Tafsir of Yunus 10:98

This is a new statement initiated to establish the reason for their destruction. The particle lawlā here is for incitement (taḥḍīḍ), containing a meaning of reproach (tawbīkh), much like the usage in the saying of Al-Farazdaq:

You count the slaughtering of noble camels as your greatest glory, O sons of Ḍawṭarā, [why not] the shielded knight?

Evidence for this is the reading attributed to Ubayy and Ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allah be pleased with them both): “Fahallā” (Why did not...). The reproach—as reported from Al-Sifāqisī—is for abandoning the faith mentioned after it. Kāna (was) is incomplete (nāqiṣah), as chosen by some investigators. The word qaryah (town/people) is its noun, the sentence āmanat (believed) is its predicate, and the phrase fanafa‘ahā īmānuhā (so its faith benefited it) is conjoined to the predicate.

The meaning is: "Why was there no town among those that were destroyed by total annihilation that believed before witnessing the torment, and did not delay its faith until the moment of witnessing it—just as Pharaoh delayed his faith—so that its faith would have benefited it, whereby Allah, the Exalted, would have accepted it and removed the torment from them by its virtue?"

Al-Samīn and others held that kāna is complete (tāmmah), qaryah is its subject, the sentence āmanat is an adjective, and nafa‘ahā is conjoined to it. This view is challenged by the objection that it would necessitate the incitement and reproach to be regarding [the mere] existence [of a town], which is not the intended meaning. It was answered that there is no obstacle to the incitement being for the attribute [of believing]. In that case, there is no flaw in what was said. Regardless, "town" refers to its people by way of a common metonymy, and the context here is too evident to be hidden.

As for the words of the Blessed and Exalted, {illā qawma Yūnus} (except for the people of Jonah), it is a disjunctive exception (istithnā’ munqaṭi‘), as stated by Sibawayh, Al-Zajjāj, Al-Kisā’ī, and the majority of grammarians. That is: "But the people of Jonah, when they believed—at the time they saw the signs of the torment and did not delay it until its arrival—We removed from them the torment of disgrace," meaning humiliation and abasement, "in the worldly life after it had overshadowed them and was about to descend upon them, and We let them enjoy life" after the removal of the torment "for a while," meaning a duration of time decreed for them in the knowledge of Allah the Exalted.

It is reported from Ibn ‘Abbās that it means "until the Day of Resurrection"; thus, they are alive today, but Allah the Exalted has concealed them from people, similar to what is said about Al-Khiḍr (peace be upon him). I have seen in some books what conforms to this, though it mentions therein that they will appear in the days of the Mahdī and be among his supporters, then die. All of this lacks authenticity.

Others have said the exception is conjunctive (muttaṣil), and by "town" is meant its inhabitants who were on the verge of destruction, or the disobedient among them. They consider the negation implied by the incitement—which is also suggestive of a command—as its basis; hence, they treat it accordingly. However, it is not correct to consider it [conjunctive] while assuming the negation, for it would necessitate that the faith of the exception [the people of Jonah] was not requested, which is not only undesired but invalid. Others claimed there is no obstacle to this on that assumption, because the people of the towns were incited toward beneficial faith, and the people of Jonah were not incited toward it because they had [already] believed. Discernment, however, rejects anything but the consideration of the negation itself while regarding it as conjunctive, making His saying {lammā āmanū} a new beginning to explain the benefit of their faith.

It was recited {illā qawmu Yūnus} in the nominative case as a substitute (badal) for qaryah (when intended as its inhabitants). This supports the view that it is conjunctive and that negation is considered, as a substitute cannot occur in an affirmative sentence. Some explained this reading by saying illā (except) has the meaning of ghayr (other than), acting as an adjective whose declension appears on what follows, as in the statement:

Every brother is to be parted from his brother, by the life of your father, except the two stars of the Lesser Bear.

