Verses 36–49

Chapter 11: Hūd · Printed edition: Volume 20, pp. 30–117

This section presents conclusion of Noah’s story and encompasses several sub-sections, such as his revelation about the punishment descending upon his people, the command to build the Ark, the manner of the divine punishment’s descent in the form of a flood, the tale of his drowned son, and the story of his survival along with those who were with him aboard the Ark. Nevertheless, all these can be read as single section about God’s adjudication between this prophet and his people.

وَأُوحِيَ إِلَىٰ نُوحٍ أَنَّهُ لَنْ يُؤْمِنَ مِنْ قَوْمِكَ إِلَّا مَنْ قَدْ آمَنَ فَلَا تَبْتَئِسْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ ٣٦

(11:36) It was revealed to Noah: ‘None of your people will believe except those who already have faith; so do not lament (lā tabtaʾis) for what they used to do.’

Ibtiʾās (‘to lament’) is derived from buʾs, which signifies sadness combined with resignation.

When God tells Noah, None of your people will believe except those who already have faith, this is telling him to resign himself to the fact that no more of the disbelievers from among his people will accept his message after this. That is why God follows on from this by saying ‘so do not lament for what they used to do.’ This is because someone who calls others to embrace a particular cause only feels distressed and grieved when those he invites reject his message so long as he has hope for their belief and response to his call. However, when he loses all hope of a positive response from them, he no longer concerns himself with them and does not exhaust himself in calling them to hear and obey, persistently urging them to turn to him. If he calls them henceforth, it would only be for another purpose such as completing the argument and removing all excuses from them.

Therefore, the phrase, ‘so do not lament for what they used to do’, is also intended to console Noah and reassure him that he had done everything within his power. It also indicates the imminent arrival of the time for God to judge between him and his people. This is also intended to protect him from feeling distress and grief for what he had witnessed in terms of his people’s persecution of him and the believers among his people over a long period (which was nearly a thousand years) of his stay amongst them.

It is apparent from the explanations of some scholars that they inferred from the phrase, None of your people will believe except those who already have faith, that those who disbelieved among them would never believe henceforth, just as those who believed in him remained steadfast in their faith. However, the text itself is entirely focused on the lack of belief among the disbelievers from that point onward—the faith of the believers was not the primary concern except as it was established previously—and the exception does not indicate anything beyond that. As for taking this as evidence of their steadfastness and continuity in faith, there is no evidence to support it.

From this verse, we can deduce, first, that divine punishment will not befall the disbelievers in this world so long as there is still hope of them believing. However, once disbelief has taken root in their hearts and they are consumed by the contamination of idolatry, that is when the sentence of punishment becomes due against them.

Second, consider God’s account of Noah’s supplication: And Noah said, ‘My Lord! ‘Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the faithless. If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants and will not beget except vicious ingrates’ (). Noah appears to have uttered this between God’s revealing to him that, ‘None of your people will believe except those who already have faith …’ and, ‘Build the Ark before Our eyes and by Our revelation, and do not plead with Me for those who are wrongdoers: they shall indeed be drowned’ ().

This is because, as some scholars have noted, the future faith (or lack thereof) of the disbelievers cannot be known through reason alone, but only through divine revelation. Noah first learned from God’s revelation that none of his people, or even their progeny, would believe in God after this point. Only then did he pray for their punishment, incorporating into his supplication what God had just revealed to him. When God answered his prayer and decided to destroy them, He commanded Noah to build the Ark and informed him that they would be drowned.

وَاصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا وَوَحْيِنَا وَلَا تُخَاطِبْنِي فِي الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا ۚ إِنَّهُمْ مُغْرَقُونَ ٣٧

(11:37) ‘Build the Ark (fulk) before Our eyes (bi-aʿyuni-nā) and by Our revelation, and do not plead with Me for those who are wrongdoers: they shall indeed be drowned.’

Fulk (‘ark’) means ‘ship’ (safīna) and is the same in both singular and plural forms. Aʿyun (‘eyes’) is a plural of scarcity (jamʿ qilla), meaning it signifies a small number of something. God uses the plural form here to emphasise His abundant and intense observation of Noah, as this sentence as a whole symbolizes God’s oversight of Noah’s construction of the Ark.

The mention of ‘eyes’ in this verse indicates that the meaning of revelation (waḥī) in the phrase it was revealed to Noah is not this—namely, ‘Build the Ark before Our eyes’—in the sense of the revelation of a divine ordinance. Rather it was a revelation in the sense of sending practical guidance to accomplish the action, an enabling and directing of the act supported by the Holy Spirit, as in ‘do this’ and ‘do that’” as God mentioned for the Imams of Abraham’s progeny, saying: We made them imams, guiding by Our command, and We revealed to them the performance of good deeds, the maintenance of prayers, and the giving of zakat, and they used to worship Us (). This has been referred to in previous discussions and will be further explored in our commentary on the verse just cited.

When God says, ‘and do not plead with Me for those who are wrongdoers’, He means: ‘Do not ask me anything in order to repel harm or punishment from them, or to intercede on their behalf and protect them from evil, because the judgement has been issued and the sentence is irrevocable.’ From this, it is evident that the statement, ‘they shall indeed be drowned’ provides the rationale for either God saying, ‘and do not plead with Me …’ or for the entirety of the statement, ‘Build the Ark before Our eyes and by Our revelation, and do not plead with Me for those who are wrongdoers: they shall indeed be drowned.’ It is also evident that when God says, ‘do not plead with Me …’, this is a reference to intercession (shafāʿa).

In summary, the meaning of the verse is as follows: ‘Construct the ship under our complete supervision and according to our instruction. Do not ask me to divert the punishment from those who have wronged; their fate is inevitably to drown—it is a decree from which there is no escape.’

وَيَصْنَعُ الْفُلْكَ وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلَأٌ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُ ۚ قَالَ إِنْ تَسْخَرُوا مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنْكُمْ كَمَا تَسْخَرُونَ ٣٨

(11:38) As he was building the Ark, whenever the elders of his people passed by him, they would ridicule him. He said, ‘If you ridicule us (taskharū min-nā), we shall ridicule you just as you ridicule us.

In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī says: ‘Sukhriyya (‘to ridicule’) means to display contempt in a matter that implies the intellectual inferiority of its object. It is from this that the verb taskhīr (‘to subject’) is derived, which means to abase someone by force. The difference between ridicule (sukhriyya) and play (laʿb) is that ridicule involves deceit and belittling, and it only occurs among sentient beings, while play could involve inanimate things as well.’

In his Mufradāt, al-Rāghib states: ‘To ridicule (sukhriyya) or mock (istaskhara) means to deride them. God says, If you ridicule us, we shall ridicule you just as you ridicule us. Soon you will know … (); and Indeed you wonder, while they engage in ridicule (yaskhurūn, ). It is said that sukhar refers to the person who ridicules, while sukhra is the one who is ridiculed in this fashion, while sukhriyya and sikhriyya denote the act of ridiculing.’

The phrase, As he was building the Ark …, describes the past circumstances and recounts the persecution Noah suffered at the hands of his people, and how some of them continually sought to disgrace and mock him while he was building the ship. Despite this, he remained patient and continued to call to God’s divine message and establish the evidence against them without failing or wavering.

The phrase, … whenever the elders (malaʾ) of his people passed by him, they would ridicule him, is adverbial and qualifies the subject of As he was building the Ark. Here, malaʾ denotes a group of people that hold weight or significance. This suggests that they would come to Noah in groups to mock him as he was constructing the ship, one group after another. This shows that Noah was constructing the ship in full view of them and in a public place.

He said, ‘If you ridicule us, we shall ridicule you just as you ridicule us’: This is the answer to an implicit question, as if someone asked: ‘What did Noah say in response to their ridicule?’ And God answered: He said, ‘If you ridicule us, we shall ridicule you just as you ridicule us’ That is why this is presented as a separate statement and is not connected to the previous one (… whenever the elders of his people …).

Note that Noah did not say, ‘If you ridicule me, I will ridicule you …’, as he was deflecting the ridicule not only from himself but also from the group of believers who were with him. This suggests that he received support from his family and followers, and they participated with him in the construction of the ship. The ridicule was aimed at all of them. From the text, it appears that the elders confronted Noah and those with him working on the ship with ridicule. They accused Noah of being feebleminded and mad, including all those with him in their mockery, even if they only mentioned Noah specifically in their derision.

