Repentance of the people of Younus (A.S)

Sa’eed bin Jubayr and a group of interpreters say when mentioning the story of the people of Prophet Younus (Jonah) (s), ‘The people of Prophet Younus (s) lived in a land called Nineveh in Mosul (in Iraq). They abstained from believing in Prophet Younus (s) who had invited them to believe in Allah and monotheism and to refrain from committing sins. He invited them for thirty-three years but no one believed in him except two persons; one was called “Robil” and the other “Tanokha”. Robil was from the house of prophethood, knowledge and wisdom and he had been a companion of Prophet Younus (s) since too long. Tanokha was a weak man. He was ascetic and a sincere worshipper. He was a woodcutter carrying firewood on his head and living out of his toils. When Prophet Younus (s) saw that his people did not respond to him and did not believe, he became angry and complained that to Allah. He said, ‘O my Lord, You have sent me to my people while I was thirty years old and I kept on inviting them to believe in You and in Your mission and I threatened them of Your wrath and punishment but they disbelieved in me, denied my prophethood and disparaged my mission. They threatened me and I feared that they would kill me. O my Lord, inflict your torment on them for they are unbelieving people.’ Allah revealed to Prophet Younus (s), ‘There are fetuses, children, old men, old women and weak persons among your people and I am the Fair Judge. My mercy has preceded My wrath. I do not punish the children for the sins of the adults of your people. I like to be patient with them and to wait for their repentance. I have sent you to your people to be a keeper to them; to pity them with mercy, to treat them with the magnanimity of prophethood, to be patient to them with the prudence of the mission and to be to them as the curing doctor who fully knows their medicines. Then you asked me out of your (misestimation) to bring down torment upon them out of your impatience. My slave Noah was more patient with his people, better in his companionship with them and more serious in excusing them than you so I became angry for his anger and responded to him when he called on Me.’

Prophet Younus (s) said, ‘O my Lord, I have become angry with them for the sake of You and I prayed You against them because they disobeyed You. By Your glory, I will not be kind to them at all and I will not look at them with pity after they have disbelieved in me and denied my prophethood. My Lord, bring down Your torment upon them for they do not believe forever.’ Allah the Almighty said, ‘O Younus, I respond to your request. I will afflict them with torment. A severe torment will come to them on Wednesday, the middle of Shawwal after the sunshine. Tell them of that!’

Robil stayed with his people in their village. When the month of Shawwal came, Robil cried loudly at the top of the mountain, ‘I am Robil, who is kind and merciful to you. This is the Month of Shawwal. It has come to you and your prophet, the messenger of your Lord Younus has told you that Allah has revealed to him that torment would afflict you on Friday the middle of Shawwal after the sunshine and Allah will not fail in His promise. See what you will do!’

They said to him, ‘O Robil, what do advise us to do? You are knowing and wise and you are kind and merciful to us.’ Robil said to them, ‘I see that when the dawn of Wednesday comes, you should separate the children from their mothers and begin crying and weeping, the young and old of you. Pray Allah, repent, turn to Him and say “Our Lord, we have been unjust to ourselves and we have disbelieved in Your prophet. We have turned to You and repented of our sins. If You do not forgive us, surely we will be among the losers and the punished. O You, the most Merciful of the merciful ones, Accept our repentance!’

All the people agreed to do as Robil had advised them. When Wednesday came, Robil left the village to where he could hear their cries. When the sun shone, a yellow, dark and terrible storm blew with roaring and rustling. When the people saw that, they began crying and clamoring so loudly. They repented and asked Allah to forgive them. The children began crying wanting their mothers. When it was noon and the doors of the Heaven were opened and the wrath of the Lord calmed down, the Merciful Lord had mercy upon them, responded to their prayers, accepted their repentance and forgave their sins. When the people of Younus saw that the torment had been turned away from them, they came down from the tops of mountains towards their houses. They joined their women and children and thanked Allah for turning His wrath away from them.[1]

