His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Indeed, those upon whom the word of your Lord has been fulfilled will not believe. And even if every sign came to them until they see the painful punishment." "So if only there had been a village that believed and benefited from its faith, except for the people of Yunus. When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in this worldly life and provided for them until a time."

This came as a repeated warning and a notification of the bad state of those whose fate has been decreed. The meaning is that Allah has made His wrath obligatory upon them from eternity and created them for His punishment. They will not believe even if every clarification and every clarity comes to them, except at a time when faith will not benefit them, just as Pharaoh and his like among creation did. That is at the time of witnessing. Among the words is a warning against this state and a call for everyone to hasten to faith and flee from the wrath of Allah.

Abu Amr, Asim, Al-Hasan, and Abu Rujai read "the word" in the singular, while Nafi and the people of Medina read "the words" in the plural. This translation has been previously mentioned.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So if only there had been a village that believed." In the Mushaf of Ubayy and Ibn Mas'ud, it is "So why not," and the meaning in both is the same. The original meaning of "if only" in speech is to urge or indicate the prevention of a matter due to the existence of another. As for this, it is far from this verse, but it is among those that are for urging. The true nature of urging is that the one urging wants the addressee to do that thing which he is urging him towards. "If only" may come without the intent of the addressee to urge the addressee to do that thing, and then the meaning would be reproach, like the saying of Jarir:

.......................... *** If only it were not for the concealed camel.

And that is because he did not intend to urge them to slaughter the camel, like saying to a man who has fallen into a difficult matter: "If only you had been cautious." And this verse is of this kind.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And it is understood from the meaning of the verse the denial of the faith of the people of the villages. The meaning of the verse is: So why did not one of the people of the village believe when they were at ease and the punishment had not yet mixed with them, so that faith would be beneficial in this case? Then he exempted the people of Yunus, peace be upon him. According to the wording, it is an isolated exception, and the grammarians have unanimously indicated this. According to the meaning, it is connected, as its estimation is: No one from the people of a village believed except for the people of Yunus, peace be upon him. The accusative in his saying: "except for the people" is the correct view. Therefore, Sibawayh included it in the category of "what can only be in the accusative." Likewise, with the isolation of the exception, the verse resembles the saying of Al-Nabigha:

Except for the Awari... * *...

And that is the ruling of the wording of the verse. And a group said: The nominative is permissible in it, and this is the connection of the exception. Al-Mahdawi said: And the nominative is as a substitute for "a village."

It was narrated in the story of Yunus, peace be upon him, that when the people disbelieved, Allah revealed to him to warn them of the punishment for three days. He did so, and they said: He is a man who does not lie, so watch him. If he remains among you, then there is nothing upon you, and if he departs from you, then it is the descent of punishment without a doubt. When night came, Yunus, peace be upon him, provisioned himself and departed from them. They woke up and did not find him, so they repented and called upon Allah and believed. They wore sackcloth and separated between the mothers and their children among the people and the animals. The punishment from them - as narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them - was at a distance of two-thirds of a mile. It was narrated from Ali that it was one mile. Ibn Jubair said: The punishment enveloped them as a garment envelops a grave. So Allah lifted the punishment from them. When the three days passed and Yunus, peace be upon him, knew that the punishment had not descended, he said: How can I return when they have found me in a lie? He went away angry, as Allah, the Exalted, mentioned in this verse.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

Al-Tabari went to the view that the people of Yunus, peace be upon him, were singled out among the nations by being accepted in repentance after witnessing the punishment. He mentioned this from a group of the interpreters, but it is not so. The witnessing that does not benefit repentance is the experiencing of punishment or death by the person, as in the story of Pharaoh. As for the people of Yunus, peace be upon him, they did not reach this limit.

Al-Hasan, Talhah ibn Musarif, Isa ibn Umar, Ibn Wathab, and Al-A'mash read: 'Yunus' with a kasrah (the vowel mark indicating a short 'i' sound) on the noon. In this, there are three dialects for the Arabs: the dammah (the vowel mark indicating a short 'u' sound), the fatḥah (the vowel mark indicating a short 'a' sound), and the kasrah. Likewise in 'Yusuf.' And His saying: ﴿إلى حِينٍ﴾ means: until their appointed times in the past.

It was narrated that the people of Yunus, peace be upon him, were from Nineveh in the land of Mosul. This is indicated by the Prophet's ﷺ words to Ad-Das when he said to him that he was from the people of Nineveh: 'From the village of the righteous man Yunus ibn Mattah?' This is the narration found in the biography of Ibn Ishaq.