And Dhu al-Nun (the companion of the whale, Yunus, peace be upon him, son of Matta—and this is the name of his father according to what is in *Sahih al-Bukhari* and others, and Ibn Hajar authenticated it, saying: "I have not found in any of the reports the connection of his lineage." It has been said that he was in the time of the minor kings of the Persians. Ibn al-Athir, like others, said that it is the name of his mother, and no prophet was attributed to his mother other than him and 'Isa (Jesus), peace be upon them both. The Jews have said what was mentioned, except that they called him 'Yonah ben Amittai', and some say 'Yunan ben Amathi'. Al-Nun is the whale, as we have indicated. It is pluralized as 'Ninan', as in *al-Bahr*, and also 'Anwan', as in *al-Qamus*.
When he went away in anger (i.e., angry at his people due to their severity and persistent stubbornness despite his prolonged invitation to them. This departure of his was an emigration from them, but he was not ordered to do so. It is said: angry at King Hizqil, for it is narrated from Ibn 'Abbas that he said: Yunus and his people resided in Palestine, and a king raided them and took nine and a half tribes captive. Allah the Exalted revealed to Isaiah the Prophet: 'Go to King Hizqil and tell him to send five prophets to fight this king.' He said: 'I will send Yunus son of Matta, for he is strong and trustworthy.' The king called him and commanded him to depart, so Yunus said: 'Did Allah the Exalted command you to send me out?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Did He name me to you?' He said: 'No.' Yunus said: 'Then there are prophets other than me.' They pressed him, so he left in anger and came to the Roman Sea. He found a people who had prepared a ship, so he boarded with them. When they reached the deep, the ship tilted with them and was on the verge of sinking. The sailors said: 'There is a disobedient man or a runaway slave among us, and it is our custom when we are afflicted with this to draw lots; whoever the lot falls upon, we cast him into the sea, for the drowning of one of us is better than the sinking of the ship.' They drew lots three times, and the lot fell in all of them upon Yunus, peace be upon him. He said: 'I am the disobedient man and the runaway slave.' So he cast himself into the sea, and a whale came and swallowed him. Allah the Exalted revealed to it: 'Do not harm him even by a hair, for I have made your belly a prison for him, not a meal.' Then Allah the Exalted saved him from its belly and cast him onto the open land, his skin having become tender, so He caused a gourd tree to grow over him so that he might take shade beneath it and eat of its fruit until he grew strong. When the tree withered, Yunus, peace be upon him, grieved for it, and it was said to him: 'Do you grieve for a tree, yet you did not grieve for a hundred thousand or more when you did not go to them and seek their comfort?' Allah the Exalted revealed to him and commanded him to go to them, so he headed toward them until he entered their land, and they were not far from him. He came to them and said to their king: 'Allah the Exalted has sent me to you, so send the Children of Israel with me.' They said: 'We do not know what you are saying; if we knew you were truthful, we would do it. We have come to you in your own homes and appeared among you, so if the matter were as you say, Allah would have protected us from you.' He wandered among them for three days calling them to that, but they refused him. Allah the Exalted revealed to him: 'Tell them that if they do not believe, the punishment will come to them.' He delivered the message to them, and they refused, so he left them. When they missed him, they regretted their action, so they set out looking for him but could not find him. Then they mentioned their situation and the matter of Yunus, peace be upon him, to the scholars among them, who said: 'Watch and look for him in the city; if he is in it, then it is not as was mentioned regarding the descent of the punishment, and if he has left, then it is as he said.' They searched for him, and it was said to them: 'He left in the evening.' When they despaired, they closed the gate of their city and did not let their animals or anyone else inside; they separated each one from its offspring, and likewise the children from their mothers. Then they stood waiting for the morning. When the morning broke, the punishment descended from the sky, so they tore their garments, pregnant women miscarried what was in their wombs, and the children and animals cried out. Allah the Exalted lifted the punishment from them, so they sent for Yunus until they met him, and they believed in him and sent the Children of Israel with him.
It is said: "in anger at his Lord, the Almighty and Majestic." Various qualities of this anger are recounted, but this is challenged by the fact that this statement must be discarded, as it does not befit the status of Prophethood. It is fitting that this be interpreted for those scholars who said it—such as al-Hasan, al-Sha'bi, Ibn Jubayr, and others from the Successors, and Ibn Mas'ud from the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them—to mean that their saying "at his Lord" means "for the sake of his Lord," so the *lam* is the *lam* of causality, not the *lam* connected to the direct object.
