Prophet Yunus (Jonah) a.s. And A Mother In Labour

... I knew the man was lonely and depressed and needed someone in his life. So, I began to 'witness' to him about the Lord. I read to him out of the book of Jonah in the Old Testament. I shared the story of the prophet Jonah who had been sent by the Lord to call his people to the correct way. Jonah had left his people and escaped by boat to leave his city and head out to sea. A storm came up and the ship almost capsized and the people on board threw Jonah over the side of the ship. A whale came up to the surface and grabbed Jonah, swallowed him and then went down to the bottom of the sea, where he stayed for 3 days and 3 nights. Yet because of God's Mercy, He caused the whale to rise to the surface and then spit Jonah out to return back home safely to his city of Nineveh. And the idea was that we can't really run away from our problems because we always know what we have done. And what is more, God also always knows what we have done...

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That is what was read in the previous post two days ago, of preacher Yusuf Estes, who was preaching Christianity to a Catholic Priest.

Prophet Yunus (Jonah) alaihis salam, also known as Dhan-Nun, was sent to Nineveh, in the region of Mosul, who were idolaters.
He was to teach them the worship of ALLAH.
The people disliked His interference in their way of worship, and they rejected Him.
They argued, "We and our forefathers have worshipped these gods for many years and no harm has come to us."
He tried hard to convince His people of their foolishness in idol worship and of the Goodness of ALLAH's laws, but they ignored Him.
He warned them that if they kept on with their foolishness, ALLAH's punishment would soon follow.
He reminded them that tormenting punishment would dawn on them in three days if they did not repent.

Instead of fearing ALLAH, they told Yunus a.s. that they were not afraid of His threats,
"Let it happen," they told Him.
Disheartened, Yunus a.s. said, "In that case, I will leave you to your misery!"
So saying, He left Nineveh, fearing that ALLAH's anger would soon follow.

Hardly had Yunus a.s. left the city, the skies began to change its colour.
The skies were overcast with black cloud, strong dark smoke smoking, and it was descending, until their city was covered in it, making their roofs black.
The punishment was right above their heads- when they saw that they knew for sure that the promised destruction was true.
The people of Nineveh were filled with fear by the sight that looked as if they were set to be on fire.
They recalled the destruction of the people of 'Ad, Thamud and Noah a.s.
Was theirs to be a similar fate?

They looked for their Prophet Yunus a.s., but failed to find Him.
Slowly faith seeped into their hearts.

With wives, children, livestock, and dressed in sackcloth, they all gathered on the mountain and started to beseech ALLAH for HIS Mercy and Forgiveness.
The mountains echoed with their cries.
It was a momentous hour, filled with sincere repentance.
They set apart each mother from her son, humans and animals too, so that each one longed for the other.
They humbled themselves towards GOD.
They said they believe in what the message their Prophet a.s. had brought to them. 

"Why was there not a single township (among those We warned), which believed,- so its faith should have profited it,- except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the penalty of ignominy in the life of the present, and permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while." - Surah Yunus 98

So Their LORD had Mercy on them, and Answered their call, and Lifted from them the punishment, after they humbled themselves.
ALLAH removed His wrath and Showered HIS Blessings upon them once again.
When the threatening storm was lifted, they prayed for the return of their Prophet Yunus a.s. so that he could guide them.

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Meanwhile, Yunus a.s. had boarded a small ship in the company of other passengers.
When night came, the sea suddenly changed.
A horrible storm blew, wild waves tossed the ship and sweeping over the deck, as if it were going to split the ship into pieces.
The chief crewman asked the crew to lighten the ship's heavy load.
They threw their baggage overboard, but this was not enough.

Their safety lay in reducing the weight further, so they decided among themselves to lighten their load by removing at least one person.
They will make lots with all travellers' names.
The one whose name is drawn, will be thrown into the sea.

The lot was drawn and "Yunus a.s." appeared.
The people on board the ship knew Him as the most honourable among them.
Therefore, they decided to draw a second and third lot.
Still, His name was drawn.

Prophet Yunus a.s. realised that ALLAH's Hand was in all this, for He had abandoned His mission without HIS consent.
Yunus a.s was then thrown into the dark, furious sea.
He kept mentioning ALLAH's name as He went into the raging sea and disappeared beneath the huge waves, and was swallowed by a whale (?), into its stomach.

He was in three kinds of darkness, the darkness of the animal's stomach, the night, and of the bottom of the sea.
Prophet Yunus a.s. was alert when He found He could move.
He knew that he was alive but imprisoned.

