The Pen (Al-Qalam): (48) So be patient for your Lord's decree...

Then, after Allah (Exalted is He) strongly refuted the method of the disbelievers and warned them against their path,

He said to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): {So be patient for your Lord's decree} (Al-Qalam: 48).

There are two interpretations regarding this:

1. Be patient for your Lord's decree concerning the delay He grants them (the disbelievers) and the postponement of your victory over them.
2. Be patient for your Lord's decree in that He obligated upon you the delivery of the message, the revelation, and the performance of the mission, and enduring the harm and tribulation that result from it.

Then Allah (Exalted is He) said: {And do not be like the companion of the fish, when he called out while he was suppressed} (Al-Qalam: 48).

There are two issues concerning this verse:

The First Issue: The operative word governing {when} (idh) is understood in the meaning of His statement: {Do not be like the companion of the fish} (i.e., do not be like him) at the time of his calling out. This is because at that time, he was suppressed (makẓūm). It is as if the meaning is: Do not be suppressed.

The Second Issue: The companion of the fish is Yunus (Jonah), peace be upon him. He called out from inside the belly of the fish with his saying: {There is no god but You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers} (Al-Anbiyā’: 87).

{While he was suppressed} (wa huwa makẓūm): meaning he was filled with suppressed anger/distress, derived from kaẓam as-siqā’ (to fill a waterskin). The meaning is: May there not proceed from you what proceeded from him—namely, impatience and displeasure—lest you be afflicted with his affliction.

Then Allah (Exalted is He) said:

{If it had not been that a favor from his Lord had reached him, he would have been cast out onto the barren land while he was blameworthy} (Al-Qalam: 49).