Through the light of unity, he was able to sweep the sky’s countenance clear of all clouds, and to set the moon over his head  like a lantern. Creation that had  been pressing  and threatening him from all sides now showed him a friendly face from every direction. Thus he reached the shore of salvation, where beneath the creeping- gourd tree he observed this favour of his Lord.

Now we are in a situation one hundred times more awesome than that in which Jonah (Peace be upon him) first found himself. Our night is the future. When we look upon our future with the eye of neglect, it is a hundred times darker and more fearful than his night. Our sea  is this spinning globe. Each wave of this sea bears on it thousands of corpses, and is thus a thousand times more frightening than his sea. Our fish is the caprice of our soul which strives to shake and destroy the foundation of our eternal life. This fish is a thousand times more maleficent than his. For his fish could destroy a hundred-year lifespan, whereas ours seeks to destroy a life lasting hundreds of millions of years. This being our true state, we should in imitation of Jonah (Peace be upon him) avert ourselves from all causes and take refuge directly in the Causer of Causes, that is, our Lord and Sustainer. We should say:


“There is no god  but You, Glory be unto You! Indeed I was among the wrongdoers,” and understand with full certainty that it is only He who can repel from us the harm of the future, this world, and  caprice of our souls, united against us because of our neglect and misguidance. For the future is subject to His command, the world to His jurisdiction, and our soul to His direction.

What cause is there other than the Creator of the heavens and earth who can know the most subtle and secret thoughts of our heart; who can lighten the future for us by establishing  the hereafter; who can save us from the myriad overwhelming waves of the world? No, outside that Necessarily Existent One, there is nothing that can in any way give aid and effect salvation except by His consent and command.

This being the case, considering that as a result of his supplication, the whale became for Jonah a vehicle, or a submarine, and the sea, a peaceable plain; and the night became  gently lit  for him  by the moon,  so too, we should make the same supplication: 


" There is no god but You, Glory be unto You! Indeed I was among the wrongdoers.”

With the sentence  “There is no god but You” we draw the gaze of mercy upon our future; with the word “Glory be unto You!” we draw it upon our world; and with the phrase   “Indeed I was among the wrongdoers,” we draw it upon our soul.4  

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4  See, Bukhari, Adhan, 149; Tawhid, 9; Muslim, Dhikr, 47-8; Hudud, 23.