silent, his community respected him, but when he came forward as a call-giver of the Truth and started telling the people what to do and what not to do, he became persona non grata in the eyes of his community, so much so that they gave him the ultimatum: ‘Either you give up this call-giving and tendering of advice or else we will not allow you to stay in this land of ours.’ Noah said that they were saying all this because they were treating his message as the affair of a human being, while this was actually God’s own concern. He said that, in order to fight with him, they would have to fight God. He further said, ‘If you don’t believe it, then what you can do is gather your companions and partners and formulate any unanimous plan against me, and then carry it out with all your might. Then you will see that your every plan against me is a failure.’ In the present world, the standard confirming the veracity of a caller for truth is that he fulfills his mission at all costs and nobody succeeds in thwarting him.

One who comes forward on behalf of God with the call for the Truth, does so always on the strength of argument. Although reasoning (argument) pertains to the intellect, man fails to realise its greatness. In spite of having no answer to it, he refuses to bow down before it. One of the considerations of the task which a messenger of Truth has to carry out is that he should not make any economic or material demands upon the community he addresses, even if this means great sacrifice on his part. This is so that the relation between them may remain that of the missionary and his addressee. It should not turn into group or material rivalry. When Noah had finally delivered his message in its entirety to his community, and still his community was adamant and arrogant, they were drowned in turbulent flood waters so that the earth was rid of them, while the Faithful (adherents of Noah) were given the opportunity to live in the world as inheritors of the earth. This, in Quranic terminology, is described as ‘khalifah.’ Before the flood, the community of Noah was the khalifah of the earth; after the flood those faithful to Noah were made the successors of the earth.

In this verse ‘transgressors’ refers to those who, once having rejected the Truth, stick to that position, make it a prestige issue and then go on continuously ignoring the Truth so that their religious knowledge and their being on the right path do not become doubtful in others’ eyes. Those who display this sort of behaviour are punished in this world by having their hearts sealed, that is, under the law of God, their psychology becomes gradually affected and finally they lose their sensitivity to the matter of Truth. The little sensitivity which they had earlier is ultimately benumbed. They do not remain capable of being anxious about Truth and untruth, or accepting the Truth rather than untruth. The history of Noah and the succeeding prophets bears testimony to this. The condition of any preacher of Truth who comes forward on behalf of God is such that he is not surrounded by outward worldly glories. The only strength he possesses is the power of reasoning. Those who are capable of recognising Truth in the language of reason are the only ones who acknowledge the preacher of Truth. Those whom the language of argument cannot influence are incapable of accepting or supporting the preacher of Truth.

Because of their arrogance, Pharaoh and the chiefs of his people did not accept the word of Moses and Aaron. They judged all matters by the standard of power and glory instead of seeing them in the light of reason. Due to this self-established standard, they considered themselves of a high status and Moses and Aaron of a lower status. This mentality prevented them from accepting the Truth as presented to them by Moses and Aaron whom they regarded as inferior persons.

Because of their arrogance, Pharaoh and the chiefs of his people did not accept the word of Moses and Aaron. They judged all matters by the standard of power and glory instead of seeing them in the light of reason. Due to this self-established standard, they considered themselves of a high status and Moses and Aaron of a lower status. This mentality prevented them from accepting the Truth as presented to them by Moses and Aaron whom they regarded as inferior persons.

When the language of reasoning was not understood by Pharaoh, he (Moses) drew his hand out of his armpit and it shone brightly. Pharaoh had no answer for this. So, he tried to hide his defeat at the hands of Moses by giving the false impression that what Moses said and did was not the Truth but a form of magic. It is true that there is some outward similarity between magic and miracles. But very soon it becomes clear that magic is simply a feat, a trick. On the contrary, a miracle is real. Magic finally proves to be magic and a miracle finally establishes itself as a miracle. On this occasion Pharaoh made two more statements calculated to divert his people from the call of Moses—one being that Moses wanted them to turn away from the religion of their ancestors. Pharaoh should have tried to understand the Message of Moses in terms of Truth and untruth. But he tested it by the ancestral and non-ancestral standard, so that he should not have to admit his wrong approach. By keeping to ancestral and non-ancestral matters, he had some justification for continuing to act as he did. The second point that Pharaoh made was that Moses and Aaron wanted to establish their supremacy in their country. This was only a political stunt to deceive the public, because in the very first instance Moses had made it clear to Pharaoh that his sole purpose was to deliver the message of God to him and thereafter to leave Egypt for the Sinai desert along with the Israelites. This being so, the allegation that Moses was planning to usurp the rule of Egypt was obviously untrue.

