He is Jonah, son of Amittai, the author of the prophecy contained in a separate book in the Old Testament. He is also known in the Arab heritage as “Yunus,” and by his nickname “Dhul-Nun.” The Qur’an has dedicated a surah in his name, which is the tenth surah, and he is mentioned in many separate verses. The biblical and Quranic narratives are similar, especially when they mention the whale swallowing Jonah, and then the repentance of the people of Nineveh. Jonah is of great importance in the New Testament, as the Lord Jesus considered the story of Jonah’s stay for three days and three nights in the belly of the whale as a prophecy about his own stay “in the heart of the earth” for three days and three nights (Matthew 12: 39-41), after his crucifixion and awaiting his resurrection. . The Orthodox Church celebrates him on the twenty-first of September.

The Qur’anic narrative about the Prophet Jonah is distinguished by its brevity, as it does not go into detail in mentioning all the details as in the biblical narrative. In Surah As-Saffat we read: “And indeed, Yunus was one of the messengers. As he returned to the charged ark. He contributed and was one of those who refuted it. The whale bit him and he was afflicted. Had he not been one of those who glorify God, he would have remained in his stomach until the day they are resurrected. So we threw him out in the open while he was sick. And We caused a pumpkin tree to grow over it. We sent it to a hundred thousand or more. Then they believed, so We gave them enjoyment for a while” (37: 139-148). All interpretations agree on saying that God sent Jonah to the people of Nineveh, but he preferred to escape (abqa escaped) into the ark filled with passengers and luggage. When the astronomers learned of his deed, they threw him into the ocean, and the whale swallowed him while he was committing what he was blamed for. Had he not been one of those who frequently mentioned God by praising God throughout his life, he would have remained in the belly of the whale, buried therein until the Day of Resurrection. So God answered Jonah’s prayer and placed him in a place devoid of trees and plants on the coast, and a tree grew above him to shade him, a gourd (a gourd in the biblical narrative). Then he sent it to the people of Nineveh who accepted the call to repent, and God rewarded them by forgiving them of their previous sins and turning away His wrath from them.

The exegetical narrations go into detail about what the Qur’an overlooked. Ibn Katheer al-Dimashqi (died 1372), in his book “Stories of the Prophets,” says that God Almighty sent a great whale and it swallowed it, and God Almighty commanded it not to eat its meat or break its bones, so the whale took it and sailed across all the seas with it. In another narration, that whale was swallowed by another whale, larger than it. The narrator continues, saying that when Yunus settled in the belly of the whale, he thought that he was dead, so he moved his limbs and they moved, and he was alive. So he bowed down to God, prostrating, and said: “O Lord... I have made a place of worship for you in a place where no one has worshiped you,” considering the belly of the whale as a place of worship for God. One of the hadiths narrates that Yunus, during his ordeal, heard something, so God revealed to him, “This is the tasbih of sea animals,” so he, in turn, praised it. So the angels heard his praise, and they said: O our Lord, we hear a weak voice in a strange land! God said: That is my servant Yunus, who disobeyed me, so I imprisoned him in the belly of the whale in the sea. They said: The righteous servant, who used to bring good deeds to you every day and night? He said: Yes. Then they interceded for him. So God commanded the whale to throw it onto the coast.

In Surat Al-Anbiya we read: “And Dhul-Nun, when he went away angry, he thought that we would not defeat him, so he called out in the darkness, ‘There is no god but You. Glory be to You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.’” So We responded to him and saved him from the distress, and thus We save the believers” (21: 87-88). Commentators agree that the “darknesses” mentioned in the verse are three darknesses: the darkness of the night, the darkness of the sea, and the darkness of the belly of the whale. What is striking in these two verses is God’s response to the believers’ call to Him in times of distress. Like Jonah, whom God saved from his grief and distress, God also saves believers from their grief if they seek help from Him. However, in the context of the story of Yunus, we find one of the commentators citing a noble hadith regarding God’s answering of prayers in times of distress in which the following wisdom is stated: “Get to know God in times of prosperity, and He will know you in times of trouble.”

As for the repentance of the people of Nineveh from the land of Mosul in Iraq, we read in Surah Yunus: “And had there not been a town that believed and its faith benefited it, except the people of Yunus when they believed. We removed from them the torment of disgrace in the life of this world and gave them enjoyment for a while” (10:98). The scholars of interpretation unanimously agree that the people of Nineveh did not believe Jonah when he came to them with the call to righteousness, and they turned a deaf ear to listening to him, so he promised them that torment would befall them. However, God cast repentance and repentance into their hearts (returning to the right path), so they regretted it and put on sackcloth, supplicating to Him. So God accepted their repentance, and removed the torment from them with His mercy and compassion. Most commentators added that this faith of the people of Nineveh will benefit them in the afterlife, saving them from the afterlife, just as it saved them from earthly torment.

There is a verse by the pre-Islamic Arab poet Umayyah ibn Abi Salt, who some scholars believe was a Christian while others said he was a monotheistic Hanifi religion, in which he says:

Thanks to you, you saved Yunus from being as large as a whale

This means that the name Yunus, which is close to the Greek pronunciation, was familiar in the Arabian Peninsula. Even if the Arab Christians used the name in its usual pronunciation as “Jonah” in their translations of the Holy Bible, there is no denying that in a previous historical era, and in the present era, they used the name in its Arabic pronunciation, “Jonus.” In all cases, the living Christian heritage has immortalized Jonah - Jonah, as it mentions him in the hymns of the glorious Easter, when he addresses the Lord Jesus by saying: “And on the third day you emerged from the grave, just as Jonah emerged from the fish.” So, O Lord, save us from being swallowed by the whale of this worldly life, so that we may be partners in your life-giving resurrection.

About my parish bulletin
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Issue 37