بِطَارِدِ

10:73; 26:110.

26:115.

Commentary:

After referring to the prejudiced attitude of his opponents, Noah now proceeds to defend himself and his followers. In the first place, he asks what purpose he could possibly have in fabricating lies. Was it self-interest or personal aggrandizement that he was seeking? They knew that he asked for no reward from them. Then why should he have resorted to the abominable practice of forging lies? It might be argued that though Noah asked for no reward, he at least commanded the allegiance of his followers and that in itself constituted sufficient motive for his activities. But this objection, too, stands on no solid ground, because the Prophets of God are always the first to act upon the commandments which they enjoin upon others and they subject themselves to a greater discipline than they demand from their followers. They do not exult in the authority they enjoy. Theirs is only a life of sacrifice and service and not of dictatorial authority over others.

After having defended himself, Noah goes on to defend his followers. He repudiates the strictures of his opponents against them by saying that, as they had professed to believe in him, he had no right to drive them away merely on the basis of groundless mistrust and suspicion. Again, as he asked for no reward or recompense from anybody, the distinction of rich and poor did not exist for him and therefore he could not reject or spurn his followers on account of their being of humble origin. Only true and sincere faith carried weight with him, and that his followers possessed in abundance. Therefore, the objection that those who believed in him were poor and lowly was, besides being absurd, quite irrelevant.

Another objection which Noah’s opponents levelled at his followers was that their faith was insincere. Noah rebutted this charge by saying that just as he did not demand any material benefit from them, they also did not demand anything from him. They only sought the favour of God Whom they were sure to meet, and He to Whom nothing is hidden would deal with them according to their faith. So, why should he question or doubt their sincerity?

The words, They shall certainly meet their Lord, also contain an answer to the taunt of disbelievers that Noah’s followers had acquired no superiority over them by believing in him. Noah asked what greater superiority there could be than that his followers had attained nearness to God and had made great moral and spiritual progress, so much so that heavenly light shone in their faces. If in their ignorance his enemies could not see so patent a fact, the fault was their own.

The clause, But I consider you to be a people who act ignorantly, may refer to the sacrifices which the followers of Noah made in the cause of truth, for to believe in a Prophet in the beginning is not an easy matter. It is like plunging into fire. So Noah drew the attention of his opponents to the sacrifices of his followers and pointed out how unreasonable it was to hold their faith to be insincere in view of their great sacrifices for the sake of their faith.

11:30.

Commentary:

God’s Prophets and worldly men have different standards to judge the values of life. The former judge the worth and value of a man by his actions and deeds while the latter judge it by his material means and his social status. Noah’s enemies called his followers low and mean because of their material poverty and lack of social influence, but Noah himself refused to judge them by that standard. According to him the real criterion by which a man’s worth should be judged were his good deeds. So he says that he does not know what his followers have been doing in the past. Their past actions are God’s concern alone and what he (Noah) knows of them is that they have believed in him and that is sufficient to establish their righteousness.