Why did Prophet Yunus leave his people? It is the question at the heart of the story of Yunus, because everything that follows, the ship, the lots, the great fish and the du'a in the darkness, begins with that one departure. The Quran answers it in a few sharp words spread over three surahs, and the classical tafsir fill in what those words mean.
This article is about that question only: what the Quran says, at whom his anger was directed, whether leaving was a sin, whether the fish was a punishment, and what Surah al-Qalam asks us to learn from it. Every quotation of the Quran is taken from the text itself, and every explanation is credited to its source: Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari, al-Sa'di or al-Tafsir al-Muyassar. Where the Quran and the tafsir are silent, we say so.
For the whole story from the ship to the gourd plant, read our complete story of Prophet Yunus and the whale.
The short answer: he left before Allah gave him permission
Yunus left his people because they refused his message, and he went away angry before Allah commanded him to go. That is the answer the four tafsir give when they explain the ayah of Surah al-Anbiya that opens the story:
﴿وَذَا ٱلنُّونِ إِذ ذَّهَبَ مُغَـٰضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَن لَّن نَّقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَىٰ فِى ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ أَن لَّآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنتَ سُبْحَـٰنَكَ إِنِّى كُنتُ مِنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ ٨٧ فَٱسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُۥ وَنَجَّيْنَـٰهُ مِنَ ٱلْغَمِّ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُـۨجِى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٨٨﴾(87) And [mention] the man of the fish [i.e., Jonah], 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." (88) So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers.
Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains the ayah like this: Allah sent Yunus to his people, he called them and they did not believe, he warned them of punishment and they did not turn back, and he did not have patience with them as Allah had commanded him, so he left them angry at them, his chest tight because of their disobedience. Al-Sa'di says the same in one phrase: he went off in anger before Allah commanded him to, and that haste was the cause of what happened to him next.
Notice what the Quran itself says and does not say. It says he went away in anger. It does not say that Allah told him to go, and the second passage, in Surah as-Saffat, makes that clearer.
"When he ran away to the laden ship"
﴿وَإِنَّ يُونُسَ لَمِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ ١٣٩ إِذْ أَبَقَ إِلَى ٱلْفُلْكِ ٱلْمَشْحُونِ ١٤٠﴾(139) And indeed, Jonah was among the messengers. (140) [Mention] when he ran away to the laden ship.
The verb in 37:140, abaqa, is the word used in Arabic for a servant who runs away from his master without permission. Al-Tabari explains it simply as "when he fled to the ship", and al-Tafsir al-Muyassar says he fled from his town angry at his people and boarded a ship full of passengers and goods. Al-Sa'di reads the word in its full sense: Yunus "ran away from his Lord" by leaving his post, and that is why the Quran, which otherwise praises him as a messenger in the very same ayah, uses such a strong word for his departure.
So the Quran gives us the two facts we need. First, the reason: his people would not believe. Second, the fault: he left without being told to. The question most people then ask is at whom the anger was directed.
Was Yunus angry with his people or with his Lord?
The scholars of tafsir hold two views, and both come from early reports. Ibn Kathir reports the view that the anger was towards his people, because they kept refusing after he had warned them. Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains the ayah in the same way: he left "angry at them". This is the view most readers of the story know.
Al-Tabari reports the first view too, but he also reports a second one and says it is closer to the wording of the ayah. According to these reports, Yunus had warned his people of a punishment at an appointed time, and when they repented, Allah lifted the punishment. Yunus then left in frustration because the punishment he had announced did not come, and he disliked being among a people who had seen him, as they thought, not keep his word. The reports al-Tabari cites put it in these terms: he hated to be among a people who had caught him out in what he had promised them. Al-Sa'di uses the same wording when he explains 37:142: the blame on Yunus was that he was "in anger towards his Lord".
It is important to read this second view the way the scholars who hold it read it. None of them means that a prophet objected to Allah's judgement or doubted Allah's power. Al-Tabari himself says, when he explains the next phrase of the ayah, that a prophet chosen by Allah cannot be described with anything that would be disbelief. What these scholars mean is that Yunus felt the sting of the lifted punishment as a man who feared being called a liar, and he let that feeling carry him out of the town before Allah gave him leave.
Both views, then, meet at the same point: Yunus left his mission on his own, in a state of anger, without Allah's permission. That is what the Quran blames, whichever way his anger is explained. Al-Sa'di adds a wise note in his commentary on the story: Allah did not tell us the details of what Yunus was angry about, because knowing them would not benefit us. The lesson is in what follows.
Did Allah tell Yunus to leave?
No. The Quran never says that Allah commanded Yunus to leave his people, and the tafsir say the opposite. Al-Sa'di states that he left before Allah commanded him to, al-Tafsir al-Muyassar says he did not have patience with his people as Allah had commanded him, and the word abaqa in 37:140, as al-Sa'di explains it, means a departure without permission. A messenger stays with his people until Allah tells him otherwise, and the story of Yunus is told partly to teach that.