When the language of reasoning was not understood by Pharaoh, he (Moses) drew his hand out of his armpit and it shone brightly. Pharaoh had no answer for this. So, he tried to hide his defeat at the hands of Moses by giving the false impression that what Moses said and did was not the Truth but a form of magic. It is true that there is some outward similarity between magic and miracles. But very soon it becomes clear that magic is simply a feat, a trick. On the contrary, a miracle is real. Magic finally proves to be magic and a miracle finally establishes itself as a miracle. On this occasion Pharaoh made two more statements calculated to divert his people from the call of Moses—one being that Moses wanted them to turn away from the religion of their ancestors. Pharaoh should have tried to understand the Message of Moses in terms of Truth and untruth. But he tested it by the ancestral and non-ancestral standard, so that he should not have to admit his wrong approach. By keeping to ancestral and non-ancestral matters, he had some justification for continuing to act as he did. The second point that Pharaoh made was that Moses and Aaron wanted to establish their supremacy in their country. This was only a political stunt to deceive the public, because in the very first instance Moses had made it clear to Pharaoh that his sole purpose was to deliver the message of God to him and thereafter to leave Egypt for the Sinai desert along with the Israelites. This being so, the allegation that Moses was planning to usurp the rule of Egypt was obviously untrue.

When Pharaoh called upon expert magicians to perform, it was not because he thought that he would actually subdue Moses with their help. His action, rather than being a rational course to follow, was more the result of his over-anxiety to reject Moses. The plan to prove God’s Prophet wrong with the help of magicians was one whose failure could be foreseen. But when a man does not want to accept the truth and is bent upon rejecting it, this desire takes him to such extremes that he takes ill-advised steps to do so: he constructs a dam of tiny splinters to hold back a rising flood, though he knows full well that tiny splinters will be absolutely useless in this instance. So things happened as they were bound to happen. The magicians threw down on the ground ropes and sticks, which crept towards the people like snakes. Then Moses threw down his stick. This turned into a huge snake which started running along the ground. This ‘snake’ was not merely a snake; it was, in fact, a force of God which had appeared to establish truth as Truth and falsehood as falsehood. So, as soon as it appeared, the magicians’ ropes reverted to their original form. Thus Pharaoh was defeated in an arena he himself had chosen. But even then, Pharaoh did not accept defeat. He found words to contradict Moses as he had earlier done.

When Pharaoh called upon expert magicians to perform, it was not because he thought that he would actually subdue Moses with their help. His action, rather than being a rational course to follow, was more the result of his over-anxiety to reject Moses. The plan to prove God’s Prophet wrong with the help of magicians was one whose failure could be foreseen. But when a man does not want to accept the truth and is bent upon rejecting it, this desire takes him to such extremes that he takes ill-advised steps to do so: he constructs a dam of tiny splinters to hold back a rising flood, though he knows full well that tiny splinters will be absolutely useless in this instance. So things happened as they were bound to happen. The magicians threw down on the ground ropes and sticks, which crept towards the people like snakes. Then Moses threw down his stick. This turned into a huge snake which started running along the ground. This ‘snake’ was not merely a snake; it was, in fact, a force of God which had appeared to establish truth as Truth and falsehood as falsehood. So, as soon as it appeared, the magicians’ ropes reverted to their original form. Thus Pharaoh was defeated in an arena he himself had chosen. But even then, Pharaoh did not accept defeat. He found words to contradict Moses as he had earlier done.