The meaning here is that custom and convention would dictate that Noah’s people would mock his followers in the same manner as they mocked him. The faithful were a single community, living closely together. Their mockery of his followers was in essence mockery of Noah himself, because he was the cornerstone upon which the call to faith was built. This is why the verse says, they would ridicule him and does not say, ‘they would ridicule him and the believers who were with him.’

While it is foolish and deplorable to ridicule others when you are the initiator, it is permissible to respond in kind to the mockery of others, especially if there is a rational benefit attached to this, such as demonstrating one’s own resolve or completing the argument against one’s opponents. God has said: Allah shall put them to ridicule, and there is a painful punishment for them (). This reflects the principle of reciprocal response, as emphasized by the phrase ‘as you ridicule us.’

فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ يَأْتِيهِ عَذَابٌ يُخْزِيهِ وَيَحِلُّ عَلَيْهِ عَذَابٌ مُقِيمٌ ٣٩

(11:39) ‘Soon you will know whom a disgraceful punishment will overtake and on whom a lasting punishment will descend.’

The context dictates that, ‘Soon you will know’ follows on from the conditional sentence in the previous verse, ‘If you ridicule us, we shall ridicule you just as you ridicule us’ (). This provides the content of the mockery that Noah directed towards his own people in response to their derision of him and his followers. Therefore, ‘whom a disgraceful punishment will overtake’ is the object of the verb ‘know’ in ‘soon you will know,’ signifying the certainty of this knowledge. Therefore, the meaning of this verse is that Noah said to them: ‘If you mock us, then we will mock you, and we will say to you: “You will come to know who will receive the punishment—us or you?”’ This is a form of mockery that relies on the truth.

The phrase, ‘whom a disgraceful punishment will overtake’, refers to the divine punishment of extermination in this world, which in this case is the Flood that shamed and humiliated them. Conversely, the phrase, ‘and on whom a lasting punishment will descend’, refers to the enduring, inescapable punishment that will be inflicted upon them in the Hereafter, which is the torment of Hellfire. The proof for the first punishment being in this world and the second being in the Hereafter is the repetition of the word ‘punishment’ in the verse, which is first described as humiliating and second as enduring.

Some scholars have understood the phrase, Soon you will know, as a complete sentence, without mentioning the object of knowledge. This would make the phrase, whom a disgraceful punishment will overtake and on whom a lasting punishment will descend, the start of a new statement from Noah, but this reading seems unlikely within the context.

حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا وَفَارَ التَّنُّورُ قُلْنَا احْمِلْ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلٍّ زَوْجَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ وَأَهْلَكَ إِلَّا مَنْ سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ الْقَوْلُ وَمَنْ آمَنَ ۚ وَمَا آمَنَ مَعَهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ ٤٠

(11:40) When Our edict came and the oven gushed (fār al-tannūr), We said, ‘Carry in it a pair of every kind, along with your family—except those against whom the edict has already been given—and those who have faith.’ And none believed with him except a few.

One uses the verb fār (‘overflow’) for a pot or kettle that boils over or for a fire when it blazes intensely and its flames rise up. Tannūr (‘oven’) denotes the kind of oven that is used for baking bread. This is the same in both Arabic and Persian, and it is possible that tannūr was originally a Persian word that was Arabicized.

The gushing of the oven refers to the rising out of it and spurting forth. In narrations, it has been mentioned that the onset of the Flood on that day began with water erupting from the oven. The definite article (al-) is used with tannūr to convey familiarity. It is possible that the expression fār al-tannūr is a metaphor for God’s wrath becoming intense, akin to when someone says ‘in the heat of battle’ in reference to a war.

Therefore, when God says, When Our edict came and the oven gushed, this means that Noah’s situation—as described in the previous verses—continued until the divine decree became certain and was irrevocably imposed upon them, and water literally gushed from the oven or, metaphorically, God’s wrath became intense. Then, God issued His commands to Noah accordingly.

There are other explanations of ‘the oven’ which are far-fetched, such as the suggestion that it signifies the break of dawn, which was when the Flood first appeared. Some have suggested that it refers to the highest and most prominent places on earth, meaning that water erupted from the high and elevated lands. Others have suggested that ‘the oven’ symbolizes the face of the earth.

When God says, We said, ‘Carry in it a pair of every kind …’, it means He commanded Noah to load two of every species of animal, male and female, into the Ark.

‘… along with your family—except those against whom the edict has already been given …’—means: ‘And carry in it your household’, which typically refers to a person’s nearest and dearest, such as his spouse, his children, his children’s spouses, and their children. Excepted from this are those against whom God has already issued a sentence of divine punishment, for God has already decreed that they would be destroyed. This exception includes his disloyal wife, as per the verse, Allah draws an example for the faithless: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of our righteous servants, yet they betrayed them … (), and Noah’s son, who is mentioned in the following verse. It appears that Noah believed that only his treacherous spouse was excluded from this punishment, until God made clear to him that his son was not part of his household and that he was engaged in unrighteous conduct. At that point, Noah realized that his own son was among the wrongdoers.

‘… and those who have faith.’ And none believed with him except a few: Meaning: ‘And carry in it those of your people who believed in you besides your family’, because those of his family who believed in him had already been commanded to board the Ark in the same verse, when God said: along with your family. And only a few of his people believed in him.

Note that the verse says, And none believed with him, rather than ‘believed in him.’ This is to hint at the meaning: ‘And none believed in God with Noah except a few.’ This is more apt given the context, which is about those whom God saved from the flood. The crux here is belief in God and submission to His lordship. Also, the fact that the verse says, except a few, without explicitly stating ‘of them’, emphasizes their paucity, suggesting that those who believed were few in of themselves, not just in comparison to the community as a whole; they were indeed extremely few.

وَقَالَ ارْكَبُوا فِيهَا بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّي لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ٤١

(11:41) He said, ‘Board it: In the Name of Allah it shall set sail (majrā-hā) and cast anchor (mursā-hā). Indeed my Lord is all-forgiving, all-merciful.’

Majrā-hā can also be recited as mujrā-hā. In the first instance, this refers to the Ark’s sailing and its course; in the latter instance, this refers to setting the ship in motion and steering it. By contrast, mursā-hā—derived from the verb arsā—is always recited with an u on the initial mīm, and it means to stop or fix something in place, as God says elsewhere, and set firm the mountains (wa al-jibāl arsā-hā).

He said, ‘Board it…’—This follows on from the statement in the previous verse, When Our edict came …, in other words: ‘Then when Noah said …’ and this statement is addressed either to his own family and the believers or to everyone aboard the Ark.

Noah invokes God by saying, ‘In the Name of Allah it shall set sail and cast anchor.’ This is in order to obtain His blessings and grace for the sailing of the Ark and its anchorage. This is because associating an action or matter with the name of God brings it protection from destruction and corruption, safeguards against misguidance and loss, as God Almighty is the Elevator of Ranks and the All-Protector, beyond reach of decay, demise, weariness, or hardship. Therefore, anything associated with Him is surely safeguarded from adverse effects as well.

Therefore, Noah connects the sailing and anchoring of the Ark to the name of God, as sailing and anchoring are the apparent causes of the Ark and its occupants’ salvation from the flood. But these causes can only succeed if they are enveloped by divine care for the Ark’s passengers, which encompasses forgiveness for their sins and divine mercy for them to be saved from the flood and to live on earth thereafter. Therefore, Noah explained the rationale for his invocation by saying: Indeed my Lord is all-forgiving, all-merciful. This means that he mentions the name of God upon the sailing and the anchoring of his Ark because God is his Lord, the All-Forgiving, the All-Merciful. He can keep the Ark’s course and anchorage safe from going astray or suffering disruption, thereby saving its occupants from the flood through His forgiveness and mercy.

Note that, according to God in the Qurʾan, Noah was the first human being to invoke His sacred name. Hence, Noah, was the pioneer in opening this practice, as well as being the first to establish the argument for monotheism, the first to bring forth a scripture and a legal code, and the first to strive for the reformation of social classes and the removal of contradictions from human society.

