Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:87
And [mention] the man of the fish, when he went off in anger and thought that We would not decree [anything] upon him. And he called out within the darknesses, "There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted be His praise, says: And remember, O Muḥammad, Dhā al-Nūn — that is, the master of the nūn; al-nūn is the fish. By Dhā al-Nūn is meant Yūnus ibn Mattā. We have already mentioned his story in the Sūra of Yūnus in a manner that makes its repetition here unnecessary.
His words (إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا) mean: when he departed in anger.
The exegetes differed over the meaning of his departing in anger, and against whom his departure was directed and at whom his anger was directed. Some said: his departure was away from his people, and it was at them that he was wrathful.
*Mentioned are those who say this:*
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words (وَذَا النُّونِ إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا): "He said: he was wrathful at his people."
It was related to me from al-Ḥusayn: he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning (إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا): "His anger was at his people."
Others said: he departed away from his people in anger at his Lord, when the punishment was averted from them after he had threatened them with it.
*Mentioned are those who say this; and the reason for his anger at his Lord according to their explanation:*
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ziyād, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Salama, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Allah sent him — that is, Yūnus — to the people of his city. They rejected what he brought them and refused to accept it. When they did that, Allah revealed to him: I will send upon them a punishment (ʿadhāb) on such-and-such a day. He informed his people of what Allah had promised him of the punishment, and they said: "Watch him: if he leaves, then by Allah, the promise he made has come true." When it was the night before the morning of the punishment, he departed in the early morning and the people saw him. They went out from the city to an open field, separated every animal from its young, called upon Allah loudly and begged Him for forgiveness — and Allah granted it to them. Yūnus waited for news of the city and its people until someone passed by; he said: "What has happened with the people of the city?" The man answered: "Their prophet departed — they acknowledged that he had told them the truth about the punishment — they went out from the city to an open field, separated every animal having young from its young, called upon Allah loudly and repented; Allah accepted it from them and deferred the punishment from them." Yūnus then said, in his anger: "By Allah, I will never return to them as a liar. I threatened them with punishment on a day which was then averted from them!" And he departed in his anger.
Ibn Bashshār related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us; he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī al-Ḥasan, who said: "It has reached me that Yūnus, when he committed the sin, departed in anger at his Lord and the devil caused him to slip."
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Mujālid ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, concerning (إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا): "In anger at his Lord."
Al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us; he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — he mentioned a report resembling that of Ibn Ḥumayd via Salama, and added to it: Yūnus went to observe the punishment, but saw nothing. "They have proved me a liar," he said, and he departed in anger at his Lord until he reached the sea.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Salama related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Rabīʿa ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, who said — I heard him saying: Yūnus ibn Mattā was a righteous servant and narrow in his character. When the burdens of prophethood weighed upon him — and they are burdens that only few can bear — he broke down under it like a young horse (rabʿ) under its load. He cast it off from himself and fled from it. Allah says to His prophet ﷺ: فَاصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ and فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ — that is: do not cast off My affair as he who did so. This view — that is, of the one who said: he departed away from his people in anger at his Lord — is more in accord with the explanation of the verse. Allah's words (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ) point to that. As for those who explained it as: he departed in anger at his people, it is that they did so because they regarded it as objectionable that a prophet would be wrathful at his Lord and considered it grave. But with their assertion that he departed in anger at his people, they have fallen more deeply into something greater than what they objected to. For among those who said: he departed in anger at his Lord, there was difference over the reason for his departure. Some said: he did it because he found it distasteful to be present among a people who had proved him a liar in what he had promised them, and he was ashamed before them; he did not know what the reason was that had averted the calamity from them. Some of them said: it was the custom of the people he left to kill the one proved a liar — he feared that they would kill him because he had threatened them with punishment but it had not descended upon them. There are reports about this in the Sūra of Yūnus, whose repetition here we regard as unnecessary.
