Overall meaning : Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, says: And mention Ishmael, Enoch (Idrees), Ishmael and Dhul-Kifl, who all patiently obeyed Allah’s commands and endured His tests, and thus became worthy of praise. We admitted them into Our mercy, for they were truly righteous and obedient.
And mention the story of Dhun-Nun (the Man of the Whale)—i.e. Jonah, peace be upon him—when Allah sent him to his people. He called on them to believe in Allah, but they rejected him and his message, and so he threatened them with Allah’s punishment when they stubbornly persisted in their unbelief and left them in anger, thinking that We would not restrain and punish him for doing so. The whale later swallowed him, only to find himself in a very tight situation. Then, admitting his mistake for not having enough patience with his people, he cried out to his Lord in the darkness of the night, the darkness of the deep sea and the darkness of the whale’s belly. ‘There is no god but You,’ he prayed, ‘Limitless are You in Your glory! I have done wrong.’ So We answered his prayer and delivered him from such distress. Thus do We save the true believers who obey Our commands.