"And [remember] Him of the great fish – when He went off in wrath, thinking that WE had no power over Him! But then He cried out in the deep darkness [of His distress]: “none has the right to be worshipped but YOU (O ALLAH), Glorified (and Exalted) be YOU (above all that evil they associate with YOU), Truly, I have been of the wrong doers.”

And so WE responded unto Him and delivered Him from [His] distress: for thus do WE deliver all who have faith." - Surah Anbiya' 87 - 88

Prophet Yunus a.s.'s heart was moved by remembering ALLAH.
He continuously saying:

لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
 
“None has the right to be worshipped but YOU (O ALLAH), Glorified (and Exalted) be YOU (above all that evil they associate with YOU), Truly, I have been of the wrong doers.”

All the creatures that lived in the sea, animals and plants, heard the voice of Yunus a.s. praying, heard the celebration of ALLAH's Praises.
All these creatures began to celebrate the Praises of ALLAH in their turn, each in its own way and in its own language.

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Prophet Yunus a.s. continued praying to ALLAH, repeating this invocation.
ALLAH Almighty Knew His sincere repentance and Heard His invocation, and the whale was commanded to surface and eject the Prophet onto an island.
His body was inflamed because of the acids inside the animal's stomach.
He was ill, but endured all pain and continued to repeat his invocation to ALLAH.




لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

“None has the right to be worshipped but YOU (O ALLAH), Glorified (and Exalted) be YOU (above all that evil they associate with YOU), Truly, I have been of the wrong doers.”

Almighty ALLAH caused a vine to grow to considerable length over Him for protection.
Then HE Exalted, caused the Prophet to recover and Forgave Him.
ALLAH told Yunus a.s. that if it had not been for His praying to HIM, the Prophet would have stayed in the whale's stomach till the Day of Judgment. 

"And, verily, Jonah was one of the Messengers. When he ran to the laden ship, he agreed to cast lots and he was among the losers, Then a big fish swallowed him and he had done an act worthy of blame. Had he not been of them who glorify ALLAH, he would have indeed remained inside its belly (the fish) till the Day of Resurrection. But We cast him forth on the naked shore while he was sick and We caused a plant of gourd to grow over him. And We sent him to a hundred thousand people or even more, and they believed; so We gave them enjoyment for a while." - Surah As Saffaat 39-148

Gradually Yunus a.s. regained His strength and found His way to His hometown, Nineveh.
He was pleasantly surprised to notice the entire population welcome Him.
The change was there in His people.
They had believe in ALLAH.
Together they pray, thanking their Merciful LORD.

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It was in the 80s, 7.35pm, Maghrib time.
After a brief check, I was asked to move to the labour ward.
Then a nurse entered the room I was in.
Then, I was all alone, by myself, in the delivery room.

She asked, "Pernah dengar do'a Nabi Yunus?"
"Pernah," I said.
"Tau do'anya?" She asked again.
"Tau." I said.
She asked me to recite, and said, "Amalkan do'a tu. Jangan berenti. Terus baca."

"InsyaALLAH."

A short while later, doctor with his team were made busy.
I delivered a Baby Girl at 7.55pm.

Other mothers in the checking room were full of surprise...
I was already home by 9.30am the next day.

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After many years passed, My Late Father, who was visiting me then, said,

"Engkau tinggal tempat orang. Bapak nak pesan engkau satu barang. Pernah dengar do'a Nabi Yunus. Tau do'anya?"

"Tau." I said.
"Jangan berenti. Terus amalkan." He advised.

"Dulu pun pernah ada orang pesan."

"Sapa?" He was surprised.

"Nurse kat hospital." 

Then He was silent, and I did not probe further.

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لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

“None has the right to be worshipped but YOU (O ALLAH), Glorified (and Exalted) be YOU (above all that evil they associate with YOU), Truly, I have been of the wrong doers.” 

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Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. had said that if one recites the prayer, GOD would definitely respond to him or her. 

The prayer in the Holy Qur'an is well known, and is often invoked in time of distress.

Prophet Yunus a.s. found himself in a difficult situation; and our existence on earth is not any better

His dark night is of no different to our unknown future,

His stormy sea akin to the instability in our lives, and 

The huge whale that swallowed Him is the vast lowly desires of our souls.

We are in deep darkness, often feeling insecure.

More often, we can make no sense of what is going on around us, yet we often forget THE CREATOR of heavens and earth.

Our lowly soul can, at any time, engulf us in danger. 

The deep anxieties, the yearnings in us, of our inner self, Only THE CREATOR and the Sustainer of All Things is able to answer them.

