He then commanded the fish to cast him upon the shore, as Allah, exalted is He, says: “So We cast him forth upon a barren shore, while he was sick.” (al-Saffat 37:145) (1)

“So We answered him and saved him from distress. And thus We save the believers. And Zachariah, when he called upon his Lord: ‘My Lord, do not leave me childless, though You are the best of inheritors.’”

Accordingly, His words, “So We answered him,” mean: We answered his supplication; and “We saved him from distress,” means from those layers of darkness. “And thus We save the believers” from every affliction when they call upon Us and seek Our aid.

Ibn Amir and Asim, in the narration of Abu Bakr, recited nujjī, with one nūn, a doubled jīm, and a silent final yā’, since it is written in the Quranic codex with one nūn. The grammarians differed over this recitation. Most of them held it to be a grammatical irregularity, since, had it been in the passive voice, the final yā’ would not have been silent and “the believers” would have been in the nominative. Others held it to be correct. Al-Farra’ mentioned another possible analysis: that an implied verbal noun is understood—namely, najjā al-najā’u al-mu’minīna (“deliverance saved the believers”)—with “the believers” in the accusative, just as one says, ḍaraba al-ḍarbu Zaydan (“the striking struck Zayd”), and then says, ḍaraba Zaydan, placing Zayd in the accusative on account of the implied verbal noun. He considered the final yā’ in nujjī to have been rendered silent, as they render it silent in baqiya (“he remained”) and similar words.

Al-Qutaybi said: Whoever recites it with one nūn and a doubled consonant intended nunjī, from the causative verb meaning “We save,” but assimilated the consonants and omitted one nūn in pursuit of ease of pronunciation. The grammarians did not approve of this ⦗22⦘ because the point of articulation of the nūn is far from that of the jīm, whereas assimilation occurs when the points of articulation are close. The common recitation is nunjī, with two nūns, from the verb meaning “We save.” It was written with only one nūn because the second nūn was silent, and a silent consonant is not apparent on the tongue; it was therefore omitted, just as they omitted the nūn from in in illā, due to its concealment. (2)

They differed as to when Jonah’s mission took place. سعيد ibn Jubayr narrated from Ibn Abbas that it was after Allah brought him out from the belly of the fish, citing as evidence that Allah, exalted is He, mentions in Surat al-Saffat, “So We cast him forth upon a barren shore” (al-Saffat 37:145), and then mentions thereafter: “And We sent him to a hundred thousand, or even more” (al-Saffat 37:147). Others said that it had taken place before this, citing His words, exalted is He: “Indeed, Jonah was one of the messengers, when he fled to the laden ship” (al-Saffat 37:139–140).

His words, exalted is He, “And Zachariah, when he called upon his Lord,” mean that he supplicated to his Lord: “My Lord, do not leave me childless”—that is, alone, without offspring; rather, grant me an heir—“though You are the best of inheritors.” This is praise of Allah, for He remains after all creatures have perished, and He is the best of all who remain alive.