The Quran Verse
Surah 10:98:
Then has there not been a city that believed so its faith benefited it except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in worldly life and gave them enjoyment for a time."
The Quran presents Jonah’s people as the only exception in history where a nation believed after seeing the signs of punishment and was spared.
This follows the theme of the Book of Jonah, but it highlights a recurring Quranic pattern where all other nations are depicted as being utterly destroyed without exception (Noah, Ad, Thamud, etc.).
The author uses the story of Jonah as a "carrot and stick" for the Meccans—warning them they are following the doomed path of Pharaoh while Jonah's people provide the only model for survival. It reduces complex biblical prophetic history into a binary of "believe and live" vs. "disbelieve and be annihilated."