Repentance of the young prisoner

Sheikh as-Sadooq mentions that Imam as-Sadiq (s) has said, ‘One some prisoners of war had been brought to the Prophet (s). He ordered them to be killed except one of them. The prisoner said to the Prophet (s), ‘O Muhammad, may my father and mother die for you! Why did you set me free from among the others?’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘Gabriel has told me from Allah the Almighty that you have had five aspects that Allah and His messenger like; jealousy of your women, generosity, good manners, truthfulness and courage.’ When the man heard this, he became a Muslim and he became a sincere believer. He fought with the Prophet (s) so bravely until he was martyred.[2]

Repentance of one of tyrants’ assistants

Abdullah bin Hammad narrates that Ali bin Abu Hamza has said, ‘I had a friend from the clerks of the Umayyads. One day he asked me to take permission to him to come to Abu Abdullah (Imam as-Sadiq) (s). I asked permission and Abu Abdullah (s) permitted him to come. When he came in, he greeted Abu Abdullah (s) and sat down. Then he said, ‘May I die for you! I have worked in the divan of the Umayyads and I have got much money instead. I was indifferent to its legality or illegality.’ Abu Abdullah (s) said, ‘If the Umayyads had not found people writing to them (clerks), collecting taxes, fighting for them and attending their congregational prayers, they would have not extorted our right. And if the people had left them alone, they would have not found anything except what they had had in their hands.’ The clerk said, ‘Do I have an exit from this situation?’ Imam as-Sadiq (s) said to him, ‘Will you do as I say to you?’ He said, ‘Yes, I will.’ Abu Abdullah (s) said to him, ‘Get rid of all what you have got from their divan. Whoever you know, pay his money back to him and whoever you do not know, give his money as charity and I assure you that I will intercede for you with Allah to take you to Paradise.’ The clerk kept silent long and then said, ‘May I die for you! I will do!’

Ibn Abu Hamza added, ‘The young man (the clerk) went back with us to Kufa. He did not leave anything of his properties unless he got rid of it even his clothes which were on him. I collected some money for him. We bought him some cloths and gave him some money to spend on his living. After some months he fell ill. We visited him from time to time. One day I visited him but he was dying. He opened his eyes and said to me, ‘O Ali, your friend (imam as-Sadiq) has carried out his promise to me.’ Then he died and we prepared the affairs of his funerals. Later on, I went to Abu Abdullah (s). When he saw me, he said, ‘O Ali, we have carried out our promise to your friend (the clerk).’ I said, ‘You are right, may I die for you! By Allah, this is what he has said to me before his death.’[3]

Wonderful repentance

One day I went to perform preaching in the city of Bandar Abbas (south Iran) which was the centre of the governorate of Hormozgan. It was the anniversary of the birth of Imam al-Mehdi (s) on that day and the night was of Friday. It was decided that we should recite Du’a[4] Komayl at the end of the meeting.

As I have learnt Du’a Komayl by heart, so I could recite it even in the darkness. The meeting had special spiritual environment and the morale of the attendants was high.

A few moments before reciting Du’a Komayl by heart, a young man, who was about twenty years old and whom I had not seen before, gave me a letter in my hand.

After Du’a Komayl had finished and I went home, I opened the letter and read it. I wondered too much at it. It was written in it: “I was not from the people who attended such meetings. Last year about midday, one of my friends told me by the telephone that he would come to me at four o’clock in the afternoon to go together to a certain place. He came to me and while we were in the car, I asked him, ‘Where are you going to?’ He said, ‘My parents have traveled for some days and our house is empty now. I want us to be alone for sometime. I have invited two beautiful young women. They are in the house now and ready for us to sleep with them. He took me to one of the rooms and he went to another. When I came into the room and wanted to sleep with the young woman, I remembered that I had read a poster concerning your program of preaching where it had been written in it “Du’a Komayl in the night of Friday”. I knew that this Dua’ had been said by Ameerul Mo’mineen (s) but I had never attended such meetings before. During that satanic state I felt too shy of Ameerul Mo’mineen (s) where it had overcome me until I hated myself. I got up, went towards the door and fled from the house. I was still confused wandering in the streets until the night came. I came to the mosque and sat behind you immediately in the darkness of the mosque. I began crying ashamedly since the beginning of the Du’a until its end. I prayed Allah to prepare the affairs of marriage for me to save me from being polluted with sins. It was no more than two or three months after that when I got married to a girl from a noble and honorable family after a suggestion offered by my father and mother. I had not seen a beautiful one like her at all. Now I feel that this grace is due to the blessing of refraining from that sin and due to participating in the Du’a of Ameerul Mo’mineen (s). Since the beginning of this year I have attended all the meetings and I have written this letter to you to know the many advantages of such meetings especially for the youth.”

