Lessons from the Quran - Ramadhan Reflections 2019 [Day 30]

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 X put him through and which the faithful are recommended to remember every night when performing 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 Prophet Yūnus has been mentioned five times in the Noble 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 from a the Divine punishment; and in the last mention of him in Sūrah al-Sāffāt (37), many parts of his mission and his tribulation are meticulously detailed. In 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 when he returned back to his community after he had survived being stuck in the belly of that huge sea creature.  Once he was able to fully recover his health, he made his way back to his community in Naynawa in Iraq, and he noticed that contrary to what he thought, they were still alive and well and the punishment of Allah had not yet befallen them!  Shocked, he was told that when he left them, they mended their ways, sincerely repented to Allah and thus, He 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! However in his verse of the Quran, this verse us that when Prophet Yūnus came back to his community and they were 100,000 people – or maybe even more! Point of Reflection The Quran presents stories of prophets of the past – not just to read 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 X and realize our responsibilities to Islam and to our living Imam, al-Ḥujjah – may Allah hasten his return.