What we have said so far about the phrase, In the Name of Allah it shall set sail and cast anchor, is based on the apparent meaning of the verse, namely that this statement is an invocation by Noah and that set sail (majrā-hā) and cast anchor (mursā-hā) are M-infinitives (maṣdar mīmī). However, it is also possible that this invocation was recited by those who were with Noah in accordance with his commands, or that majrā and mursā are, in fact, two nouns of time or place. In any case, this would alter the meaning of the verse.

In al-Kashshāf, al-Zamakhsharī has said with regards to the present verse that it could be construed as a single statement or as two statements: ‘The single statement interpretation connects ‘In the Name of Allah’ to the previous statement, ‘Board it’, as a circumstantial qualifier, meaning: ‘Board it while invoking God’s name’, or: ‘Say, In the Name of Allah at the time of its sailing and anchoring. This could be either because majrā-hā and marsā-hā refer to time, or because they are verbal nouns like ‘sailing’ and ‘anchoring,’ and the time is omitted, similar to expressions like ‘the twinkling of a star’ or ‘the arrival of a pilgrim.’ It is also possible that the place of sailing and anchoring is meant, and these nouns stand grammatically in relation to the verbal meaning in In the Name of Allah,’ or to the intent of the statement.

As for the interpretation that reads this as two statements, ‘In the Name of Allah it shall set sail and cast anchor ‘ could be understood as an independent sentence with a subject and a predicate, meaning ‘Its sailing and its anchoring are in the Name of Allah.’ It is narrated that whenever Noah wanted the Ark to sail, he would say In the Name of Allah,’ and it would set sail; and when he wanted it to anchor, he would say ‘In the Name of Allah,’ and it would anchor. Additionally, the name can be taken as an instrumental cause, like in the expression ‘then as a greeting, peace be upon you both,’ and by its sailing and anchoring are through God almighty.’

Al-Zamakhsharī continues: ‘Majrā-hā and mursā-hā have been recited with an ‘a’ sound in the beginning, derived from sailing and anchoring, and they could either be verbal nouns or refer to time or place. Mujāhid recited it as ‘mujrī-hā’ and ‘mursī-hā’, using the form of the active participle to denote these as attributes of God.’

وَهِيَ تَجْرِي بِهِمْ فِي مَوْجٍ كَالْجِبَالِ وَنَادَىٰ نُوحٌ ابْنَهُ وَكَانَ فِي مَعْزِلٍ يَا بُنَيَّ ارْكَبْ مَعَنَا وَلَا تَكُنْ مَعَ الْكَافِرِينَ ٤٢

(11:42) And it sailed along with them amid waves (mawj) like mountains. Noah called out to his son, who stood aloof, ‘O my son! ‘Board with us, and do not be with the faithless!’

‘It’ here refers to the Ark. According to some scholars, the word mawj is used here for ‘waves’ either as a singular common noun or as the plural of mawja, which denotes a great mass of water that rises out of the ocean. This verse shows that the Ark was moving across the water’s surface and was not submerged in the water like a whale, as some have suggested.

Noah called out to his son, who stood aloof (kāna fī maʿzil), ‘O my son! ‘Board with us, and do not be with the faithless!’: The term maʿzil is a noun of place conjugated from the verb ʿazal, which means ‘to withdraw’, as his son had isolated himself from his father and the community of the faithful and kept his distance from them. This is why the verse says that Noah ‘called’ (nādā) to his son, rather than simply stating that he ‘said’ (qāla) to him.

Therefore, the meaning is: ‘Noah called to his son, who was in a secluded place far from them, and he said in his call: “O my son”’—the diminutive and the possessive pronoun in bunayy conveying tenderness and compassion—‘“board the Ark with us and do not be with the disbelievers, or you will share in their punishment as you have shared in their companionship and their refusal to board the Ark.”’ Note that He did not say, ‘do not be one of the disbelievers,’ because he did not know of his son’s hypocrisy, that he was not a believer except in word. Therefore, he urged him to board.

قَالَ سَآوِي إِلَىٰ جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِي مِنَ الْمَاءِ ۚ قَالَ لَا عَاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَنْ رَحِمَ ۚ وَحَالَ بَيْنَهُمَا الْمَوْجُ فَكَانَ مِنَ الْمُغْرَقِينَ ٤٣

(11:43) He said, ‘I shall take refuge on (āwī ilā) a mountain; it will protect me from the flood.’ He said, ‘There is none today who can protect from Allah’s edict, except someone upon whom He has mercy.’ Then the waves came between them, and he was among those who were drowned.

Al-Rāghib says: ‘Maʾwā (‘refuge’) is the infinitive of the verb awā. One says “I took refuge in such-and-such” (awā ilā kadhā) when one attaches oneself to something.’

Therefore, the meaning is: ‘Noah’s son replied to his father, rejecting his pleas to board the ark, by saying, “I will climb a mountain that will protect me and keep me above the water, so I won’t drown.” Noah said, “There is no protector today”—for it is a day on which God’s wrath was severe, and He decreed the drowning of all earth’s inhabitants except those who took refuge from God in Himself, and not with a mountain or anything else. Then the wave came between Noah and his son, so his son was among the drowned. If the wave hadn’t come between them, and the conversation hadn’t been interrupted, his disbelief would have become apparent and Noah would have disowned him in any case.’

The verse suggests that Noah and his people inhabited a mountainous region and that it was common for them to ascend these mountains.

وَقِيلَ يَا أَرْضُ ابْلَعِي مَاءَكِ وَيَا سَمَاءُ أَقْلِعِي وَغِيضَ الْمَاءُ وَقُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ وَاسْتَوَتْ عَلَى الْجُودِيِّ ۖ وَقِيلَ بُعْدًا لِلْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ ٤٤

(11:44) Then it was said, ‘O earth, swallow (iblaʿī) your water! O sky, leave off (iqlaʿī)!’ The waters receded (ghīḍa); the edict was carried out, and it settled on Judi. Then it was said, ‘Away with the wrongdoing lot!’

Balaʿ (‘swallowing’) literally refers to act of transporting something down the throat into the stomach, and iqlāʿ (‘leaving off’) means to desist from an action or stop something from its source. Ghīḍ denotes the earths absorption of moisture from its surface to its depths, similar to the concept of drying. When one says: ‘The earth has absorbed the water’, this means it has diminished its quantity.

Judi generally refers to a mountain or a piece of solid ground. It has said that this is the name of a mountain near Mosul, which is part of the mountain range extending to Armenia, known as Ararat.

Then it was said, ‘O earth, swallow your water! O sky, leave off!’—This is a call that emanated from the domain of divine majesty and grandeur. Even though God is the speaker, His name is not explicitly mentioned, as this is intended to inspire reverence and awe. The commands in this verse are creative (takwīnī) in nature, akin to the divine command ‘be!’ that emanates from the Lord of the Throne. Such commands are carried out immediately and without delay, such that the earth will immediately absorb the water on its surface that had issued forth from its springs and the rain will immediately cease.

This indicates that both the earth and sky played a role in subduing the flood waters by the command of God, as explained in the verse, elsewhere: and We made the earth burst forth with springs, and the waters met for a preordained purpose ().

The waters receded means that the flood waters diminished and dried up from the surface of the earth, revealing its expanse once again. Naturally, this occurs when all that can be gathered of water is accumulated in the lowlands, forming seas and lakes, and what is left on the rest of the plains evaporates.

The edict was carried out means that what God had promised to Noah regarding the punishment of his people transpired. The divine command was implemented by drowning them and cleansing the earth from their presence. This means that what God said was going to happen unfolded exactly as was foretold. The execution (qaḍāʾ) of the matter, as is said regarding the creation of a command and its issuance, is also said regarding its implementation, enforcement, and realization in the external world. However, the divine decree (qaḍāʾ ilāhī) and lordly ordinance (ḥukm rubūbī), which is the very essence of external existence, are one and the same in terms of creation and enforcement. The only difference is in the manner of expression.

… and it settled on Judi—meaning that the Ark settled on a mountain, or specifically on one known as Mount Judi. This statement is supposed to serve as the conclusion to the story of what Noah and his companions experienced during the flood.

