Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:66

(The eminent among those who disbelieved from his people said): Here, the hostile assembly is restricted to those who disbelieved, whereas it was mentioned absolutely elsewhere. It has been stated that this description is used because not all of them were upon disbelief; rather, there were nobles among them who believed in him, peace be upon him, such as Marthad ibn Sa'd, who used to conceal his faith. This was not the case with the people of Noah; those who believed in him, peace be upon him, among them were not of the nobility, as is usually the case with the followers of the messengers, peace be upon them. It is also said that at the time Noah, peace be upon him, addressed his people, none had believed, unlike the people of Hud. As Al-Shihab mentioned, such a claim requires textual transmission.

Mawla Baha’ al-Din objected to this distinction between the two peoples, noting that in Surah al-Mu’minun, the people of Noah are described exactly as the people of Hud are described here, so how can this distinction hold? It was answered that the description there is understood as being for condemnation rather than for differentiation, and it was not condemned here to signify differentiation. Al-Tayyibi said: "It is possible to say that the description here is also for condemnation, and the exigency of the situation necessitates condemning them for the intensity of their obstinacy, as indicated by their response which Allah the Exalted narrated: 'Indeed, we see you in foolishness'—that is, firmly established in a deficiency of intellect, for having abandoned the religion of your forefathers—'and indeed, we think you are among the liars'—in that you claim messengership, which is more emphatic than saying 'a liar' (kadhib), as previously alluded to.

'Thinking' (al-zann) is either to be taken literally, as Al-Hasan and Al-Zajjaj said, or to mean 'certainty' (al-'ilm), as has been said, because they uttered what they uttered even though he, peace be upon him, was known among them for the opposite of that. This does not necessitate the condemnation of Noah’s people; rather, where it was necessitated in Surah al-Mu’minun, they were condemned because they said what the Glorified and Exalted narrated there: 'This is not but a man like yourselves who wishes to attain superiority over you. If Allah had willed, He would have sent down angels. We have not heard of this among our forefathers. He is not but a man in whom is madness, so wait for him for a time.'

Some have said: The manifest view is that what is narrated here regarding the people of Noah, peace be upon them, refers to their statements in one gathering or the statements of some of them, while what is narrated in Surah al-Mu’minun refers to their statements in another gathering or the statements of others; thus, in both contexts, the exigency of each of the two statements was observed.