Surah Yunus (Jonah) 10 : 12

وَإِذَا مَسَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ ٱلضُّرُّ دَعَانَا لِجَنۢبِهِۦٓ أَوْ قَاعِدًا أَوْ قَآئِمًا فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُ ضُرَّهُۥ مَرَّ كَأَن لَّمْ يَدْعُنَآ إِلَىٰ ضُرٍّ مَّسَّهُۥ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلْمُسْرِفِينَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

Translations

 
 Muhsin Khan
 Pickthall
 Yusuf Ali
Quran Project
And when affliction touches the human being, he calls upon Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove from him his affliction, he continues [in disobedience] as if he had never called upon Us to [remove] an affliction that touched him. Thus is made pleasing to the transgressors that which they have been doing.

1. Lessons/Guidance/Reflections/Gems

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Explanatory Note

In connection with the challenge to hasten evil, the sūrah portrays the situation of those who suffer affliction. Here we have a clear case of contradiction with people asking for evil to be brought forthwith when they are unable to endure modest affliction. Yet when such affliction is removed, they revert to those practices which caused the affliction in the first place.

It is an ingeniously drawn picture of a frequently occurring situation. Man may move along in life, committing all types of sin and excess. He pays little attention to what is permissible and what is not, as long as he is in good health and enjoying comfortable conditions. Only those who are conscious of God remember in such a situation, that after health and strength there will be illness and weakness. Affluence makes people forget and power leads to excess. But when affliction overtakes man he is worried, vulnerable and helpless. He appeals earnestly to God, unable to endure the hardship, eager to have his affliction replaced with comfort. When his appeal is granted and the affliction removed, he does not reflect on the lessons of this experience. Instead, he reverts to his old ways, heedless of the consequences.

The sūrah co-ordinates this image with the psychological condition it describes and the type of person it delineates. Thus the affliction is shown to last a long time. All such situations are described so that we have a feeling of how man stops when the energy he derives from his health, wealth or power is cut off. It is just like something moving by impetus suddenly hitting a block. When the block is removed, it dashes along. Here we have the verb, ‘goes on’, describing man’s violent movement which leaves no time for reflection, learning or gratitude.

It is this kind of nature — i.e. remembering God when suffering affliction, but not once it is removed — which makes those people who exceed their limits think that their excesses are only normal and fair.

2. Linguistic Analysis

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Frequency of Root words in this Ayat used in this Surah *


3. Surah Overview

4. Miscellaneous Information

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5. Connected/Related Ayat

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6. Frequency of the word

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7. Period of Revelation

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We learn from hadith the Surah was revealed in Makkah. But there are some people who are of the opinion that some of its verses were revealed at Madinah. This is however a superficial view. The continuity of the theme clearly shows that this does not comprise isolated verses or discourses that were revealed at different times and on different occasions. On the contrary it is from the beginning to the end a closely connected discourse which must have been revealed at one sitting. Besides this the nature of its theme is itself a clear proof that the Surah belongs to the Makkan period. [Ref: Mawdudi]

Some consider it to have been revealed after Surah al-Isra [17] and before Hud [11] – which would place it around year 11 of Prophethood.[Ref: Ibn Ashoor, Tahrir wa Tanwir]

8. Reasons for Revelation

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We have no hadith in regard to the time of its revelation but its subject matter gives clear indication that it must have been revealed during the last stage of the Prophet’s residence at Makkah. For the mode of the discourse suggests that at the time of its revelation the antagonism of the opponents of the Message had become so intense that they could not tolerate even the presence of the Prophet and his followers among themselves and that things had come to such a pass as to leave no hope that they would ever understand and accept the Message of the Prophet. This indicates that the last stage of the Prophet’s life among the people had come and the final warning like the one in this Surah had to be given. These characteristics of the discourse are clear proof that it was revealed during the last stage of the Movement at Makkah. Another thing that determines more specifically the order of the Surahs of the last stage at Makkah is the mention (or absence) of some open or covert hint about emigration (Hijrah) from Makkah. As this Surah does not contain any hint whatsoever about this it is a proof that it preceded those Surahs which contain it. Now that we have specified the time of its revelation there is no need of repeating its historical background because that has already been stated in Surah 6: al-An’am (The Grazing Livestock) and  Surah 7: al-A’raf (The Elevations).

9. Relevant Hadith

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10. Wiki Forum

Comments in this section are statements made by general users – these are not necessarily explanations of the Ayah – rather a place to share personal thoughts and stories…

11. Tafsir Zone

 


12. External Links

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