HE is our Source of hope, the refuge of us, human beings.

Set the right of mind for effective prayer, like Prophet Yunus a.s. realised, only the Disposer of All Things could be His rescuer.
HE is the ONE and ONLY who has Power over or souls and our future.
Every thing is under HIS Control.

لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

“None has the right to be worshipped but You (O ALLAH), Glorified (and Exalted) be YOU (above all that evil they associate with YOU), Truly, I have been of the wrong doers.”

       

The Haj - The Long Awaited, Short Journey (By Train)

The area for tents in Mina has decreased by 30 percent this year due to the various ongoing construction projects, including the SR6.5 billion Mashair Railway (Makkah Metro). 
Thus it has limited the number of Haj pilgrims - 1.75 foreign and 250,000 locals - although every year, 3.5 million people would perform their Haj.

Eidul Adha will fall on November 16.

210,000 Indonesians will be performing their Haj this year, followed by the Indians and the Pakistanis, at 160,000 each, 100,300 pilgrims from Iran and 100,000 from Turkey.

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More than 150,000 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries will use the facility during the first phase as these pilgrims account for 73 percent of domestic pilgrims and it will help to withdraw about 53,000 buses and other vehicles being used by pilgrims coming by land from within the kingdom and neighboring GCC countries.
780,000 pilgrims from Iran, Turkey, Europe, Australia, US and those from non-Arab African countries will also be using the facility.

The system will enable to ferry 70,000 pilgrims between the holy places within an hour or at least 500,000 within six to eight hours.




The railway will reduce the time it takes for pilgrims to move from Arafah to Muzdalifah to five minutes on the 9th of Dzulhijjah.
It will also take pilgrims five minutes to move from Muzdalifah to Mina on the 10th.
About 20 percent of passengers will be seated and 20 percent of seats in the train will be allocated for the elderly while it moves at between 80 and 120 km/hour.

Nine stations had been constructed in Arafah, Mina and Muzdalifah, each having its own three stations.
The railway which would be operating throughout the year will have 12 carriages and each carriage holding 250 passengers.

The system would be developed further to transport three million pilgrims in the future and would bring about remarkable improvements in the transportation of pilgrims between the holy sites.

1,000 Egyptian drivers will operate the electric trains of the Mashair Railway.

These drivers are from more than 27,000 Egyptians employed specially for the Haj season, whom among them are veterinary doctors, bus drivers and butchers that had been recruited as seasonal workers - selected from 50,000 Egyptians' applicants.
This year, 80,000 pilgrims are from Egypt.

Foreign workers are imported because only a few hundred Saudis responded to advertisements that had been up for several months.

Mashair Railway will help reduce the number of vehicles on the road and ease the transportation of some 35 - 50 percent of 2010's Haj pilgrims.
The restriction on small vehicles entering Mecca and the holy sites called for stopping illegal vehicles carrying pilgrims at the first checkpoint to reduce pressure on the main checkpoint.

Studies are now underway on extending the monorail to a station on Umm Al-Qura Road, close to the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and link it with the Haramain Railway that connects the two holy cities of Mecca and Madinah.
It will also be linked to the Haramain Railway that will connect Mecca to Madinah and Jeddah.

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The Saudi government is taking all efforts to make this year's Haj to be hassle-free and smooth movement of pilgrims to the Jamrahs is top in the agenda.

Instructions are given and measures are taken to stop illegal pilgrims from squatting in public places which had been one of the key factor in previous Mina's stampede and trampling.

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The monorail project which was implemented by a group of companies led by China Railway Company saw 1,600 of Chinese employed by the company converted to Islam in September.

The Government Islamic Guidance Centre in Makkatul Mukarramah said all the converts are workers in the train project that was launched three years ago.

“The Centre held a reception for nearly 1,600 Chinese who embraced Islam and gave them token gifts on the occasion of Eid al Fitr,” Al Madina daily said.
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The Haj - Chinese Pilgrims, Then And Now

"Chinese?"
Then He was shown the escalator to the second floor, I supposed, when He nodded.

I followed Him from behind, about to escalate, when the guard in Masjidil Haram stopped me.

"Malaysia," he said as he pointed to the straight path ahead on the ground floor.

At that moment, He realised He was mistaken again as a Chinese pilgrim from China.
That was in  2005, when we did our Haj.

 


Way back in 2005, I used to see Chinese pilgrims, after their 'Isyak prayer, on the way back, would carry fresh chickens, vegetables and groceries to cook.
They passed by the place we stay at Habibah, some 300 metres from The Grand Mosque. 
They walked further uphill, not sure their living place, though.

