The First Flash- The supplication of Prophet Yunus- by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1873- 1960)

The supplication of Hadhrat Yunus ibn Matta (Peace be upon our Prophet and upon him) is amost powerful supplication, a most effective means for obtaining answer to prayer. The gist of the celebrated story of Jonah (Peace be upon him) is as follows:He was cast into the sea and swallowed by a large fish. The sea was stormy, the night turbulentand dark, and hope exhausted. But it was while he was in such a situation that his supplication:
There is no god other than You, Glory be unto You! Indeed, I was among the wrongdoers
acted for him as a swift means of salvation. The secret of his supplication’s power was this:In that situation all causes were suspended, for Jonah needed to save him one whose commandshould constrain the whale and the sea, and the night and the sky. The night, the sea, and thewhale were united against him. Only one whose command might subdue all three of these could bring him forth on the strand of salvation. Even if the entirety of creation had become hisservants and helpers, it would have been of no avail. For causes have no effect. Since Jonah sawwith the eye of certainty that there was no refuge other than the Causer of Causes, and unfoldedto him was the meaning of Divine Oneness within the light of Divine Unity, his supplication wasable suddenly to subdue the night, the sea, and the whale. Through the light of Divine Unity hewas able to transform the belly of the whale into a submarine; and the surging sea, which in itsawesomeness resembled an erupting volcano, into a peaceable plain, a pleasant place of excursion. 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 friendlyface from every direction. Thus he reached the shore of salvation, where beneath the creeping-gourd tree he observed this favour of his Sustainer. Now we are in a situation one hundred times more awesome than that in which Jonah (Uponwhom be peace) first found himself. Our night is the future. When we look upon our future withthe eye of neglect, it is a hundred times darker and more fearful than his night. Our sea is thisspinning globe. Each wave of this sea bears on it thousands of corpses, and is thus a thousandtimes more frightening than his sea. Our fish is the caprice of our soul which strives to shake anddestroy 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 lastinghundreds of millions of years. This being our true state, we should in imitation of Jonah (Uponwhom be peace) avert ourselves from all causes and take refuge directly in the Causer of Causes,that is, our Sustainer. We should say: There is no god but You, Glory be unto You! Indeed I was among the wrongdoers,

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