The plant that grew over Prophet Yūnus

What was the plant that Allāh سبحانه وتعالى caused to grow over Prophet Yūnus عليه السلام?

Allāh سبحانه وتعالى says:

وَأَنۢبَتْنَا عَلَيْهِ شَجَرَةً مِّن يَقْطِينٍۢ

“And We caused a plant of يقطين to grow over him.”
[Aṣ-Ṣāffāt 37:146]

The Qurʾān calls it:

يَقْطِينٌ

The mufassirūn explained that here it refers to:

القَرْعُ — a gourd/squash-type plant.

But this plant has another well-known Arabic name:

الدُّبَّاءُ

And this is the word we find in the ḥadīth.

Anas رضي الله عنه narrated that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) loved الدُّبَّاءَ and would pick it from around the dish.

Ibn Ḥajar (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ) explains in Fatḥ al-Bārī:

هُوَ القَرْعُ ... وَهُوَ اليَقْطِينُ أَيْضًا

“It is القَرْعُ … and it is also اليَقْطِينُ.”

So we come across the same plant under three Arabic words:

يَقْطِينٌ — in the Qurʾān
قَرْعٌ — in the explanation of the mufassirūn
دُبَّاءٌ — in the ḥadīth

The plant mentioned in the story of Yūnus عليه السلام is also connected to something loved by our Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).

And this is one of those beautiful connections that becomes much easier to notice when we learn Arabic.