قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ لَيْسَ بِى ضَلَٰلَةٌ وَلَٰكِنِّى رَسُولٌ مِّن رَّبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
7:68.
Commentary:
The words, but I am a Messenger from the Lord of the worlds, rebut the charge of error on Noah’s part in a most beautiful and convincing manner. The rejecters of Noah claimed that he was in error or that he had lost his way. The argument given by Noah in refutation of this charge is to the effect that a person who is proceeding to a place may indeed be said to be unacquainted with the way or to have lost it owing to his having never trodden it before, but how can a person who is returning from a certain place be said not to know the way to that place and how can he possibly lose the way in leading others to it? So Noah could not be in error, for he was actually coming from God, and, therefore, there was no possibility of his wandering away from the path that leads to Him.
7:68.
Noah refutes the charge of his being in error. He, in effect, says that a person who is proceeding to a place may indeed be said to be unacquainted with the way leading to it or to have lost the same owing to his having never trodden it before, but how can a person who is returning from a certain place be said not to know the way to that place and how possibly can he lose it? Noah said that he could not be in error, for he had come from God and, therefore, there was no possibility of his wandering away from the path that leads to Him.