ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ
Then has there not been a [single] city that believed so its faith benefited it except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in worldly life and gave them enjoyment for a time.
Tafsir
Verse range: 10:98
فلولا كانت قرية آمنت فنفعها إيمانها إلا قوم يونس لما آمنوا كشفنا عنهم عذاب الخزي في الحياة الدنيا ومتعناهم إلى حين
Know that when the Almighty previously stated:
{Indeed, those upon whom the Word of your Lord has been decreed will not believe, even if every sign should come to them, until they see the painful punishment} (Yunus: 96-97)
He followed it with this verse. This is because this verse indicates that the people of Yunus believed after their disbelief and benefited from that faith. This demonstrates that disbelievers are of two groups: some are decreed to have a final end of disbelief, and others are decreed to have a final end of faith. Everything Allah decrees will certainly occur.
There are several issues concerning this verse:
There are two approaches regarding the word Lawlā in this verse:
Approach 1: Its meaning is negation. Al-Wahidi narrated in Al-Basit that Abu Malik, the companion of Ibn Abbas, said: Every instance of Lawlā in the Book of Allah means Halā (Why not/Had it not been for), except for two instances.
According to this view, the structure of the verse is: "There was no town that believed and benefited from its belief, except the people of Yunus."
The phrase {إلا قوم يونس} (except the people of Yunus) is in the accusative case (naṣb) as a discontinuous exception (istithnā’ munqaṭiʿ) from the first part, because the beginning of the statement referred to the town (qaryah), even though the intended meaning was its people. Thus, the exception is made from the town, similar to the saying:
"And there is no one in the quarter, except my dwelling." (A poetic example)
It has also been recited with the nominative case (rafʿ) as a substitute (badal).
Approach 2: Its meaning is Halā (Why not/Had it not been for). The meaning is: "Why was there not a single town among those We destroyed that repented from disbelief and sincerely believed before witnessing the punishment, except the people of Yunus?"
The apparent meaning suggests an exception of the people of Yunus from the category of towns. However, the intended meaning is an exception of the people of Yunus from the inhabitants of those towns. This is a discontinuous exception, meaning: "But when the people of Yunus believed, We did such and such to them."
It is narrated that Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him) was sent to Nineveh, in the land of Mosul. They rejected him, so he left them in anger. When they realized he was gone, they feared the punishment would descend. They donned sackcloth, wailed, and cried out for forty nights. Yunus had told them their term was forty nights. They said, "If we see the signs of destruction, we will believe you."
When thirty-five nights passed, a very dark black cloud appeared in the sky. Intense smoke emerged from it and descended until it covered the city and blackened their rooftops. They went out to the desert, separated women and children from their animals and their young, and the animals cried out for their young. Voices rose, supplications increased, and they manifested faith and repentance, pleading to Allah Almighty. Allah had mercy on them and removed the punishment. This occurred on the Day of Ashura, a Friday.
It is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud that the extent of their repentance was such that they returned all usurped rights. A man would even remove a stone he had used as the foundation for his building and return it to its owner.
It is also said that they went to an old man who was among their remaining scholars and asked, "The punishment has descended upon us; what do you advise?" He told them to say: "O Living One, when there is no living one! O Living One, O Raiser of the dead! O Living One, there is no god but You!" Allah then removed the punishment from them.
It is narrated from Al-Fadl ibn Abbas that they said: "O Allah, our sins have become great and weighty, but You are greater and more majestic than them. Do with us what You are worthy of, and do not do to us what we are worthy of."
If someone asks: Allah recounted that Pharaoh repented at the end but his repentance was not accepted, while He recounted that the people of Yunus repented and their repentance was accepted. What is the difference?
The Answer: Pharaoh only repented after he witnessed the punishment. However, the people of Yunus repented before that. When the signs indicating the imminent punishment appeared to them, they repented before actually witnessing it. Thus, the difference is clear.
{ولو شاء ربك لآمن من في الأرض كلهم جميعا أفأنت تكره الناس حتى يكونوا مؤمنين * وما كان لنفس أن تؤمن إلا بإذن الله ويجعل الرجس على الذين لا يعقلون} (Yunus: 99-100)
