And We sent him (back as a Messenger at Nineveh) to a people hundred thousand strong, rather they were even more. (37:47)
Commentary
NUMBER 100,000: This verse from Sūrah al-Sāffāt speaks about the great Prophet, Yūnus, known in English as Prophet Jonah - the one who was swallowed by a large fish – in a significant trial which Allah put him through and which the faithful remember every night when the perform ṣalāt al-ghufaylah.
As we mentioned in our 2016 publication entitled, Salvation Through Patience and Perseverance: Salat al-Ghufaylah, Prophet Yūnus is a prophet of many ‘exceptions’.
He was born in 825 bce and is buried in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. He was a prophet from the Children of Israel (Banī Isrāʾīl) and came after Prophet Sulayman and is spoken about in the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament of the Bible and has been mentioned five times in the Quran.
In Sūrah al-Nisāʾ (4), he is mentioned alongside other prophets as having received revelation; in Sūrah al-Anʿām (7), he is referred to alongside other prophets as being “rightly guided”; in Sūrah Yūnus (10), his community is the only one in the history presented by the Quran as having been spared the Divine punishment; and in the last mention of him in Sūrah al-Sāffāt, many parts of his mission and his tribulation are meticulously detailed.
When it comes to our final verse for review this Ramaḍhān, we see that Allah has made use of the number 100,000 – and it is in the context of the outcome of Prophet Yūnus returning back to his community after he had survived being stuck in the belly of the huge sea creature. Once he was able to fully recover his health and make his way back to his community in Naynawa in Iraq, he noticed that contrary to what he thought, they were still alive and the punishment of Allah had not befallen them! Shocked, he was told that when he left them, they mended their ways, repented and so Allah did not punish this group of people. In conclusion, Allah presents us with a fact which He has never mentioned in regards to any other prophet – and that is the number of followers or believers which they had – no matter how large or small they were! Here He tells us that Yūnus came back to his community and they were 100,000 – or more!
The Quran presents the stories of prophets of the past – not just to read them and marvel at their accomplishments or lament over their tragedies – but rather, so that we can read, reflect and learn lessons from these great men of Allah and to realize our responsibility to Islam and to our living Imam, al-Ḥujjah – may Allah hasten his return.