Tafseer of The Pen · Al-Qalam · 68:48
Then be patient for the decision of your Lord, [O Muhammad], and be not like the companion of the fish when he called out while he was distressed.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the explanation of His word, the Exalted: فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ إِذْ نَادَى وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ (48) ("So be patient with the judgement of your Lord, and be not like the companion of the fish, when he called out while he was filled with grief (48)").
The Exalted, whose mention is sublime, says to His Prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace: So be patient, O Muḥammad, with the decree of your Lord and His judgement concerning you and concerning these polytheists (mushrikīn), with respect to that which I have brought to you of this Qurʾān and this religion; and carry out what your Lord has commanded you, and let not their denial of you and their harming of you turn you away from conveying that which you have been commanded to convey.
And His word: وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ ("and be not like the companion of the fish") — that which held him captive in its belly, and that is Yūnus ibn Mattā — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — so that your Lord would punish you for neglecting to convey it, just as He punished him and confined him in its belly. إِذْ نَادَى وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ ("when he called out while he was filled with grief"). He says: when he called out while he was sorrowful; the grief had weighed heavily upon him and overwhelmed him.
As ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: إِذْ نَادَى وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ ("when he called out while he was filled with grief"), he says: sorrowful.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: مَكْظُومٌ ("filled with grief"), he said: sorrowful.
And Qatāda used to say concerning His word: وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ ("and be not like the companion of the fish"): be not like him in haste and anger.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ إِذْ نَادَى وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ ("So be patient with the judgement of your Lord, and be not like the companion of the fish, when he called out while he was filled with grief"). He says: do not be hasty as he was hasty, and do not become angry as he became angry.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, something similar.
