"Had it not been that a grace from his Lord reached him," and thus he repented, "he would have been cast onto the barren land," meaning: the earth, "while he was blameworthy," meaning: at the time he was cast out from the belly of the whale, according to the interpretation of some of them.

Muhammad said: The 'ara' (barren land) is the land that does not conceal those upon it with either a mountain or a tree.