Noah's Son: “Not of Your Family”

Qur'an 11:46 · Hūd

قَالَ يَـٰنُوحُ إِنَّهُۥ لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ عَمَلٌ غَيْرُ صَـٰلِحٍ ۖ فَلَا تَسْـَٔلْنِ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِۦ عِلْمٌ ۖ إِنِّىٓ أَعِظُكَ أَن تَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْجَـٰهِلِينَ

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

The question

When God told Noah that his drowned son was “not of your family”, did that mean he was not Noah's real son — or something else?

Views answered: the view that he was not Noah's son but born in his house, the view that he was Noah's stepson, the reading that the “unrighteous conduct” was Noah's request, al-Zamakhsharī (al-Kashshāf) on the reading “her son”

Al-Mizan's argument

Noah recalled God's promise to save his family and said, “My son is indeed from my family.” Al-Mizan explains that God's answer means the son was not among the “family” He had promised to save — the righteous among Noah's nearest — because of his unrighteousness, not that he was not Noah's son. He rejects the view that the son was not truly Noah's but only born in his house, since it attaches disgrace to a prophet, which the Qur'an never allows; the view that he was a stepson, which has no textual support and does not fit Noah's own words; and, as “among the most foolish of interpretations”, the reading that the “unrighteous conduct” was Noah's request. In the narrations he gives Imam al-Riḍā's report that the son was his son, denied to him because he opposed him in religion, calls it the most reliable, and answers al-Zamakhsharī's account of the reading “her son”.

Reading guide

Each part opens the commentary at that point.

Read the whole commentary on 11:46 →

Noah's Son: “Not of Your Family” ​

The question ​

Al-Mizan's argument ​

Reading guide ​

Noah's Son: “Not of Your Family”

The question

Al-Mizan's argument

Reading guide