The manifest aspect of their discussion is that the exception is absolute in its relation to the "town." Al-Zamakhsharī held that it is from the "town" [the noun] and not from the pronoun in āmanat (it believed), reasoning that the disjunctive [exception] has the meaning of "but," so it intervenes between two disparate statements and does not rely on what is not self-sustaining. Also, the description—meaning faith—has no place in the exception-from [the whole]. If it is [conjunctive], it is an exception from the pronoun in terms of meaning, [or it may be treated as] being from the pronoun in the wording, or from the "town," since there is no difference in your saying, "The people were departing except Zayd," between making it from the noun or the pronoun in the predicate, for the ruling is completed by the predicate. The difference only exists in instances like, "I struck the people, the scholars, except Zayd."

He then said: The counterpart to this in both facets is the words of the Almighty: {We were sent to a criminal people, except the family of Lot}. The facet of this is apparent. In Al-Kashshāf, it is stated that the aspect of similarity lies in the difference of the meaning of "destruction" in both facets, just as the meaning of "being sent" differs there in both facets. It is as if he meant by destruction the condition taken in his saying, "Why was there no town from the towns that We destroyed," so contemplate this.

In Yūnus, there are [linguistic] variations regarding the nūn—voweling it with ḍammah, fatḥah, or kasrah, and pronouncing it with or without a hamzah. The frequently recited (mutawātir) is the ḍammah without a hamzah.

The story of these people, as reported from more than one source, is that Jonah (peace be upon him) was sent to the people of Nineveh in the land of Mosul. They were people of disbelief and idolatry, so he called them to faith in Allah alone and to abandon what they worshipped of idols. They refused him and called him a liar. He informed them that the torment would overtake them in three days. When the third night came, he left them in the middle of the night. When morning came, the torment covered them; it was above their heads, with nothing between them and it but about two-thirds of a mile.

It is reported that the sky became covered with dark, terrifying clouds that smoked with intense smoke, then descended until it covered their city, and their rooftops became black. When they became certain of destruction, they sought their Prophet but did not find him. They went out into the desert themselves—men, women, children, and cattle. They wore sackcloth, displayed faith and repentance, and separated mothers from their offspring among humans and animals, until some cried out to others. Voices rose, they all clamored and beseeched Him, the Exalted, and they were sincere in their intentions. Their Lord had mercy on them, answered their prayer, and removed the torment that had descended upon them. This was on the day of ‘Āshūrā’, and it was a Friday.

Ibn Mas‘ūd said: Part of their repentance was that they returned injustices among themselves, such that a man would go to a stone upon which he had built the foundation of his house, remove it, and return it to its owner. In a narration from Qatādah, it is mentioned that they cried out to Allah the Exalted for forty mornings until what had descended upon them was removed.

Aḥmad in Al-Zuhd, Ibn Jarīr, and others narrated from Ibn Ghaylān who said: When the torment covered the people of Jonah, they went to an old man who was one of the remaining scholars among them and said, "What do you see?" He said: "Say: 'O Living One, when there is no living one; O Living One, who gives life to the dead; O Living One, there is no god but You.'" They said it, and the torment was removed from them. Al-Fuḍayl ibn ‘Iyāḍ said: They said, "O Allah, our sins have become great and momentous, and You are greater and more momentous. Do to us what You are worthy of, and do not do to us what we are worthy of."

Jonah (peace be upon him), when he left them, sat on the road inquiring about the news, as has been narrated in a marfū‘ hadith. A passerby came to him, and he asked, "What did the people of Jonah do?" He told him what they had done. He said, "I will not return to a people I have called liars," and he departed in anger, as Allah the Exalted has narrated in a place other than this, which will come [later], if Allah the Exalted wills.

The manifest meaning of the verse requires that the people witnessed the torment, because of the word {kashafnā} (We removed), and this is what most reports necessitate and what many commentators held. Their faith being accepted after witnessing [the torment] is one of their specific characteristics, for the faith of disbelievers after witnessing what they were promised is a faith of despair, not beneficial, because the time of accountability (taklīf) has ended at that point. Allah’s custom is to destroy them without respite, just as He destroyed Pharaoh. The claim that he remained alive as long as Allah willed and inhabited the land of Mosul is among the fabrications of the Jews.