When the people on the ship drew lots, Jonah's name was chosen. However, knowing his virtues they decided to draw again. But, again, Jonah's name was chosen.

˹Remember˺ when he fled to the overloaded ship.37:140

Then ˹to save it from sinking,˺ he drew straws ˹with other passengers˺. He lost ˹and was thrown overboard˺.37:141

Allah willed for him to be thrown overboard. As he was thrown in, a whale came and scooped him up and swallowed him.

Fun fact: Most whales do not chew their food, they swallow their prey whole. A whale's stomach can fit up to 2,200 pounds of food. The heart itself is about the size of a small car, and the main blood vessel is wide enough that a person could crawl through it.

Then the whale engulfed him while he was blameworthy.37:142

He was blameworthy for leaving his city without Allah's permission.

Jonah thought he might have died, he began to move around and realised he was in fact still alive. So he immediately fell into prostration praying to Allah, saying 'Oh Allah, I have made a place of prayer where no body has ever worshipped you'. In the darkness of the belly of the whale and in the darkness of the depth of the sea. The whale began to swim around and from within his stomach, Jonah could hear all of the creatures of the sea worshipping Allah; even the rocks.

And ˹remember˺ when the Man of the Whale stormed off ˹from his city˺ in a rage, thinking We would not restrain him. Then in the ˹veils of˺ darkness he cried out, “There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except You. Glory be to You! I have certainly done wrong.”21:87

Allah tells us that if it wasn't for his repentance and glorification of Allah after his sin of disobeying Him, he would not have been saved from the whale.

Had he not ˹constantly˺ glorified ˹Allah˺,37:143

he would have certainly remained in its belly until the Day of Resurrection.37:144

We are told in hadith narrated from Ibn Jarir that our Prophet ﷺ said "When Allah wanted to keep Jonah in the belly of the fish, He revealed to it: 'Take him inside, but do not scratch his flesh. Or break his bones.' When the fish went down in the depth, Jonah heard a voice. He thought of it in his mind and said: 'What is that?' Allah revealed to him that it was the glorifying acts of sea animals. Then he glorified Allah in the belly of that fish, which the angels heard and said: 'O Lord! We hear a very weak voice in a very strange land!' Allah said: This is My slave Jonah, who disobeyed me, so I detained him inside a fish in the depth of sea.' They enquired. 'Is he Your pious slave from whom every day and night a good deed ascended to you? He replied: 'Yes. So the angels then pleaded to Allah on behalf of Jonah, so Allah commanded the fish to throw him out on the shore." [Ibn Kathir]

Abu Hatim narrates our Prophet ﷺ said "When Jonah realised that he should say these words in the belly of the fish. he said. O Allahl There is no God (worthy of worship) but You, You are glorified! It is indeed I who was from the wrongdoers. This prayer appeared from beneath the (Divine) Throne. The angels said, O Lord! It is a very weak familiar voice, coming from a strange land. Allah said: 'Don't you know it?' They said: 'No, our Lord, who is he? Allah said: 'This is My slave Jonah.' The angels said: 'Your slave Jonah from whom there always ascended to You an accepted prayer and accepted deed?' Then they said O Lord! Will You not bestow Your Mercy upon him for what he had been doing in his time of comfort, and so release him from this distress?' Allah said: 'Yes.' Then He commanded the fish, and the fish threw him out on the open shore." [Narrated by Ibn Jarir from Yunûs from Ibn Wahb - referenced by Ibn Kathir]

So Allah commanded the whale to allow Jonah to leave. Jonah came out the whale onto a barren land, with no vegetation. He was very weak; Ibn Abbas described this like a newborn baby.

We hear from further narrations of the provision Allah gave Jonah. He commanded a plant to grow over him and goats whose milk he drank to nurse himself back to health. The specific plant allowed, perhaps a marrow plant, would not attract any bugs, it's leaves were long enough for shade and its fruit nourishing to eat raw.

But We cast him onto the open ˹shore˺, ˹totally˺ worn out,37:145

and caused a squash plant to grow over him.37:146

He later returned to his people.

We ˹later˺ sent him ˹back˺ to ˹his city of˺ at least one hundred thousand people,37:147

who then believed ˹in him˺, so We allowed them enjoyment for a while.37:148

One lesson from the story is emphasised in the verse below:

So be patient with your Lord’s decree, and do not be like ˹Jonah,˺ the Man of the Whale, who cried out ˹to Allah˺, in total distress.68:48

Had he not been shown grace by his Lord, he would have certainly been cast onto the open ˹shore˺, still blameworthy.68:49

Then his Lord chose him, making him one of the righteous.68:50

Finally, we have a beautiful hadith found in Bukhari which narrates that our Prophet ﷺ said "None of you should say that I am better than Yunus (i.e. Jonah)." [Bukhari 3412, similar in Sunan Abi Dawud 4669]