Then it was said, ‘Away with the wrongdoing lot!’: This means that God Almighty said, ‘Be gone, wrongdoing people.’ It denotes that they should be removed far away and, hence, banished from God’s mercy and from dwelling in the above of His generosity. Notice again that even though God is the speaker of these words, His name is not explicitly mentioned, and—like the previous instance of this above—this is also to convey reverence and awe.

Furthermore, the use of the imperative form in the statement, ‘Away with the wrongdoing lot!’ is like the previous two divine commands, when God said, ‘O earth, swallow your water! O sky, leave off!’ Therefore, as a creative command, it describes exactly what God did with them in terms of drowning, disgracing them in this world, and rendering them at a loss in the Hereafter. From another perspective, this could be read as a legislative commandment (amr tashrīʿī) that arose due to their disobedient rejection of the divine command to have faith and do good deeds and as a recompense for the arrogance and presumption they showed towards God Almighty.

The use of the passive voice in the phrases, Then it was said, ‘O earth …’, the edict was carried out, Then it was said, ‘Away with…’ conveys another meaning, namely that these great, astonishing, and awe-inspiring acts could only be accomplished by the One, the All-Dominant, who has no partner in His command. It is not necessary to say who spoke these words or did these things because the human mind cannot conceive of anyone else who could have possibly carried them out.

We can observe something similar to this regarding the phrase, The waters receded, where the agent of the verb—the earth—is also omitted, as well as in the phrase, and it settled on Judi, where the agent of the verb is the Ark. Note also that the ‘wrongdoing lot’ were not explicitly identified as Noah’s people, nor were the survivors identified as Noah or those with him on the Ark. The verse achieves its amazing eloquence through the course of the story, which only involves a sky raining down, an earth bursting with springs and immersed in water, an ark sailing in its waves, a matter accomplished, and a wrongdoing people—who are Noah’s people—and a divine command promising their destruction. If the water subsides, it is the earth that causes it to subside. If something settles and becomes stable, it is the Ark that settles on the earth. If it is said: ‘O earth, swallow your water! O sky, leave off!’ and “‘Away with the wrongdoing lot!’ the speaker is none other than God Almighty and the wrongdoing people are those upon whom the punishment was decreed. If it is said: the edict was carried out, the executor is none other than God, and the edict is what He promised to Noah and forbade him to ask Him to reconsider, namely, their drowning. If it is said to the sky: ‘leave off’ after the earth is told ‘swallow your water’, what is meant is for it to withhold and contain its water.

Therefore, this verse exhibits a truly remarkable degree of conciseness while still maintaining the harmony between its various elements. This verse stands at a unique confluence of the miraculous eloquence of the Qurʾan that astonishes the mind and amazes the intellect, even by the standards of the Qurʾan, all of whose verses are miracles in their eloquence. It is for this reason that scholars of Arabic rhetoric and eloquence have taken a keen interest in the verse. They have delved into its depths and extracted as many of its pearls as they could reach. However, as they have admitted, their efforts have merely been like scooping a handful of water from an ocean or picking up a pebble from a mountain.

وَنَادَىٰ نُوحٌ رَبَّهُ فَقَالَ رَبِّ إِنَّ ابْنِي مِنْ أَهْلِي وَإِنَّ وَعْدَكَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنْتَ أَحْكَمُ الْحَاكِمِينَ ٤٥

(11:45) Noah called out to his Lord, and said, ‘My Lord! My son is indeed from my family. Your promise is indeed true, and You are the fairest of all judges.’

This verse portrays Noah’s supplication for his son who did not board the Ark. Noah’s last encounter with him was on the day he boarded the Ark. He found his son isolated and called to him, pleading with him to board the Ark, but his son refused. Then a wave came between them. Noah, seeing his son as a believer in God, considered him part of his family whom God had promised to save.

Driven by a deep longing and sorrow for his son, Noah raised his voice to God in supplication, as indicated by God’s words: Noah called out to his Lord. The text does not say he ‘asked’, ‘said’, or ‘prayed’, but rather he ‘called’, which reflects the outcry of a desperate person facing intense distress—a natural reaction in such circumstances. This supplication, that is, Noah’s plea to his Lord for his son, though mentioned after the account of the people’s drowning and apparently after the settling of the Ark, likely occurred immediately after the wave came between them. Therefore, the fact that it is mentioned after the account of the flood’s end serves to complete the narrative of this tremendous event, and to set the stage for the discussion of its remaining aspects.

Now, it is important to note that Noah was not only a prophet, but one of the resolute, who knew God, recognized his Lord’s position, and was fully aware of his role as a divine servant. He had just witnessed first-hand the clear manifestation of the signs of God’s lordship and divine governance in the form of the flood and the drowning of the world and its people. The wrongdoers had been banished from the stage of arrogance and pride. Yet, even in these circumstances, Noah made his supplication for his son. In keeping with prophetic decorum, he did not explicitly ask for his son’s salvation, but instead, presented his words as an inquiry into the truth of the matter. He started by recalling God’s promise of his family’s safety when he was commanded to gather the survivors on the Ark. Recall that God had told him: Carry in it a pair of every kind, along with your family.

Now, with the exception of his wife, Noah’s family, including even his son, had outwardly professed belief in him. If this son were not a believer as Noah saw him, he would not have called him to board the Ark at all. For it was Noah who had explicitly called for the disbelievers to be purged from the earth when he said: ‘My Lord! Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the faithless!’ The fact that he said this while calling his son to board the Ark shows that Noah considered this son to be a believer. His disobedience to his father’s command to board the Ark was not itself an act of disbelief (kufr) nor tantamount to it, but was merely a sin (maʿṣiya), which falls short of total disbelief.

Key Debate: Noah's Son: “Not of Your Family” →

It was in light of this that Noah said, ‘My Lord! My son is indeed from my family. Your promise is indeed true (wa inna waʿdaka al-ḥaqq) …’—he recalled the promise of his Lord to deliver his family and added that his son was part of his family. The fact that he invokes God as ‘Lord’ (rabb) indicates that this is an appeal for divine mercy; the fact that he uses the possessive pronoun ‘my’ in ‘my son’ and ‘my family’ is to demonstrate his argument; while the use of the preposition inna (‘indeed’) and the definite article (al-) in Your promise is indeed true show that his faith in God is genuine.

Now, placing the two statements, ‘My son is indeed from my family’ and ‘indeed, Your promise is true’, side-by-side, imply that his son should have survived the flood. However, note that Noah, as a divine servant, shows humility towards God by not explicitly drawing this conclusion. Indeed, judgement belongs only to God. Therefore, instead of this, Noah simply presented these two statements and surrendered to God’s judgement and decision in this regard, concluding his argument by saying, ‘and You are the fairest of all judges.’

Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘My Lord! My son is indeed part of my family and, indeed, your promise is absolutely true, which suggests that he should not have been drowned with the others! However, true judgement belongs only to You, for you are the fairest of all judges.’ It seems that Noah was seeking clarification of the truth of the matter. He did not say anything about his son’s survival, nor did he add anything to what God had recounted about him. An explanation of this will follow.

In God’s words: “He said, ‘O Noah, indeed he is not of your family; indeed, he is (one whose) work was other than righteous, so ask Me not for that about which you have no knowledge.’” God clarified the correct position to Noah regarding what he had said: “indeed my son is of my family, and indeed, Your promise is true,” which implied the survival of his son. God replied: “indeed he is not of your family,” thus refuting his argument.

قَالَ يَا نُوحُ إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ ۖ إِنَّهُ عَمَلٌ غَيْرُ صَالِحٍ ۖ فَلَا تَسْأَلْنِ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۖ إِنِّي أَعِظُكَ أَنْ تَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ ٤٦

(11:46) Said He, ‘O Noah! Indeed He is not of your family. Indeed he is unrighteous conduct. So do not ask Me that of which you have no knowledge. I advise you lest you should be among the ignorant.’

Here, God clarified the correct position to Noah regarding what he had said: My son is indeed from my family. Your promise is indeed true, which implied that his son should have survived. God responded to this by saying: “ Indeed He is not of your family, thus rebuffing this argument.

