50 Preface فَاجتَباهُ رَبُّهُ فَجَعَلَهُ مِنَ الصّالِحينَYusuf AliThus did his Lord1 choose him and make him of the Company of the Righteous.2Jonah was chosen by God’s Grace and Mercy to be God’s Prophet to Nineveh. If in his human frailty he lost a little patience, he suffered his punishment, but his true and sincere repentance and recognition of God’s goodness and mercy restored him from his physical and mental distress, and from the obscuration of the spiritual Light in him.Cf. 4:69, n. 586. In the beautiful Fellowship of the Righteous there is room for all, of every grade of spiritual advancement, from the highest to the most ordinary. But, as in democratic politics every citizen’s rights and status have complete recognition, so, in the spiritual Fellowship, the badge of Righteousness is the bond, even though there may be higher degrees of knowledge or experience.