Did Prophet Yunus sin? What the Quran's own words say
The Quran describes the departure of Yunus with words of blame, and then describes his repentance and his restoration with words of honour. Both halves matter, so here are the words of blame first:
﴿فَسَاهَمَ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُدْحَضِينَ ١٤١ فَٱلْتَقَمَهُ ٱلْحُوتُ وَهُوَ مُلِيمٌ ١٤٢ فَلَوْلَآ أَنَّهُۥ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُسَبِّحِينَ ١٤٣ لَلَبِثَ فِى بَطْنِهِۦٓ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ ١٤٤﴾(141) And he drew lots and was among the losers. (142) Then the fish swallowed him, while he was blameworthy. (143) And had he not been of those who exalt Allāh, (144) He would have remained inside its belly until the Day they are resurrected.
Three expressions in the Quran describe his state. In 37:142 he is swallowed “while he was blameworthy”
(Quran 37:142), in Arabic mulim. Al-Tabari explains that mulim means someone who has done a thing that deserves blame, and he notes that the early scholars he cites explained it as "one who has done wrong". Al-Sa'di says it means "one who did what he is blamed for", and that this was his anger over leaving. In 21:87 Yunus himself says “Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.”
(Quran 21:87), and al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains this as a confession of his wrong "in leaving patience with his people". In 68:49 the Quran says that had a favour from his Lord not reached him, “he would have been thrown onto the naked shore while he was censured”
(Quran 68:49).
So the tafsir do not pretend that nothing happened. Al-Sa'di writes that Yunus went off in anger and "ran away from his Lord because of a sin", and al-Tafsir al-Muyassar calls it a "violation" (mukhalafah) of the patience Allah had commanded. Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari and al-Sa'di all read the next phrase, "he thought that We would not constrict him", as meaning that Yunus did not expect to be held to account for leaving, and al-Sa'di adds that such a thought can pass over even the most perfect of people without settling in their hearts.
Now the words of honour, which come in the same passages. The ayah that introduces the story in Surah as-Saffat begins by stating that “And indeed, Jonah was among the messengers.”
(Quran 37:139) In Surah al-An'am Yunus is named with the prophets of whom Allah says “and all [of them] We preferred over the worlds.”
(Quran 6:86) And the story in Surah al-Qalam ends with “And his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous.”
(Quran 68:50) Ibn Kathir cites here the authentic hadith recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim that it is not befitting for anyone to say "I am better than Yunus ibn Matta".
Put together, the Quran's answer to "did Yunus sin?" is this: he made a mistake of haste by leaving before he was permitted, the Quran calls it blameworthy, he confessed it at once as wrongdoing, Allah accepted his repentance, and he remained a chosen messenger whom no one may belittle. Al-Sa'di sums up the whole episode in one line when he introduces Surah as-Saffat 37:139: Allah mentions "a worldly punishment that He saved him from because of his faith and his righteous deeds".
Was the great fish a punishment for leaving?
The tafsir describe the fish as a trial and a worldly discipline for leaving without permission, and at the same time as the means of his rescue. Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar says that because Yunus thought Allah would not constrict him for this violation, "Allah tested him with severe constriction and confinement, and the fish swallowed him in the sea". Al-Tabari explains the phrase "We would not constrict him" as a reference to confinement in the belly of the fish, and reads it as a consequence of his leaving in anger. Al-Sa'di, as we saw, calls it a worldly punishment from which Allah saved him.
But the Quran also tells us that the fish did not kill him, and why. He called out in the darknesses, and “had he not been of those who exalt”
(Quran 37:143) Allah, he would have remained in its belly until the Day of Resurrection (37:143-144). Ibn Kathir reports the view, which he says al-Tabari preferred, that this refers to the good deeds and glorification Yunus had done in times of ease before the trial, and a second view that it refers to his words inside the fish. Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar combines both: his many acts of worship before the trial, and his glorification inside the fish with the words "There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers."
So the fish was both. It was the hardship that followed his mistake, and it was the place where his repentance was heard. The ayah that follows his du'a does not speak of punishment at all. It speaks of rescue, and widens it to every believer: “And thus do We save the believers.”
(Quran 21:88) If you want to understand the du'a itself, phrase by phrase, it is explained in our article on the du'as of the prophets in the Quran.