Others said: he was wrathful at his Lord because he had been commanded to go to his people to warn them of His punishment and to call them to Him; he asked his Lord for a delay to prepare for the departure to them, but he was told: the matter is more urgent than that. And the delay was not granted to him — not even as long as he needed to put on a sandal. And he was someone whose character was narrow, so that he said: "My Lord has hastened me to the point that I could not put on a sandal," and he departed in anger.
*Those to whom this explanation is attributed include: al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. Al-Ḥārith related this to me, he said: al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Abū Hilāl, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from him.*
Abū Jaʿfar said: In neither of the two views concerning the description of the prophet of Allah Yūnus ﷺ is there anything that would be less grave than what was attributed to him by those who said: he departed in anger at his people. For his departure away from his people in anger at them — while Allah had commanded him to remain among them to convey to them His message, to make them fear His punishment and His chastisement for their rejection of faith — undeniably contains something grave. Had he ﷺ not done what those who described him with committing a transgression say, Allah would not have punished him with the punishment that He mentions in His Book and described him with the description with which He describes him: وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ إِذْ نَادَى وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ and فَالْتَقَمَهُ الْحُوتُ وَهُوَ مُلِيمٌ * فَلَوْلا أَنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُسَبِّحِينَ * لَلَبِثَ فِي بَطْنِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ .
His words (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ): the exegetes differed over its explanation. Some said: the meaning is: he thought that We would not punish him by straitening. From the Arabic usage: "I have power over so-and-so (qadara ʿalayhi)" — when one straitens him — as Allah, exalted be His praise, says: وَمَنْ قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنْفِقْ مِمَّا آتَاهُ اللَّهُ .
*Mentioned are those who say this:*
ʿAlī related to me; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ): "He said: he thought that he would not be struck with the punishment that struck him."
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ) — "He thought that We would not decree against him any punishment or any trial on account of his anger at his people and his fleeing from them, and his punishment — being swallowed by the fish."
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid: he said concerning this verse (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ): "He thought that We would not punish him for his sin."
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me; he said: Zayd ibn Ḥabbāb related to us; he said: Shuʿba related to me, on the authority of Mujāhid — without mentioning al-Ḥakam.
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ): "He said: he thought that We would not punish him."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda and al-Kalbī: (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ) — "They both said: he thought that We would not decree the punishment against him."
It was related to me from al-Ḥusayn: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ) — "He thought that Allah would not decree against him a punishment and a trial on account of the anger he bore his people and his separation from them."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ): "The trial that struck him."
Others said: the meaning is: he thought that he was beyond Our power and that We had no power over him.
*Mentioned are those who say this:*
Ibn Bashshār related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us; he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī al-Ḥasan, who said: "It has reached me that Yūnus, when he committed the sin, departed in anger at his Lord, and the devil caused him to slip, so that he thought that We had no power over him. He had, however, prior good works and glorification, and Allah refused to abandon him to the devil. He let him be seized in the belly of the fish, and he remained forty days in the belly of the fish — day and night — and Allah held fast his soul and did not kill him. He returned to his Lord in the belly of the fish and turned back to himself, and said: سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ . Allah brought him out by His mercy, on account of his former worship and glorification, and counted him among the righteous." ʿAwf said: "And it has reached me that in his supplication he said: 'And I have built for You a place of prayer in a spot where no one before me had built one.'"
Ibn Bashshār related to us; he said: Hawdha related to us; he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ) — "and he had former worship and glorification, and Allah protected him on account of that and did not abandon him to the devil."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith, on the authority of Iyās ibn Muʿāwiya al-Madanī: when Yūnus was brought up before him and His words (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ), Iyās used to say: "Then why did he flee?"
Others said: it is an interrogative sentence; the actual explanation is: did he think that We had no power over him?