On our part, there were a lot of daily  food wastage  as each pilgrim's portion was the same - men and women. 
To top that, not all Malaysian pilgrims have Johor taste-bud, as the food was prepared by Johoreans.

I told the personnel in charge of food distributions about giving the extras to the Chinese, but complain of not getting food is the thing they did not want to hear.

Gladly, at least after that, dinner not taken at the cut-off time was finally brought down to be distributed to the Chinese pilgrims or any passers-by.

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In 2005, the China Islamic Association established the Haj Working Office.
Aside from the establishment of the provincial religious and ethnic administrations, it also organises and serves ethnic Muslim pilgrims in China.

The number of Chinese pilgrims increased significantly, thus their presence were felt and seen, projecting its economic stability, ethnic unity and the international image of China.
With the growing number of pilgrims, China Islamic Association began to study, thus gradually improving the management system of the Chinese Haj affairs and formed the regulated, institutionalised and regular mechanism of Haj work.

On the invitation of Saudi Arabia and working together with the Saudi Haj Ministry and other supervising and service agencies, the association, summarised the service of the previous Haj and makes plans for the coming year, to ensure that the Chinese can accomplish their pilgrimage.
The association set a target of the “safe, orderly and well-conducted Haj”.

It was in 2005 too, the Chinese government, to shorten the travel duration and reduce the cost of Haj, launched the pilgrimage direct flight from Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu Province, Yinchuan and Kunming, Beijing, and Urumqi too.
In the same year, it was said, about 2,000 Kyrgyzstan places were taken by the Chinese using Kyrgyz passports

Bodies removed in Mena January 12, 2006. Photo: Reuters

In 2005 too, pilgrims tripped over luggage in Mina that caused tramplings resulting in at least 345 death - four were confirmed to be Chinese nationals. Several Chinese pilgrims were injured in the tragedy.
All the four were from Qinghai Province in western China - 62-year old Ma Taishan, 61-year old Ma Delin, 58-year old Sha Tianlu and a 49-year old woman Ru Geya.

About 20,000 Muslims gathered in Xining, capital of Northwest China's Qinghai Province prayed for the four deceased after religious leaders informed the Friday crowd of their identities.

Families of the four Chinese pilgrims, regarded such deaths predestined, were handed 50,000 yuan (US$6,200) each, from the China Islamic Association.

About 7,000 Chinese performed their Haj in 2006, 10,700 in 2007, 11,000 in 2008 and 12,700 in 2009.

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The earliest Haj visit recorded in the historical literature of the Chinese ethnic Muslims was in the middle of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) when the famous Chinese navigator Zhen He (Cheng Ho 1371–1435), led his fleet to Mecca to perform Haj during one of his seven marine adventures.

The Chinese used to follow two routes to Mecca: the sea and the land.

The land route passed through the Hexi Corridor in Gansu - the most important route from North China to Central Asia for traders - passed Xinjiang, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Egypt before crossing the Red Sea and reaching the Jeddah port.

The marine route started from Hong Kong and passed Myanmar and India until arriving at Jeddah port.

These travellers encountered difficulties in their efforts to reach Makkah for Haj - financial constrain, long journey and backward transportation means: They had to walk, carriage or horse-ride, or take another ship before reaching home.

The trip often took months, or even years that led to sufferings and death for many Chinese pilgrims.

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After the People’s Republic of China was founded and with more liberal religious freedom policy, China Islamic Association, with its missions and duties of assisting the people's government in the implementation of the policy of freedom of religion, was formed in July 1952.

The national organisation represent Muslims of all ethnic groups, unifying them in participating in the socialist construction of the motherland and to cherish it.

Its establishment placed a bridge between China's Muslims of different ethnicities.

The association's main tasks, beside The Haj Office being responsible for bringing together people of different nationalities to perform Haj,

- its Academic Department involved in implementing Islamic regulations within the context of service activities, to hold training of teaching personnel to attend the masses religious issues.

- to meet the requirements and interpretation of social development and - The Offices Operational Agencies promote Islamic associations and mosques around the country and serve the community.

- The Research Department identifies and colllects Islamic historical data and the cultural heritage beside books compilation and publication, and

- The International Department is task with relationship promotion with Muslim countries.

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The Office of Haj's team of 16 pilgrims set off for Saudi Arabia in 1952.

For some reason, they returned home after reaching Pakistan.

In 1955, the late Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai (1898 -1976), after meeting with Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia (1904 - 1975) in Bali, a 20-member Chinese team were approved of their Haj visas, thus accomplished their Haj mission.