Watch this story in QASASYunus and the WhaleWhy did the whale swallow Prophet Yunus but not harm him?Open on Google Play →"Do not be like the companion of the fish": the lesson of Surah al-Qalam
The Quran tells the story of Yunus a third time in Surah al-Qalam, and this time it tells us exactly what to learn from it:
﴿فَٱصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلَا تَكُن كَصَاحِبِ ٱلْحُوتِ إِذْ نَادَىٰ وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ ٤٨ لَّوْلَآ أَن تَدَٰرَكَهُۥ نِعْمَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦ لَنُبِذَ بِٱلْعَرَآءِ وَهُوَ مَذْمُومٌ ٤٩ فَٱجْتَبَـٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَجَعَلَهُۥ مِنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ ٥٠﴾(48) Then be patient for the decision of your Lord, [O Muḥammad], and be not like the companion of the fish [i.e., Jonah] when he called out while he was distressed. (49) If not that a favor [i.e., mercy] from his Lord overtook him, he would have been thrown onto the naked shore while he was censured. (50) And his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous.
The lesson is patience with Allah's decision. Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains the command as patience with what Allah has decreed, including giving the disbelievers time and delaying victory over them, and explains the warning as: do not be like Yunus "in his anger and his lack of patience with his people". Al-Sa'di divides the patience into two: patience with Allah's decree, which means no anger and no despair, and submission to Allah's command, which means acceptance. Then, in his words, "nothing remains except patience with their harm".
The word makzum in 68:48 is explained by Ibn Kathir, from the early scholars he cites, as "distressed", filled with grief. Al-Tabari explains it as one weighed down by sorrow. The ayah does not blame his du'a; it describes the state of grief in which he made it, and the next ayah says that a favour from his Lord reached him in that state. Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains that favour as Allah guiding him to repentance and accepting it. Then comes the ending every reader should hold on to: “And his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous.”
(Quran 68:50)
This is why the question "why did Yunus leave his people?" matters beyond history. It is answered in the Quran so that whoever calls others to good, and meets refusal, knows not to walk away in anger. The theme runs through many of the stories, as we show in patience in the stories of the prophets.
What happened to his people after he left?
His people repented and were saved, the only town in the Quran whose faith benefited it when the punishment had already drawn near:
﴿فَلَوْلَا كَانَتْ قَرْيَةٌ ءَامَنَتْ فَنَفَعَهَآ إِيمَـٰنُهَآ إِلَّا قَوْمَ يُونُسَ لَمَّآ ءَامَنُوا۟ كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمْ عَذَابَ ٱلْخِزْىِ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَمَتَّعْنَـٰهُمْ إِلَىٰ حِينٍ ٩٨﴾(98) Then has there not been a [single] city that believed so its faith benefited it except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in worldly life and gave them enjoyment [i.e., provision] for a time.
Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains that when they became certain the punishment was coming down on them, they repented to Allah sincerely, and when their sincerity was clear, Allah removed the punishment after it had come close. Ibn Kathir reports that when they lost their prophet and saw the signs of the punishment, Allah placed repentance in their hearts, they went out humbling themselves before Him, and He lifted it from them. Al-Sa'di notes that forced faith at the moment of punishment is normally of no benefit, and that the people of Yunus were an exception by a wisdom known to Allah, who knew their faith would last.
Surah as-Saffat tells the end of the story from the side of Yunus: Allah sent him back to his people, “a hundred thousand or more”
(Quran 37:147), “And they believed”
(Quran 37:148), and Allah let them enjoy life for a time (37:147-148). Ibn Kathir explains "or more" to mean not fewer than that number, but more. The messenger who left in anger returned to a people who had all believed.
The answer at a glance
| Question | Answer | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Why did Yunus leave? | His people rejected his call and he left in anger | 21:87, 37:140 |
| Did Allah tell him to leave? | No; he left before he was permitted (al-Sa'di, al-Muyassar) | 37:140 |
| Angry at whom? | At his people (Ibn Kathir, al-Muyassar), or over the lifted punishment (al-Tabari's preference) | 21:87 |
| Was it a sin? | A blameworthy haste that he confessed at once; he stayed a chosen messenger | 37:142, 21:87, 68:50 |
| Was the fish a punishment? | A trial for leaving, and the place of his rescue | 21:87-88, 37:142-144 |
| What is the lesson? | Patience with Allah's decision; do not leave in anger | 68:48-50 |
| What became of his people? | They repented, the punishment was lifted, all believed | 10:98, 37:147-148 |
Lessons from why Yunus left his people
- A caller to Allah stays until Allah says otherwise. The one fault the Quran names is leaving the mission without permission, and three surahs return to it so that no one repeats it.
- Anger is a poor adviser, even when it has a reason. His people had refused him. The Quran still calls the departure that anger produced blameworthy.
- Allah's decree deserves patience, not frustration. Surah al-Qalam turns the story into one command: be patient for the decision of your Lord.
- Hardship after a mistake can be mercy. The fish was a constriction, and it was where his du'a was answered.
