Tafsir of Al-Anbiya' 21:76

(And Noah), meaning: remember Noah, that is, his story, peace be upon him. Ibn Atiyyah claimed that "Noah" is a conjunction to "Lot," the object of [the verb] "We gave" (in the preceding verse), meaning: "And We gave Noah..." Abu Hayyan did not consider this far-fetched, but it is of no substance. It is said that when the Glorified [Allah] mentioned the story of Abraham, peace be upon him, who is the father of the Arabs, He followed it up with the story of the father of humanity, for he is the second father, just as Adam, peace be upon him, is the first father, based on the well-known view that all people remaining after the Flood are from his descendants, peace be upon him. He is the son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch—who is Idris, according to what is said. He is the longest-lived of the prophets, peace be upon them, according to what is in al-Tahdhib. Al-Hakim mentioned in al-Mustadrak that his name was Abd al-Ghaffar, and that he was called Noah because of his frequent weeping for himself. Al-Jawaliqi said: The term "Noah" is a non-Arabic, Arabized word. Al-Kirmani added: Its meaning in Syriac is "the dweller."

(When he called), meaning: when he supplicated to Allah, the Exalted, saying: "I am overpowered, so help me" and his saying: "My Lord, do not leave upon the earth any of the disbelievers as an inhabitant." "When" (idha) is an adverb for an implied, definite noun, as we have pointed out. Those who do not posit an implied noun treat it as a substitution of inclusion (badal al-ishtimal) for Noah.

(Before), meaning: before these mentioned ones (and we mentioned another view before).

(So We responded to him): [to] his supplication, (and We saved him and his family from the great distress).

(Which is the Flood), or the harm from his people. The origin of the word "distress" (karb) is intense anguish. It is as if—according to what has been said—it comes from "toiling the earth" (karb al-ard), which is digging it, since anguish excites the soul in the same way that [digging] excites the earth. Or it is from "the sun set" (karabat al-shams), when it nears the time of setting, for in intense anguish, the sun of the soul is on the verge of setting. Or it is from the karb, which is a thick knot in the rope of a bucket, for anguish is like a knot upon the heart. In describing it as "great," there is an emphasis on that which it denotes.