Jonah
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
فَلَوْلاَ
كَانَتْ قَرْيَةٌ
آمَنَتْ فَنَفَعَهَا
إِيمَانُهَا
إِلاَّ قَوْمَ
يُونُسَ...
10: 98. Why was there not a single township (among those We warmed), which believed -- so its Faith should have profited it -- except the people of Jonah?
C1478. Allah in His infinite Mercy points out the contumacy of Sin as a warning, and the exceptional case of Nineveh and its Prophet Jonah is alluded to.
The story of Jonah is told in 37:139-148, which would be an appropriate place for further comments.
Here it is sufficient to note that Nineveh was a very ancient town which is now no longer on the map. Its site is believed to be marked by the two mounds on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite the flourishing city of Mosul on the right bank, about 230 miles north- north-west of Baghdad. One of the mounds bears the name of "the Tomb of NabiYunus."
Archeologists have not yet fully explored its antiquities. But it is clear that it was a very old Sumerian town, perhaps older than 3500 B.C. It became the capital of Assyria. The first Assyrian Empire under Shalmaneser 1, about 1300 B.C., became the supreme power in Western Asia.
Babylon, whose tributary Assyria had formerly been, now became tributary to Assyria. The second Assyrian Empire arose about 745 B.C., and Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.) beautified the town with many Public Works. It was destroyed by the Scythians (so-called Medes) in 612 B.C.
If the date of Jonah were assumed to be about 800 B.C., it would be between the First and the Second Assyrian Empire; when the City was nearly destroyed for its sins, but on account of its repentance was given a new lease of glorious life in the Second Empire.
...لَمَّآ آمَنُواْ كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمْ عَذَابَ الخِزْيِ فِي الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا...
When they believed, We removed from them the Penalty of Ignominy in the life of the Present,
...وَمَتَّعْنَاهُمْ إِلَى حِينٍ ﴿٩٨﴾
and permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while.
C1479. The point of the allusion here may be thus explained. Nineveh was a great and glorious City. But it became, like Babylon, a city of sin. Allah sent the prophet Yunus (Jonah) to warn it.
Full of iniquities though it was, it listened to the warning, perhaps in the person of a few just men. For their sakes, the All-Merciful Allah spared it, and gave it a new lease of glorious life.
According to the chronology in the last note the new lease would be for about two centuries, after which it perished completely for its sins and abominations.
Note that its new lease of life was for its collective life as a City, the life of the Present, i.e., of this World. It does not mean that individual sinners escaped the spiritual consequences of their sin, unless they individually repented and obtained Allah's mercy and forgiveness.
وَلَوْ شَاء رَبُّكَ
لآمَنَ مَن فِي
الأَرْضِ كُلُّهُمْ
جَمِيعًا...
10: 99. If it had been the Lord's Will, they would all have believed -- all who are on earth!
...أَفَأَنتَ تُكْرِهُ النَّاسَ حَتَّى يَكُونُواْ مُؤْمِنِينَ ﴿٩٩﴾
Wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!
C1480. If it had been Allah's Plan or Will not to grant the limited Free-will that He has granted to man, His omnipotence could have made all mankind alike: all would then have had Faith, but that Faith would have reflected no merit on them.
In the actual world as it is, man has been endowed with various faculties and capacities, so that he should strive and explore, and bring himself into harmony with Allah's Will. Hence Faith becomes a moral achievement, and to resist Faith becomes a sin.
As a complementary proposition, men of Faith must not be impatient or angry if they have to contend against Unfaith, and most important of all, they must guard against the temptation of forcing Faith, i.e., imposing it on others by physical compulsion or any other forms of compulsion such as social pressure, or inducements held out by wealth or position, or other adventitious advantages.
Forced faith is no faith. They should strive spiritually and let Allah's Plan work as He wills.
Other versions:
10: 98
Yusuf Ali Why was there not a single township (among those We warned) which believed so its Faith should have profited it except the people of Jonah? When they believed We removed from them the Penalty of Ignominy in the life of the Present and permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while.
Pickthall If only there had been a community (of all those that were destroyed of old) that believed and profited by its belief as did the folk of Jonah. When they believed We drew off from them the torment of disgrace in the life of the world and gave them comfort for a while.
Transliteration Fa lau la_ ka_nat qaryatun a_manat fa nafa'aha_ ima_nuha_ illa_ qauma yu_nus(a), lamma_ a_manu_ kasyafna_ 'anhum 'aza_bal khizyi fil haya_tid dunya_ wa matta'na_hum ila_ hin(in).
10: 99
Yusuf Ali If it had been the Lord's Will they would all have believed all who are on earth! Wilt thou then compel mankind against their will to believe!
Pickthall And if thy Lord willed, all who are in the earth would have believed together. Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers?
Transliteration Wa lau sya_'a rabbuka la'a_mana man fil ardi kulluhum jami'a_(n), afa anta tukrihun na_sa hatta_ yaku_nu_ mu'minin(a).