Al-Qamar: (9) The people before them denied...

(The people of Noah denied before them): This begins the enumeration of some of the aforementioned reports that necessitate admonition, providing a detailed account of them and explaining why [the polytheists of Mecca] were not affected by them, as a confirmation of the import of His saying, Exalted is He: "But warnings availed not." The verb is treated as if it were intransitive; it means: "The people of Noah committed the act of denial before your people committed the act of denial."

His saying, Exalted is He, "And they denied Our servant," is an explanation for that vague denial, just as in His saying, Exalted is He: "And Noah called upon his Lord, saying..." and so forth. In this, there is further verification and confirmation of the denial. It is also permissible that the meaning is: "They denied, one denial following another; whenever a generation of deniers passed away, another generation like it succeeded them," or "The people of Noah denied the messengers, and thus they denied Our servant." This means that because they were deniers of the messengers and rejecters of prophecy entirely, they denied Noah, for he was among the messengers; thus the agency here implies causality. It is also said that "denied" means they intended to deny and initiated it, while "they denied" [in the later verse] means they completed it and reached its limit, as is said regarding the saying: "The religion of God has been 'jabara' (repaired/compelled), so it has been 'jabara' (perfected)."

In mentioning him—peace be upon him—with the title of "servitude" (servant) while attributing it to the pronoun of majesty ("Our" servant), there is exaltation for him, peace be upon him, an elevation of his status, and a condemnation of those who denied him.

(And they said: A madman): That is, they were not content with mere denial, but rather attributed madness to him, saying: "He is a madman."

(And he was repelled): This is a conjunction to "they said," and it is a report from Him, the Almighty and Majestic. That is, he was repelled from conveying [the message] by various kinds of harm and intimidation. This was stated by Ibn Zayd, citing the verse: "If you do not desist, O Noah, you will surely be among those who are stoned."

Mujahid said: "It is part of their speech," meaning: "He is a madman whom the jinn have repelled, deprived of his reason, and afflicted."

The first view is more apparent and more profound. It was constructed in the passive voice for the purpose of the verse ending (the fasilah), and to keep tongues pure from mentioning them [directly], indicating that their action was worse than their speech.