What is meant by him not being of Noah’s family is that he was not included amongst those whom God had promised to save. This is because, when God said, along with your family—except those against whom the edict has already been given, this refers only to the righteous members of his family (except those against whom the edict has already been given), and Noah’s son was not righteous. Therefore, even if he was Noah’s son and part of his family in the common sense of the word, he was not amongst the family whom God had promised to save. This is why God explains his saying, ‘Indeed He is not of your family’, by saying, ‘Indeed he is unrighteous conduct.’

Now some have argued against this reading because they say it would mean that Noah’s disbelieving wife should included under the rubric of family (ahl) because she was also excluded from the above promise by exception while actually being a member of his family. On the other hand, it would mean that Noah’s son was not actually part of his family because he was excluded in fact rather than by the above exception, which is extremely incongruous.

To this, I would respond by saying that what is meant by ‘family’ in the phrase, along with your family—except those against whom the edict has already been given, are his family in the sense of his nearest and dearest, with the exception of ‘those against whom the edict has already been given’ who are the unrighteous. The referents of this exception are Noah’s wife and son. However, what is meant by ‘family’ in the phrase, Indeed He is not of your family are the righteous ones amongst his nearest and dearest. This is in line with Noah’s plea, ‘My Lord! My son is indeed from my family.’ When Noah says ‘my family’ here, he would not have meant anyone except the righteous amongst those related to him, otherwise this would have also included his wife, which would have nullified his argument at the outset. Therefore, ‘family’ in the the latter verse is being used in a more specific sense than in the former.

This is the apparent meaning of the verse, and there are reports from the Imāms of the Prophet’s Household in support of this reading, which we will discuss in our treatment of the narrations, below.

Other explanations that have been suggested with regard to the verse are as follows:

One is that the intention is that his son is not of his religion, implying that his disbelief precludes him from having the rulings of his family applied to him. This reading is attributed to a group of commentators, and it does not suffer from any fundamental flaws, except that it does not accord with the context of the verse. This is because God denies Noah’s son belonging with him in the same sense as Noah affirms it. Noah did not mean by his belonging that he was a believer and not a disbeliever, but rather that he belonged to him in the sense of being both one of his nearest and dearest and being righteousness, even if faith was a prerequisite of this. Therefore, this ultimately refers back to the reading we have presented above.

Another explanation is that he was not his son in reality, but only born in his house. Thus, Noah said, ‘My son is indeed from my family’ based on outward appearances, and God informed him that the matter was contrary to this, alerting him to his wife’s infidelity. This explanation is attributed to al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Mujāhid.

The problem with this explanation is, first of all, the fact that it associates shame and disgrace with one of God’s prophets and the general sense of the Qurʾan precludes such a possibility. In the Qurʾan, God repels such dishonor from the vicinity of the prophets and exonerates them from association with such falsehoods. More than this however, this explanation suffers from the fact that there is no evidence for it in the language used in the verse. There is nothing in the story other than God’s statement: O Noah! Indeed He is not of your family. Indeed he is unrighteous conduct, which does not provide any clear support for such conjectures. Moreover, in reference to this theory about Noah’s wife, some might cite the verse, Allah draws an example for the faithless: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of our righteous servants, yet they betrayed them (). However, this verse only indicates that they were disbelievers, enemies of their husbands, revealing their secrets, and aiding the disbelievers against them, nothing more than that.

Another reading suggests that the son belonged to Noah’s wife but was his stepson, rather than his biological one. However, once again, there is no textual evidence to support such an interpretation. It also does not fit with God’s justification that he is not of Noah’s family because ‘he is unrighteous conduct.’ If this were the case, it would be more appropriate to say that he is the son of the wife.

Moreover, if this was indeed the case, it is highly unlikely that Noah was not aware that the boy was his stepson, not his biological son, when he addressed God saying, My son is indeed from my family, or that he was aware of this and used a metaphorical language to argue with God, who is All-Knowing and All-Wise. This then prompted God to clarify that he was not his son, but his stepson.

As for the statement, Indeed he is unrighteous conduct, the context suggests that the pronoun refers to Noah’s son, who is the ‘unrighteous conduct’—this seems like an odd phrasing on first glance. However, describing him as an ‘unrighteous act’ is a kind of hyperbole similar to saying ‘Zayd is justice,’ meaning that Zayd is the personification of justice. An analogous statement is, ‘it is just a coming and a going’ which implies that it is characterized by coming and going.

Thus, the meaning is: ‘This son of yours is characterized by unrighteousness and therefore is not among your family whom I promised to save.’ This reading is also supported by those who read it as meaning, ‘Indeed he is unrighteous conduct,’ in the past tense, meaning ‘he has done an unrighteous act.’

Some have argued that the pronoun refers back to Noah’s implicit request in the statement, ‘My Lord! My son is indeed from my family.’ In other words, asking for your son’s salvation is an unrighteous act because it is a request for something of which you have no knowledge, and it is not befitting for a prophet to address God in this way.

However, this is among the most foolish of interpretations because it does not fit with either of the sentences that surround it: ‘Indeed He is not of your family’ and ‘So do not ask Me that of which you have no knowledge.’ It is clear that if this were the case, it would have been more appropriate for God to mention this first in response to Noah’s statement, and not after ‘Indeed He is not of your family.’

Moreover, an observant reader will have noticed that when Noah said, ‘My Lord! My son is indeed from my family …’, this was not posed as a question. Rather, if he had continued speaking, this would have led to a question, but God’s special concern for Noah intervened to prevent him from asking it.

So do not ask Me that of which you have no knowledge: When Noah said, ‘My Lord! My son is indeed from my family. Your promise is indeed true’, he was on the verge of asking God to deliver his son from the flood, not realizing that his son was not, in fact, part of his family. It was at this point that God’s special concern for Noah intervened, and supernatural guidance prevented him from asking the question, as he was apprehended by the prohibition, So do not ask Me that of which you have no knowledge. This divine prohibition followed logically from what God had already said. In other words: ‘Insofar as your son is not of your family because he is the personification of unrighteous conduct, and you have no way to know this, you should refrain from asking prematurely for his salvation. For it is a question about something you do not know.’

However, just because God forbade Noah from asking something without knowledge, this does not entail that Noah had, in fact, asked this of God, whether separately or within his statement, My Lord! My son is indeed from my family.’ After all, a prohibition does not imply that the prohibited act has already been committed. For example, elsewhere, God says, Do not extend your glance toward what We have provided to certain groups of them (). In this verse, God prohibited the Prophet from desiring this worldly life and being captivated by its beauty, even though he was far above doing so.

On the contrary, in order for it to be valid, a prohibition only requires the possibility that the subject of the prohibition could commit the prohibited action. The prophets, despite their divine infallibility and supernatural guidance, are still subject to this. Indeed, part of their infallibility and guidance is that God watches over their actions. Whenever they approach something that could potentially lead to an error, He guides them to the correct path and calls them to adhere to the way of divine servanthood. As God said, Had We not fortified you, certainly you might have inclined toward them a bit. Then We would have surely made you taste a double (punishment) in this life and a double (punishment) after death, and then you would have not found for yourself any helper against Us (). Thus, God informed us that He is the one who made the Prophet steadfast and did not allow him to even approach such an inclination, let alone act upon it. God also said, Were it not for Allah’s grace and His mercy on you, a group of them were bent on leading you astray; but they do not mislead anyone except themselves, and they cannot do you any harm. Allah has sent down to you the Book and wisdom, and He has taught you what you did not know, and great is Allah’s grace upon you ().

A further piece of evidence that the phrase, So do not ask Me …, serves as a warning against an act that has not yet transpired can be found in Prophet Noah’s response after hearing it. He invokes God, saying, “‘My Lord! I seek Your protection lest I should ask You (rabbi innī aʿūdhu bi-ka an asʾalaka…) something of which I have no knowledge. If You do not forgive me and have mercy upon me I shall be among the losers.’ If Noah had already asked something along these lines, he would have said: ‘I seek refuge you in You from having asked that’ (aʿūdhu bi-ka min suʾālī dhālik) Using this construction would have implied that the act had already taken place.

Yet another piece of evidence that Noah did not ask God with regards to his son is in the refrain that follows the prohibition, ‘So do not ask Me that of which you have no knowledge’, where God says, ‘I advise you lest you should be among the ignorant.’ In other words, God says, ‘Indeed I advise you lest you should be among the ignorant by asking such a question.’ If Noah had already asked that question, he would have already been classified as one of the ignorant, because he would have asked about something he did not understand.

