Jonah (Yûnus)
Bible
The book of Jonah is placed among the Twelve Minor Prophets, but it is not a prophetic book, but rather a story, a parable, about a prophet. Jonah is given a mission by God to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh, but he rebels and boards a boat to escape from this mission. In a storm the boast is in danger. Jonah is designated by lot as the cause of this danger. He is thrown overboard (ch.1). He is swallowed by a great fish and spends three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. He prays to God and is saved (ch.2). He receive the same mission a second time, and this time he fulfills it. His preaching is successful and God has pity on the people of Nineveh (ch.3). Jonah is not happy with God’s mercy; God makes a plant grow to shelter Jonah, but the plant withers and Jonah is angry. He comes to realize the greatness of God’s mercy (ch.4).
Qur’an
Sura 10 of the Qur’an bears the name Yûnus (Jonah). This name occurs only in v. 98.
If only a single town had believed and benefited from its belief! Only Jonah’s people did so, and when they believed We relieved them of the punishment of disgrace in the life of this world, and let them enjoy life for a time (Q 10:98).
The story of Jonah is summarized in sura 37:139-148:
Jonah too was one of the messengers. He fled to the overloaded ship. They cast lots, he suffered defeat, and a great fish swallowed him, for he had committed blameworthy acts. If he had not been one of those who glorified God, he would have stayed in its belly until the Day when all are raised up, but We cast him out, sick, on to a barren shore, an made a gourd tree grow above him. We sent him to a hundred thousand people or more. They believed, so We let them live out their lives.
In sura 21 Jonah is referred to as “the man of the whale” (dhû l-nûn):
And remember the man with the whale when he went off angrily, thinking We could not restrict him, but then he cried out in the deep darkness, ‘There is no God but You, glory be to You. I was wrong.’ We answered him and saved him from distress: this is how We save the faithful (Q 21:87-88)
In the darkness of the belly of the whale Jonah expresses his faith in God and confesses his sin.
In sura 4: 163 Jonah is mentioned among those who have been given revelation. In sura 6 he figures in a list of descendants of Noah and Abraham:
“every one of them was righteous…We chose them and guided them on a straight path… Those are the ones to whom We gave the Scripture, wisdom and prophethood”
(Q 6:84-89)
Yet Muhammad is told not to imitate Jonah:
Wait patiently [Prophet] for your Lord’s judgement: do not be like the man in the whale
(ṣâḥibi l-ḥût) who called out in distress: if his Lord’s grace had not reached him, he would have been left abandoned and blameworthy on the barren shore, but his Lord chose him and made him one of the Righteous (Q 68: 48-50).
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