Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 196
? 189 people. Now let us see how the Prophet Jonas remained in the whale's belly three days and three nights. STORY OF JONAS We refer to the book of Jonas for this. It is mentioned therein:― "Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. (Nineveh was a big city. The Lord God commanded Jonah to go there arid admonish its people). But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish; so, he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. " Instead of following the commandment of God like other prophets and going to preach to the people of Nineveh, it occurred to him that Allah being Compassionate and Over-Generous, He issued warnings of impending chastisement first and later on, people humbly beseeching Him, forgave them, with the result that the prophets were treated as liars by the people, Jonah finding that he could not stand this, decided against going to Nineveh and proceeded to Tarshish instead.