Now, one might argue that the phrase ‘lest you should be among the ignorant’ refers to those in whom ignorance is an established trait, and that this can only be established through repeatedly acting in a foolish and ignorant manner, rather than merely through a single instance of this. Therefore, it can be inferred that Noah did indeed ask such a question once, and God warned him not to repeat it lest he fall into the category of the ignorant.

To this, I would respond as follows: The application of the an active participle such as ‘ignorant’ (jāhil) to a person does not necessarily indicate a recurrent or habitual state, but can also denote a temporary condition. This is evidenced by God’s words in the story of the Cow: And when Moses said to his people, ‘Indeed Allah commands you to slaughter a cow,’ they said, ‘Do you take us in derision?’ He said, ‘I seek Allah’s protection lest I should be one of the ignorant (an akūna min al-jāhilīn)!’ () and in the story of Joseph: ‘If You do not turn away their schemes from me, then I will incline towards them and become one of the ignorant (wa akun min al-jāhilīn)’ (). Also, God’s decree to His Prophet reads: “ Had Allah wished, He would have brought them together on guidance. So do not be one of the ignorant ().

Also, if the aim of the warning was to prevent Noah from repeating the question after he had asked it once, it would have been more appropriate for God to explicitly prohibit him from returning to such questioning, rather than prohibiting the original question. This is similar to the admonishment mentioned in the verse: When you were receiving it on your tongues, and were mouthing something of which you had no knowledge … Allah advises you lest you should ever repeat the like of it, should you be faithful ().

قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أَسْأَلَكَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۖ وَإِلَّا تَغْفِرْ لِي وَتَرْحَمْنِي أَكُنْ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ ٤٧

(11:47) He said, ‘My Lord! I seek Your protection lest I should ask You something of which I have no knowledge. If You do not forgive me and have mercy upon me I shall be among the losers.’

In light of Noah’s realization that had God’s intervention not prevented him, he would have asked about something of which he had no knowledge and thereby would have fallen into ignorance, he expressed gratitude to God. He sought refuge in God’s forgiveness and mercy from asking such a loss-incurring question, saying, My Lord! I seek Your protection lest I should ask You something of which I have no knowledge…’

The discussion of seeking protection from destructive matters and grave sins that have not yet transpired is similar to that of the prohibition of sins and wrongdoings that have not yet occurred, which we have discussed already. Consider the fact that God commanded His Prophet to seek refuge from Satan, even though he was infallible and, therefore, impervious to Satan’s influence. As mentioned in the Qurʾan: Say, ‘I seek the protection of the Lord of humans… from the evil of the sneaky tempter, who puts temptations into the breasts of humans’ (). He also commanded him: And say, ‘My Lord! I seek Your protection from the promptings of devils; and I seek Your protection, my Lord, from their presence near me.’ (). This is even thought the revelation is already protected from Satan’s touch, as explicitly stated in the Qur’an: ‘Knower of the Unseen, He does not disclose His Unseen to anyone, except to an messenger He approves of. Then He dispatches a sentinel before and behind him so that He may ascertain that they have communicated the messages of their Lord’ (Surah Al-Jinn, 28).

At first glance, Noah’s statement, ‘If You do not forgive me and have mercy upon me I shall be among the losers’, appears to be a plea of repentance. However, in essence, it is actually an expression of gratitude for God granting him knowledge and discipline.

As for the form of his repentance, it denotes a return to God by seeking refuge in Him and seeking His forgiveness and mercy, which refers to when He covers man’s faults and protects him from ruin. This also includes God’s all-encompassing concern for his wellbeing. We have previously explained at the end of the sixth part of the book that the meaning of ‘sin’ (dhanb) is broader in scope than merely contravening a legal ordinance; it refers to every ill-effect or harm inflicted by the human being. By the same token, forgiveness is broader than merely covering what are commonly considered sins; it encompasses every divine covering that grants a person felicity and brings about harmony in their life.

The essence of Noah’s gratitude is fixed upon God’s special concern, which prevented him from asking a question that would have made him among the ignorant and which protected him by showing him the correct course of action. This divine covering over a slip in his path, and the mercy and blessings bestowed upon him by God, was expressed in his statement, ‘If You do not forgive me and have mercy upon me I shall be among the losers’, meaning if You do not protect me from mistakes, I will be surely be one of the losers. Therefore, this is an expression of praise and thanksgiving for God’s benevolent act.

قِيلَ يَا نُوحُ اهْبِطْ بِسَلَامٍ مِنَّا وَبَرَكَاتٍ عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَىٰ أُمَمٍ مِمَّنْ مَعَكَ ۚ وَأُمَمٌ سَنُمَتِّعُهُمْ ثُمَّ يَمَسُّهُمْ مِنَّا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ٤٨

(11:48) It was said, ‘O Noah! Disembark in peace (bi-salām) from Us and with blessings upon you and upon nations from those who are with you, and nations whom We shall provide for, then a painful punishment from Us shall befall them.’

Salām (‘peace’) here denotes either safety or a greeting. However, mentioning the affliction of punishment at the end of the verse supports the idea that salām at its beginning refers to safety from punishment. Similarly, replacing the blessing at the end of the verse with provision suggests that the intended blessings are not merely favors and enjoyments of life, but divine favors in terms of guiding man towards goodness, happiness, and a praiseworthy outcome.

As we have already seen previously, the verse does not mention who spoke, only It was said. The speaker, of course, is God, but the passive voice is used here to inspire awe and reverence.

‘O Noah! Disembark in peace from Us and with blessings upon you ...’: This means: ‘O Noah! Disembark safe from punishment of the flood and showered with abundant goodness and blessings from Us.’ Alternatively, it could mean: ‘Descend with our greeting and showered with our blessings.’

The phrase, ‘… and upon nations from those who are with you …’ is linked with the previous phrase, ‘… upon you.’ The fact that the word nations (umam) is kept indefinite implies the vastness of their number, as some of these will be mentioned by God in his subsequent statement, ‘… and nations whom We shall provide for …’

This address, by which I mean His statement, ‘O Noah! Disembark in peace from Us and with blessings upon you…’ until the end of the verse, can be read with respect to the original situation at the time it was issued. At that time, no human or animal was alive on the earth; all had been drowned. Only a small group remained on the Ark, which had come to rest on Mount Judi. They were destined to disembark from the Ark and onto earth, to repopulate it and live on it for a while.

However, it can also be read as a general address that applies to all human beings, from the time of their emergence from the Ark till the Day of Resurrection, similar to God’s address when Adam was sent down from the Garden to earth, when He said: We said, ‘Get down, being enemies of one another! On the earth shall be your abode and sustenance for a time … Get down from it, all together! Yet, should any guidance come to you from Me, those who follow My guidance shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. But those who are faithless and deny Our signs, they shall be the inmates of the Fire and they shall remain in it forever’ (). And elsewhere in the Qurʾan, He says, He said, ‘In it you will live, and in it you will die; and from it you will be raised’ ().

Therefore, this is a second address, similar to the first one that was directed to Noah and to the believers who were with him—from whom all the humans of the world today are descended—concerning them and the descendants who will come after them until the Day of Resurrection. It contains the appointed conditions of their earthly life, and the permission for their descent to it, their settling on it, and their finding refuge in it.

God has divided these beings granted this permission into two categories. His permission for one group is expressed through peace and blessings, namely Noah and the nations with him, and for another group it is expressed through enjoyment, followed by the affliction of punishment. The terms ‘peace’ and ‘blessings’ are inseparable from the glad tidings of prosperity and happiness for those to whom they are linked.

From this, it is clear that the command to disembark contained in this verse, along with the associated peace, blessings, and enjoyment, is directed at all humans from the time the occupants of the Ark descended until the Day of Resurrection. This is parallel to the decree to descend from the Garden that was directed to Adam and his wife. In this command, there is permission to live an earthly life, a promise of reward for those who obey God, and a warning of punishment for those who disobey Him. The same can be seen in the earlier decree, fitting perfectly with it.