*Mentioned are those who say this:*
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ): "This is an interrogative sentence, just as His words فَمَا تُغْنِ النُّذُرُ — also an interrogative sentence."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The view that, in my opinion, is most in accord with the correct explanation is that of the one who said: by it is meant: Yūnus thought that We would not hold him fast and place him in straitness as punishment for his anger at his Lord. We prefer this explanation because it is not permissible to attribute disbelief to him, given that Allah had chosen him for prophethood. Moreover, it is not permissible to describe him as having thought that his Lord would be incapable concerning what He had destined for him and would have no power over it — that is to describe him with disbelief (kufr), and no one may describe him thus. The statement of Ibn Zayd is a statement that, were there in the sentence an indication that it is interrogative, would be sound. But there is no indication that this is the case. The Arabs do not omit from a sentence anything they need, unless there remains in it an indication that it is intended in the sentence. When there is in (فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ) no indication that it is interrogative as Ibn Zayd said, it is clear that it is not interrogative. If these two views are invalid, the third is correct — namely what we said.
His words (فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ): the exegetes differed over the darknesses meant; some said: by them are meant: the darkness of the night, the darkness of the sea, and the darkness of the belly of the fish.
*Mentioned are those who say this:*
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn: (فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ) — "The darkness of the belly of the fish, the darkness of the sea and the darkness of the night." So too said Ibn Jurayj.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ziyād, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Salama, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "He called out in the darknesses: the darkness of the night, the darkness of the sea and the darkness of the belly of the fish: لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ ."
Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Salamī related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Rifāʿa informed us: I heard Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb say concerning this verse (فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ): "The darkness of the night, the darkness of the sea and the darkness of the belly of the fish."
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning (فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ): "The darkness of the night, the darkness of the sea and the darkness of the belly of the fish."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ) — "The darkness of the belly of the fish, the darkness of the sea and the darkness of the night."
Others said: by it is meant that he called out from the darkness of the belly of one fish inside the belly of another fish in the sea, and those are the darknesses.
*Mentioned are those who say this:*
Ibn Bashshār related to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us; he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd: (فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ) — "Allah revealed to the fish that it must not harm his flesh nor his bones; then another fish swallowed that fish. He said: (فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ) — the darkness of the fish, then a fish, then the darkness of the sea."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct position on this is to say that Allah informed that Yūnus called upon Him from the darknesses: أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ . There is no doubt that by one of the darknesses is meant: the belly of the fish; by another: the darkness of the sea. Concerning the third there is difference: it is possible that it is the darkness of the night, and it is possible that it was the fish inside the belly of another fish. There is no indication which of the two it is, so there is no explanation that, as regards correctness, is to be preferred over the other except accepting what the revelation literally says.
His words (لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ) mean: Yūnus called out with these words, confessing his sin, showing repentance for his transgression: (إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ) — in my disobedience to You.
As Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ziyād, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Salama, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "He called out in the darknesses: أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ — confessing his sin, showing repentance for his transgression."
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to us; Abū Maʿshar said — Muḥammad ibn Qays said: His words لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ — "What I have done I have done, and I never worshipped any other than You; إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ — when I was disobedient to You."
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, who said: When Yūnus landed in the belly of the fish, he thought that he had died. Then he moved his leg, and when it moved, he prostrated on the spot; then he called out: "O Lord, I have taken a place of prayer for You in a spot where no one ever took one."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Salama related to us; he said: Ibn Isḥāq related to me, from someone who related it to him, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rāfiʿ, freedman (mawlā) of Umm Salama, wife of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: I heard Abū Hurayra say: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'When Allah wanted to confine Yūnus in the belly of the fish, Allah revealed to the fish: take him and do not harm his flesh and do not break his bones. It took him, and descended with him to its dwelling in the sea. When it had reached the bottom of the sea, Yūnus heard a sound and asked within himself: what is this? Allah revealed to him while he was in the belly of the fish: this is the glorification of the sea creatures. He glorified Allah while he was in the belly of the fish. The angels heard his glorification and said: O Lord, we hear a weak voice in a strange land! He said: That is My servant Yūnus — he disobeyed Me and I confined him in the belly of the fish in the sea. They said: The righteous servant from whom good deeds ascended to You every day and night? He said: Yes. They then interceded for him, and Allah commanded the fish to cast him onto the shores, as Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: وَهُوَ سَقِيمٌ .'"