Between 1955 and 1964, China organised 10 Haj trips to Mecca attended by altogether 132 pilgrims.

However, the trips came to a stop after the Cultural Revolution in China but the pilgrimage resumed again, after a lapse of fourteen years.

The Chinese government used to allocate part of the foreign currency quota for Haj pilgrims, even when the country was faced with foreign currencies shortage.

It facilitated visits to their relatives in Saudi Arabia too.

Despite forbidden to perform pilgrimage during the Cultural Revolution, the persistent Chinese still attended to the callings through Pakistan, until the reverse in policy in 1979.

When the 80s came, Chinese pilgrims paid their own expenses. They were responsible for their own fare, no more allocations from the Chinese government.

Despite the self-funded Haj trips, the number of Chinese pilgrims grown considerably to 2,200 in 1985.

In 1986, the government gave its support for the organised Chinese Haj team - The organisation has been incorporated into the government management tasks. 

To help Muslims perform their pilgrimage and striving towards excellent management of the pilgrims, it provided all-round service for the Chinese.

China Islamic Association sent its first Haj Team on the field, in the same year.

It helped the pilgrims with Haj visa application, ticketing, traffic, accommodation and all formalities in Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan, and Jeddah, Mecca and Madinah in Saudi Arabia as diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia was not established, then.

In 1989, China and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement to set up business offices in each other’s capital city. To facilitate the Haj for its Muslims, the Chinese government once arranged six chartered flights directly to Jeddah and helped 900 Chinese pilgrims get visas on arrival.

In July 1990, the two countries established diplomatic relations, thus laying the foundation to cooperate in politics, economy and culture and making it easier for pilgrims to perform Haj and get consular protection.

April 2001, the government set up the China Islamic Association, described as aiming to "help the spread of the Qur'an in China and oppose religious extremism". It is run by 16 religious leaders, in charge of making "a correct and authoritative interpretation" of Islamic creed.

With the awareness, in 2003, more than 3,000 people in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region alone, performed their religious call - contrary to 1988 when only 15 pilgrims made their journey.

The mostly farmers pilgrims - along with imams from some mosques - paid more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,627) for the pilgrimage.

By then, more than 45,000 Chinese had done so. Beside direct flight, they were provided with Arabic interpreters and health workers too.

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In 2004, more than 4,000 Chinese performed their Haj. 

30 Chinese pilgrims from Gansu were pushed to the ground in a stampede that took away 244 lives - five were from China.

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In 2004, the government - working with China Islamic Association - to safeguard the interests and legitimate rights of the Haj pilgrims and facilitating the trips, issued the Regulations on Religious Affairs - the first comprehensive decree regulating the religious affairs.
In accordance with the Article XI in the Regulations, “The national Islamic organisation is responsible for organising the Chinese citizens holding Islam as their belief to go on Haj overseas.”
The article conveyed two messages: Clarifies and protects the basic rights of the Muslims going on Haj, which are not be infringed on by any organisation or individual, and designated the China Islamic Association as the main body of organising, managing and serving the teams and regulates that "no other organisation or individual" can organise the Haj teams as there were still illegal organisers that deceived pilgrims and some were forced out of their hotels to the streets - The legitimate rights and interests of the pilgrims, while abroad, are not guaranteed.

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China, with official statistics recorded of around 23 million Muslims in more than 20 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, is seeing a steep jump in the number of its Haj pilgrimage.

 The last 980 Chinese pilgrims for 2010, left Beijing on Wednesday evening aboard three chartered flights headed for Saudi Arabia.
 

Gathering in front of a mosque before leaving for Mecca in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

The first 2010 chartered flight from northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to Mecca took off on October 18, marking the start of pilgrims' annual journey from China's largest Hui community.

2,250 people from Ningxia, had left by seven chartered planes from Yinchuan, Ningxia's capital 
- An official with the regional religious bureau of Ningxia, 71 personnel, including doctors and interpreters, accompanied the pilgrims, helping them in the foreign country. 
- Fourteen imams, or senior and revered Muslims, accompanied them too, to help solving religious and Haj issues. 

The pilgrims, mostly farmers, paid 30,000 yuan (US$4,412). 
Ningxia, known as China's "Muslim province" has more than one third of its population - 2.1 million - are from Hui ethnic minority.

The number of Chinese pilgrims coming for Haj is seeing the ever increasing number.
This year, around 13,500* pilgrims had their spiritual callings answered.

*** 13,500* - Many papers claim the figure of 24,000. One of them is  here.


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