Surah 37. As-Saffat, Ayah 148

Lit., "for a time": i.e., for the duration of their natural lives (Razi; also Manar XI, 483).

Cf. the reference to the people of Jonah in 10:98 . For the Biblical version of this story, see The Book of Jonah iii.

They repented and believed, and Nineveh got a new lease of life. For the dates to which Jonah may be referred, and the vicissitudes of the City's history as the seat of the Assyrian Empire, see notes 1478-79 to x. 98. The lessons from Jonah's story are: (1) that no man should take upon himself to judge of Allah's wrath or Allah's mercy; (2) that nevertheless Allah forgives true repentance, whether in a righteous man, or in a wicked city; and (3) that Allah's Plan will always prevail, and can never be defeated.