وَٱصْنَعِ ٱلْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا وَوَحْيِنَا وَلَا تُخَٰطِبْنِى فِى ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّهُم مُّغْرَقُونَ
23:28.
Important Words:
باعیننا (under Our eyes). اعین is the plural of عین which has a large variety of meanings. Among other things it means: (1) the eye; (2) look or view, as the Quran says ولتصنع علی عینی i.e. that thou mightest be reared in my view; (3) the people or inmates of a house or dwelling, as they say مابھاعین i.e. there is no one in it (the house); (4) brothers from the same father and mother; (5) one’s protection and honour, as the Arabs say انت علی عینی i.e. thou art entitled to be honoured and protected by me (Lane).
Commentary:
In view of one of the meanings of the word عین the expression باعیننا may mean "with the help of the people of Our house." The people of Noah’s house have been spoken of as "the people of Our house," because those who are near and dear to a Prophet are also dear to God. Noah was bidden to build an ark with the aid of the people of God’s spiritual house (for spiritually the followers of a Prophet belong to God’s own house).
Taking the word عین in the sense of one’s "protection" or "honour," the sentence would mean, "Make thou the Ark under Our protection," meaning that Noah’s adversaries would jeer and mock at the building of the Ark, but he should pay no heed to their mockery, for he would be protected and honoured by God.
The verse may also allude to two kinds of arks, the physical ark which was to be built by Noah with the help of his followers, and the spiritual ark i.e. the ark of righteousness which God had bestowed on Noah’s followers through him. Truly speaking, it is only the spiritual ark that can help to save a person from the punishment of God.
The words, address not Me concerning the wrongdoers, also show that Noah’s prayer for the destruction of his people mentioned in 71:27, 28 was not offered by him at his own initiative, for when he himself was praying for the destruction of the wrongdoers, there was no occasion for God to order him not to pray for their deliverance.