Tafsir of Yunus 10:98

{فَلَوْلَا كَانَتْ قَرْيَةٌ} Why was there not a single town among the towns We destroyed that repented from disbelief and sincerely embraced faith before witnessing the punishment, while the time of obligation still remained? They should not have delayed—as Pharaoh delayed—until he was seized by the throat.

{فَنَفَعَهَا إِيمَانُهَا} Had they done so, their faith would have benefited them, for God would have accepted it from them, as it would have occurred during the time of free choice.

• Note on the reading: Ubayy and ‘Abdullah read it as “Fahalla kanat” (Why was there not...).
• {إِلَّا قَوْمَ يُونُسَ} (Except the people of Yunus): This is an exception from the "towns," because the intended meaning is the inhabitants of those towns. It is a munqati‘ (discontinuous) exception, meaning: "But when the people of Yunus believed..." It is also possible that it is muttasil (continuous), with the sentence implying a negation, as if it were said: "No town among the destroyed towns believed except for the people of Yunus." Its grammatical case (accusative) follows the rule of exception. It has also been read in the nominative case as a substitute (badal), as reported from al-Jarmi and al-Kisa’i.

The Story of the People of Yunus: It is narrated that 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 lost him, they feared the descent of the punishment. They wore sackcloth and cried out for forty nights.

It is said that Yunus told them: "Your term is forty nights." They replied: "If we see the signs of destruction, we will believe in you." When thirty-five nights had passed, the sky became covered with a terrifying black cloud that emitted thick smoke, descending until it covered their city and darkened their rooftops. They wore sackcloth and went out to the open ground—themselves, their women, their children, and their livestock. They separated the women from their children, and the beasts from their young, causing them to yearn for one another. Voices and cries rose up; they manifested faith and repentance and supplicated. God had mercy on them and removed the punishment from them. This occurred on the day of ‘Ashura, a Friday.

Ibn Mas‘ud narrated: Their repentance reached the point where they returned grievances; a man would even tear up a stone he had placed in the foundation of his building to return it to its owner.

It is said they went to an elder among their remaining scholars and asked: "The punishment has descended upon us, what do you advise?" 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 this, and it was removed from them.

Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad narrated: They said: "O Allah, our sins have become great and immense, but You are greater and more immense than them. Deal with us as You are worthy, and do not deal with us as we are worthy."

{وَلَوْ شَاءَ رَبُّكَ لَآمَنَ مَن فِي الْأَرْضِ كُلُّهُمْ جَمِيعًا ۚ أَفَأَنتَ تُكْرِهُ النَّاسَ حَتَّىٰ يَكُونُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ}