71:1. Indeed We sent Nooh to his people, [saying]: Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment.

71:2. He said: O my people, verily I am a clear warner to you.

71:3. Worship Allah [alone] and fear Him, and obey me,

71:4. so that He may forgive some of your sins and give you respite for an appointed term. Verily when the time appointed by Allah comes, no reprieve can be given, if only you knew.

In this soorah, Allah does not mention anything other than the story of Nooh, because of his lengthy stay among his people, repeatedlycalling them to affirm the oneness of Allah and forbidding them to ascribe partners to Him.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that He sent him to his people, out of mercy towards them, to warn them of the painful punishment of Allah, lest they persist in their disbelief and Allah destroy them once and for all, and subject them to an eternal punishment.

Nooh (عليه السلام) complied and hastened to obey the command of his Lord, so he said:

my people, verily I am a clear warner to youjiJ that is, my warning is clear. He explained what he was warning them about and what the consequences would be if they paid no heed, and the means of attaining salvation. He explained all of that in a very clear manner.

Then he told them about the main points of his call and enjoined that upon them, as he said:

﴾Worship Allah [alone] and fear Him﴿ by affirming His oneness and devoting worship only to Him, and keeping away from polytheism and the ways and means that lead to it, for if they feared Allah, He would forgive their sins, and if He forgave their sins, they would be safe from punishment and would attain reward.

﴾and give you respite for an appointed term﴿ that is, give you time to enjoy life in this world and ward off death from you until the appointed time. In other words, the length of your stay in this world is in accordance with the will and decree of Allah, until a specified time; worldly enjoyment is not eternal, for death is inevitable. Hence Allah says:

﴾Verily when the time appointed by Allah comes, no reprieve can be given, if only you knew﴿ when you disbelieved in Allah and stubbornly rejected the truth, and did not respond to His call or submit to His command.

Nooh said, complaining to his Lord:

71:5. Nooh said: My Lord, I have been calling my people night and day,

71:6. but my call has only driven them further away.

That is, they only increased in aversion towards the truth and there is no longer any benefit in calling them, for the benefit of calling is to achieve all or some of what is intended.

71:7. Every time I call them, so that You may forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears and cover themselves with their garments; they are persisting in their disbelief and are too arrogant to follow the truth.

﴾Every time I call them, so that You may forgive them﴿ that is, so that they may respond, for if they respond, You will forgive them, so this is in their interests alone. But they refused to do anything other than persisting in their falsehood and in their aversion towards the truth.

﴾they put their fingers in their ears﴿ so that they would not hear what their Prophet Noob (UlO was saying to them.

tjand cover themselves with their garments﴿ that is, they cover themselves with them in order to conceal themselves, fleeing from the truth and out of resentment towards it.﴾they are persisting in their disbelief]﴿) and evil

﴾and are too arrogant to follow the truths, so their evil will increase and they are unlikely to seek good.

71:8. Moreover, I have called them openly;

71:9. I have addressed them in public and spoken to them in private

﴾Moreover, I have called them openly﴿ so that they could all hear, ﴾fl have addressed them in public and spoken to them in private﴿ all of that was because I was very keen and sincere, and I tried by all means to achieve the goal.

71:10. I said: Seek the forgiveness of your Lord, for verily He is Oft- Forgiving;

71:11. Hewill send down upon you abundant rain from the sky,

71:12. and will bestow upon you wealth and offspring, and provide you with gardens and rivers.

f(l said: Seek the forgiveness of your Lord﴿ give up what you are committing of sins, and ask Allah to forgive you for them.﴾for verily He is Oft-Forgiving﴿ and abundantly forgives the one who repents and seeks forgiveness. He sought to encourage them by telling them of the forgiveness of sins and what would result from that of attaining the reward and warding off punishment.

He also encouraged them by telling them of good results in this world, as he said: ﴾He will send down upon you abundant rain from the sky﴿ that is, ongoing rain, which will reach the mountain passes and valleys, and give life to the land and the people.

﴾and will bestow upon you wealth and offspring﴿ that is. He will increase your wealth, by means of which you will attain what you want of worldly pleasures, and will increase you in offspring.

﴾and provide you with gardens and rivers﴿ this is the utmost of what one would like and seek in this world.

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71:13. What is the matter with you, that you do not fear the majesty of Allah,

71:14. when He has created you in stages?

﴾What is the matter with you, that you do not fear the majesty of Allah﴿ that is, why do you not fear Allah’s greatness and why do you not have any respect for Him?

﴾when He has created you in stages?﴿ That is, stage after stage, in the mother’s womb, then when being breastfed, then in infancy, then at the age of discernment, then at the age of youth, until the end of whatever one reaches in life. The One Who alone is the Creator and Controller must be the only One to be worshipped.

By mentioning the beginning of their creation, Allah points out to them that they should believe in the resurrection and the hereafter,and that the One Who created them from nothing is able to recreate them after their death. He also cites as proof to them the creation of the heavens, which is a far greater matter than the creation of people, as He says:

(n-\o

71:15. Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens, one above another,

71:16. and has placed the moon therein as a light [reflected] and has placed the sun as a lamp?

﴾Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens, one above another:? that is, each heaven is above another.

fjand has placed the moon therein as a light﴿ for the inhabitants of the earth sfand has placed the sun as a lamp﴿.

