They differed over how long he remained in the belly of the fish. Muqatil ibn Hayyan said: three days. ‘Ata’ said: seven days. Al-Dahhak said: twenty days. Al-Suddi, Al-Kalbi, and Muqatil ibn Sulayman said: forty days. Al-Sha‘bi said: The fish swallowed him in the forenoon and cast him out in the evening. (1)

“And We caused a gourd vine to grow over him, and We sent him to a hundred thousand—or more.” (146–147)

“And We caused to grow over him”: that is, for him; it was also said: near him. “A gourd vine”: meaning the pumpkin, according to all the exegetes.

Al-Hasan and Muqatil said: Every plant that spreads and trails along the surface of the earth, having no stem and not surviving through the winter—such as pumpkin, cucumber, and watermelon—is yaqtīn (a gourd vine).

Muqatil ibn Hayyan said: Jonah used to take shade beneath the tree, and a doe would come to him, from whose milk he would drink morning and evening, until his flesh became firm, his hair grew back, and he regained his strength. Then he slept, and when he awoke, the tree had dried up. He grieved intensely, and the heat of the sun afflicted him, so he began to weep. Thereupon Allah Most High sent Gabriel to him and said: “Do you grieve over a tree, yet not grieve over one hundred thousand of your people, when they have submitted and repented?” (2)

If it is asked: Here He says, “But We cast him upon the open shore while he was ill,” whereas elsewhere He says, “Had a favor from his Lord not reached him, he would surely have been cast upon the open shore, blameworthy” (al-Qalam 49). Does this not indicate that he was not cast out?

The answer is that “had it not been” in that verse relates to blame: its meaning is, had a favor from his Lord not reached him, he would have been cast upon the open shore in a blameworthy state. But the favor reached him, and so he was cast out without being blameworthy.

His saying, exalted is He, “And We sent him to a hundred thousand”: Qatada said: He was sent to the people of Nineveh, in the land of Mosul, before what happened to him occurred. Thus, “And We sent him” means: We had sent him. It was also said that he was sent to them after coming out of the belly of the fish; and it was said: to another people.

“Or more”: Ibn Abbas said that it means, “and more,” with “or” carrying the sense of “and,” as in His saying, “as an excuse or as a warning” (al-Mursalat 6). Muqatil and Al-Kalbi said that it means: rather, more.

Al-Zajjaj said: “Or” here retains its original meaning: that is, they were more according to your estimation and supposition, like a man who sees a group of people and says, “These are a thousand or more.” Thus, the uncertainty is according to the estimation of created beings. Most scholars held that it means: and more.

They differed over the number by which they exceeded this figure. ⦗99a⦘ Ibn Abbas and Muqatil said: They were twenty thousand, and Ubayy ibn Ka‘b narrated this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. (3)