- Repentance is immediate and honest. Yunus did not explain himself; he said "I have been of the wrongdoers".
- What you build in ease carries you in hardship. Had he not been of those who glorify Allah before the trial, says the tafsir, he would not have come out.
- A mistake does not cancel a lifetime. The same passages that blame the departure call him a messenger, chosen and righteous.
- Never give up on people. The people he left became the only town whose faith saved it.
Read and watch it in QASAS
QASAS is a free prophet stories app, with no ads, no account and no tracking, that tells this story as a short cinematic episode, "Yunus and the Whale", which you can watch or read page by page and then test with a quick quiz. For the question in this article, the most useful part of the app is the mushaf with tafsir: open Surah al-Anbiya 21:87, Surah as-Saffat 37:139 or Surah al-Qalam 68:48 and read al-Muyassar and Ibn Kathir under the ayah, in the same words quoted here. The app also has prayer times with the adhan, the qibla, a 3D tasbih for your dhikr, and adhkar and du'as including the du'a of Yunus. It is live on Google Play for Android, and the iPhone version is coming soon. For a version of the story written for children, see the story of Prophet Yunus for kids.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Prophet Yunus leave his people?
Prophet Yunus left his people because they rejected his call, and he went away in anger before Allah permitted him to leave. The Quran says he “went off in anger”
(Quran 21:87) (21:87) and that he “ran away to the laden ship”
(Quran 37:140) (37:140). Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains that he did not have patience with them as Allah had commanded, and al-Sa'di says he left before Allah commanded him to.
Was Yunus angry with Allah or with his people?
The tafsir give two views. Ibn Kathir and al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explain that his anger was at his people for refusing him. Al-Tabari prefers the reports that he left in frustration because the punishment he had announced was lifted when his people repented, and he disliked being seen as someone who had not kept his word. Neither view means a prophet objected to Allah's judgement, and both agree he left without permission.
Did Prophet Yunus commit a sin?
The Quran calls his departure blameworthy and records his confession, but it also calls him a chosen messenger. He was swallowed “while he was blameworthy”
(Quran 37:142) (37:142) and said “Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.”
(Quran 21:87) (21:87). Al-Sa'di speaks of a sin of haste in leaving, and al-Tafsir al-Muyassar of a violation of the patience commanded. The same passages say “And his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous.”
(Quran 68:50) (68:50).
Was the whale a punishment for Yunus?
The tafsir describe the fish as a trial for leaving without permission and as the place where Allah saved him. Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar says Allah tested him with constriction and confinement, and al-Sa'di calls it a worldly punishment from which Allah rescued him because of his faith and good deeds. The Quran says that had he not been of those who glorify Allah, he would have stayed inside it until the Resurrection (37:143-144).
Did Allah tell Yunus to leave his people?
No. The Quran never says Allah commanded him to leave, and the tafsir say he left before being commanded. Al-Sa'di explains the word abaqa in 37:140 as running away from his Lord, and al-Tafsir al-Muyassar says he did not have patience with his people as Allah had commanded him.
What does "wa huwa mulim" mean in Surah as-Saffat?
It means "while he was blameworthy", one who had done something deserving blame. Al-Tabari explains that mulim is the person who has done what he deserves to be blamed for, and al-Sa'di says the blame was for his anger in leaving. The word appears in 37:142, where the fish swallows him.
Why does Surah al-Qalam say "do not be like the companion of the fish"?
Because the story of Yunus is given in Surah al-Qalam as a lesson in patience with Allah's decision. Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains the warning as: do not be like Yunus in his anger and lack of patience with his people, and al-Sa'di explains that nothing remains for the caller to Allah except patience with the harm of his people. The passage ends by saying that Allah chose Yunus and made him of the righteous (68:48-50).
What happened to the people of Yunus after he left?
They repented, the punishment was lifted and they all believed. Surah Yunus 10:98 says they were the only town whose faith benefited it when the punishment had drawn near, and Surah as-Saffat says Allah sent him to a hundred thousand or more and they believed (37:147-148). Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar explains that they repented sincerely when they were certain the punishment was coming.
Sources
Quran: Surah al-Anbiya 21:87-88, Surah as-Saffat 37:139-148, Surah al-Qalam 68:48-50, Surah Yunus 10:98, al-An'am 6:86 (Uthmani text and Saheeh International translation). Tafsir: Ibn Kathir (Tafsir al-Quran al-'Azim) on 21:87, 37:139-148, 68:48-50 and 10:98; al-Tabari (Jami' al-Bayan) on 21:87, 37:140, 37:142 and 68:48; al-Sa'di (Taysir al-Karim al-Rahman) on 21:87, 37:139-142, 68:48 and 10:98; al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (King Fahd Complex) on 21:87-88, 37:139-148, 68:48-50 and 10:98.
Updated: · By QASAS
