Surah 37. As-Saffat, Ayah 140

I.e., when he abandoned the mission with which he had been entrusted by God (see surah {21}, note [83], which gives the first part of Jonah's story), and thus, in the words of the Bible (The Book of Jonah i, 3 and 10), committed the sin of "fleeing from the presence of the Lord". In its primary significance, the infinitive noun ibaq (derived from the verb abaqa) denotes "a slave's running-away from his master"; and Jonah is spoken of as having "fled like a runaway slave" because - although he was God's message-bearer - he abandoned his task under the stress of violent anger. The subsequent mention of "the laden ship" alludes to the central, allegorical part of Jonah's story. The ship ran into a storm and was about to founder; and the mariners "said everyone to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us" (The Book of Jonah i, 7) - a procedure to which Jonah agreed.

Jonah ran away from Nineveh like a slave from captivity. He should have stuck to his post. He was hasty, and went off to take a ship. As if he could escape from Allah's Plan!