be like the companion of the fish”—that is, in his lack of patience with his Lord’s decree. For the state he was forbidden to adopt is the opposite of the state he was commanded to adopt.

If it is asked, “What prevents you from understanding this as a command to bear patiently His decree governing events—what He had ordained for him—and not to be like the companion of the fish, who did not bear it patiently, but called out, overwhelmed with anguish, for it to be lifted? He did not patiently endure it or rest content under it.”

The answer is: what prevents this interpretation is that Allah, Glorified be He, praised Jonah and His other prophets for asking Him to remove their afflictions. He praised Jonah for this when He said:

“And remember the man of the fish, when he went away in anger, thinking We would not constrain him. Then he called out in the depths of darkness, ‘There is no god but You; glory be to You! I have indeed been among the wrongdoers.’ So We answered him and delivered him from distress. And thus do We deliver the believers.”

How, then, could He forbid resembling him in the very thing for which He praises and commends him? Likewise, He praised Job for saying:

“Adversity has touched me, and You are the Most Merciful of those who show mercy.”

And Jacob for saying:

“I complain of my anguish and sorrow only to Allah.”

And Moses for saying:

“My Lord, I am truly in need of whatever good You send down to me.”

The Seal of His prophets and messengers also complained to Him, saying, “O Allah, I complain to You of my weakness and my lack of resourcefulness”—and so on, to the end of the hadith.

Complaining to Him, Glorified be He, does not conflict with beautiful patience. Rather, for His servant to refrain entirely from complaining to anyone else and to direct his complaints to Him alone is itself patience.

Allah, Most High, tries His servant so that He may hear his complaint, humble entreaty and supplication.

Allah, Glorified be He, has censured those who neither beseech Him nor humble themselves before Him in times of affliction. As He, Most High, says:

“We certainly seized them with punishment, yet they neither humbled themselves before their Lord nor beseeched Him.”

The servant is too weak to put on a brave face before his Lord. Nor does the Lord, Most High, want His servant to do so. Rather, He wants him to humble himself before Him and beseech Him. He, Most High, detests those who complain about Him to His creation, but loves those who complain of their plight to Him.