Surah Yunus, Ayah 104

The Command to worship Allah Alone and rely upon Him

Allah, the Exalted, says to His Messenger, Muhammad , `Say: O mankind! If you are in doubt about the correctness of that which I have been sent with the Hanif (monotheism) religion - the religion which Allah has revealed to me -- then know that I do not worship those whom you worship besides Allah. Rather, I worship Allah alone, ascribing no partners to Him. He is the One Who causes you to die just as He gives you life. Then, unto Him is your final return. If the gods that you call upon are real, I still refuse to worship them. So call upon them and ask them to harm me, and you will see that they can bring no harm or benefit. The only One Who holds the power of harm and benefit in His Hand is Allah alone, Who has no partners.'

وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And I was commanded to be one of the believers.) 10:104 Concerning Allah's statement,

وَأَنْ أَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا

(And that you direct your face towards the Hanif religion) This means to make one's intention in worship solely for Allah alone, being a Hanif. Hanif means one who turns away from associating partners with Allah. For this reason Allah says,

وَلاَ تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكَينَ

(and not be one of the idolators. ) This statement is directly connected with the previous statement,

وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And I was commanded to be one of the believers.) Concerning His statement,

وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ اللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ

(And if Allah touches you with harm,) This verse contains the explanation that good, evil, benefit and harm only come from Allah alone and no one shares with His power over these things. Therefore, He is the One Who deserves to be worshipped alone, without ascription of partners. Concerning His statement,

وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

(And He is the Pardoning, the Merciful.) This means that He is forgiving and merciful towards those who turn to Him in repentance, regardless of what sin the person has committed. Even if the person associated a partner with Allah, verily Allah would forgive him if he repented from it.

In the seventh verse (98), the heedless deniers of truth have been admonished for their failure to make the optimum use of the time of life allowed to them. There was still time for them to leave denial and contumacy. Otherwise, an ominous time was due to come when they will make Taubah but their Taubah will not be accepted. They will say that they believed but their belief will not be welcome. And that time will be the time when the punishment of the Hereafter will appear right before their eyes at the time of death. It was in this connection that an event relating to Sayyidna Yunus (علیہ السلام) and his people was mentioned - that has good counsels and great lessons in it.

In the universe surrounding us, there are innumerable signs which prove God’s existence. Moreover, in the world, events (such as cyclones and tornadoes) occur as warnings and this should make a man serious in his state of trial, that is, in a world where man has the discretion to accept or disown the Truth. So, what man does is this: he concocts some explanations of his own for these events so as to divert attention from their true significance and thus remains deprived of guidance. When man does not understand the language of reasoning, it is as if he is waiting for the veil of testing to be removed and for God to appear to give His final verdict. But when that day comes, it will be entirely different from the present day. Today, those who accept and those who reject are apparently in the same condition. But when the Day of Judgement arrives, only those who had proved themselves to be Truth-worshippers will be at peace, while all of the others will be overwhelmed by their punishment and they will find no escape route which could give them some respite.