The view that the intent is "angry at his Lord, the Almighty and Majestic" is the implication of the Jews' claim; for they claimed that Allah the Exalted commanded him to go to Nineveh and warn its people, so he fled to Tarshish from that, descended to Jaffa, and boarded the ship, the waves became immense, and the ship was on the verge of sinking. Its people drew lots, the lot fell upon him, so he threw himself into the sea, the whale swallowed him, then cast him out, and he went to Nineveh, and what happened, happened. It is not hidden that such flight is something the Prophets, peace be upon them, are far above, and the Jews are a people of falsehood.
( *Mughadiban* ) is in the accusative case as a state (*hal*), and it is from the form of mutual action (*mufa'ala*) which does not necessitate reciprocity, such as "I punished the thief" (*'aqabtu al-liss*) or "I traveled" (*safartu*). It is as if he used that here for intensification. It is said: the mutual action is according to its literal meaning, for he, peace be upon him, was angry at his people for their disbelief, and they were angry at him for his departure due to their fear of the arrival of the punishment. Abu Saraf read it as (*mughdaban*), a passive participle.
"And thought that We would not have power over him" (i.e., that the state would be that We would not have power or judge against him with punishment and the like, or that We would not constrain him in his affair with imprisonment and the like. The first is supported by the recitation of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz and al-Zuhri, *naqdir* with the *nun* having a *damma*, the *qaf* having a *fatha*, and the *dal* having a *kasra* and being doubled; and the recitation of 'Ali—may Allah honor his countenance—and al-Yamani, *yuqdar* with the *ya* having a *damma*, and the *qaf* and *dal* having a *fatha* and the *dal* being doubled. For the verb in both of these is from *taqdir* in the sense of decree and judgment, as is well known. It is also permissible for it to be in the sense of "constraining," for it has come with this meaning as well, as mentioned by al-Raghib. Mu'awiyah—may Allah be pleased with him—thought it was from *qudra* (power), and he found that problematic, since no one—let alone a Prophet—would think that Allah lacked power over him. He turned to Ibn 'Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them—and he answered him with what we mentioned first. It is also allowed that it be from *qudra* and that it is a metaphor for "exercising" it, meaning: he thought that We would not exercise Our power over him. Or the speech is in the category of representation, meaning: he acted like the one who thinks that We would not have power over him in his defying his people without waiting for Our command. It is said: It is possible that this preceded his imagination, peace be upon him, through the whispering of Satan, then he deters it and rejects it with proof, just as the realized believer does with the goads of Satan and what he whispers at all times. From this is: "And you thought about Allah the thoughts" (33:10), and the address is to the believers. The author of *al-Fara'id* challenged this by saying that such a thing from a believer is far-fetched, let alone an infallible Prophet, because it is disbelief. And His saying—the Exalted—"You thought," etc., is not of this category. Furthermore, it includes the sincere ones and others, and that which occurs as a fleeting thought and does not settle is not called "thinking" (*zann*), and that thoughts (*khawatir*) are not held against one, and that if it were what motivated him to leave, it would not be in the category of whispering. It was answered that "thinking" in the sense of a fleeting occurrence in the mind without weighting is a metaphorical usage employed here, and the blame is on his leaving in anger, and there is no way to make it the motivation for the departure. Nevertheless, it is a view that lacks validity.
"And he called out" (the *fa* is *fasiha*, meaning: so that which happened of the drawing of lots and the swallowing of the whale happened, so he called out. "In the darknesses" (i.e., in the intense, thick darkness inside the belly of the whale; the darkness was made as if it were darknesses due to its intensity. Al-Sirafi recited: "And a night in whose darknesses people say: the eyes of the healthy and the one-eyed are equal." Or the plural is on its literal meaning, and the intent is the darkness of the whale's belly, the darkness of the sea, and the darkness of the night. It is said: his whale was swallowed by a larger whale, so he ended up in the two darknesses of the bellies of the two whales, and the two darknesses of the sea and the night.) "That there is no deity except You" (i.e., by saying: "There is no deity except You," on the basis that *an* is the lightened form of the heavy *anna*, and the preposition is implicit and the pronoun of the state is omitted; or meaning: "There is no deity except You," on the basis that it is explanatory.) "Exalted are You" (i.e., I declare You exalted, a declaration befitting You, from anything causing You to be unable, or from my being afflicted with this without a cause on my part.) "Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers."
"To themselves" by exposing them to destruction, as I hastened to emigrate without a command, contrary to the custom of the Prophets, peace be upon them. This is a confession from him—peace be upon him—of his sin and a manifestation of his repentance so that his distress might be relieved.