Repentance due to a meaningful sentence

One day one of the students of Allama Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi said to allama al-Majlisi, ‘I have a neighbor polluted with sins. Most nights he holds meetings of amusement and diversion with his friends in his house which bother me and the other neighbors. He is proud and conceited and I fear to enjoin him to do the right and to forbid him from the wrong and I cannot change my house with another.’

Allama Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi said to him, ‘When you invite him to have dinner with you one night, invite me too so that I can talk to him and that Allah may have mercy on him and make him refrain and repent of his bad doings.’

The faithful man invited his proud neighbor and he accepted his invitation. Allama Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi attended the meeting too. Some moments of silence passed and suddenly the proud man, who was astonished at seeing Allama al-Majlisi there, said addressing Allama al-Majlisi, ‘What do you say about this life, clergymen?’ Allama al-Majlisi said, ‘Would you please tell us what you yourselves say about this life and what you want?’ He said, ‘I and my likes have too much speech about it that we say and keep to. For example if one eats from another one’s food, he must observe the right of that food. He should not betray him (the man who gives the food) at all.’ Allama al-Majlisi asked him, ‘How old are you?’ He said, ‘Sixty years.’ Al-Majlisi said to him, ‘During these sixty years have you not eaten from the blessings and food of Allah? Have you observed His right even for one time?’ The proud man woke up of his inadvertence. He bowed his head ashamedly and his tears fell down. He left the meeting but he could not sleep until the morning. In the morning he came to his neighbor and asked him about the religious scholar who was in his house last night. His neighbor said to him, ‘He was Allama Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi’ and gave his address. He went to allama al-Majlisi and repented before him. Then he became one of the benevolent and virtuous people of that time.

Could you change the fate?

Allama Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi was interested too much in the matter of enjoining the right, forbidding the wrong and refraining from sins. In his quarter some proud, dissolute and low persons lived. They did not refrain from drinking wine, gambling and holding meetings of amusement, diversion and the likes.

Allama al-Majlisi often enjoined them to do the right, forbade them from doing the wrong and advised them to abstain from sins and to worship Allah. But this behavior of al-Majlisi made the chief of these villains and his men angry; they waited for an opportunity to get rid of him.

One day they met one of al-Majlisi’s students. He was good-hearted, sincere and pure. They said to him, ‘Empty your house of your wife and children on the night of Friday, serve us dinner and invite Allama al-Majlisi too. Beware that no one should know about this meeting; otherwise it will be bad for you!’

Everything was alright and al-Majlisi thought that this sincere student had invited him to dinner.

The villain persons had agreed to gather in the house of that man at the beginning of the night and to bring with them a female dancer. When Allama al-Majlisi would come and the table would be served, the dancer would appear with a mandolin and a tambourine in her hands and she would dance before the all. Then one of the villains would go to tell the neighbors at the same time so that they would come to see by themselves al-Majlisi in such a bad meeting. They would do that in order to dishonor al-Majlisi before people and thus they would get rid of him.

When al-Majlisi came into the house, he did not see the owner of the house but instead he found a group of the villain and mean persons sitting in the room. He perceived, due to his insight, that there was a plot against him. Before no long a female dancer appeared from behind the curtains with a mandolin and a tambourine in her hands. She began dancing and singing. She sang this verse of poetry:

“Do not leave me alone in the place of the virtuous,

if you do not accept save with that, then change your fate!”

Al-Majlisi, who was a man of Gnosticism and love to the Lord, began crying and repeating the saying of the singer (dancer) while turning sincerely to Allah the Almighty: “If You do not accept save with that, then change Your fate!”

Suddenly the dancer covered her face and hair, threw the mandolin and the tambourine to the ground and prostrated herself before Allah with tears and she said, ‘O my Lord, I have repented and turned to You…’ The others woke up from their inadvertence and began crying when they saw this scene. They bowed to kiss the hand of that old man (al-Majlisi) and they repented of all their sins.