Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Reconsidering Jonah’s Departure in Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt: Context, Lexicography, and Prophetic Infallibility

Document Type : Original article

Author
Majid chehri
Assistant Professor, Department of Quranic Interpretation and Sciences, Kermanshah Faculty of Quranic Sciences, University of Holy Quranic Sciences and Education, Kermanshah, Iran.
10.22034/naghdeara.2025.523959.1296
Abstract
This study provides a critical analysis of the exegetical interpretation of Q. 37:140, focusing on the phrase “idh abaqa ilā al-fulki al-mashḥūni”. The dominant exegetical tradition, drawing heavily on Israʾīliyyāt, interprets abaqa as to flee (ibāq), thereby attributing a culpable act of abandonment or a tark al-awlā (abandoning the more virtuous course) to the Prophet Jonah (Yūnus)—a reading that creates tension with the Shīʿī doctrine of prophetic infallibility (ʿiṣmah). Challenging this view, this study employs a critical-structural methodology based on intra-textual coherence (siyāq) and lexicographical analysis. The study first examines the unified context of Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt (Q. 37:72–148), demonstrating that the shared theme across prophetic narratives is trial and divine deliverance, not punishment for prophetic error. Second, it re-examines the root ʾ-b-q using classical Arabic lexicons and pre-Islamic poetry, revealing a semantic range that includes “to distance oneself”, “to withdraw secretly”, or “to go away” without the necessary connotation of fearful or disobedient flight. The study concludes that the prophet Jonah, like the other prophets in the same sūrah, faced a mortal threat and secretly withdrew from his people out of necessity. This action, signified by abaqa in this context, is not an act of disobedience. This interpretation resolves the inconsistency between Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt and other sūrahs (e.g., Q. 21:87–88) while remaining fully consistent with both the contextual framework of the sūrah and the doctrine of prophetic infallibility.
Keywords
Qurʾanic Narratives
Infallibility of the Prophets
Context
Textual Coherence
Critique of Exegetical Narrations
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 22 May 2025
  • Revise Date 25 September 2025
  • Accept Date 25 September 2025