148 Preface فَآمَنوا فَمَتَّعناهُم إِلىٰ حينٍYusuf AliAnd they believed; so We permitted them to enjoy (their life)1 for a while.They repented and believed, and Nineveh got a new lease of life. For the dates to which Jonah maybe referred, and the vicissitudes of the City’s history as the seat of the Assyrian Empire, see notes 1478-1479 to 10:98. The lessons from Jonah’s story are: (1) that no man should take upon himself to judge of God’s wrath or God’s mercy; (2) that nevertheless God forgives true repentance, whether in a righteous man, or in a wicked city; and (3) that God’s Plan will always prevail, and can never be defeated.