071 - Sūrat Nūh

In the name of Allah (who is) Rahmān (and) Rahīm.

[For explanation, see Sūrat al-Fātiha: 1]

1

Verily We sent Noah to his people [saying]: 'Warn your people before there come on them - should they not believe - a painful chastisement', in this world and in the Hereafter.

2

He said, 'O my people, I am indeed a plain warner to you, one whose warning is plain,

3

to tell you] that [you should] worship Allahu ta’ālā and fear Him and obey me,

that He may forgive you some of your sins (min dhunūbikum, 'some of your sins': min may be taken as extra, because submission to Allahu ta’ālā (islām) expunges everything [of sin that was committed] previous to it; or it [min] may be understood as partitive, to point out that which is due to [those who were already Allah’s] servants) and defer you, without chastising [you], until an appointed term, the term for death. Indeed when Allah’s term, for your chastisement - should you not believe - comes, it cannot be deferred, if only you knew', this, you would believe.

He said, 'My Rabb, I have summoned my people night and day, that is to say, continuously without interruption,

but my summon has only increased their evasion, of faith.

nd indeed whenever I summoned them, so that You might forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears, in order not to hear what I say, and draw their cloaks over themselves, they cover their heads with them in order not to catch sight of me, and they persist, in their disbelief, and act in great arrogance, disdaining faith.

Then indeed I summoned them aloud, that is to say, at the top of my voice;

then assuredly I proclaimed to them, with my voice, and I confided, my words, to them secretly,

saying, “Ask your Rabb for forgiveness, from idolatry. Assuredly He is ever Forgiving.

He will release the heaven, the rain - for they had been deprived of it - for you in torrents, in plenteous showers,

and furnish you with wealth and sons, and assign to you gardens, orchards, and assign to you, running, rivers.

What is wrong with you that you do not hope for dignity from Allahu ta’ālā?, that is to say, [that] you [do not] hope that Allahu ta’ālā will dignify you by becoming believers,

when verily He created you in stages? (atwār is the plural of tūr, which means a state) Thus the sperm-drop is one state, the blood clot is another state, and so on, until the creation of the human being is complete: reflecting on [the manner of] his creation necessarily leads to belief in his Creator.

Have you not seen how Allahu ta’ālā created seven heavens in layers, one on top of the other,

and made the moon therein - that is to say, within their totality, [but] which is [effectively] true in the case of the heaven of this world - as a light and made the sun as a lamp?, as an illuminating lantern, more powerful than the light of the moon.

And Allahu ta’ālā has caused you to grow, He has created you, from the earth, for He created your father Adam from it.

Then He will make you return into it, entombed [in your graves], and bring you forth, for the resurrection, [with a veritable bringing forth].

And Allahu ta’ālā has made the earth a flat [open] expanse for you,

so that you may follow throughout it spacious routes.” '

Noah said, 'My Rabb, they have disobeyed me and followed, that is, the riffraff and the paupers [among them have followed], those whose wealth and children, namely, their leaders who have been blessed with such things (read wulduhu or waladuhu, 'whose children', the first of which is said to be the plural of walad, similar [in pattern] to khasab, khushb, or in fact [it is said to be] of the same meaning [as walad, but an alternative form] as in the case of bukhl or bakhal, 'niggardliness'), only add to their loss, [to] their insolence and disbelief.

And they have devised, namely, the leaders, a mighty plot, extremely outrageous, by denying Noah and harming him as well as his followers,

and have said, to the riffraff: “Do not abandon your gods, and do not abandon Wadd (read Wadd or Wudd) nor Suwā', nor Yaghūth and Ya'ūq and Nasr” - these being the names of their idols.

And they have certainly led astray, by these [gods], many, people, by commanding them to worship them. And do not [O Allahu ta’ālā] increase the evildoers except in error!' (wa-lā tazidi'l-zālimīna illā dalālan is a supplement to qad adallū, 'they have certainly led astray'): He [Noah] invoked Allahu ta’ālā against them when it was revealed to him that, 'None of your people will believe except he who has already believed' [Q. 11:36].

Because of (mimmā: mā indicates a relative clause) their iniquities (khatāyāhum: a variant reading has khatī'ātihim) they were drowned, by the Flood, then made to enter a Fire, with which they were punished underwater after drowning. And they did not find for themselves besides, that is to say, other than, Allahu ta’ālā any helpers, to protect them against the chastisement.

And Noah said, 'My Rabb, do not leave from among the disbelievers a single dweller upon the earth (dayyār means 'one who inhabits a dwelling [dār]'), in other words, not one.

Assuredly if You leave them, they will lead Your servants astray, and will beget only disbelieving profligates (fājir and kaffār derive [respectively] from yafjuru and yakfuru): he said this on account of the mentioned revelation that had been given to him.¹

My Rabb, forgive me and my parents - both of whom were believers - and whoever enters my house, my dwelling or my place of worship, as a believer, and believing men and believing women, to the Day of Resurrection, and do not increase the evildoers except in ruin', in destruction - and thus they were destroyed.

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