Thus, it is clear that the phrase, ‘and upon nations from those who are with you’ refers to the righteous nations from the occupants of the Ark and those of their descendants who will emerge as righteous. It appears that ‘from those’ in His phrase ‘from those who are with you’ means not that there were literal nations with Noah on the Ark but that these nations would begin with those who were with him on it (thereby still including those individuals in those nations). Therefore, the meaning is: ‘… and upon those nations whose beginning is from those who are with you’, and they are the occupants of the Ark and the righteous members of their descendants.

This explanation implies that all the occupants of the Ark are destined to be felicitous and saved in the Hereafter. The context certainly supports this reading, as the occupants of the Ark have already been purified by trials and have given preference to the blessings that come from God over the adornments of worldly life. Indeed, God twice confirmed their faith during the story when He said, ‘except those who already have faith’ (), and He said, ‘And none believed with him except a few’ ().

The passage ‘… and nations whom We shall provide for then a painful punishment from Us shall befall them’ appears to be the subject of a nominal sentence whose predicate is left implicit, its meaning being: ‘And of those with you will come nations whom …’ or ‘And there are nations whom …’ Notice that God has excluded these nations from those being given His permission to swell upon the earth. He does not say, for example: ‘… and provisions for other nations who will be punished.’ This is to remove them from the position of honor and respect that He has accorded to the righteous. Therefore, He informs Noah and those with him that there will be other nations for whom He will provide and then He will punish, and these nations are not granted the same permission to dispose of the provisions of this worldly life that God has granted to the righteous out of His generosity and kindness.

Note also that this verse contains many features that magnify and extol the status speaker, such as the use of the passive voice for It was said, addressing Noah by name in the order to disembark, and speaking in the first-person plural (‘We’) when saying ‘We shall provide for’ and ‘a painful punishment from Us’, and so on.

It also becomes evident that the explanation of His phrase, ‘and upon nations from those who are with you’ as meaning ‘upon nations from the offspring of those with you’ is not appropriate, given that it implicitly excludes those with Noah from the address (while our reading above includes them in those nations). Similarly, the claim that ‘nations’ (umam) refers to all the animals that were with Noah because God has bestowed blessings upon them as well, is likewise evidently flawed.

تِلْكَ مِنْ أَنْبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهَا إِلَيْكَ ۖ مَا كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُهَا أَنْتَ وَلَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْ قَبْلِ هَٰذَا ۖ فَاصْبِرْ ۖ إِنَّ الْعَاقِبَةَ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ ٤٩

(11:49) These are accounts of the Unseen which We reveal to you. Neither you nor your people used to know them before this. So be patient. Indeed the outcome will be in favor of the Godwary.

This refers to these stories or this particular story that are part of the Unseen knowledge revealed to the Prophet

Neither you nor your people used to know them before this—means that while this story is absolutely true and correct, it was unknown to the Prophet and his people before this, while the version preserved with the People of the Book has been distorted and turned away from the truth, as will be evident to anyone who reads the account of Noah in the Torah.

So be patient. Indeed the outcome will be in favor of the Godwary: This is the moral drawn from the contents of the story. In other words: ‘When you know what happened to Noah and his people, including the destruction of his people and his survival along with the believers who were with him, and how God granted them inheritance of the earth because of their patience, and how Noah was victorious over his enemies because of his patience, then you must likewise be patient and steadfast for the truth, because the best outcome is for the righteous. They are the ones who are patient in the service of God, the Most Exalted.’

Examining Narrations

1. In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ishāq b. Bishr and Ibn ʿAsākir report from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ‘Indeed, Noah would be beaten and then wrapped in a cloth. He would be thrown into his house, and his assailants assumed he was dead. Then he would emerge and call them to monotheism again until he despaired of his people ever believing in him. A man came to him with his son, leaning on a stick, and said, “O my son, look at this old man, do not let him deceive you.” The son said, “O Father, give me your stick.” He then took the stick and said, “Put me on the ground.” He put him down, then he walked towards Noah, hit him and wounded him, causing blood to pour from his head.

Noah said: “O Lord, you see what your servants are doing to me. If You need them, guide them, otherwise grant me patience until You judge. You are the best of judges.” Then God revealed to him that no believers remained among the men and women. God said, “O Noah, None of your people will believe except those who already have faith; so do not lament for what they used to do. Build the Ark Noah asked, “O Lord, what is the Ark?” He replied, “It is a wooden structure that floats on water. I will drown the people who disobeyed Me and cleanse My earth from them.” Noah asked, “O Lord, where is the water?” God replied, “I have power to do whatever I will.”’

2. In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī narrates via his chain of transmission that al-Mufaḍḍal said: ‘I was with Abū ʿAbd Allāh in Kūfa when Abū al-ʿAbbās (the first ʿAbbāsid caliph) entered the city. When we reached al-Kināsa, he said, “Here my uncle Zayd was crucified, may God have mercy on him.” Then he proceeded until we reached the arch of olive vendors market, which is at the end of the lamp-makers street. He stopped and said, “Descend, for this is the site of the first mosque of Kūfa, which Adam had marked out. I dislike entering it on horseback.” I asked, “Who changed its layout?” He said, “Firstly, the Flood during Noah’s time. Then the associates of Khusraw and al-Nuʿmān altered it, then Ziyād b. Abī Sufyān altered it again.” I asked, “Was Kūfa and its mosque present during Noah’s time?” He said to me: “Yes, O Mufaḍḍal. Noah and his people lived in a village by the Euphrates, west of Kūfa.”

He continued: “Noah was a carpenter and then God exalted him and made him a prophet. Noah was the first to make a ship that floated on water. He said, “Noah stayed with his people for 950 years, calling them to God Almighty, but they mocked and ridiculed him. When he saw this, he cursed them and said, ‘My Lord! Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the faithless. If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants and will not beget except vicious ingrates’ (). Then God revealed to Noah to build the Ark, to enlarge it and hasten in its construction. So, Noah built the Ark at the mosque of Kūfa with his own hands and brought wood until it was finished.”’

Al-Mufaḍḍal said: ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh paused his discourse at noon. Abū ʿAbd Allāh stood, prayed Ẓuhr and ʿAsr, then left the mosque. He turned to his left and pointed to the site of Dār al-Dārayn, the house of Ibn Ḥakīm, which is where the Euphrates currently flows. He said, “O Mufaḍḍal, here is where the idols of Noah’s people: Yaghūth, Yaʿūq, and Nasr were erected.” Then he continued walking until he mounted his ride.

I asked: “May I be your sacrifice! How long did Noah take to build his ship?” He replied, “He did it in two cycles (dawrayn).” I asked, “And how long is a cycle (dawr)?” He replied, “Eighty years.” I asked, “But the masses say he worked on it for five hundred years?” He said, “No. How? And God says: …by Our revelation...” I asked, “Tell me about the saying of God, When Our edict came and the oven gushed… Where was this place? And how was it?” He replied, “The oven was in the house of a believing old woman, in the direction of the qibla on the right side of the mosque.” I asked him, “Where is that?” He said, “The location is the corner of Bāb al-Fīl (the Elephant Gate) today.”

Then I asked him, “Did the water start gushing out from that oven?” He replied, “Yes. Indeed, God wanted to show the people of Noah a sign, then God sent rain upon them, it flooded the land and all the springs overflowed as well, and God drowned them. And saved Noah and those with him in the Ark.”

Author’s comment: The narration is lengthy and not related to the explanation of the verse, but we mention it here as an exemplar of many of the narrations that have come down with the same sort of content from both Shi’a and Sunni sources, and it will aid us in our understanding of the stories of the verses by referring to these narrations.

The narration also suggests a certain amount of urgency in the construction of the Ark, alluding to the divine commandment, ‘Build the Ark before Our eyes and by Our revelation’ In this narration, the Umayyad governor Ziyād b. Abīh (lit. ‘Ziyād the son of his father’) is acknowledged as the son of Abū Sufyān. However, the name used in the original words of the Imam is ‘Ziyād’, without mentioning any parent, to which ‘ibn Abū Sufyān’ has been added by some narrators.

3. In the same source, there is a narration from Abū Razīn al-Asadī, who narrates from the Commander of the Faithful, who recounts: ‘Indeed, Noah finished constructing the Ark and the appointed sign from his Lord for the annihilation of his people was the overflow of the oven. This oven was in a woman’s house and when it overflowed, she reported it. Noah came to the oven and sealed it. The water rose, and those who wanted to enter the Ark did so, and those who wanted to leave, left. Then he came to its seal and removed it, God says: Then We opened the gates of the sky with pouring waters, and We made the earth burst forth with springs, and the waters met for a preordained purpose. We bore him on a vessel made of planks and nails ().