This highlights the greatness of the creation of these things, and the many benefits that are found in the sun and moon are indicative of Allah’s mercy and great kindness. The Almighty, Most Merciful, deserves to be venerated, loved and worshipped, and to be the focus of fear and hope.

71:17. Allah has produced you from the earth in a wondrous manner,^{1Adam was created from clay, and the composition of every human being contains elements of the earth. (Ibn ‘Ashoor; ar-Razi)}

71:18. then He will return you to it, and He will bring you forth once again.

﴾Allah has produced you from the earth in a wondrous manner﴿ when He created your father Adam and you were in his loins.

c-fthen He will return you to it﴿ when you die ﴾and He will bring you forth once again﴿ for the resurrection, for it is He Who has the power to give life, cause death and resurrect.

71:19. AI lah has spread out the earth for you,

71:20. so that you may traverse its spacious paths.

Allah has spread out the earth for you﴿ that is. He has prepared it so that you may benefit from it.

t-(so that you may traverse its spacious paths):) - were it not for the fact that He has spread it out, this would not be possible; in fact you would not be able to till it, plant it, cultivate it, build structures and live on its surface.

71:21. Nooh said: My Lord, they have disobeyed me, and have followed those whose wealth and children have only increased them in loss.

71:22. They have put tremendous effort into plotting and scheming.

71:23. They said: Do not forsake your gods; do not forsake Wadd, Suwa‘, Yaghooth, Ya'ooq and Nasr.

71:24. They have led many astray. So do not increase the wrongdoers in anything but destruction.

﴾Nooh said﴿ complaining to his Lord: These words and this exhortation and reminder have not succeeded with them and have been to no avail

﴾they have disobeyed me﴿ in what I have enjoined upon them ﴾and have followed those whose wealth and children have only increased them in loss﴿ that is, they have disobeyed the sincere Messenger who showed them the way of good, and they have followed the chiefs and nobles whose wealth and children have only increased them in loss, which is doom, and caused them to miss out on gains. So how about those who submitted to them and obeyed them?

﴾They have put tremendous effort into plotting and scheming﴿ that is, they have gone to extremes in stubbornly opposing the truth.

﴾They said﴿ to them, calling them to ascribe partners to Allah and making doing so fair-seeming:

﴾Do not forsake your gods﴿. Thus they called them to persist in what they were following of polytheism in a fanatical manner, and not to forsake the path of their forefathers. Then they mentioned their gods by name, saying: ﴾do not forsake Wadd, Suwa', Yaghooth, Ya'ooq and Nasr﴿.

These were the names of righteous men. When they died, the Shaytan made fair-seeming to their people the idea of making images of them, so as to motivate them - as they claimed to do acts of obedience and worship when they saw them.

But with the passage of time, as other people came along, the Shaytan said to them: Your predecessors used to worship them and seek divine help and seek rain through them. So they began to worship them.

Hence their leaders urged their followers not to forsake the worship of these gods.

﴾They have led many astray﴿ that is, the leaders and prominent figures led many people astray with their call.

c-jSo do not increase the wrongdoers in anything but destruction﴿ that is, there is no room for them to be guided or reformed. Therefore Allah mentions their punishment in this world and the hereafter, as He said:

71:25. Because of their sins they were drowned and were doomed to suffer the punishment of fire, and they did not find any helpers to protect them from [the punishment of] Allah.

c-jBecause of their sins they were drowned;) in the sea that surrounded them f(and were doomed to suffer the punishment of firej). So their bodies were lost to the sea and their souls were lost to the fire.

All of this was because of their sins, about which their Prophet Nooh (Sffc) came to warn them and to tell them of the bad consequences thereof, but they rejected what he said, until the exemplary punishment befell them.

tjand they did not find any helpers to protect them from [the punishment of| Allah﴿) to help them when the punishment befell them, for no one could oppose the divine will and decree.

71:26. Nooh said: My Lord, do not leave on earth a single living soul from among the disbelievers.

71:27. For if You leave them, they will mislead Your slaves and will beget none but wicked disbelievers.

71:28. My Lord, forgive me and my parents, and whoever enters my house as a believer, and the believing men and believing women, and do not increase the wrongdoers in anything but ruin.

﴾Noob said: My Lord, do not leave on earth a single living soul from among the disbelievers﴿-) to walk upon the face of the earth.

And he mentioned the reason for that, as he said: ﴾For if You leave them, they will mislead Your slaves and will beget none but wicked disbelievers﴿) that is, their remaining is purely detrimental to them and others.

Nooh only said that because after mixing with them a great deal, and because of what he had experienced of their manners and attitude, he had reached that conclusion based on what he knew of their misdeeds. No wonder Allah responded to his prayer and drowned them all, but He saved Nooh and the believers who were with him.

﴾(My Lord, forgive me and my parents, and whoever enters my house as a believer﴿) - these people are singled out for mentionbecause their rights are emphasised and they have priority when it comes to showing kindness. Then he made his supplication more general, and said:

﴾and the believing men and believing women, and do not increase the wrongdoers in anything but ruin﴿ that is, loss, destruction and doom.

This is the end of the commentary on Soorat Nool.i.

All praise and thanks are for Allah, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad his family, and his Companions abundantly until the Day of Judgement.