His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And indeed, Yunus was among the messengers﴾ ﴿When he fled to the laden ship﴾ ﴿And he cast lots and was among the losers﴾ ﴿Then the fish swallowed him while he was blameworthy﴾ ﴿Had it not been that he was among those who glorify﴾ ﴿He would have remained in its belly until the Day they are resurrected﴾ ﴿Then We cast him onto the shore while he was ill﴾ ﴿And We caused a tree of gourd to grow over him﴾

He is Yunus ibn Mattah, peace be upon him, and he is from the Children of Israel. It is narrated that he prophesied at the age of twenty-eight years, and he was overwhelmed under the burdens of prophethood as the young shoots are overwhelmed under the weight of the load. The explanation of his story has preceded, but we will mention from it what can be understood by these words.

It is narrated that Allah sent him to his people. He called them once, but they opposed him, so he promised them punishment. Allah, the Exalted, informed him of its day, and Yunus specified it for them. Then when his people saw the signs of punishment before it touched them, they repented and believed, so Allah accepted their repentance and turned the punishment away from them. This was a trial for Yunus, peace be upon him. Yunus became angry, and it is narrated that it was part of their custom to kill the liar if there was no proof established against him. So Yunus feared them and was angry at the same time, so he fled to the ship, meaning he intended to escape and entered the sea. He expressed his escape as fleeing, since he, being a servant of Allah, fled without his master's permission. This is the reality of fleeing, and 'the ship' in this context is singular, and 'the laden' means heavy-laden. Here, there is a story omitted for brevity and conciseness. It is narrated from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud that when he was on the ship and it moved away and was almost capsizing while the ships were sailing to the right and left, the people of the ship said: 'Indeed, we have a sinner among us, and by him Allah is holding us back.' They said: 'Let us draw lots.' So they took a lot for each one, and they said: 'O Allah, let the lot of the sinner be cast away, and let the lots of the others drown.' The lot of Yunus floated, so they did this three times, and each time the lot fell on him. They resolved with him to throw him overboard. He came to a corner of the ship to fall from it, and behold, a creature from the sea was watching him and observing him. He moved to the other corner, and it was the same, until he turned around the ship and it did not leave him. He realized that this was from Allah, so he threw himself into it, and it is narrated that it swallowed him after he fell into the water. It is narrated that Allah revealed to the fish: 'I did not make Yunus your sustenance; rather, I made your belly a refuge and prison for him.' This is the meaning of ﴿ " , "meaning: he competed, and likewise Ibn Abbas and Al-Suddi explained. 'The loser' is the one who is defeated in an argument, competition, or contest. From it is the conclusive argument. 'The blameworthy' is the one who has done something for which he is blamed. It is said: 'The man was blamed for entering into blame.' With this, Mujahid and Ibn Zayd explained, and from it is the saying of the poet:

؎ Blame me foolishly, and you blamed without being blameworthy ∗∗∗ And your guidance before today was not wise.

Then Allah, blessed and exalted is He, rescued him from the belly of the fish after a period of time, and the people differed regarding it. One group said: after seven hours, and Muqatil ibn Hayyan said: after three days, and Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: after seven days, and another group said: after fourteen days, and Abu Malik and Al-Suddi said: after forty days, which is the saying of Ibn Jurayj that he was informed of. And Allah, blessed and exalted is He, made the reason for his rescue, along with the prior ability, his glorification. The people differed in that, so Ibn Jubayr said: it is his saying in the belly of the fish: 'Glory be to Allah.' And another group said: rather, it is the glorification and the voluntary prayer. This group differed, so Qatadah, Ibn Abbas, and Abu Al-Aliyah said: his prayers in times of ease benefited him in times of hardship. And this was said by a group of scholars. And Al-Dahhak ibn Qays said from his pulpit: remember Allah in times of ease, He will remember you in times of hardship. Indeed, Yunus was a servant of Allah who remembered Him, so when hardship struck him, that benefited him. Then he recited this verse: 'And indeed, Pharaoh was a tyrant and an oppressor, so when drowning overtook him, he said: I believe, but that did not benefit him. So remember Allah in times of ease, He will remember you in times of hardship.' And Qatadah said regarding wisdom: indeed, good deeds elevate their possessor when he stumbles, so if he falls, he finds support. And Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan said: his glorification was a prayer in the belly of the fish. It was narrated that he would raise the flesh of the fish with his hands and say: O Lord, I will surely build for You a mosque where no one has built one before me, and he would pray. Anas narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that he said: 'Indeed, when Yunus called out in the darkness, his call rose to the Throne, and the angels said: this is a weak voice from a place of estrangement. He said: this is my servant Yunus. So Allah answered his supplication.' And he mentioned the hadith. Ibn Jubayr said: the reference in his saying: 'from among the glorifiers' is to his saying: 'There is no deity except You; glory be to You; indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.' [Al-Anbiya: 87]. And the people wrote in this story what we have summarized due to lack of authenticity. It was narrated that the fish carried him through all the seas until it threw him in a desolate place from the direction of Al-Mawsil, and Allah cast him on bare land, which is the vast land that has no trees or landmarks. And from this is the saying of the poet: I raised a leg without fearing its stumble, and I cast off my clothes in the desolate land. And Al-Suddi and Ibn Abbas said in the interpretation of His saying, blessed and exalted is He: 'And he was sick': he was like a newborn child, a piece of flesh. And some of them said: he was like raw flesh, except that nothing was diminished from his creation. So Allah revived him in the shade of the gourd plant with nourishing milk that would come to him and go away, and it was said: rather, he was fed from the gourd plant, and he found from it various foods and types of desires.

And the people differed regarding the اليَقْطِين. A group said: It is a tree that we do not know, which Allah named اليَقْطِين, and it is a term derived from: قَطَنَ, meaning to reside in a place. And said Sa'id ibn Jubair, and Ibn Abbas, and Al-Hasan, and Muqatil: اليَقْطِين is everything that does not stand on a stem from a stalk, like vegetables, and gourds, and bitter apples, and watermelons, and similar things that die in their year. And it was narrated similarly from Mujahid. And Ibn Abbas, and Abu Huraira, and Amr ibn Maymun said: اليَقْطِين specifically refers to the gourd. According to these two sayings, either His saying, the Exalted,