The narrator adds: ‘Noah’s shipyard was in the centre of your mosque. And indeed, seven hundred cubits have been deducted from its length.’

Author’s comment: The overflowing of the oven being a sign for him through which he knew the imminence of the flood, is confirmed in several narrations from both Shi’a and Sunni sources, and the context of the verse, When Our edict came and the oven gushed, clearly indicates that it was an sign appointed by God for Noah.

4. In the same source, there is a narration with a chain of transmission from Ismā’īl al-Ju’fī from Abū Ja’far al-Bāqir (a.s.,) who said: ‘The law of Noah was to worship God with monotheism and devotion and to abandon the worship of idols, which is the natural disposition (fiṭra) upon which people were created. God took a covenant from Noah and the prophets to worship God, the Blessed and Exalted, and not associate anything with Him, and He commanded prayer, enjoining good and forbidding evil, and to observe the lawful and the unlawful, but no penal laws or inheritance laws were imposed upon him. This was his code of laws. Noah stayed among his people for 950 years, inviting them to his way both secretly and openly. When they refused and persisted in their ways, he said, “My Lord, I have been overcome, so help” (). God the Mighty and Majestic revealed to him, “None of your people will believe except those who already have faith; so do not lament for what they used to do.” () This refers to Noah’s saying, “If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants and will not beget except vicious ingrates” () So, God revealed to him, “Build the Ark ...”’

Author’s comment: al-ʿAyyāshī also narrates this from al-Juʿfī and the narration apparently indicates that he made two supplications against his people; the first one being his saying, “My Lord, I have been overcome, so help” () which is in Sūrah al-Qamar, and the second one after God caused him lose hope in his people ever believing, which is his saying, “‘My Lord! Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the faithless. If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants and will not beget except vicious ingrates’ (), which is in Sūrah Nūḥ.

5. In Maʿānī al-Akhbār, al-Ṣadūq narrates via his chain of transmission from Ḥumrān from Abī Ja’far al-Bāqir regarding God’s saying, And none believed with him except a few, that he said: ‘They were eight in number.’

Author’s comment: al-ʿAyyāshī also narrates this from Ḥumrān, from him, and people have expressed other opinions regarding their number: six, seven, ten, seventy-two, eighty, but there is no evidence for any of these.

6. In ʿUyūn Akhbār al-Riḍā, al-Ṣadūq transmits via his chain of narrators from ʿAbd al-Salām b. Ṣāliḥ al-Harawī that Imām al-Riḍā said: ‘When Noah descended to earth, Noah, his sons, and those who followed him were eighty souls in total. He built a village where he landed and named it ‘The Village of Eighty.’

Author’s comment: There is no contradiction between the two narrations as it is possible that apart from the eight, there were others from the family of Noah, and he had lived for almost a thousand years by then.

7. In the same source, with a chain of narration from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Washāʾ from Imām al-Riḍā: ‘I heard him say: my father said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh: “Indeed, God, exalted and majestic, said to Nūḥ: Indeed He is not of your family ‘ because he was an opponent to him, and He counted those who followed him his family instead.”

Then he asked me: “How do the people recite this verse about the son of Noah?” So, I said: “people recite it in two ways: ‘this is an unrighteous deed,’ and ‘he is the result of an unrighteous deed.” He said: “They lie, he is his son, but God denied him being from him when he opposed him in his religion.’”

Author’s comment: perhaps when he says, ‘and He counted those who followed him his family instead’ this is a reference to the verse: We responded to him and delivered him and his family from the great agony (). As it appears that what is meant by his family is everyone who was saved with him.

When, in this tradition, the Imam asks, ‘how do the people recite this verse…?’, he is, in fact, asking how they explain its meaning. Therefore, the two recitations mentioned refer to the explanations that Noah’s wife bore the son from someone else but claimed it was his. For this reason, some have recited the verse, ‘Noah called out to her son.’ They attribute this recitation to ʿAlī and some of the Imams from his descendants.

8. In al-Kashāf, al-Zamakhsharī writes: ‘… and ʿAlī, may God be pleased with him, recited it as “her son” (ibna-hā), and the pronoun refers to his wife. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī and ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr recited it as ibna-ha, with a fatḥa on the ha (instead of an alif), which was a contraction of ibna-hā (“her son” instead of “his son”). This supports the school of thought of al-Ḥasan. Qatāda said: “I asked him and he said: ‘by God, he was not his son.’ So I said: “But God quotes him as saying: ‘My son is indeed from my family ‘, and you are saying he was not his son, and the People of the Book do not disagree that he was his son!” At this point, he said: “Who takes their religion from the People of the Book?” and he adduced as evidence the fact that Noah said “from my family”, rather than “from me.”’

Author’s comment: This is a nonsensical argument because, as we have already seen, God promised Noah that He would save his family (ahl). He did not promise to save those who were ‘from him.’ If he had, then Noah would have said to God, ‘My son is indeed from me’ when he asked Him about his salvation. Moreover, we have already explained how the wording of verses does not permit such a reading.

Regarding the claim that there is no disagreement among the People of the Book about Noah’s son, this is questionable, because the Torah does not tell us anything about the son of Noah who drowned.

9. In al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Suyūṭī narrates from Ibn al-Anbārī’s Maṣāḥif and Abū al-Shaykh, both of whom narrated from ʿAlī that he recited the verse: ‘And Noah called her son (ibna-hā).’
10. In the same source, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and Abū al-Shaykh narrate from Abī Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAlī about the verse, Noah called out to his son (): ‘It was not his son but the son of his wife, and this is spoken in Arabic in the dialect of the Tayy tribe.’

Author’s comment: al-ʿAyyāshī reported this in his Tafsīr from Muḥammad b. Muslim.

11. In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from Mūsā, from al-ʿAlāʾ b. Sayāba from Imām al-Ṣādiq regarding the verse, Noah called out to his son: It was not his son but the son of his wife, and in the language of Tayy, they call the son of a man’s wife “his son.”’
12. In the same source, it is narrated from Zurāra from Imām al-Bāqir regarding Noah’s saying, ‘O my son! Board with us …’ that he said: ‘He was not his son.’ Zurāra asked, ‘But then why did Noah say, “O my son”?’ He replied: ‘Indeed, Noah said that, but he did not know.’

Author’s comment: The most reliable of the above reports is the one narrated by al-Washshāʾ from Imām al-Riḍā.

13. In the same source, from Ibrāhīm b. Abī al-ʿAlāʾ from either Imām al-Bāqir or Imām al-Ṣādiq: ‘When God said: “O earth, swallow your water! O sky, leave off!”, the earth said: “I was commanded to swallow only my water, and I was not commanded to swallow the water of the sky.” So the earth swallowed its own water, and the water of the sky remained and became a sea surrounding the world.”’
14. In the same source, it is narrated from Abū Baṣīr, from Imām Mūsā al-Kāẓim, in a tradition mentioning Mount Judi: ‘It is a mountain near Mosul.’
15. In the same source, it is narrated from al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar, from Imām al-Ṣādiq: ‘…and it settled on Judi—it is the Euphrates at Kufa.’

Author’s comment: This narration is supported by others.

16. In the same source, it is narrated from ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Abī al-Daylam, from Imām al-Ṣādiq, who said: ‘When Noah boarded the ship, it was said: “Away with the wrongdoing lot!”’
17. In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, about the verse, It was said, Then it was said, ‘O earth, swallow your water …!’, al-Ṭabrisī writes: ‘It is narrated that the disbelievers of Quraysh wanted to meet the challenge of the the Qurʾan, so they refrained from eating grains, the meat of sheep, and drinking wine for forty days, so that their minds would be clear. But just as they began to undertake their task, they heard this verse, and some of them said to each other, “This is speech like no other, and it does not resemble the speech of creatures,” so they abandoned their task and dispersed.

Discourse

The discussion “Qurʾanic, Narrative, Historical, and Philosophical Studies on the Story of Noah” appears here in the printed volume. Read it in the Al-Mizan App.