Yunus Ibn Matta (called Jonah in Dutch) was a messenger of Allah who was sent to Nineveh, a city in northern Iraq with a population of over one hundred thousand. Prophet Yunus was apparently an ordinary man who was born and raised among the fellow citizens of Nineveh.
The thriving city of Nineveh had long forgotten the message of Allah and became a city full of idolatry and sin. Allah decided to send prophet Yunus, a man born among them, as a messenger to guide them to His path – the path of light.
Prophet Yunus immediately set out to fulfill his Lord’s wish and invited his people to turn to Allah and avoid worshiping idols. But the people of Nineveh rejected Yunus, just as many nations rejected the prophets and messengers before him. Yunus was not deterred; he kept calling them to worship Allah and reminding them of the terrible wrath of Allah that had fallen upon Ad, Thamud and the people of Nuh.
But they rejected this and said, “We and our forefathers have worshiped these gods for many years and no harm has come to us.”
Prophet Yunus wanted to help them and was persistent, he did not give up on his people; despite their ignorance and harsh words, he continued to warn them of Allah’s punishment.
“Let it be,” laughed the men, and informed Yunus that they were not the least bit afraid of his empty threats. Prophet Yunus was discouraged; he gave up . Without Allah’s permission, he decided to leave the city of Nineveh in the hope of finding a community far away that would accept him and join the fold of Islam.
The calm sky above Nineveh soon turned red with anger, which was preparing to spew the wrath of Allah. Men, women and children gathered on the mountain tops, watching the battle of the sky above them with hearts filled with fear.
They soon remembered Yunus’ warning of Allah’s punishment and feared the fate of Ad, Thamud and the people of Nuh. With a new faith they fell on their knees and with outstretched hands they begged for Allah’s forgiveness and mercy. Moved by this sign of sincere repentance, Allah lifted His punishment, forgave His subjects and showered them with His blessings. When the sky cleared, the people prayed for the safe return of their beloved Prophet Yunus so that he could guide them in the path of Allah.
Meanwhile, Prophet Yunus, who had left Nineveh, had boarded a small passenger ship with the intention of traveling as far away from his people as possible. During the day the ship sailed through the calm waters, but as night approached a storm raged, shaking the ship violently. The crew and passengers began to fear for their lives as seawater gradually began to pour into the deck and slowly sank the ship.
As the storm continued through the night, the captain ordered his men to jettison the baggage and any other excess cargo to lighten the ship’s load. As instructed, the crew jettisoned the excess cargo, but the ship continued to sink because it was still too heavy. The captain had no choice: he had to sacrifice the life of one man if he was to save the lives of his crew and passengers. As was the custom among the people at that time, the captain decided to cast lots to choose the passenger to be sacrificed.
The lots were cast and the name of Prophet Yunus was chosen. The men knew that Yunus was a young, righteous, honest and blessed man, so they refused to throw him out and agreed to a new draw.
So the lots were cast, and the name of Yunus reappeared. The men refused to throw Yunus out, saying, “We are not going to get rid of Yunus. He is our blessing on the boat. He’s the best man we have on the boat; we will not lose him.” So they drew lots for the third time, and Yunus’ name came up again! The men were astonished, but Prophet Yunus knew that this was the verdict of Allah, for he had deserted his people without the permission of his Lord. So Yunus jumped out of the ship into the dark angry waves in the middle of the ocean.
As Allah commanded, the largest whale in the ocean swallowed Yunus just as he hit the water. Yunus, who was unconscious, awoke to find himself shrouded in pure darkness.
He believed that he was in his grave, but when his senses awakened, he realized that he was not in his grave, but was in fact in the stomach of a large fish.
Deep in the whale’s stomach, Prophet Yunus prostrated before Allah and said, “O Allah, I kneel before You in a place where no one has ever kneeled before You, in the stomach of a fish.” Then he invoked Allah and repeated: “None has the right to be worshiped but You. Holy are You. Verily, I have been among the wrongdoers.” The creatures of the deep sea heard the invocation of Yunus, and gathered around the whale to participate in the celebration of the praise of Allah.
Allah, the Merciful, was greatly moved by Yunus’ repentance. He ordered the whale to spit out His messenger at the nearest shore. The whale obeyed Allah’s command and swam to the nearest shore and spat out Yunus. Yunus’s body was inflamed due to the acid in the whale’s stomach. He had no protection from the sun and the wind, so Allah commanded that a tree grow over Yunus to provide him with food and shade. Allah forgave him and informed him that without his sincere invocations, Yunus would remain in the whale’s stomach until the Day of Judgment.
When Yunus fully recovered, he traveled back to Nineveh to complete his mission. Upon arrival in his hometown, Yunus was astounded – the entire population of Nineveh had embraced Islam and was waiting for his arrival. Together with his people, Yunus prostrated before his Lord and thanked Him for all His blessings.
Yunus was the only Prophet whose entire community accepted Islam. Allah stated in the Holy Quran regarding the people of Yunus Ibn Matta: “Was there a city community that believed after seeing the punishment, and its faith at that time saved it from the punishment? (Except for the people of Yunus, when they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in the present life and We gave them pleasure for a while.” [Surah Yunus Ayat 98]
