Topic: Prayer Of

Important Words:

یغویكم (destroy you). See 7:17.

Commentary:

By the words, If Allah desires to destroy you, Noah means to say that though he ardently wishes his people to accept his Message and thus be saved, his love for them cannot exceed God’s love for His creatures; and when God has decreed their destruction, the doom must be accepted as not only inevitable but also justified, and he must submit to His decree.

The verse also explodes the wrong notion commonly held that Noah prayed for the destruction of his people (71:27, 28), for it shows that it was not Noah who had prayed for their destruction but that God Himself had commanded him to do so.

The words, He is your Lord, are intended to hint that God destroys a people only when He finds that their destruction is necessary and is good for others; otherwise, being their Lord and Master, He cannot wish them evil.

46:9.

Commentary:

The words, Say, If I have forged it, on me be my sin, refer to Noah and not to the Holy Prophet, and mean that God commanded Noah to tell his people that if in what he had said to them he had forged a lie against God, he would certainly be punished for it, so they need not worry about it. But if he was speaking the truth and was a true Messenger of God, then they had committed a great sin by rejecting him and would surely be called to account.

By saying, I am clear of the sins you commit, Noah clears himself of the charge of imposture in another way also. He points to his previous spotless life as proof of his truthfulness, for if he was free from the various sins in which his people were involved, he could not be expected to be so depraved as to forge lies against God, which was the most heinous of all sins.

Important Words:

فلاتبتئس (grieve not therefore). تبتئس is derived from بئس meaning, he was or became in a state of distress, etc. ابتاس منه or ابتاس به means, he was distressed at it; or he grieved at it (Lane). See also 2:178.

Commentary:

This verse throws some light on Noah’s prayer referred to in 71:27, 28. In the verse under comment Noah is told that he would have no more converts from his people but that he should not grieve on that account. This shows that up to the time when this revelation was sent to Noah, he had not despaired of his people and was always worrying over their disbelief. So the prayer referred to in 71:27, 28 must have been offered not prior to, but after, this revelation. In this revelation he was informed of God’s decision that no more persons from among his people would believe in him. All those who deserved to be rightly guided and who sincerely sought after Divine guidance had already been converted. Hence the prayer of Noah was no more than a submission to God’s decree. For, when God Himself had decided to destroy his wicked people, it was meaningless on Noah’s part to pray for their destruction. So all that Noah’s prayer meant was that God might carry out His decree about the destruction of his people, for he was now reconciled to it.

It often happens that a Prophet even after he has come to know of God’s decision to destroy a people, continues to pray for them, hoping that God may alter His decree and the people may yet believe and be saved. Noah also continued to pray for his people until he saw that further postponement of the punishment was prejudicial to the best interests of Faith. He then prayed that God might carry out His decree against his people.

Even if it be admitted that Noah did not merely ask God to carry out His decree but actually prayed for the destruction of his people, such a prayer cannot be held to be inconsistent with the dignity of a Prophet, for a prayer offered under Divine command can in no case be said to be derogatory to his dignity. When the All-Knowing God Himself discloses to a Prophet the perversity of his people and their inevitable doom, then a prayer on his part that such people should remain deprived of Divine guidance is no more than a simple statement of an existing fact.

Commentary:

This verse beautifully illustrates how the Prophets maintain a highly respectful attitude to God even under very hard trials. Noah had, by an error of judgement, thought that all the members of his family would be saved from the flood, but when he saw that his son was going to be drowned, he made his supplication to God in a most respectful way, appealing to Him in the name of His promise about the safety of his family. He was, however, careful to add that if his son was drowned, he would not think that God’s promise was false but that he himself had misunderstood the Divine Words, for God’s promise was ever true and His judgement always just.

26:118-120; 37:76-77; 54:11.

Commentary:

It is worthy of note that this Surah makes a special mention of the trials and tribulations through which almost all the Prophets of God had to pass in their time and of the way in which God helped them and delivered them from their afflictions, the implication being that like those Prophets the Holy Prophet of Islam too will have to suffer hardships and privations and like them he too will come out of his ordeal with flying colours. Particular reference to Noah here signifies that if the Law were a curse as Christians say, then what would they say about Noah who came with a Law and among whose followers a great Prophet like Abraham appeared (37:84)? It may be said in passing that Prophet Noah was the first Law-bearing Prophet. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said about himاول نبی شرعت علی لسانه الشرائعi.e. he was the first Prophet to whom the Law was revealed. The Law first began to be revealed to Noah because in his time human mind had attained to such a stage of development as to have been able to understand and comprehend Divine attributes, and the evils which are the inevitable result of a civilized society had also begun to make their appearance in his time.

26:118-119; 54:11.

11:49.

Commentary:

For a detailed account of Noah and the Ark and the place where it came to rest, see 11:38-45. Briefly it may be stated here that according to the Bible Noah’s Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4) and according to the Quran it rested upon Al-Judi. It is of interest to note that ارا راط being a combination of ارا which means, "I saw" and راط which means, "he sought refuge in the mountains," signifies a place of safety in the mountains and the word جودی means, "my beneficence, my grace, my mercy." Thus, whereas according to the Bible, the Ark rested in a place of safety, according to the Quran it rested in a place where God’s mercy, grace or beneficence were manifested.

Important Words:

فافتح (so judge) is imperative verb from فتح. They say فتح الباب i.e. he opened the door. فتح الحاکم بین الناس means, the judge decided the dispute between the people. فتح اللّٰه علی نبیه means, God helped His Prophet and made him victorious (Aqrab). See also 8:20.

Commentary:

The last and most effective weapon in the armoury of the Prophets of God is prayer, and Noah prayed to God in the full agony of his heart.

Commentary:

The supreme lesson of history to which reference has been made in the preceding verses and which has been summed up in the last but one verse, viz. that truth ultimately triumphs and its rejecters come to grief, has been exemplified in the lives of Divine Messengers, a brief description of whose life-story begins with this verse and is continued in the following verses. The account of these Prophets begins with the history of the Prophet Noah with whom the foundations of human civilised society were laid. See also 7:60-65 and 11:37-50.

21:77; 26:120; 54:14.

Commentary:

The reference in the words "great distress" is to "Noah’s Flood".

23:27; 26:118-119.

Important Words:

دیار is derived from دار and means, one who lives in a house. They say ما فی الدار دیار i.e. there is no one in the house (Lane).

Commentary:

God’s Prophets are full of the milk of human kindness. Noah’s prayer shows that opposition to him must have been long, persistent and unremitting, and that all his efforts to bring his people to the right path must have been abortive, and that there had remained no possibility for any further addition to his small following, and also that his opponents must have exceeded all legitimate bounds in opposing and persecuting him and his followers, and in indulging in evil pursuits. Matters must have come to such a pass that a man of a compassionate disposition like Noah was constrained to pray against his people. In an identical situation the Holy Prophet’s attitude to his opponents presents a vivid contrast. In the Battle of Uhud, the Holy Prophet had two of his teeth broken. He was badly wounded and bled profusely, and yet the only words that escaped his lips on that occasion, were, "How will a people get salvation who have wounded their Prophet and have smeared his face with blood, for no fault but that he calls them to God. My Lord! forgive my people, they know not what they do" (Zurqani & Hisham).

الارض (the land) in the verse signifies Noah’s own land––Iraq––and not the whole earth. This word has been used at several places in the Quran in the sense of a particular land or country (5:27 & 28:82).

Commentary:

Noah’s prayer, embodied in this and the preceding verse may be read as not against but rather for his people. Besides the meaning given in the text the prayer may signify that not a single disbeliever should remain in the land, i.e. all should become believers.

14:42.