172 – ʿAbd Allāh related to us; he said: Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah, from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, who said:

“Jonah—peace be upon him—kept calling his people, but they refused to listen; whenever he was alone, however, he would pray for them. They assigned a spy to watch him, and when their obstinacy exhausted him he invoked Allah against them. The spy returned and reported this, so they went out—separating the livestock from their young—and raised loud cries to Allah Most High. Allah therefore had mercy on them.

Jonah came to see by what means his people had been destroyed, only to find the ground black with their numbers. ⦗117⦘ He departed in displeasure and boarded a ship with some other people, but the vessel would neither advance nor retreat. He said, ‘This can only be because of the sin of one of you.’ They cast lots, and the lot fell to him while the others were released, so that Jonah’s lot remained on the left-hand side. They said, ‘Not tonight—no evil has come upon us through the Prophet of Allah.’ They drew lots again, and again his lot stayed on the left. Jonah said, ‘I am the one meant; cast me into the water, but do not throw me head-first—pour me in feet-first.’ They did so, and a whale opened its mouth and swallowed him. A larger whale followed, intending to swallow them both, but the first outpaced it. Jonah remained in the whale’s belly until his flesh, bones, hair, and skin were compressed. … He then called upon Allah, and among what he said were the words:

‘So We cast him upon the open shore while he was sick’ (Qur’an 37:145), and: ‘We caused a gourd-vine to grow over him’ (Qur’an 37:146).

That plant provided nourishment for him until his bones grew strong again and his flesh, hair, and skin returned, so that he was as he had been. Allah Most High then sent a wind against the plant ⦗118⦘ and it withered. Jonah wept over it, whereupon Allah revealed to him: ‘O Jonah, do you weep over a plant that Allah had provided merely for your subsistence, yet you do not weep over your people when they were about to be destroyed?’”