What is the wisdom behind lifting the torment from the people of Yunus, and are they the hundred thousand mentioned in Surat As-Saffat, and what is the difference between them and Pharaoh, whose faith was not accepted when he was drowning?

Allah Almighty stated that the people of Yunus (Jonah) were the only village whose faith benefited them after they witnessed the torment. It is well-known that they were the people of Nineveh, and that Yunus’s message to them was before the fish swallowed him.

It is Allah’s established practice that repentance is not beneficial upon witnessing death or the descent of torment, yet the people of Yunus were an exception. So, either they believed when they witnessed the torment—and it was said that the wisdom behind this was that Allah knew the sincerity of their faith and their steadfastness upon it—or they believed before the torment occurred, when they saw its signs. This is like the faith of a sick person who hopes for recovery, not like the faith of Pharaoh, who believed when he was drowning, but his repentance did not benefit him.